Operant Conditioning Flashcards Preview

Psychology > Operant Conditioning > Flashcards

Flashcards in Operant Conditioning Deck (72)
Loading flashcards...
1
Q

Operant conditioning is to do with the fact that you have ________.

A

control/choice

2
Q

Name the famous puzzle box in operant conditioning.

A

Thorndike’s puzzle box

3
Q

Describe what happened in Thorndike’s puzzle box.

A
  1. Hungry cat in box
  2. Food outside box
  3. Lever in box can open door
  4. By chance it stepped on lever
4
Q

What happened to the cat over time in Thorndike’s puzzle box?

A

It got quicker at stepping on the lever over time.

5
Q

The cat in the puzzle box seemed to be ______ something.

A

learning

6
Q

In operant conditioning, learning is _____. There is no ____ ______.

A

gradual. sudden insight.

7
Q

The cat learnt by ____ and ____. This _____ responses that didn’t work (give it food).

A

trial and error, eliminated

8
Q

What is instrumental learning?

A

The organism behaves in a certain way for a certain outcome.

9
Q

In a given situation, a response followed by a satisfying consequence will be _______ likely to occur. A response followed by an annoying consequence will become ____ likely to occur. What is this known as?

A

more, less

The law of effect

10
Q

Summarise the law of effect.

A

Response with good consequence= more likely to occur

Response with bad consequence= less likely to occur

11
Q

Behaviour is ______ and ______ by its ______.

A

shaped, maintained, consequences

12
Q

Operant conditioning is based on the study of the effects that patterns of ______ and ______ have on behaviour.

A

rewards and costs

13
Q

Operant conditioning is based on what type of response?

A

Emitted responses

14
Q

What does an emitted response mean?

A

That you can chose your response

15
Q

What type of response is classical conditioning based on?

A

Elicited responses

16
Q

What is an elicited response?

A

A response that is natural to the body, can’t help it, almost instinctive.

17
Q

What was B.F ‘Fred’ Skinner (1904-1990) involved in?

A

Radical behaviour, and he coined the term- Operant Conditioning

18
Q

Name- A class of behaviours on which a reinforce is made contingent.

A

Operant

19
Q

Behaviour operates upon the ____ to produce a _____ in the environment.

A

environment, change

20
Q

What will a consequence of a behaviour effect?

A

The subsequent frequency of that behaviour.

21
Q

______ always INCREASE (strengthen) response rates.

A

Reinforcers

22
Q

Reinforcement can be ______ or ______.

A

positive, negative

23
Q

Give an example of positive reinforcement.

A

Something is given to you eg. chocolate

24
Q

Give an example of negative reinforcement.

A

Something annoying is taken away from you eg. removal of annoying noise

25
Q

Punishments always ______ response _____.

A

Decrease/ weaken response rates

26
Q

Give an example of positive punishment.

A

You are GIVEN and electric shock.

27
Q

Give an example of negative punishment.

A

Sweets are TAKEN away from you.

28
Q

Negative reinforcement/punishment means something is __________.

A

taken away from you

29
Q

Positive reinforcement/punishment means that something is _________.

A

given to you

30
Q

What can Operant Conditioning be shortened to?

A

OC

31
Q

How many parts are there to Operant Conditioning?

A

3

32
Q

Name the 3 parts to OC.

A

Antecedent
Behaviours
Consequences
ABC!

33
Q

What is the Antecedent Stage?

A

The stimulus that exists before the relevant behaviour. eg. lights on then switched off

34
Q

Describe the Behaviour Stage.

A

The animal emits a behaviour- they have a choice. eg. quiet or keep talking

35
Q

Describe consequence stage.

A

Some effect that the environment then has upon the animal based upon its earlier behaviour. eg. praised or told off.

36
Q

What stimulus acts as a signal, in the presence of which responses are emitted or suppressed?

A

A discriminative stimulus

37
Q

What is a discriminative stimulus similar to?

A

It is similar to the pavlovian condition stimulus.

38
Q

Why is the discriminative stimulus similar to the Pavlovian condition stimulus?

A

because it acts as a Predictor of environmental contingencies.

39
Q

However what differentiates the discriminative stimulus from the Pavlovian Condition stimulus?

A

The discriminative stimulus does not elicit a response.

40
Q

The discriminative stimulus acts as a ______ that a particular behaviour will be associated with particular ________.

A

signal, consequences

41
Q

Give an example of operant conditioning and explain why.

A

Training a dog to sit and using rewards
however dog doesn’t sit down at every opportunity- this doesn’t produce a reward
Saying sit= discriminative stimulus

42
Q

Name the 2 types of stimuli or reinforcement.

A

Primary and secondary

43
Q

A stimulus that is automatically valued by the organism as they satisfy a biological need, is known as ______.

A

a primary stimuli

44
Q

Give an example of Primary stimulus/reinforcement

A

Food!

45
Q

A Secondary stimulus/reinforcement acquires ______ properties through their association with _____ ______.

A

reinforcing

primary reinforcers

46
Q

Name an example of secondary reinforcement.

A

praise

47
Q

what is secondary reinforcement a good example of?

A

how behaviour is often a mix of classical and operant conditioning.

48
Q

What is operant extinction?

A

The weakening and eventual disappearance of a behaviour that is no longer reinforced.

49
Q

Resistance to extinction can vary greatly depending on how the response was _____ acquired and level of ___/_____.

A

initially, reward, punishment

50
Q

In operant conditioning what consequence is best to achieve an effect?

A

Immediate Consequence

51
Q

A ____ consequence still works but not so _____.

A

delayed, strongly

52
Q

A complex or unlikely behaviour can be established by ____ ______ (moving forward) to the desired response pattern, in a ___ by ___ idea. This is known as _____.

A

Shaping

53
Q

Define Chaining.

A

Conditioning several behaviours to happen in succession and be dependent on a prior response.

54
Q

A response will occur with other antecedents that are similar to the one that was initially present during learning. Name this.

A

Operant Generalisation

55
Q

What is Operant Discrimination?

A

A response will be given to the learned antecedents but not one which is markedly different.

56
Q

What does Generalisation or Discrimination enable researchers to ascertain?

A

Whether animals can tell the difference between 2 types of stimulus eg. colours, faces, sizes etc.

57
Q

Reinforcers occur at different _____ in real life and this determines the ____ of reinforcement.

A

frequencies, strength

58
Q

What is continuous reinforcement?

A

Every response of the desired nature is reinforced.

59
Q

when only some of the desired responses are reinforced this is known as ______ _______.

A

Partial reinforcement

60
Q

There are __ different types of Partial Reinforcement.

A

4

61
Q

Name the 4 different types of partial reinforcement.

A
  1. Fixed Interval
  2. Variable Interval
  3. Fixed Ratio
  4. Variable Ratio
62
Q

What type of partial reinforcement gives the poorest response?

A

Fixed Interval

63
Q

Describe fixed interval partial reinforcement.

A

The reinforcement occurs after fixed number of responses/time interval and a certain amount of time elapses before next reinforcement.

64
Q

When interval time is varied/changed so that the reinforcement is more random, giving a slightly better response, this is known as _____ ______.

A

Variable Interval

65
Q

Fixed Ratio is when a certain ____ of responses are reinforced after a _____ number of responses/time interval.

A

percentage, fixed

eg. fixed percent’s :)

66
Q

____ ratio is the best type of partial reinforcement to get the best response.

A

Variable

67
Q

Define Variable Ratio.

A

Reinforcement occurs after a random % of responses are reinforced.

68
Q

Although Continuous Reinforcement is the best ____ for ______. What does it produce?

A

schedule, learning

It produces the quickest extinction

69
Q

What is the best way for fast learning and resistance to extinction?

A

To start with continuous reinforcement and when the behaviour is well established, to switch to a variable schedule that gradually becomes less frequent.

70
Q

describe Avoidance Conditioning.

A

Some antecedent predicts the onset of an unpleasant stimulus allowing the animal to avoid it via an appropriate behavioural response.

71
Q

Why is it difficult to extinguish avoidance conditioning?

A

As the animal will have to be exposed to the antecedent which it will probably be unwilling to do.

72
Q

Escape conditioning is when ________.

A

An animal learns a response that gets them away from an unpleasant stimulus. EG. RUN