Psychology of Learning Troy University Test 5 - Rost

How are positive punishment and negative reinforcement different?

In positive punishment, an aversive is added following a behavior, and as a result the behavior occurs less often whereas in negative reinforcement an aversive is removed following a behavior, and as a result the behavior occurs more often.

How does the introductory level of punisher affect punishment?

In using punishment, one may begin with a strong aversive that is almost certain to suppress the behavior, or one may begin with a weaker aversive and gradually increase its intensity until an effective level is found. If punishment is to be used, then, the goal should be to begin with a punisher that is intense enough to suppress the behavior at the outset.

What are some alternatives to using punishment?

Response prevention, extinction, and various forms of differential reinforcement (including DRA, DRI, and DRL).

How are positive punishment and positive reinforcement alike?

Something is added to the situation

How are negative punishment and negative reinforcement alike?

Something is removed from the situation

Define self-control

The ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long term rewards

How does punisher intensity affect punishment?

The best example is the use of electric shock because the gradients of shock can be controlled precisely. They trained rats to press a lever for food then periodically punished lever pressing. During the punishment sessions, lever pressing continued to be reinforced. Punishment consisted of brief shocks that varied in intensity. The mildest shock had little effect, but the strongest shock essentially brought lever pressing to a halt.

Explain how reinforcement of the punished behavior can affect punishment. Give an example.

The effectiveness of a punishment procedure depends on the frequency, amount, and quality of reinforcers the behavior produces. Ex: they used noise to punish lever pressing in rats. When lever pressing was likely to produce food, rats pressed the lever even though doing so also caused a loud noise. When lever pressing did not "pay" well (when they got less food), even a half-second tone reduced lever pressing.

How does contingency affect punishment?

The greater the degree of contingency between a behavior and a punishing event, the faster the behavior changes

How does contiguity affect punishment?

The longer the delay, the less effective the punisher is

What is contiguity?

- Immediacy The interval between a behavior and a punishing consequence is also very important

What is contingency?

- Reliability The degree to which punishment weakens behavior varies with the degree to which a punishing event is dependent on that behavior.

Discuss how punishment can be used to eliminate self-injurious behaviors.

A painful but completely harmless consequence could quickly suppress long-standing injurious behavior.

What role does reinforcement play in causing delusions? Give an example.

A patient complained that her head was falling off. She seemed frightened, so a member of the staff sat with her to calm her down. The delusion got worse. A discussion with the patient led to the discovery that she found it very difficult to engage that staff in conversation. Sometimes when she approached them, they responded with obvious annoyance, her delusional behavior produced a desired effect (interaction with the staff) without the risk of hostile reactions. In other words, the delusion was reinforced. Once the woman learned how to approach the staff without incurring hostile reactions, the delusions disappeared.

Describe how constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) works.

A reinforcement-based treatment of loss of limb function that involves restricting a normally-functioning limb.

Describe the Headsprout Reading program.

An instructional program that makes the most of modern technology, but at heart it is based on basic operant learning principles. It is an internet-based instructional program designed to teach children to read.

What is a punisher? Give some examples

Any consequence of a behavior that decreases the strength of that behavior Ex: electric shock, spanking Unconditioned punisher - naturally aversive events Ex: heat, cold, shock, loud noise Conditioned punisher - Have been paired with other effective punishers Ex:

When discussing punishment and reinforcement, what do "positive" and "negative" mean?

As in the case of reinforcement, the terms positive and negative do not refer to the nature of the events involved. They refer to the fact that something is added or subtracted from the situation

What variables affect punishment?

Contingency and contiguity

How are positive punishment and positive reinforcement different?

In positive reinforcement, you are reinforcing a wanted behavior by adding something after it (to strengthen the behavior). In positive punishment, some type of punisher is added in a consequence to reprimand the subject away from that particular behavior (to weaken the behavior)

Describe how escape and avoidance affect punishment. Give an example

- The child struggles to free herself from the parent who is spanking her; the failing student plays hooky from school; the employee who has botched an assignment "hides out" until the boss cools down. - Cheating and lying: the student who did not do his homework avoids punishment by copying someone else's work or by saying, "my dog ate it." - Suicide

Give some examples of the types of abuse that can result from punishment.

- The use of corporal punishment in schools has resulted in broken bones, ruptured blood vessels, hematomas, muscle and nerve damage, whiplash, spinal injuries, and even death - Child abuse in the home is often punishment that got out of hand - Parents sometimes begin with a very mild form of punishment and gradually use stronger and stronger consequences, sometimes ending up causing bodily injury

Give an example of how attention can be a reinforcer for self-injurious behaviors.

A child may hold his breath or slap his head to get attention (positive reinforcement)

Define punishment

A decrease in the strength of a behavior due to its consequences. As a procedure, it means providing consequences for a behavior that decrease the strength of that behavior

Define differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL). Give an example.

A form of differential reinforcement in which a behavior is reinforced only if it occurs no more than a specified number of times in a given period. - Undesirable rate of behavior is put on extinction - Minimum amount of time must pass between each response for reinforcer to be delivered - Responses during the interval "reset clock" and prevent next reinforcer from being delivered - Reinforcer provided for slow response rate - Reduces frequency of a behavioral excess Ex: a child might repeat a rhyme every 5 minutes until the parents have to plug their ears. Praising the child's performance when it occurs after a period of ten minutes, and then after 12 minutes, then 15, and so on should reduce the rate to a tolerable frequency.

Define differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA). Give an example.

A form of differential reinforcement in which a behavior that is different from an undesired behavior is systematically reinforced. The procedure provides and alternative way of obtaining reinforcement. - Undesirable behavior is put on extinction - Alternative (desirable) behavior is reinforced - DRA gives the person/animal another way of obtaining the same reinforcement Ex: if your 3-year-old has discovered that beating on objects with a spoon created a fascinating variety of loud sounds and your ears are beginning to ache, you might ignore her musical efforts but lavish attention on her when she picks up a coloring book and starts scribbling in it.

Define differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI). Give an example.

A form of differential reinforcement in which a behavior that is incompatible with an unwanted behavior is systematically reinforced. - Undesirable behavior is put on extinction - Physically incompatible (desirable) behavior is reinforced - Undesirable behavior necessarily reduces - "Can't do both" Ex: moving rapidly is incompatible with moving slowly; smiling is incompatible with frowning; and standing is incompatible with sitting. One of the best ways teachers can reduce the amount of time children spend wandering around a classroom is to praise students who are sitting in their seats. If you are sitting in your seat, you cannot be wandering around.

How can reinforcement be used to eliminate delusions?

A man that was helped by medication continued to complain that a witch followed him. Alford asked the patient to keep a record of his feeling that he was being followed. The patient also indicated the strength of his belief, from 0 to 100, that there really was a witch. During the treatment phases, Alford reinforced expressions of doubt about the witch. The result was that the patient's reported confidence in the delusion declined.

Discuss how punishment can result in aggression.

Aggression is particularly likely when escape is impossible. Like escape, aggression is often an effective way of exerting control over those who punish. We criticize our critics, disparage those who disparage us, and answer each blow in kind.

What are some problems associated with using punishment?

Aggression, emotional reactions, apathy, potential for injury or abuse, imitation of the punishment, escape and avoidance, doesn't teach the correct response

How are positive punishment and negative reinforcement alike?

Both procedures involve aversive events such as shocks, spankings, pinches and criticisms.

Discuss how reinforcement can be used to eliminate self-injurious behaviors.

Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior can reduce self-injurious behavior.

What are delusions?

False beliefs such as "Everyone is out to get me" or "There are little green men inside my stomach." Delusions can and often do have an organic basis: Schizophrenia, syphilis, Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, and other disorders can induce them.

Describe two research findings demonstrating that punishment cannot be explained by referring to disruptive effects of aversive stimulation.

First, as we have seen, the effects of punishment are not as transient as Skinner thought if sufficiently strong aversives are used. Second, punishment is independent of behavior. - If punishment reduces behavior rates merely because it evokes incompatible behavior, then it should make no difference whether the aversive stimuli used are contingent on behavior, but in fact it makes a great deal of difference.

How do motivating operations affect punishment? Give an example.

Food is more reinforcing when an animal is hungry, so if an unwanted behavior is maintained by food reinforcement, reducing the level of food deprivation is likely to make punishment more effective. Ex: He is "hungry" for social contact, so withdrawing social contact should be a more effective punisher.

Why do some problem behaviors continue even when they are unlikely to be reinforced?

If a person behaves bizarrely only when reinforcement for bizarre behavior is available, people catch on. Once they understand that the behavior is a way of obtaining information, they often stop providing those reinforcers. Bizarre behaviors must therefore occur not only when reinforcement is available, but also at times when reinforcement is unavailable.

What is apathy? How is it related to punishment? Give an example.

If aversives are a common consequence of many kinds of behavior, the result may be suppression not only of the punished behavior but also of behavior in general. A kind of malaise, or apathy, is a by-product of situations in which punishment is commonplace. - When a teacher regularly ridicules children for asking "stupid" questions, the children not only become less likely to ask questions, but they may be more reluctant to answer questions or participate in other classroom activities.

How are negative punishment and negative reinforcement different?

In negative punishment, a behavior is weakened by the removal of a stimulus. In negative reinforcement, the behavior is strengthened by the removal of a stimulus.

Why do people use punishment?

It works - at least in the short run. It often has an immediate effect, so the use of punishment is often negatively reinforcing for the person who delivered it (which leads to it being used more often). - Punishment has been modeled many times

What evidence supports the one-process theory?

Low-probability behavior should punish high-probability behavior. If a hungry rat is made to run following eating, it will eat less. One-process theorists conclude that Thorndike was right in the first place: punishment and reinforcement have essentially symmetrical effects on behavior.

Discuss the one-process theory of punishment.

Only one process, operant learning, is involved. Punishment, this theory argues, weakens behavior in the same manner that reinforcement strengthens it. - Punishment weakens behavior in the same manner that reinforcement strengthens it. Ex: touch outlet shock child does not touch outlets in the future

Discuss the two-process theory of punishment.

Punishment involves both Pavlovian and operant procedures Stimuli associated with punishers become conditioned punishers - Ex: Kid reached for an outlet and gets a shock. In the future, the child does not touch outlets. This is operant learning (touching outlets is punished by the shock). o Outlet (NS) + Shock (US) Fear/Pain (UR) o Outlet (CS) Fear (CR) o This is the Pavlovian conditioning The outlet itself is paired with shock. The outlet is now a conditioned punisher that elicits fear, to the child avoids outlets.

What is likely to happen if we use a weak punisher the first time a behavior occurs and gradually make the punisher more intense when the behavior is repeated?

The problem with beginning with a weaker punisher and gradually increasing its intensity is that the punished behavior will tend to persist during these increases, and in the end a far greater level of punisher may be required to suppress a behavior

What is response prevention? Give an example.

The procedure of altering the environment to prevent unwanted behavior from occurring. Ex: a telephone lock may curb a child's tendency to make telephone calls to people on the other side of the globe Ex: a child who bites his hands may be required to wear gloves

What is a possible problem with the two-process theory of punishment?

The theory has the same flaws when applied to punishment as it does when explaining avoidance. For instance, the theory predicts that punishment would reduce responding in proportion to its proximity to the punished behavior.

Describe the early views of punishment related to the disruptive effects of aversive stimulation.

They proposed that response repression was due to the disruptive effects of aversive stimuli. They pointed out that when a rat is shocked it might jump, then freeze or run hurriedly about. This behavior is clearly incompatible with, say, pressing a lever, so the rate of lever pressing is bound to decline. Skinner gives the example of a child who giggles in church. If the parent pinches the child, this arouses emotional behavior that is incompatible with giggling so the giggling stops or declines. The punished behavior "is merely temporarily suppressed, more or less effectively, by an emotional reaction."

Describe Skinner's teaching machines.

They were mechanical but could be used with a number of instructional programs. Each program consisted of a number or "frames," short presentations of information followed by questions for the students to answer.

What does it mean to say that punishment can result in imitation of the punisher?

Those who are punished tend to imitate those who punish them.

How do alternative sources of reinforcement affect punishment? Give an example.

When punishing an unwanted behavior, be sure to provide an alternative means of obtaining the reinforcers that maintain the behavior. Without an alternative source, the subject may continue to do the unwanted behavior despite the punishments. Ex: is a child receives attention by playing with his food at the dinner table, make sure that he can obtain attention in more acceptable ways. If you do that punishment will be more effective, and may not even be necessary.

Define positive punishment and give some examples

a punishment procedure or experience in which a behavior is followed by the presentation of, or an increase in the intensity of, a stimulus - Spanking, getting yelled at, hangover - Behavior (texting while driving), consequence (rear-end car), outcome (stop texting while driving)

Define negative punishment and give some examples

a punishment procedure or experience in which a behavior is followed by the removal of, or a decrease in the intensity of, a stimulus - Getting grounded, time out, losing money - Behavior (texting while driving), consequence (pay ticket), outcome (stop texting while driving)