Learning and Motivation Exam 2

Which comes first, elicited or operant behaviors?

Elicited

Thorndike's Law of Effect

Behaviors that lead to a satisfying state of affairs are strengthened, and unsatisfying state= weakened

Stamped in versus stamped out meaning

Behaviors that worked were stamped in, whereas behaviors that did not were stamped out (Thorndike law of effect)

Skinner's Box examples for rat's and pigeons

In the rat example, rat's press a lever to get food. In the pigeon example, pigeons peck a response key

Free operant procedure

Animal control the rate at which they earn food

Difference between operant and reflexive behavior

Operant is more voluntary

How is Skinner's operant behavior different than Thorndike's Law of Effect

Less mentalistic

Three components of operant conditioning

1. A response that produces a certain consequence

2. A consequence that either increases/decreases the likelihood of the response that preceded it

3. A discriminative stimulus that precedes the response and signals that a consequence is available

Is an operant behavior a specific response?

No, it's usually a class of responses

What are reinforcers (definition)

Consequences that strengthen a behavior by increasing its frequency

What are punishers (definition)

Consequences that weaken a behavior and decrease its frequency

What are the processes by which the occurrence of a behavior either strengthens or weakens over time?

Reinforcement or punishment

What are the symbols used as labels for the operant conditioning procedure?

S^P= punishing stimulus

S^R= reinforcing stimulus

R= operant response

Weakening a behavior through withdrawal of reinforcement for behavior

b.) is this faster or slower than punishment?

Extinction

b.) slower

Symbol for discriminative stimulus

S^D

What does a discriminative stimulus do? What does it not do?

A discriminative stimulus sets the occasion for the behavior and makes it more likely to occur, but it does not elicit the behavior

Three-term contingency

A (antecedent), B (behavior), and C (consequence) [or notice, do, get]

Discriminative stimulus for punishment and its symbol

A stimulus in the presence of which a response is punished

S^Dp

What is a schedule of reinforcement?

Response requirement that must be met in order to obtain reinforcement

Continuous reinforcement schedule

Each response is reinforced

Intermittent or partial reinforcement schedule

Only some responses are reinforced

What are schedule effects

Different effects on behavior produced by different response requirements

Steady state behaviors

stable patterns of behavior that emerge once the organism has had sufficient exposure to the schedule

Fixed ratio schedule

reinforcement is contingent upon a fixed number of responses

What does FR 15 mean

15 responses are required for each reinforcer

What is a post reinforcement pause? How does it impact the rate of response in a FR schedule?

After the reinforcer has been attained there will be a short pause... this leads to a high rate of response

Another name for a FR schedule

break and run

Dense vs lean schedules

Dense= reinforcer is easy to obtain

lean= reinforcer is difficult to obtain

ex. ) FR 5 versus FR 100

Stretching the ratio definition

moving from a low ratio requirement to a high ratio requirement

Ratio strain

Disruption in responding due to an overly demanding response requirement

Variable ratio schedule

Reinforcement is contingent upon a varying and unpredictable number of responses

Examples of variable ratio

Gambling, abusive relationships, panhandling

Fixed interval schedule

Reinforcement is contingent upon the first response following a fixed and predictable period of time

Does behavior increase at the start of an interval or as more time passes?

As more time passes

What does 'scalloped' pattern of responding mean?

post reinforcement pause followed by a gradual increase in the rate of response

Variable interval schedule

reinforcement is contingent upon the first response following a varying, unpredictable period of time

What is the rate of response in a variable interval schedule? Is there a post reinforcement pause?

moderate and steady rate of response, no pr pause

Of the 4 responses, which has post reinforcement pause?

Fixed ratio and fixed interval

Extinction

nonreinforcement of a previously reinforced response that decreases its strength

Extinction burst, and what it can cause

Increasing the frequency of a behavior to try and get it to happen again, can cause emotional and/or aggressive behavior

Resurgence or regression

The sudden reappearance of a behavior that has not occurred in a long time due to extinction

Partial Reinforcement Effect

responses maintained on a more intermittent schedule show more resistance to extinction

Factors that increase one's resistance to extinction

-VR and VI schedules

-smth that has been reinforced many times

-high magnitude reinforcer

Targeting

training an animal to approach and touch a specific item

What is a habit

An operant behavior under strong stimulus control that automatically occurs in certain situations

Escape versus avoidant behavior

Escape= behavior that terminates an aversive stimulus

avoidant= prevents an aversive stimulus from occurring

Which comes first, escape or avoidance behavior? Which situation do you move from in each?

Escape before avoidance

Move from an aversive situation to a nonaversive one in escape

Move from a nonaversive siutation to another nonaversive one

Mowrer's two distinct processes for avoidance

1. Classical conditioning of a fear response

2. Operant conditioning in which an avoidance response is negatively reinforced

Anxious conservation hypothesis

avoidance responses usually occur so quickly that the exposures to the CS are too brief for extinction to take place

One process theory of avoidance

avoidance response is negatively reinforced by a reduction in overall rate of aversive stimulation

Experimental avoidance versus phobic avoidance

Experimental requires a few conditioning trials, while phobic avoidance quickly reinforces after one conditioning trial

Skinner on self control

Not an issue of willpower but what happens when indi are confronted with choices w conflicting outcomes

Controlling response versus controlled response and example

Controlling= altering frequency of controlled response

ex. telling you friends not to let you sleep past your alarm (controlling response) to reduce oversleeping (controlled response)

Physical Restraint

manipulating environment to prevent occurrence

Depriving and satiating

utilize motivating operations of deprivation and satiation to alter extent to which certain event can act as reinforcer

Doing something else

prevent engaging in certain behaviors by performing alternate behavior

Self Reinforcement and Self Punishment

reinforce your own behavior. Less likely to produce consequences for yourself; use social consequences to keep accountable

Self Control as a Temporal Issue

-Behavior more heavily influenced by immediate rather than delayed consequences

-Later consequences less certain than sooner consequences

Delay of gratification versus impulsiveness

Delay= choosing a larger later reward over a smaller, sooner reward

Impulsiviness= choosing smaller sooner reward over a larger later reward

Mischel's Delay of Gratification Paradigm

Study of self-control using children, pretzels, and marshmallows

Extent to which children avoided paying attention to reward had significant effect on their resistance to temptation

Children who devised tactics enabling them to wait for preferred reward were, at 17 years of age, more "cognitively and socially competent"

Ainslie-Rachlin Model of Self-Control

focuses on the fact that preference between smaller sooner and larger later rewards can shift over time

-value of a reward will increase as delay decrease/reward become imminent

Precommitment Response

An action carried out at an early point in time that serves to either eliminate or reduce the value of an upcoming temptation

-telling your friends what you are doing so they will hold you accountable

small-but-cumulative effects model

each individual choice on a self-control task has only a small but cumulative effect on our likelihood of obtaining the desired long-term outcome

Contagious behavior

a more-or-less instinctive or reflexive behavior triggered by the occurrence of the same behavior in another individual

Mirror neurons

Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so

stimulus enhancement

the probability of a behavior is changed because an individual's attention is drawn to a particular item or location by the behavior of another individual

vicarious emotional responses

classically conditioned emotional responses that result from seeing those emotional responses exhibited by others

Acquisition vs. Performance

All children may learn a behavior that they see (acquisition), but only those begin reinforced for the behavior will perform the behavior

True versus generalized imitation

True= form of ob learning that involves close duplication of a novel behavior/seq of behavior's

Generalized= tendency to imitate new modeled behavior with no specific reinforcement

4 key processes in successful modeling

1. attention to the model

2. remember what was done (retention)

3. observer can reproduce behavior

4. model is successful and behavior is rewarded -> more motivation to commit to model

Rule-Governed Behavior

behavior that has been generated through exposure to rules

Personal rules

verbal descriptions of contingencies that we present to ourselves to influence our behavior

say-do correspondence

a close match between what we say we are going to do and what we actually do at a later time

bright boundaries

unacceptable vs acceptable behavior clearly defined

Exposure and response prevention for OCD

method of treating OCD through systematic desensitization with flooding therapy

Stampfl Procedure

Avoidance response occurs early in sequence of events; early responding greatly reduces extent to which avoidance response can be extinguished.