Operant Conditioning in Psychology

24 Questions

What is another name for operant conditioning?

Instrumental conditioning

Which type of learning is controlled by its consequences?

Operant conditioning

In operant conditioning, what term is used for the reinforcing or punishing stimulus following a behavior?

SP stimulus

What did Thorndike's experiments with cats in puzzle boxes demonstrate?

Gradual strengthening of successful responses

In operant conditioning, what does a discriminative stimulus (SD) do?

Increase the probability of a behavior occurring

What are the three terms that operant conditioning consists of?

Antecedent event, behavior, and consequence

Which of the following is true about negative reinforcement?

An example is Karen crying and her boyfriend hugging her to make her feel better

What does 'negative punishment' mean?

It involves removing a stimulus to decrease behavior

'Reinforcement' always means:

Strengthening behavior

'Punishment' always means:

Weakening behavior

What are primary reinforcers?

Events that are innately reinforcing and satisfy basic physiological needs.

What technique is used to reinforce behaviors that don't come naturally?

Shaping

What do secondary reinforcers become associated with through conditioning?

Reinforcement

What is the term used in operant conditioning to refer to stimuli that follow a behavior and increase the probability of that behavior occurring?

Reinforcers

Which law states that the connection between a stimulus (S) and response (R) is strengthened if followed by a satisfying state of affairs or weakened if followed by an annoying state of affairs?

Law of Effect

What type of learning emphasizes the importance of reinforcement and punishment, and highlights the association between behavior and its results or consequences?

Operant conditioning

What type of environment is needed to study operant conditioning?

Controlled environment

What does discriminative stimuli do in operant conditioning?

Signal the availability of reinforcement and make responses more likely to occur

What does cumulative recording in operant conditioning indicate?

The rate of responding over time

What term refers to the process by which a certain consequence changes the strength of a behavior in operant conditioning?

Reinforcement and punishment

In operant conditioning, what are stimuli that follow a behavior and decrease the probability of that behavior occurring called?

Punishers

What type of learning emphasizes that behaviors that work are strengthened, while behaviors that don't work are weakened?

Thorndike's Laws of Learning

What does cumulative recording in operant conditioning never do?

Go down on the y-axis

What type of response is pecking a key for food reinforcement in a Skinner Box?

Operant response

Study Notes

Thorndike's Laws of Learning:
- Law of Effect: Connection between stimulus (S) and response (R) is strengthened if followed by a satisfying state of affairs (reinforced) or weakened if followed by an annoying state of affairs (punished).
- Law of Exercise: S-R connection is strengthened by use and weakened by disuse.
- Law of Readiness: Motivation is needed to develop an association or display changed behavior.
- Learning is incremental and not insightful, happening in small steps rather than huge jumps.
- Behaviors that work are strengthened, while behaviors that don't work are weakened.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner and Operant Conditioning:
- Learning is based on associating behavior with its results or consequences.
- Operant conditioning highlights the importance of reinforcement and punishment in learning.
- Controlled environment is needed to study this type of learning.
- Operant responses are behavior that leads to a consequence, affecting the future probability of the response.
- Cumulative recording records time on the x-axis and total number of responses on the y-axis, never going down, and the rate with which the line ascends indicates the rate of responding.
Operant Consequences: Reinforcers and Punishers:
- Reinforcers are stimuli that follow a behavior and increase the probability of that behavior occurring.
- Punishers are stimuli that follow a behavior and decrease the probability of that behavior occurring.
- Reinforcers and punishers are specific consequences that follow a behavior.
- The terms reinforcement and punishment refer to the process or procedure by which a certain consequence changes the strength of a behavior.
- Reinforcers and punishers are given specific symbols in operant conditioning procedures.
Discriminative Stimuli:
- Reinforcers and punishers are specific stimuli that follow a behavior.
- Operant behaviors are contrasted with elicited behaviors.
- Discriminative stimuli signal the availability of reinforcement and make responses more likely to occur.
- When a behavior is consistently reinforced or punished in the presence of certain stimuli, those stimuli will begin to influence the occurrence of the behavior.
Skinner Box:
- A controlled environment designed to study operant conditioning in which animals earn food by performing a specific behavior (pecking a response key), resulting in an increase in the future probability of the response.
- The effect: The future probability of pecking the key increases.
- The behavior is an operant response because its occurrence results in the delivery of a certain consequence, and the consequence affects the future probability of the response.
- Cumulative recording records the time on the x-axis and total number of responses on the y-axis, indicating the rate of responding.

This quiz explores the concept of operant conditioning in psychology, focusing on the association between stimuli and behavior, reinforcing and punishing stimuli, and the importance of controlling complex, voluntary behavior.

Make Your Own Quizzes and Flashcards

Convert your notes into interactive study material.