operant conditioning

law of effect

if consequence unpleasant stimulus-reward connection weak

reward strengthens behavior

reinforcer

anything increasing behavior

positive reinforcement

addition of something pleasant

negative reinforcement

the removal of something unpleasant

NR - escape learning

getting kicked out of class

NR - avoidance learning

cutting class

punishment

meant to decrease behavior

positive punishment

addition of something unpleasant

negative punishment

removal of something pleasant

punishment works best when

done immediately after behavior and is harsh

shaping

reinforcing small steps on way to get desired behavior

chaining behaviors

subjects taught number of responses successively in order to get reward

primary reinforcer

something in itself rewarding

secondary reinforcer

things with learned value

continuous reinforcement

every time; first learned; fast acquisition; fast extinction

partial reinforcement

some time; slow acquistion; resistant to extinction

fixed ratio

provides reinforcement after number of responses

variable ratio

provides reinforcement after random number of responses; hard to get acquisiton

fixed interval

set amount of time to elapse before giving reinforcement

variable interval

random amount of time to elapse before reinforcement; hard to acquistion very resistant to extinction

insight learning

eureka