W8L1 Instrumental Conditioning PDF
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Uploaded by FelicitousKazoo7765
University of Sydney
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Summary
These notes cover instrumental conditioning, focusing on Edward Thorndike's Law of Effect and the concept of radical behaviorism. They also touch on behavior shaping and different reinforcement schedules.
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## Instrumental (or Operant) Conditioning ### Edward Thorndike - Interested in animal intelligence and if they showed **insight** - meaning suddenly gaining an understanding of things - Dissatisfied with current ideas of animals (they weren't involved with scientific method) - Conducted the cat in...
## Instrumental (or Operant) Conditioning ### Edward Thorndike - Interested in animal intelligence and if they showed **insight** - meaning suddenly gaining an understanding of things - Dissatisfied with current ideas of animals (they weren't involved with scientific method) - Conducted the cat in puzzle box experiment - Over time cat learns how to get out quicker and quicker - **Trial and error** learning - Found progressive improvement over many trials ### Law of Effect - Thorndike (1911): What a human or animal does is strongly influenced by the immediate consequences of such behavior in the past ### Thorndike's Study Led To: - A new era of scientific study of changes in behavior - **(Radical) behaviorism**: rejection of anything unobservable - Essentially the belief that all human psychology was reducible to relationships between stimuli, responses, and consequences ### Radical Behaviorism Voices - B.F. Skinner (1904-90) - Watson (1878-1958) ### Reinforcers - Anything used to provide influence - Money - Clicker (dogs) - Praise - etc. - **Critical component** of instrumental conditioning ### Behavior Shaping - Build slowly towards a target behavior through smaller steps. Reinforcing behavior as it gets closer and closer to target behavior, while also getting more stringent on what behavior you reward as you get closer. ### Response - Consequence Contingencies | | Appetitive (Good) | Aversive (Bad, Like Shocking) | | :---- | :----------------- | :----------------------------- | | **Response Produces Consequence** | **Positive Reinforcement** (increases) | **Positive Punishment** (decreases) | | **Response Prevents Consequence** | **Negative Punishment** (commission) | **Negative Reinforcement** (escape/avoid) | ### Schedules of Reinforcement - **Skinner**: The way reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount given. | **Type** | **Fixed** | **Variable** | | :------- | :----------------------------------------------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Ratio** | Reinforcer occurs every _n_ responses (loyalty cards) | Reinforcer occurs on average every _n_ responses (slot machines) | | **Interval** | Reinforcer available after _n_ min/day (pay cycle, free drink) | Reinforcer available on average after _n_ min/day (emails, messages) | **Two Steps**: 1. Discriminative Stimuli: what you hear/feel/etc. 2. Response to SD (1) ### Flooding Technique - Preventing from running away in exposure therapy