Lec. 7 B.F. Skinner Behaviorism Part 3

What is problematic?

case of milk let down in nursing mothers, scarey music in film

What is counterconditioning?

present the CS, withhold the UCS and introduce a new response that is incompatible with the CR, the case of little Albert

What is the key point for instrumental conditioning?

Began with work by Edward Thorndike in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Studied cats learning in puzzle boxes. He found that with practice cats made fewer mistakes over time and took less time to solve problems

What two laws did Edward Thorndike develop?

-Law of effect

-Law of exercise

What is the law of effect?

a response that brings about satisfaction in a certain stimulus will be strengthened

What is the law of exercis?

a stimulus response connection is strengthened with repetition

What is instrumental conditioning?

Operant conditioning in which a change in behavior (learning) brought about by the consequences of behavior

The instrumental conditioning behaviors tend to be under voluntary control

True

What does instrumental conditioning contrast with?

Classical conditioning where learning is primarily associations between objects and a reflex is involved

Who did much work in instrumental learning?

B.F. Skinner

What did B.F. Skinner change the name of operant conditioning to?

to instrumental conditioning

Why did he change the name of operant conditioning to instrumental conditioning?

because the learner’s behavior operates on the environment to bring about some change that brings a reward

What is Skinner box?

especially designed to study operant conditioning. Learning was measured by noting the changes in the characteristics of responding: response latency, frequency and rate

What is the key word for positive reinforcement?

adding

What is the key word for negative reinfrcement?

removing

What is reinforcement?

a consequence of behavior that decreases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

What is punishment?

A consequence of behavior that decreases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated

What is an example of positive reinforcement?

animal receives something it wants ( e.g., food)

What is an example of negative reinforcement?

an aversive condition is removed (e.g., pain)

What is an example of positive punishment?

an aversive condition is received (e.g., a shock)

What is an example of negative punishment?

an desired condition is removed (e.g., tv)

What are the reinforcement schedules?

-Continuous

-Partial

What is the continuous reinforcement schedule?

ratio of behavior to consequence is 1:1

What is partial reinforcement schedules?

ratio of behavior is not 1:1

What is fixed interval?

consequence delivered after a fixed amount of time, e.g., weekly quizzes

What is variable interval?

consequence delivered after a variable amount of time e.g., pop quizzes

What is fixed ratio?

consequence delivered after a fixed number of behaviors, e.g., double click (after two clicks the app opens)

What is variable ratio?

consequence delivered after a variable number of behaviors, e.g., slot machines