operant conditioning Flashcards
1
Q
describe what is meant by operant conditioning
A
- learning through consequence
2
Q
what are the differences between classical and operant conditioning?
A
- classical = responses already occur naturally, only the stimuli can be manipulated to elicit these responses
- operant = new behaviours are created in response to a consequence
3
Q
supporting evidence: Thorndike
A
- put cat in a cage with a latch on the door and piece of salmon outside cage
- after first trying to reach through cage and scratching bars of cage, cat finally hit the latch on the door and door opened
- with repetition of exp, amount of time and effort spent on activities of reaching and scratching by cat because less and releasing of latch occurred sooner
- conclusion: behaviour that produced desired effect became dominant and therefore, occurred faster in next exps
- labelled this form of learning instrumental learning
4
Q
what is meant by ‘law of effect’?
A
- if the several responses are made to the same situation, those which are closely followed by satisfaction will be more firmly connected with the situation
5
Q
what did skinner rename instrumental learning?
A
- operant conditioning
6
Q
supporting evidence: Skinner (CA)
A
- used lab exps with ’Skinner box’
- box that could dispose food and electric shocks to animals eg rats and pigeons
- CA: may lack generalisability so may not be helpful to explain behaviour of humans
7
Q
what is Skinner’s ABC model of operant conditioning?
A
- antecedent: chamber could represent stimulus (eg light, noise) that triggers behaviour
- behaviour: response that can be observed or measured as a result of the antecedent (lever pressing)
- consequence: reward or punishment followed the behaviour (food, shock)
8
Q
define ‘reinforcement’
A
- central feature of operant conditioning
- encourage behaviour
9
Q
describe ‘positive reinforcement’
A
- something desired (reward) is give in response to a behaviour
- eg child tidied room as asked and are given pocket money (reward)
- being reinforced to clean room to gain reward
10
Q
describe ‘negative reinforcement’
A
- something undesired is taken away in response to a behaviour
- eg if people don’t like loud music in restaurant, they will go to a quieter one
- reinforced to go to another restaurant as they want to avoid loud music
11
Q
define ‘punishment’
A
- discouraging behaviour
- doing something to stop behaviour
12
Q
describe ‘positive punishment’
A
- when something undesired is given as a punishment for bad/unwanted behaviour
- eg if child is told off eg running in a shop, they are ‘told off’
- someone was speeding while driving car, they are given speeding ticket
13
Q
describe ‘negative punishment’
A
- removal of something nice as punishment, in order to reduce bad/undesired behaviour
- eg child was due to see friend, but this is taken away if they’ve been naughty
14
Q
what is primary positive reinforcement?
A
- reinforcement that satisfies a basic need such as getting food
15
Q
what is secondary positive reinforcement?
A
- reinforcement that enables you to access primary reinforcers such as money for food, or tokens
16
Q
what can OC be used as a form of?
A
- behaviour modification
- if rewards (or punishment) are planned, so that certain behaviours are produced and others are dropped, this is modifying someone’s behaviour
17
Q
what’s one way to modify behaviour?
A
- shaping
- gradually working towards the required behaviour or punishments
- eg pigeon to turn a circle you’d reward small turns, then larger ones until you just reward a complete turn
18
Q
supporting evidence (behaviour modification): Lovass
A
- used this to treat children with ASD
-
Lovass therapy: intensive system of reinforcement and punishment that takes up most of child’s waking hours for period of months/years
- done in child’s home environment and makes use of single trained practitioner, often the parent
- punishment: painful shocks used to discourage self injurious behaviour
- desirable behaviours are reinforced using whatever reinforcers work for the individual child
19
Q
describe ‘continuous reinforcement’ (schedules of reinforcement)
A
- continuously reinforced when reinforcer always **follows the behaviour*(
- eg child being paid every time they do washing up
- leads to rapid change in behaviour, but effects don’t tend to last
20
Q
describe ‘partial reinforcement’ (schedules of reinforcement)
A
- irregular
- can either vary the **ra
