Unit 4 - Ch. 6,7&8 Flashcards
Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR)
The procedure of providing reinforcers regardless of what the person does.
May actually reduce the frequency of undesirable behaviour (they don’t have to use problematic behaviours to get the reinforcer)
Self-control techniques
Deprivation, distraction, distancing
What was the purpose of Gordon Gallup’s study?
The purpose of Gordon Gallup’s mirror study was to determine whether chimps showed evidence of self-awareness.
Karen Pryor study
In her work with porpoises, Karen Pryor gradually realized that what she had to do to get novel behaviour from the animals was to reinforce novel behaviour.
Superstitious behaviour
Coincidental reinforcement can cause superstitious behaviour
How can you prevent learned helplessness?
Immunization training: giving one group of dogs 10 escape trials in the shuttle box before exposing them to inescapable shock allowed them to perform in later escape trials like dogs that had never been shocked .
Herbert Quay is known for
His evidence that the topics discussed by psychotherapy clients may be influenced by reinforcement.
In his study, Quay reinforced recollections of family experiences in one group, and reinforced recollections of anything BUT family recollections in the other. Whichever was the positively reinforced subject, that was the one to increase. This suggests that the tendency of clients to talk about family relationships may have less to do with their importance to the client than with the reinforcement they get from the therapist.
Rocky and Johnny study
In the Rocky and Johnny study, after viewing the videotape where children were reinforced for aggressive behaviour, children were more aggressive.
Whether children imitate an aggressive model depends largely on whether the model’s behaviour is reinforced or punished.
Disadvantages of extinction
Disadvantages of extinction include emotional outbursts, slowness, and that the reinforcers maintaining the behaviour cannot always be eliminated
Who first demonstrated vicarious operant learning in animals?
Carl Warden
4 Processes in observational learning
Attentional (paying attention to what’s relevant)
Retentional (acting/repeating to aid recall)
Motor Reproductive (physically able to do it)
Motivational (observer can expect reinforcement from imitated behaviour)
(Bandura’s social learning theory)
What do positive and negative punishment have in common?
Both decrease the frequency/strength of behaviour
What do negative punishment and negative reinforcement have in common?
Both take something away
How can you increase the effectiveness of punishment?
Make sure the punishment is strong enough from the outset, and offer sources of reinforcement for alternative behaviours.
What increases creativity?
Reinforcing novel behaviour
Disruption theory of punishment
The disruption theory of punishments says that response suppression is due to the disruptive effects of aversive stimuli. The punished behaviour is suppressed, more or less effectively, by an emotional reaction.
What are the problems with punishment?
EAAA! Escape Apathy Aggression Abuse
What is an alternative to punishment?
Response prevention, extinction
What is response prevention?
Response prevention involves preventing a behaviour from occurring by altering the environment. Instead of seeking to modify the behaviour through conditioning, the circumstances that allow the behaviour to occur are removed (oven mitts to prevent scratching, breakables under lock and key, etc.)
What is differential reinforcement?
Differential reinforcement is a procedure wherein the frequency of a behaviour is changed by using extinction in combination with reinforcement.
2 kinds: DRL and DRH
A differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) is a form of differential reinforcement that involves providing reinforcers for a behaviour, but only when it occurs infrequently. This might mean for example slowing a behaviour down by reinforcing only when the behaviour is performed at least 2 seconds apart.
What is DRO?
A differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO) involves reinforcement contingent on NOT performing the behaviour for a specified amount of time. Since the delivery of reinforcement coincides with some behaviour other than the unwanted behaviour, it’s also known as differential reinforcement of other behaviour.
What is the difference between DRL and DRO?
Both DRL and DRO involves getting the subject to space out the behaviour more, but DRL focuses on reinforcing the behaviour at the end of the period, whereas DRO focuses on reinforcing the behaviour only if the behaviour DOESN’T happen for a specified amount of time.
What is Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviour (DRI)?
A differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour (DRI) involves reinforcing a behaviour that is incompatible with the unwanted behaviour. By increasing the rate of a behaviour that is the opposite of the unwanted behaviour, you decrease the unwanted behaviour. Providing positive reinforcement for the opposite then: smiling instead of frowning, sitting instead of walking, whispering instead of screaming, etc.
What is the advantage of differential reinforcement?
An advantage of differential reinforcement types is that it strengthens desirable behaviours rather than focusing on suppressing undesirable ones, so subjects can re-channel their behaviour and still get reinforcers. You have to put the undesirable behaviour on extinction though.
