PY 322: Respondent and Operant Conditioning Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, principles, and historical studies of Operant Conditioning and Respondent Conditioning for PY 322.

Positive (+)

The addition or presentation of a stimulus to the environment.

Negative (-)

The removal or termination of a stimulus from the environment.

Reinforcement

Behavioral procedures or relations that increase the future frequency of a behavior.

Punishment

Behavioral procedures or relations that decrease the future frequency of a behavior.

Target of Reinforcement

A specific behavior to which reinforcement is applied, never a person or an animal.

Conditioning

A term synonymous with learning.

Operant Conditioning

A learning process defined by stimulus-response relationships where consequential stimuli (reinforcing or punishing) immediately follow a response, resulting in an increase or decrease in the future frequency of that response.

Law of Effect

A principle formulated by Edward Thorndike through puzzle box experiments, stating that responses made immediately prior to pleasant events are more likely to be repeated, while responses made prior to unpleasant events are more likely to diminish.

Behavioral Principles

Basic scientific laws derived from empirical research that describe functional relations between a behavior and its controlling environmental variable(s).

Positive Reinforcer

A stimulus that increases the future frequency of a response when its presentation follows that response.

Positive Reinforcement Contingency

The response-contingent presentation of a positive reinforcer resulting in an increased future frequency of that response.

Negative Reinforcer

An aversive stimulus that increases the future frequency of a response when its removal or termination follows that response.

Punisher

A stimulus that decreases the future frequency of a response when its presentation follows that response.

Positive Punishment Contingency

The response-contingent presentation of a punisher resulting in a decreased future frequency of that response.

Negative Punishment Contingency

The response-contingent removal of a reinforcer resulting in a decreased future frequency of that response.

Behavioral Contingency

The interrelationship between the occasion for a response, the response itself, and the outcome or consequence of that response.

Operant Extinction

The process of discontinuing the positive or negative reinforcement contingency for a previously reinforced response, causing the response frequency to decrease over time.

Extinction Burst

An initial, temporary increase in the intensity, frequency, or duration of a behavior immediately after reinforcement is withdrawn.

The Immediacy Principle

The rule that reinforcement is most effective when delivered immediately after a response, ideally with a $0\,\text{s}$ delay, no longer than $1\,\text{s}$ for immediate reinforcement standard, and within $60\,\text{s}$ or less to alter behavior without verbal rules.

Delayed Reinforcement

The delivery of a reinforcer between $1\,\text{s}$ and $60\,\text{s}$ (or delayed delivery after $60\,\text{s}$) post-response, requiring the learner to understand behavioral contingencies.

Superstitious Behavior

Idiosyncratic behaviors that arise from arbitrary pairings of responses and consequences when delayed reinforcement inadvertently reinforces an unintended response.

Automaticity of Reinforcement

The principle that behavior is modified by consequences regardless of whether the individual has explicit cognitive awareness or understanding of the reinforcement contingency.

Rule

An explicit verbal description of a behavioral contingency.

Rule-Governed Behavior

Behavior under the control of a rule, where an individual learns through verbal statements or the experiences of others without directly contacting environmental consequences.

Contingency-Shaped Behavior

Behavior under the control of a direct-acting contingency where the learner directly experiences contact with environmental consequences.

Contingency Contract

A formal rule statement describing the desired or undesired behavior, the occasion when the behavior should or should not occur, and the added outcome for that behavior.

Self-Management

The implementation of a contingency contract where the person whose behavior is targeted performs one or more components of that contract across a six-step process.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that elicits a response without previous pairing with another stimulus.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

A response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A stimulus that elicits a response because of previous pairing with another stimulus.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A response elicited by a conditioned stimulus.

Respondent Conditioning

A learning process based on stimulus-stimulus pairing in which a neutral stimulus (NS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) until it becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits a conditioned response (CR).

Ivan Pavlov

The physiologist who accidentally discovered respondent conditioning in $1901$ during canine endocrine system experiments after noticing dogs salivated at the sight of the lab assistant.

Higher-Order Respondent Conditioning

The process of establishing a new conditioned stimulus by pairing a neutral stimulus with an already established conditioned stimulus.

Little Albert Experiment

A $1920$ study conducted by John B. Watson and his assistant that conditioned an infant to fear a white rat and furry objects by pairing the rat with a loud noise produced by striking an iron bar with a hammer.

Respondent Extinction

The process of repeatedly presenting a conditioned stimulus without pairing it with the unconditioned stimulus (or an established CS), causing the conditioned stimulus to lose its eliciting power.

Systematic Desensitization

A therapeutic behavior change procedure that combines relaxation techniques with a structured hierarchy of fear-producing stimuli arranged from least to most frightening.

In-Vivo Systematic Desensitization

An application of systematic desensitization where the client uses relaxation skills to directly face real-life, fear-producing situations.

Imagery Systematic Desensitization

An application of systematic desensitization conducted in a therapist's office where the client relaxes while imagining scenarios that closely resemble anxiety-provoking situations.