Psych of Learning Hammonds TEST 3

Define positive reinforcement. Give an example.

the consequence of a behavior is the appearance of, or increase in the intensity of, a stimulus.

Describe Premack's experiments with rats and with children

-Rats: conducted an experiment in which he deprived rats of water so that they were inclined to drink and then made drinking contingent on running: to get a drink, the rats had to run. The result was that the time spent running, in other words, drinking reinforced running. -Children: gave first graders the opportunity to eat candy dispensed from a machine or to play a pinball machine. The children could stick with one activity or alternative between the two. Some children spent more time at the pinball machine, others preferred to eat candy. For instance, a child who preferred playing pinball now had to eat candy to get access to the pinball machine. The result was that the less probable behavior increased.

What did Thorndike mean by "satisfying" and "annoying"?

-annoying state of affairs: continuous hunger and separation from other chicks -satisfying state of affairs: leads to food and contact with other chicks

Discuss 4 advantages of using secondary reinforcers

1) Subtle changes in the environment will act as reinforcers if they are regularly paired with other reinforcers. 2) It is often much easier to reinforce behavior immediately with them than with primary reinforcers. 3) They are often less disruptive than primary reinforcers. 4) Can be used in many different situations. less chance of satiation, easier to use immediately, less disruption of the behavior, can be used in more situations(ex: even if the animal if not hungry, thirsty..)

What are the two parts of the law of effect? Restate each in your own words. Sum up the law of effect in one sentence.

2 parts: behavior & consequence; the law of effect is the relationship between behavior and consequence. behavior is a function of its consequence. behaviors that have good consequences tend to be repeated; behaviors that have bad consequences tend to not be repeated.

What is the difference between a reward and a reinforcer?

A reinforcer is any event, which when it follows a response, increases that response in the future. A reward is an everyday term for a reinforcer, but is less specific. Sometimes things are called rewards even if they have no effect on behavior. "Reward" may refer to any consequence of a behavior. The term "reward" may be based on the intentions of the presenter. A stimulus is a reinforcer only if its contingent presentation or removal strengthens behavior. Intentions are irrelevant. Example: I give a student a gold star for coming to class. If he comes to class more often, the gold star may have been a reinforcer. If he doesnt, the gold star may be a reward but not a reinforcer. A common reward is the "Employee of the Month" award. this is usually not a reinforcer.—> most of the time it doesn't work as a reinforcer. it's delayed too long, and other reasons. It is incorrect to say that a person has been reinforced. Instead we say that the behavior is reinforced.

Give some examples of adrenaline serving as a reinforcer.

A lawyer went sky diving every weekend he could and he couldn't get over the high it gave him so he wanted to do it over and over again. This is a rough definition of reinforcement.

Define "primary reinforcer". Give some examples.

Any reinforcer that is innately reinforcing, not dependent on its association with other reinforcers. examples: food, water, and sexual simulation. naturally reinforcing and usually reinforcing for everyone. satisfy biological needs

Define "secondary reinforcer". Give some examples.

Are those that are not innate, but the result of learning experiences. examples: money, grades, awards, clicker. have been paired with other effective reinforcers. a clicker paired with a treat for a dog or cat.

Define and give examples of establishing operations and abolishing operations.

Establishing Operations: A motivating operation that increases the effectiveness of a consequence (a reinforcer or punisher). Example: Depriving an animal of food.. this makes food a more potent reinforcer. Tolman and Honzik gave rats food on reaching the end of a maze; some rats had been deprived of food, and some had not. The greater the level of deprivation, the more effective the reinforcer. Abolishing Operations: A motivating operation that decreases the effectiveness of a consequence (a reinforcer or punisher). Example: Some drugs reduce the reinforcing effects of food. If a drug makes food less reinforcing, it may help people lose weight. Also, if a drug reduces the reinforcing power of nicotine or heroin, this may help people end their addiction.

Discuss the difference between contrived reinforcers and natural reinforcers and give some examples of each.

Natural Reinforcers: are events that follow spontaneously from a behavior// example: when you wake up in the morning and brush your teeth your teeth no longer taste like garbage • Contrived Reinforcers: are events that are provided by someone for the purpose of modifying behavior// example: a parent may give a child a cookie when they say it, because they want them to say words. contrived: reinforcer that has been arranged by someone natural: reinforcer produced by the behavior examples: vending machine(contrived), praise from a teacher(contrived)

According to the one-process theory, which type of learning occurs in avoidance learning?

Operant Learning

Define "generalized reinforcer" and give an example.

Reinforcers that have been paired with many different kinds of reinforcers can be used in a wide variety of situations.

What are some features of behaviors that can be strengthened by reinforcement?

tendency of behavior, frequency of behavior, probability of behavior

Give some examples of using shaping

Tantrums are often the product of shaping. A tired parent may give into a child's repeated requests to "shut him up" On the next occasion, the parent may resist giving in to the child's demands. The child responds by becoming louder or by crying, and the parent yields to the avoid causing a scene. On a subsequent occasion, determined to regain control, the parent may refuse to comply when the child cries or shouts, but gives in when the child produces bugle-like wails. And so it goes on: The parent gradually demands more and more outrageous behavior for reinforcement, and the child obliges, eventually engaging in full-fledged tantrums. The fact that the parent does not intend to shape tantrums is irrelevant; what matters are consequences, not intentions. Some animals seem to use a kind of shaping procedure in the training of their young. Observations in the wild suggest that otters first feed their young on dead prey(mostly fish), but as the pups mature their parents bring prey that are more and more challenging. The prey may be injured but thrashing about, so the young otters must finish the job to eat. This process continues until finally the adults take their young to the hunting area and bring them uninjured prey. Thus, the otters build on past skills until they master the art of hunting and killing prey on their own

Describe the Solomon and Wynne (1953) study involving dogs and avoidance learning

The dogs in the study showed considerable evidence of fear of the CS in the early stages of learning, but once they had learned to avoid shock, the CS no longer seemed to trouble them.

Describe a typical Skinner box.

food fell in a tray if and only if the rat pressed the lever. page 131

Describe the two-process theory of avoidance learning and give an example.

The idea that the avoidance behavior is reinforced by escape from an aversive CS leads logically to the prediction that is the CS were to lose its averseness, the avoidance behavior would cease to occur

What is "satiation"? What does it have to do with using primary reinforcers?

The loss of effectiveness of primary reinforcers due to their repeated use// this has to do with primary reinforcers because satiation is the process of losing the primary reinforcers

What is the Premack principle? How does it explain reinforcement? Give an example.

The observation that high-probability behavior reinforces low-probability behavior. This suggests that if a rat shows a stronger inclination to drink than to run in an exercise wheel, drinking can be used to reinforce running. food isn't a reinforcer, eating food is a reinforcer.

Define "shaping". What is meant by "successive approximations"?

The reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior. Shaping makes it possible to establish behavior in a few minutes that rarely or never occurs spontaneously. Successive Approximations: For example, a researcher can use shaping to train a rat to press a lever during an experiment (since rats are not born with the instinct to press a lever in a cage during an experiment). To start, the researcher may reward the rat when it makes any movement at all in the direction of the lever. Then, the rat has to actually take a step toward the lever to get rewarded. Then, it has to go over to the lever to get rewarded (remember, it will not receive any reward for doing the earlier behaviors now...it must make a more advanced move by going over to the lever), and so on until only pressing the lever will produce reward. The rat's behavior was 'shaped' to get it to press the lever." --In this example, each time the rat is rewarded, it is being rewarded for a "successive approximation", or for acting in a way that gets closer and closer to the desired behavior we reinforce versions of the behavior that are closer and closer to what we want

Describe relative value theory. How does this theory view reinforcers?

Theory of reinforcement that considers reinforcers to be behaviors rather than stimuli and that attributes a reinforcers effectiveness to its probability relative to other behaviors. To determine whether a given activity will reinforce another, we need to know only the relative values of the activities

Describe Hull's drive reduction theory of reinforcement. Why has this theory become less popular?

Works reasonably well with primary reinforcers such as food and water because these reinforcers alter a physiological state. There are just too many reinforcers that neither reduce drives nor acquire their reinforcing properties from their association with primary reinforcers

Define negative reinforcement. Give an example.

a behavior is strengthened by the removal, or a decrease in the intensity, of a stimulus.

What is behavioral momentum?

a term used used to refer to the strength of a reinforced behavior

in learning, how is "reinforcement" defined?

an increase in the strength of behavior due to its consequence

What is a positive reinforcer? What is a negative reinforcer? Give examples of each.

any stimulus which, when presented following a behavior, increases or maintains the strength of the behavior. Positive: behavior is strengthened by the addition of a stimulus or an increase in the intensity of a stimulus. Negative: behavior is strengthened by the removal of a stimulus or a decrease in the intensity of stimulus. Example: positive: money, praise, awards Example: Negative: alarm clock, headache, electric shock

Why is negative reinforcement sometimes called escape learning or escape-avoidance learning?

because you are escaping from an aversive or unpleasant situation.

How are positive and negative reinforcement similar? How are they different?

both of them are trying to increase the behavior. positive is an addition of something to increase the behavior and negative is the removal of something to increase the behavior.

Secondary reinforcers are also called ______________ reinforcers.

conditioned

Define "operant learning".

experiences whereby behavior is strengthened or weakened by its consequences

Describe Thorndike's study involving chicks. What were the results?

he put a chick into a maze. if the chick took the correct route, it found its way to a pen containing food and other chicks. when he first put it in the maze it tried to jump out of the enclosure then wandered down one blind alley after another, peeping very loudly the whole time, until it finally found its way. after many tries, the chick became more efficient. finally, when placed in the maze, it would go directly down the appropriate path.

Describe Thorndike's "puzzle box" experiments. Describe how learning progressed during these studies.

he would place a hungry cat in a "puzzle box" and put food in plain view but out of reach. the box had a door that could be opened by some simple act, such as pulling a wire loop or stepping on a treadle. like the chicks, the cat began by performing a number of ineffective acts. the cat would typically try to squeeze through any opening; it claws and bites at the bars or wire; it thrusts its paws out through any opening and claws at everything it reaches; it continues its efforts when it strikes anything loose and shaky; it may claw at things within the box. eventually, the cat would pull on the loop or step on the treadle, the door would fall open and that cat would make its way to freedom and food. he returned it to the trial for the 2nd time and it went through the same kinds of things until it did what was required to open the door. with each trial after, the cat made fewer ineffective movements until, after many trials, it would immediately pull on the loop or step on the treadle and escape.

Draw a sample graph showing amount of time it might take a cat to escape from a puzzle box over a number of trials.

look at graph on page 129(goes from taking a lot of time to taking way less time)

How can we determine if something is a positive reinforcer or a negative reinforcer?

positive would be something added to increase the behavior and negative would be something taken away to increase the behavior. usually negative delays or removes the aversive situation. Positive reinforcers are usually things that are "good" or "pleasant". Negative reinforcers are usually things that are "bad" or "unpleasant" However, each is defined by the effects on behavior.

If someone were trying to change your behavior, would you prefer that they use positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement? Explain.

positive. because there will be something added, whether it be something good added to increase the behavior or something like shock therapy added so the behavior will decrease. pos: if you don't do the behavior, you get nothing. if you do it, then you get something out of it. neg: something bad is happening in the first place.. so if you don't do the behavior, something bad continues.. but if you do it then it just stops.. you don't really get anything out of it

Describe response deprivation theory. How does it compare to the Premack's relative value theory?

the theory of reinforcement that says a behavior is reinforcing to the extent that the organism has been deprived of performing that behavior. Also called equilibrium or response-restriction theory

Primary reinforcers are also called __________________ reinforcers.

unconditional

Give an example where it is difficult to tell whether positive or negative reinforcement is taking place.

when your alarm goes off in the morning so you press the snooze button.. it would be negative bc you take away the annoying sound but some could think it is positive bc you get more sleep.