Reinforcement and Behavior Quiz

Reinforcement Types

• Positive reinforcement involves presenting a pleasant stimulus after executing a desired behavior to increase its occurrence.
• The primary purpose of a reinforcer is to strengthen behavior by providing a consequence that promotes recurrence.
• Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an aversive stimulus following the desired behavior to encourage its repetition.
• Positive reinforcement adds a pleasant stimulus when the desired behavior is exhibited.

Outcomes of Reinforcement

• The ultimate outcome of employing positive or negative reinforcement is increased likelihood of desired behaviors being repeated.
• In escape conditioning, behaviors that terminate existing unpleasant stimuli are reinforced and tend to continue over time.

Specific Reinforcement Types

• Avoidance conditioning is a form of negative reinforcement where the behavior is learned to prevent future aversive stimuli.
• An unpleasant stimulus removed upon the execution of a desired behavior is known as the aversive stimulus.

Negative Reinforcement Scenario

• Removing the expectation that a child will take their younger sibling along to an event serves as an example of negative reinforcement.

Behavioral Principles

• In negative reinforcement, the removal of unpleasant stimuli corresponds with the display of desired behavior, encouraging more of that behavior.
• The primary purpose of punishment in behavior modification is to decrease the likelihood of undesired behaviors.

Types of Punishment

• Type I punishment, or positive punishment, adds an unpleasant stimulus following undesired behavior to deter its recurrence.
• Type II punishment, or negative punishment, involves removing a pleasant stimulus as a consequence for undesired behavior.

Understanding Punishment Types

• Type I punishment is characterized by an unpleasant stimulus being introduced after negative behavior occurs.
• The primary goal of Type II punishment is to reduce undesirable behavior by withdrawing positive stimuli.

Role of Punishers

• A primary punisher is an inherently unpleasant stimulus that naturally decreases behavior.
• A secondary or conditioned punisher gains its effect through association with a primary punisher, enhancing its efficacy.

Shaping Behavior

• Shaping, or successive approximations, refers to gradually reinforcing behaviors that are closer to the desired outcome.
• The primary purpose of shaping is to facilitate the learning of complex behaviors by breaking them into manageable steps.

Concept of Escape Conditioning

• Escape conditioning centers on learning behaviors to avoid or escape from aversive conditions, reinforcing the behavior that leads to relief from discomfort.

Test your knowledge on reinforcers, the stimuli/events that increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring. Understand the concept of reinforcement as a tool to shape behavior through conditioning, and distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement.