Flashcards
Operant conditioning (Skinner-1935)
Cards in this deck (43)
- 1How is operant conditioning different to classical conditioning?considers the learning of voluntary behaviour through consequences rather than involuntary innate reflexes
- 2What is the basic idea behind operant conditioning?behaviour is shaped by seeking rewards and avoiding punishments
- 3Thorndike (1911)put a cat in a cage with a latch on the door and a piece of salmon outside the cage. After first trying to reach through the cage, the cat hit the latch on the door and the door opened. With repetition the amount of time spent opening the door became less and less
- 4What is meant by 'trial and error'?repeating an activity until it's successful by learning from previous failed attempts
- 5What is the 'law of effect'?Edwards Thorndike: suggesting that behaviour with a nice consequence following it will lead to replication of behaviour. Behaviour with an unpleasant consequence will lead to it being withdrawn
- 6Positive ReinforcementSomething good is given because of the behaviour, so the behaviour is repeated
- 7Negative ReinforcementSomething bad is taken away because of the behaviour and so the behaviour is repeated
- 8Punishmentsomething pleasant is taken away, or something unpleasant is administered because someone has shown undesired behaviour, therefore they're less likely to repeat the behaviour
- 9Primary ReinforcementThe reward is a basic need, like food or warmth
- 10Secondary Reinforcementthe reward is something that can buy or get a basic need, like money or tokens
- 11What year was Skinner?1935
- 12Describe the Skinner boxa hungry rat is placed in the box and sooner or later it accidentally presses the lever. When the lever is pressed, food pellets are released into the box. This reward is known as a positive reinforcer. As a result the lever pressing continues - the incidence of the behaviour has been increased by the reward given. Next the food dispenser is disconnected but the lever pressing continues. The rat is operantly conditioned.
- 13What does the ABC stand for in Skinner's ABC Model of Operant Conditioning?Antecedent
Behaviour
Consequence - 14What is a real life application of operant conditioning?Token Economy - used in prisons to improve inmate behaviour. Tokens are given for positive behaviours (taking part in constructive activities, cleaning, good behaviour etc). These secondary reinforces are exchanged for primary reinforces such as telephone calls home, cigarettes, toiletries. Punishment = tokens taken away.
- 15What are some situations where you might purposely try to train and reinforce an action?in the classroom, in sports, or in animal training
- 16What are the 2 types of reinforcement schedules?Continuous Reinforcement
Partial Reinforcement - 17What is Continuous Reinforcement?the desired behaviour is reinforced every time it occurs
- 18When is Continuous Reinforcement best used?during the initial stages of learning in order to create a strong association between the behaviour and response - once the association is strong, the schedule is usually switched to Partial Reinforcement
- 19What is Partial Reinforcement?the response is reinforced only part of the time - learned behaviours are acquired more slowly this way but the response it more resistant to extinction
- 20What are the 4 schedules of Partial Reinforcement?Ratio-fixed schedules
Ratio-variable schedules
Interval-fixed schedules
Interval-variable schedules - 21What is a ratio-fixed schedule?a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses
- 22What do ratio-fixed schedules produce?a high, steady rate of responding with only a brief pause after the delivery of the reinforcer
- 23What is an example of a fixed-ratio schedule?delivering a food pellet to a rat after it presses a bar 5 times
- 24What are ratio-variable schedules?when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses
- 25What do ratio-variable schedules produce?a high steady rate of responding
- 26What is an example of a ratio-variable schedule in real life?Gambling and lottery games
- 27What is an example of a ratio-variable schedule in a lab setting?delivering food pellets to a rat after 1 bar press, again after 4 bar presses, and again after 2 bar presses
- 28What are interval-fixed schedules?where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed
- 29What do interval-fixed schedules produce?high amounts of responding near the end of the interval, but much slower responding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer
- 30What is an example of an interval-fixed schedule in a lab setting?reinforcing a rat with a food pellet for the first bar press after a 30 second interval has elapsed
- 31What are interval-variable schedules?when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed
- 32What do interval-variable schedules produce?a slow, steady rate of response
- 33What is an example of an interval-variable schedule in a lab setting?delivering a food pellet to a rat after the first bar press following a 1 minute interval, another pellet for the first bar press following a 5 minute interval, and another food pellet for the first bar press following a 3 minute interval
- 34What is another variant of operant conditioning?behaviour modification/ shaping
- 35What is behaviour shaping/ modification?instead of waiting for a subject to exhibit a desired behaviour, any behaviour leading to the target behaviour is rewarded
- 36What did Skinner discover (in relation to rats and behaviour shaping)?that in order to train a rat to push a lever, any movement in that direction of the lever has to be rewarded, until finally the rat was trained to push a lever. Once the target behaviour is reached, however, no other behaviour is rewarded.
- 37Why is the fact that many of Skinner's experiments have been replicated with similar results found, a good thing?high reliability
- 38Why is the fact that the basis of operant conditioning is considered scientific, a good thing?high internal validity
- 39Why is it a good thing that many of the experiments have taken place in lab conditions?highly controlled - establish cause and effect - increase internal validity
- 40What applications of operant conditioning are there?behavioural systems in schools and token economies in prisons
- 41Which year was Hobbs and Holt?1976
- 42What did they do?introduced a token economy system in 3 juvenile delinquent centres for boys
- 43What did they find?there was a significant increase in the desired behaviours
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- A level Psychology (4 Learning Theories) Flashcards on Operant conditioning (Skinner-1935), created by Ella Middlemiss on 28/03/2017.
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- Ella Middlemiss
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