Psychology Chapter #6 c

Four types of reinforcement are:

1] fixed-ratio 2] variable-ratio 3] fixed-interval 4] variable-interval.

Research has shown that for punishment to be effectively used on children, it must be _____________ , _______________ and __________________________ so that the relationship between the unwanted behavior and the punishment is clear

1] reasonable 2] unpleasant 3] applied immediately

Token Economies

A behavioral technique in which desirable behaviors are reinforced with a token, such as a small chip or fake coin, which can be exchanged for privileges. It draws on the principle of secondary reinforcement. People learn to perform tasks in exchange for tokens, which they can later trade for desirable objects or privileges. Prisons, mental hospitals, schools, and classrooms often use token economies, in which people earn tokens for completing tasks and lose tokens for behaving badly. Here, the rewards not only reinforce good behavior but also give participants a sense of control over their environment.

Reward vs Punishment:

A child complimented for being a good student is likely to perform better academically than one punished for doing poorly.

Fixed Interval Schedule (FI)

A fixed interval schedule occurs when reinforcement is provided after a certain amount of time has passed. Imagine that you feed your cat twice a day. After some number of days, the cat will start to meow and rub against you at about the feeding times, especially if you are in the location where you typically put out the food. Note the scalloping pattern in Figure 6.27, which indicates an increase in the behavior just before the opportunity for reinforcement and then a dropping off after reinforcement. Many students follow this kind of pattern when taking courses with regularly scheduled exams. They work extremely hard in the days before the exam and then slack off a bit immediately after the exam.

Fixed Ratio Schedule (FR)

A fixed ratio schedule occurs when reinforcement is provided after a certain number of responses have been made. Factory workers who are paid based on the number of objects they make are a good example of the FR schedule. Teachers sometimes use this kind of schedule to reward children for cooperative classroom behavior. Students can earn a star for behaving well. After they collect a certain number of stars, they receive some kind of reinforcer, such as getting to select the next book to read. Get a free pizza after you buy 10.

operant conditioning

A particular behavior leads to a particular outcome. Learning based on the consequences of responding. B. F. Skinner, the psychologist most closely associated with this process, chose the term operant to express the idea that animals operate on their environments to produce effects

ratio reinforcement

A ratio schedule is based on the number of times the behavior occurs, as when a behavior is reinforced on every third or tenth occurrence.

Skinner box (operant chamber)

A structure that is big enough to fit a rodent or bird and that contains a bar or key that the organism can press or peck to release food or water or other reward or punishment. Skinner later built mechanical recording devices that allowed the experimenter to conduct trials without being present. Today's operant chambers interface with computers to enable researchers to record behavioral data.

Variable Interval Schedule (VI)

A variable interval schedule occurs when reinforcement is provided after the passage of time, but the time is not regular. Although you know you will eventually be reinforced, you cannot predict when it will happen. For example, getting texts or emails from friends occurs on a variable interval schedule. You might check for messages throughout the day if you find receiving such messages reinforcing. Unlike the cat learning on an FI schedule, you never know when you will receive reinforcement, so you have to check back frequently. Professors who use pop quizzes do so because they encourage more regular studying by students. If you cannot predict when you will be quizzed, you have to keep up with your class work and always be prepared.

Law of Effect (Thorndike)

According to this law of effect, any behavior that leads to a "satisfying state of affairs" is likely to occur again. Any behavior that leads to an "annoying state of affairs" is less likely to occur again

Premack principle

According to this principle, a more-valued activity can be used to reinforce the performance of a less-valued activity. Parents use the Premack principle all the time. They tell their children, "Eat your spinach and then you'll get dessert," "Finish your homework and then you can go out," and so on.

interval reinforcement

An interval schedule is based on a specific unit of time, as when a behavior is reinforced when it is performed every minute or hour. Partial reinforcement also can be given on a predictable fixed schedule or on a less predictable variable schedule.

Shaping

An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. It consists of reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior. Suppose you are trying to teach your dog to roll over. You initially reward the dog for any behavior that even slightly resembles rolling over, such as lying down. Once this behavior is established, you reinforce behaviors more selectively. Reinforcing successive approximations eventually produces the desired behavior. Shaping has been used to condition animals to perform amazing feats: pigeons playing table tennis, dogs playing the piano, pigs doing housework such as picking up clothes and vacuuming, and so on...

biological constraints on learning

Any limitations on an organism's capacity to learn that are caused by the inherited sensory, response, or cognitive capabilities of members of a given species. We now know that animals have a hard time learning behaviors that run counter to their evolutionary adaptation. For instance, a raccoon learned to place coins in a piggy bank, but eventually it refused to perform this task. Instead, the raccoon stood over the bank and briskly rubbed the coins in its paws. (this is its natural behavior with food).

Autoshaping

Autoshaping is a problem for learning theory. Autoshaping occurs as follows. An animal, say a pigeon, is conditioned by turning on a stimulus, say a lighted key, and then giving it a reinforcer, food in this case. So, all the pigeon has to do is to eat after the light comes on, right? No, very often it begins to peck at the key. What happens next? Food is delivered. Soon, it is pecking all of the time. Why? Because pecking is followed by food. The pigeon has conditioned itself. Why did the pigeon start to peck? That is the problem of autoshaping. Once pecking begins, it is easy to explain why it continues. However, there is no satisfactory explanation for why it starts. Notice that autoshaping is not operant conditioning. Can you see why?

What famous psychologist developed the theory of operant conditioning?

BF Skinner

Reinforcement Theory

BF Skinner: Theory that positive and negative reinforcers motivate a person to behave in certain ways.

partial-reinforcement extinction effect /paradox

Behaviors that have been partially reinforced are more difficult to extinguish than behaviors that have been continuously reinforced. Thus, the less frequent the reinforcement during training, the greater the resistance to extinction.

Tourette's syndrome

Disorder of the basal ganglia characterized by tics, involuntary vocalizations (including curse words and animal sounds), and odd, involuntary movements of the body, especially of the face and head.

In operant conditioning, _______________________ release sets the value of a reinforcer.

Dopamine PROOF: Drugs that block dopamine's effects disrupt operant conditioning.

Tourette syndrome is treated with:

Dopamine blockers are often given to individuals with Tourette's syndrome, a motor control disorder, to help them regulate their involuntary body movements.

negative reinforcement

ESCAPE: In contrast, negative reinforcement increases behavior through the removal of an unpleasant stimulus. For instance, when a rat is required to press a lever to turn off an electric shock, the pressing of the lever has been negatively reinforced. "Negative" simply means that something is being removed, not whether the reinforcement is bad. Negative reinforcement is quite common in everyday life. You take a pill to get rid of a headache. You close the door to your room to shut out noise. You change the channel to avoid watching an awful program. You pick up a crying baby. In each case, you are engaging in a behavior to try to avoid or escape an unwanted stimulus.

secondary reinforcer (conditioned reinforcer)

Events or objects that serve as reinforcers but do not satisfy biological needs are called secondary reinforcers. These reinforcers are established through classical conditioning, as described earlier in this chapter: We learn to associate a neutral stimulus, such as money (CS), with rewards such as food, security, and power (US). Money is really only pieces of metal or of paper, but these and other neutral objects become meaningful through their associations with unconditioned stimuli.

primary reinforcers

Events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs. Stimuli, such as food or warmth, that have reinforcement value without learning. From an evolutionary standpoint, the learning value of primary reinforcers makes a great deal of sense: Animals that repeatedly perform behaviors reinforced by food or water are more likely to survive and pass along their genes.

What happens when punishment is applied after a desired action?

If a student is punished after admitting to cheating on an exam, the student may then associate the punishment with being honest rather than with the original offense. As a result, the student learns not to tell the truth. As BF Skinner once pointed out, one thing people learn from punishment is how to avoid it. Rather than learning how to behave appropriately, they may learn not to get caught.

partial reinforcement

In the real world, behavior is seldom reinforced continuously. People do not receive praise each time they behave acceptably. The intermittent reinforcement of behavior is more common. This process is known as partial reinforcement.

insight learning

In this form of problem solving, a solution suddenly emerges after either a period of inaction or contemplation of the problem. You probably have had this sort of experience, in which you mull over a problem for a while and then suddenly know the answer.

Latent Learning (Tolman)

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it. Rats allowed to wander a maze for a few days. When a reward was given at the end of the maze, they used their previous learning to navigate the maze more quickly. Proving that they had learned the maze without reinforcement. For example, latent learning occurs when a person learns something simply by observing it. When most people drive for the first time, they do not need to be told that rotating the steering wheel turns the car. They already know that they need to rotate the steering wheel, even though they have never been reinforced for doing so.

What is the difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning is the learning process in which an action's consequences determine the likelihood of that action being repeated. Thus, in operant conditioning, the human or animal makes associations between events that it can control. By contrast, in classical conditioning, the association is made between events that cannot be controlled.

Which lasts longer (keeps the behavior going longer) continuous reinforcement or partial reinforcement?

Partial reinforcement... it is because you don't realize the game has stopped. You are not getting any reward, but because the reward schedule was not fixed, you are not sure, so you keep playing. With continuous reinforcement you know exactly when the game is over: the first time you don't get a reward.

Edward Thorndike

Pioneer in operant conditioning who discovered concepts in intstrumental learning such as the law of effect. Known for his work with cats in puzzle boxes.

________________ Decreases Behavior

Punishment

positive reinforcement

REWARD: Through the administration of a stimulus after a behavior, positive reinforcement increases the probability of that behavior being repeated . "Positive" simply means that something is being added, not whether the reinforcement is good.

continuous reinforcement

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs. To induce fast learning.

reinforcer potency

Some reinforcers are more powerful than others. The psychologist David Premack theorized about how a reinforcer's value could be determined. The key is the amount of time a person, when free to do anything, willingly engages in a specific behavior associated with the reinforcer. For instance, most children would choose to spend more time eating ice cream than eating spinach. Ice cream is therefore more reinforcing for children than spinach is. Does not work the same with all individuals as some children might not like sweets.

positive punishment

The administration of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring. Usually the stimulus in positive punishment is unpleasant. Receiving a spray of water and being yelled at are forms of positive punishment.

negative punishment

The removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring. When a teenager loses driving privileges for speeding, he or she has received negative punishment. If that same teen has received a speeding ticket, the ticket serves as a positive punishment. Here, the negative and positive forms of punishment may produce the same result: The teen will be less likely to speed the next time he or she gets behind the wheel.

superstition

The tendency to associate events that occur together in time is incredibly strong because the brain is compelled to figure things out. When a chance event happens to occur close in time to a second event, humans and nonhuman animals sometimes associate the chance event with the second event. Whereas pigeons just develop behaviors that look like superstitions, people look for reasons to explain outomes, and the observed association serves that purpose. Their resulting associations can lead people, at least, to cling to superstitions.

behavior modification

The use of operant conditioning techniques to bring about desired changes in behavior. The general rationale behind behavior modification is that most unwanted behaviors are learned and therefore can be unlearned. Parents, teachers, and animal trainers use conditioning strategies widely. People can be taught, for example, to be more productive at work, to save energy, and to drive more safely.

The best training solution is to:

To condition a behavior so that it persists, you need to reinforce it continuously during early acquisition and then slowly change to partial reinforcement.

Wanting vs Liking

With drugs, for instance, wanting refers to the desire or the craving a user has for the substance. Liking refers to the subjective sense of pleasure the user receives from consuming the substance. Although wanting and liking often go together, there are circumstances under which wanting occurs without liking. For example, a smoker may desire a cigarette but then not particularly enjoy smoking it. Dopamine appears to be especially important for the wanting aspect of reward. Opiates, may be more important for the liking aspect of reward.

Another name for operant conditioning is:

instrumental conditioning.

partial reinforcement is also known as:

intermittent reinforcement

Variable Ratio Schedule (VR)

occurs when reinforcement is provided after an unpredictable number of responses. Games of chance provide an excellent example of a VR schedule. At a casino, you might drop a lot of money into a slot machine that rarely rewards you with a "win." Such behavior is not simply the result of an "addiction" to gambling. Rather, people put money in slot machines because the machines sometimes provide monetary rewards. VR schedules lead to high rates of responding that last over time because you know that eventually there will be a payoff for responding. You just do not know when it will happen—or even if you will still be the player on that machine at that time.

reinforcement schedule

the frequency and regularity with which rewards are offered; they can be based on a number of target behaviors (ratio) or on a time interval (interval); types include: fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval. For instance, partial reinforcement can be administered according to either the number of behavioral responses or the passage of time, such as paying factory workers by the piece (behavioral responses) or by the hour (passage of time).