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Flashcards in Learning: Operant Conditioning Deck (56)
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1
Q

Thorndike’s puzzle box

A

Hungry cat in box

Food outside box

2
Q

With thorndikes puzzle box there is a lever in box which can open door

A

By chance it stepped on lever and got quicker at doing this over time

3
Q

The cat seemed to be learning something

A

But gradually so

4
Q

The cat had no sudden insight

A

Trial and error learning which had the effect of eliminating responses that didn’t work

5
Q

The thorndikes puzzle box displays

A

Instrumental learning- organisms behaviour is instrumental for outcome

6
Q

What is law of effect?

A

In a given situation, a response followed by a satisfying consequence will become more likely to occur and a response followed by an annoying consequence will become less likely to occur

7
Q

What is the basic principle?

A

Behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences

8
Q

What is the basic principle based on?

A

The study of the effects that patterns of rewards and costs made contingent on emitted responses

9
Q

Classical conditioning is based on

A

Elicited responses

10
Q

Radical behaviourism was explored by

A

B.F. ‘Fred’ Skinner (1904-1990) and coined the term operant conditioning

11
Q

What does operant mean?

A

A class of behaviours on which a reinforcer is made contingent

12
Q

Behaviour operates upon

A

The environment to produce a change in the environment

13
Q

Reinforcement vs punishment

A

Consequences of any unit or class of behaviours which come to affect the subsequent frequency of those behaviours

14
Q

With reinforcement, reinforcers

A

Always increase (strengthen) response rates

15
Q

Reinforcement may be

A

Positive or negative

16
Q

An example of reinforcement is

A

Getting a food pellet, removal of annoying noise

17
Q

Punishments always

A

Decrease (weaken) response rates

18
Q

Punishment also may be

A

Positive (aversive) or negative (response cost)

19
Q

An example of punishment is

A

Getting an electric shock or having sweeties taken away

20
Q

There are three parts to operant conditioning episode

A

Antecedent
Behaviours
Consequences

21
Q

Antecedent refers to

A

Stimuli which exist before the relevant behaviour

22
Q

Behaviour refers to

A

Behaviour that the animal emits

23
Q

Consequences refers to

A

Some effect that the environment then has upon the animal based upon its earlier behaviour

24
Q

A discriminative stimulus acts as s

A

Signal, in the presence of which responses are emitted or suppressed

25
Q

A discriminative stimulus is similar to

A

Pavlovian conditioned stimulus in that it acts as a predictor of environmental contingencies

26
Q

A discriminate stimulus, is dissimilar, according to skinner,

A

In that it does not elicit the response

27
Q

The discriminative stimulus acts as a signal

A

That a particular behaviour will be associated with particular consequences

28
Q

Think of discriminative stimulus as training a dog to sit

A

Use rewards

29
Q

But dog doesn’t sit down at every opportunity as

A

This doesn’t produce a reward

30
Q

There are two types of reinforcement and punishment

A

Primary and secondary

31
Q

Primary reinforcement is where

A

Stimuli which are automatically valued by the organism as they satisfy a biological need- food, water, pleasure etc

32
Q

Secondary reinforcement is where

A

Stimuli that acquire reinforcing properties through their association with primary reinforcers- e.g money, praise etc

33
Q

Secondary reinforcement is a good example of how

A

Behaviour is often a mix of classical and operant conditioning

34
Q

An example of secondary reinforcement being a good example of classical and operant conditioning is

A

In dog training, praise becomes a CS in place of UCS of food reward. This elicits the CR of salivation and excitement

35
Q

Then praise can be used to operant condition behaviour instead of

A

Food

36
Q

What is operant extinction?

A

Weakening and eventual disappearance of a behaviour that is no longer reinforced

37
Q

Resistance to extinction is the degree to which

A

Non-reinforced responses persist- can vary greatly depending on how the response was initially acquired and level of reward/punishment

38
Q

Immediate consequence to a behaviour is best

A

Especially for animal training

39
Q

A delayed consequence still works but not so strongly

A

Better with people than animals as they can understand future consequences

40
Q

Shaping is a complex or unlikely behaviour pattern that can be established in animals

A

By successive approximations to the desired response pattern

41
Q

Chaining is conditioning several behaviours to happen

A

In succession and be dependent on a prior response

42
Q

Shaping-B1-B2-B3-B4-B5-

A

Chaining

43
Q

Operant generalisation is when the response will occur

A

With other antecedents that are similar to the one that was initially present during learning

44
Q

Operant discrimination is when a response will be given to the learned antecedent

A

But not one that is markedly different

45
Q

Operant discrimination has a general use in psychology

A

It enables researchers to ascertain whether an animal can actually tell the difference between 2 types of stimuli e.g colours, faces, sizes etc

46
Q

Reinforcers occur at different

A

Frequencies in real life and this determines the strength of reinforcement

47
Q

Continuous reinforcement is when

A

Every response of the desired nature is reinforced

48
Q

Partial reinforcement is when

A

Only some of the desired responses are reinforces

49
Q

With partial reinforcement, it can be

A

Ratio- certain % of responses are reinforced

Or

Interval- certain amount of time elapses before next reinforcement

50
Q

With partial reinforcement it can also be

A

Fixed- reinforcement occurs after a fixed number of responses/ time interval

Or

Variable- reinforcement occurs after a random(ish) number of responses/ time interval

51
Q

Although continuous reinforcement is the best schedule for learning

A

It also produces the quickest extinction

52
Q

Partial reinforcement takes longer for strong learning to occur

A

But is also more resistant to extinction

53
Q

Best for fast learning and resistance to extinction is to start with

A

Continuous reinforcement and when the behaviour is well established switch to a variable schedule that gradually becomes less frequent

54
Q

Escape conditioning is when?

A

Animal learns a response that gets away from an unpleasant stimulus

55
Q

Avoidance conditioning is when some antecedent predicts the onset of the unpleasant stimulus

A

Allowing the animal to avoid it via an appropriate behavioural response

56
Q

Avoidance conditioning is very difficult to distinguish as there is no way of

A

Exposing the animal to the antecedent without the unpleasant stimulus occurring- think about phobias