Operant Conditioning
Every time John broke a house rule, he was grounded from hanging out with friends, because of this he broke rules less. This is what type of contingency?
Negative Punishment
Every time Alexis washes the dishes four times, her mother gives her ten dollars. What kind of schedule of reinforcement is this? What is the cascade?
Fixed Ratio four (FR-4)
Wash dishes (R/FR-4) -> Ten dollars (SR+)
After no longer reinforcing the behavior of studying for 2 hours with a piece of candy, Lia began to study less. This is what?
The process of extinction
What is a reflex and how is it adaptive?
The basic unit of behavior and it is a motor response due to stimuli. It is adaptive as it does not require your brain to think out every process that you need a quick reaction to.
What schedule of reinforcement is the best when first starting operant conditioning?
Continuous Reinforcement (CFR)
Sara was constantly praised growing up for getting good grades. She now finds good grades reinforcing. What kind of reinforcer are grades in this example?
Secondary Reinforcer, as it had been associated with praise (a primary reinforcer)
Differential Reinforcement of Paced Rates
The sound of your phone ringing, thus increasing your probability of answering the phone is what?
Stimulus control
While at a circus, a clown walks around the corner and bumps into Lee. At that moment a bee stings him. Now whenever he sees a clown he is fearful. What is the NS, UCS, CS, UCR, and CR?
NS and CS - clown
UCS - sting
UCR - pain
CR - fear
What causes superstitious behavior? Why?
Non-contingent behaviors as they do not reinforce one specific behavior (no behavior at all) so the organism decides a behavior it rewarded and continues to do that behavior.
Negative Reinforcement
Darren gets five dollars on an average of fifteen minutes. What kind of schedule is this?
Variable Time
Abandoning your video game that keeps glitching and not allowing you to win to get ice cream is an example of what?
A side effect of extinction: Resurgence
What is habituation and sensitization and how are they adaptive?
Habituation is the decrease in response to a continuous stimulus and is adaptive as it allows you to ignore irrelevant stimuli.
Sensitization is the increase in response to a continuous stimulus and it is adaptive as it requires you to pay attention to important, possibly threatening stimuli.
What factors sabotage intrinsic motivation?
The reward is expected, tangible, and you get it from simply doing the behavior (doesn't matter if behavior is done well or not).
Give an overview of operant conditioning including: definition, main proponents, type of behavior and name for behavior.
Actions influence behaviors, so the probability of a behavior is influenced by it consequence.
Thorndike and Skinner
Emitted (voluntary) and operants
Jared receives praise from his teacher on for answering a question the first time after an average of ten minutes has passed. What is the schedule and the cascade?
Variable Interval ten minutes (VI-10 mins)
Answering question (VI-10 mins) -> praise (SR+)
What are the side effects of extinction? Explain them.
Extinction burst - an increase in preforming the behavior
Increase in variability - doing the behavior in a different way
Emotional behavior - frustration or annoyance
Aggression - increased intensity of anger (sometimes violent)
Resurgence - seek reinforcement some where else
Depression - a decrease in activity
A duck scooping up an egg to place back in the nest is an example of what? Why is this adaptive?
Fixed Action Pattern, it is adaptive as keeping the egg is crucial to survival and the baby living, thus having this automatic response makes it easier than having to think about retrieving the egg.
What are the schedules that have steady state behaviors, and what are these steady state behaviors for each schedule?
Fixed Ratio (rapid response with short pause after reinforcement, low resistance extinction)
Variable Ratio (rapid response with no reinforcement pause, high resistance to extinction)
Fixed Interval (lower response rate with a pause after reinforcement until end of time needed to wait then an increase in response right as time gets closer, low resistance to extinction)
Variable Interval (low, steady response rate, high resistance to extinction)
Kai wanted their dog to compete in a dog obstacle course. First they wanted to train the dog to walk between poles. With every step closer towards walking between poles their dog was given a treat. This is an example of what?
Shaping
Lena needs to study for her psychology exam on her laptop. However, her laptop (in front of her) is closed, powered off, and password protected. What is the chained schedule she must preform to open her word document to study.
What effects resistance to extinction? Explain.
- Schedules of Reinforcement
- History of reinforcement
- Magnitude (saliency) of reinforcement
- Delay of reinforcement (NOTHING TO DO WITH SCHEDULES)
- Degree of deprivation
- Previous experience w/ extinction
- Distinctive signal for extinction
What are the oversight committees for human and non-human animals for ethics? What are the themes they hold?
IRB (Institutional Review Board):
Responsibility, risk/benefit ratio, protection of vulnerable populations, deception, informed consent, IRB oversight
IACUC (Institution of Animal Care and Use Committee):
Responsibility, veterinarian care, risk/benefit ratio, appropriate care (housing, food, etc), and no unnecessary pain.
Laney loves watching her favorite show Ghost Files and likes to tune in once a week, but she doesn't like folding laundry and often pushes it off. To stop this she does not allow herself to watch Ghost Files until she folds laundry. What principle is this an example of?
Premack Principle