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Edward L. Thorndike
Believed that the study of learning in lower animals would reveal important information about human learning; and his best known studies involved placing hungry cats in "puzzle boxes" that required them to make a particular response (e.g., pulling a loop of string) to escape from the box and obtain food.
Because the behaviors he studied were instrumental in helping the animals achieve a goal, Thorndike referred to this phenomenon as instrumental learning
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Edward L. Thorndike - Law of Effect
Any response that is followed by "a satisfying state of affairs" is likely to be repeated, while any act that results in an "annoying state of affairs" is less likely to recur.
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B. F. Skinner
Considered Pavlov's model of classical conditioning adequate for explaining the acquisition of respondent behaviors that are automatically elicited by certain stimuli. However, he believed that most complex behaviors are voluntarily emitted or not emitted as the result of the way they "operate" on the environment (i.e., as the result of the consequences that follow them), and referred to this type of learning as operant conditioning.
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B. F. Skinner - Reinforcement and Punishment
The environment provides organisms with a variety of positive and negative consequences that cause them to either display or withhold the behaviors that preceded them. These consequences are referred to as reinforcement and punishment and can be positive or negative.
- Positive - application of a stimulus
- Negative - withholding or removing a stimulus
- Reinforcement - increases the behavior it follows
- Punishment - decreases the behavior it follows
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B. F. Skinner - Operant Extinction
Occurs when reinforcement is consistently withheld from a previously reinforced behavior to decrease or eliminate that behavior.
Experiments have demonstrated that withdrawal of a reinforcer does not usually cause an immediate cessation of the response.
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B. F. Skinner - Operant Extinction - extinction (response) burst
An initial phase after the withdrawal of a reinforcer in which responding is more variable and forceful
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B. F. Skinner - Operant Extinction - Behavioral Contrast
When a subject has been reinforced for two different behaviors and reinforcement for one behavior is withdrawn in order to extinguish it, the other behavior is likely to increase.
If a rat has been reinforced for pressing both a round and square button and reinforcement for pressing the round button is stopped, round-button pressing will decrease (as expected) and square-button pressing will increase
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B. F. Skinner - Primary versus Secondary Reinforcers
Primary (unconditioned) reinforcers - inherently desirable and do not depend on experience to acquire their reinforcing value. Food and water are examples
Secondary (conditioned) reinforcers - acquire their value only through repeated association with primary reinforcers. Tokens, applause, and gold stars are examples.
When a secondary reinforcer is paired with several primary reinforcers, it is called a generalized secondary reinforcer. Money is an example because it can be exchanged for a variety of primary reinforcers
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B. F. Skinner - Schedules of Reinforcement - Continuous Schedule
When reinforcement is presented after each response
Fastest rate of acquisition of a behavior. However, satiation and rate of extinction are also high for a continuous schedule and best to maintain with an intermittent schedule
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B. F. Skinner - Schedules of Reinforcement - Intermittent Schedules - Fixed Interval
Reinforcement is delivered after a fixed period of time regardless of the number of responses
Tend to produce low rates of responding since the number of response sin unrelated to the delivery of reinforcement and subjects typically stop responding after a reinforcer is delivered and then begin responding again toward the end of the reinforcement interval.
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B. F. Skinner - Schedules of Reinforcement - Intermittent Schedules - Variable Interval
The interval of time between delivery of reinforces varies in an unpredictable manner from interval to interval.
Produces a steady but relatively low rate of response.
This schedule is being used when a specific number of pop quizzes will be given during a semester, but the exact amount of time between quizzes varies.
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B. F. Skinner - Schedules of Reinforcement - Intermittent Schedules - Fixed Ratio
A reinforcer is delivered each time the subject makes a specific number of responses
Produces a relatively high, steady rate of responding, usually with a brief pause following delivery of the reinforcer.
Piecework, in which workers receive payment following completion of a specific number of units is an example
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B. F. Skinner - Schedules of Reinforcement - Intermittent Schedules - Variable Ratio
Reinforcers are provided after a variable number of responses
Produce the highest rates of responding as well as responses that are most resistant to extinction
Gamblers playing slot machines are an example
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B. F. Skinner - Matching Law
The correspondence between responding to two or more alternatives and the frequency of reinforcement for responding
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B. F. Skinner - Superstitious Behavior
Accidental, noncontingent reinforcement can lead to superstitious behavior
When Skinner provided food every 15 seconds regardless of behavior, pigeons displayed odd, ritualistic like behaviors such as head-bobbing and turning counter-clockwise, which they were doing just prior to the reinforcer
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B. F. Skinner - Stimulus Control
When the occurrence of a behavior is affected by the presence of discriminative stimuli (e.g., green light signaling a reinforcer will occur [positive discriminative stimulus] or red light signaling a reinforcer will not occur [negative discriminative stimulus), the behavior is under stimulus control
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B. F. Skinner - Stimulus and Response Generalization
When similar stimuli elicit the same response as it relates to positive discriminative stimuli
A pigeon learned that pecking a key in the presence of a green light results in reinforcement and then also pecks they key when a blue light is on
A child who has been reinforced with attention or praise for calling his father dada may be more likely to also say baba, mama, and gaga in the presence of his father.
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B. F. Skinner - Escape Conditioning
A behavior increases because its performance allows the organism to escape an undesirable (aversive) stimulus.
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B. F. Skinner - Avoidance Conditioning
The result of two-factor learning
The onset of the negative reinforcer is preceded by a cue (positive discriminative stimulus) that signals that the negative reinforcer is about to be applied.
The organism learns that, if it performs the target behavior in the presence of the cue, it can avoid the negative reinforcer altogether.
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Thorndike's law of ________ predicts that a response that is followed by a satisfying state of affairs is likely to be repeated. Skinner extended Thorndike's work and distinguished between two types of consequences: _______ increases the behavior it follows, while _________ decreases the behavior that precedes it. As used by Skinner, the term _______ refers to the application of a stimulus following a behavior and the term ________ refers to the withdrawal of a stimulus. For example, ________ is occurring when the removal of a stimulus following a behavior increases that behavior.
effect
reinforcement
punishment
Positive
Negative
Negative Reinforcement
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Operant extinction occurs when reinforcement is withheld from a(n) _________ response. When extinguishing a behavior, there is often a temporary increase in the behavior, which is referred to as a(n) ___________
previously reinforced
extinction burst
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In operant conditioning, the timing of the reinforcement is important. In general, the rate of acquisition of a behavior is fastest when a(n) ________ schedule is used, while a(n) _________ schedule is more effective for maintaining a behavior.
continuous
intermittent
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Skinner distinguished between four intermittent schedules: A _________ schedule is associated with a low rate of responding and a "scallop" in the cumulative recording, while a __________ schedule produces a fast, steady rate of responding and responses that are more resistant to extinction. The correspondence between the rate of responding to two or more alternatives and the frequency of reinforcement for responding is predicted by the __________.
fixed interval
Variable ratio
matching law
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A pigeon learns that it will be reinforced if it pecks a key in the presence of a green light but not be reinforced in the presence of a red light. The pigeon's key-pecking behavior is under __________, with the green light acting as a ____________ stimulus and the red light serving as a __________ stimulus.
Stimulus control
Positive discriminative
Negative discriminative
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__________ generalization occurs when stimuli similar to the original discriminative stimulus elicit the same response, while _________ generalization occurs when a discriminative stimulus elicits responses similar to the original response.
Stimulus
response
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Escape and avoidance behaviors are both maintained by _________ reinforcement, but the establishment of avoidance behaviors also involves _________ conditioning
negative
classical
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A mother finds that, when she yells at her son, the boy stops picking on his little sister for a brief period of time. Over time, the mother finds that she has to yell more and more frequently at the boy to get him to leave his sister alone. The boy is influencing his mother's behavior (yelling) through:
A.negative punishment
B.positive punishment
C.negative reinforcement
D.positive reinforcement
C
The mother's yelling is increasing, which means that it is being reinforced. It is being reinforced by the removal of her son's undesirable behavior, which means that it is being negatively reinforced.
Answer A: By definition, punishment decreases a behavior; however, in this situation, the mother's behavior is increasing. Positive punishment occurs when the application of a stimulus following a response decreases that response.
Answer B: Negative punishment occurs when the removal of a stimulus following a behavior decreases that behavior.
Answer D: Positive reinforcement involves the application of a stimulus following a behavior in order to increase the occurrence of the behavior.
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A "scallop" in the cumulative recording is characteristic of which schedule of reinforcement?
A.Fixed interval
B.Fixed ratio
C.Variable interval
D.Variable ratio
A
On a fixed interval (FI) schedule, the subject stops responding once the reinforcement is delivered and then begins responding again toward the end of the interval. This produces a "scallop" in the cumulative recording.
Answer B: A fixed ratio (FR) schedule produces a relatively high, steady rate of responding, usually with a brief pause following delivery of the reinforcer.
Answer C: A variable interval (VI) schedule produces a steady but relatively low rate of response.
Answer D: Variable ratio (VR) schedules produce the highest rates of responding as well as responses that are most resistant to extinction.
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Escape conditioning becomes avoidance conditioning when:
A.a signal is provided that indicates that positive reinforcement will be withheld
B.a signal is provided that indicates that an aversive stimulus is about to be delivered
C.the target behavior is positively reinforced
D.the discriminative stimulus is removed
B
Escape and avoidance conditioning are both applications of negative reinforcement. Avoidance conditioning is more complex than escape conditioning, and it involves presenting a cue immediately before the aversive stimulus is applied so that the individual can avoid the aversive stimulus by engaging in the target behavior as soon as the cue is presented.
Answer A: In avoidance conditioning, the onset of a negative (not positive) reinforcer is preceded by a cue that signals the negative reinforcer is about to be applied.
Answer C: In both escape conditioning and avoidance conditioning, behaviors are maintained by negative reinforcement.
Answer D: Escape conditioning becomes avoidance conditioning when a cue is added before the aversive stimulus is applied. The cue is a positive discriminative stimulus.
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In the context of stimulus control, a positive discriminative stimulus:
A.signals that a behavior will be reinforced
B.signals that the individual can choose between two or more reinforcers
C.is a type of primary reinforcer
D.is a type of secondary reinforcer
A
When the occurrence of a behavior is affected by the presence of a discriminative stimulus, the behavior is said to be under stimulus control. A positive discriminative stimulus indicates that the behavior will be reinforced, while a negative discriminative stimulus indicates that it will not be reinforced.
Answer B: In the context of stimulus control, individuals do not choose between two or more reinforcers. However, stimulus control is an example of two-factor learning because performance of the target behavior is due to operant conditioning, but the presence or absence of the behavior due to discriminative stimuli is a result of classical conditioning.
Answer C: A primary reinforcer is inherently desirable and does not depend on associations to acquire its reinforcing value. Food and water are examples of primary reinforcers.
Answer D: Secondary reinforcers acquire their value only through repeated association with primary reinforcers. Tokens, applause, and gold stars are examples of secondary reinforcers.
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A teacher uses verbal reprimands whenever students in his class misbehave in order to reduce their misbehavior. If the reprimands have the desired effect, they are acting as which of the following?
A.Positive punishment
B.Negative punishment
C.Positive reinforcement
D.Negative reinforcement
A
Verbal reprimands are used to reduce an undesirable behavior. They are a form of positive punishment because verbal reprimands involve the application of a stimulus following a behavior to reduce the behavior.
Answer B: Negative punishment involves removing a stimulus following a behavior in order to reduce or eliminate that behavior.
Answer C: Positive reinforcement involves applying a stimulus following a behavior in order to increase that behavior.
Answer D: Negative reinforcement involves removing a stimulus following a behavior in order to increase that behavior.
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According to the __________, the relative frequency of responding to an alternative corresponds to the frequency of reinforcement for responding to that alternative.
A.law of effect
B.matching law
C.law of contiguity
D.Premack Principle
B
The statement in the question defines the matching law (Herrnstein, 1970), which states that the frequency of responding to two or more alternatives (e.g., pressing two or more levers) matches the frequency of being reinforced for doing so. In other words, the frequency of responding matches the frequency of reinforcement.
Answer A: According to Thorndike's law of effect, a behavior that is followed by a "satisfying consequence" will likely occur again.
Answer C: The law of contiguity states that learning depends on the proximity of stimuli in space and time.
Answer D: The Premack Principle is a type of positive reinforcement that involves using a high frequency behavior as a reinforcer for low frequency behavior.
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