Psych Module 5

Which of the following experiments involves the use of operant conditioning?
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Which of the following experiments involves the use of operant conditioning?
Rewarding a child for finishing his oatmeal mush and counting how many times the child needs to be rewarded before he finishes his oatmeal voluntarily
Ian, age 2, was watching his father hammer a nail. His father hit his own thumb and then used several expletives. As his father went in the house for a banded, Ian went over to the nail, picked up the hammer, pretended to hit his finger, and repeated the expletives. This scenario is an example of what kind of learning?
Observational
Molly attempts to condition her puppy to greet her when she enters the house. She repeatedly pairs her entry to the house with a treat for the puppy. The puppy eventually acquires this ability, and Molly realizes how irritating it is for the puppy to run up to her every time she enters the house. So she stops providing the puppy with a treat when she gets home and completely ignores the puppy until she calms down. The puppy no longer greeting her when she enters the house is an example of ______________.
Extinction
Of the following, the strongest association in a classical conditioning paradigm will be observed if:
the NS/CS is presented immediately before the UCS.
What is the main difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?
Classical conditioning requires learning that two events are related, whereas operant conditioning requires learning that behavior leads to consequences.
Dr Gitter, and his wife and daughter are bird nerds. They enjoy sitting in their sunroom and looking for the birds that frequent their back yards. Over the years, they have learned that there are certain times of day, and certain times of year, when birds will be most likely to appear and be available for observation. For example, hummingbirds seem to frequent the flowers in their backyard in the late Summer months. The Mississippi Kites tend to hunt for bugs in the skies above their front yard every afternoon during the late Spring. Finally, it seems winter is the best time to hear the Pileated Woodpecker (Dr. Gitter's favorite bird) drumming and calling in the early mornings. So when these dates/times arrive, Dr. Gitter and his family are sure to be on the lookout for these specific birds.

Apparently, the bird-nerdery of Dr Gitter and his family has reached an epic level due to their recognition that birds' migratory, feeding, and mating patterns are on a ________________.
Fixed interval
Dr Gitter's dad is a fly fisherman. Dr Gitter just doesn't get it. His dad stands in freezing cold Wisconsin streams several times a week casting his line out over and over again in the hopes of catching a fish - - which he then releases back into the stream and doesn't even eat!!!!!!!!!

Now that we have that out of the way...

Fly fishing is a bit different than traditional bait fishing. In bait fishing, you cast your line out and wait for a fish to bite. In fly fishing, you cast your line out, retrieve it, and then cast it out again. You are trying to time your cast to the presence of a fish in the stream. Sadly, fish are not very good at keeping their regular schedules of hanging around people who are fishing for them. So people who fly fish never quite know when one will be swimming by.

Based on the information above, we would say that the occasional catching of fish when fly fishing is on a ___________ schedule of reinforcement.
Variable interval
Positive reinforcement and positive punishment are similar in that both:
Involve the administration of a stimulus.
You want your dog to learn to lie down when you are about to give him a treat. If you first reinforce his behavior when he sits, then when he sits and leans his head down, then when he fully lies down, you are using the technique called:
Shaping
Barbara was slacking off with her in-class schoolwork. But then she saw Martin get a special star sticker for completing his schoolwork ahead of time. Barbara immediately got to work to complete her schoolwork.

What type of learning led to Barbara's increased motivation to complete her schoolwork?
Negative reinforcement
Dave worked extra hard this month and fulfilled his sales quota. So his boss told him that he didn't have to attend the weekly sales and production meetings that everyone hates. Consequently, Dave worked even harder the next month and doubled his sales. Dave's boss has successfully implemented ___________________ to influence Dave's work.Negative reinforcementIf getting $1 for every correct answer on this test makes you study harder, being given $1 would be a form of ________________ for studyingPositive reinforcementStanley was diagnosed with lymphoma and had to undergo several months of chemotherapy. During this time he would become very nauseated as a side effect, and unintentionally came to associate that nausea with his favorite grilled cheese sandwich. Now, years later, even thinking about a grilled cheese sandwich makes him sick. In this example, Stanley's nauseous reaction to the chemotherapy treatment is the _______________.Unconditioned responseIn classical conditioning, what is the evidence that learning has occurred?The presence of a conditioned responseAllie is afraid of her neighbor's large dog. She then becomes afraid of any dog she sees on the street, and eventually she fears even pictures of dogs or toy dogs. This change in her fear of dogs representsGeneralizationAssociative learningFocuses on learning the predicted relationship between two events. Two kinds: classical conditioning and operant conditioningClassical conditioningRefers to learning that one stimulus predicts another stimulus. Or rather two events are associated with one another and one event predicts the other. Children do not usually cry when given their first shot, but they do till later on ones because they learn to associate the stimulus of the needle (NS/CS) with the stimulus of pain (UCS).Short contiguity pairingsRefers to how close, in both time and space, two stimuli are presented relative to one another. Learning happens more easily when there is short contiguity in time and/or space.Strong contingency pairingsRefers to the predictive probability of the UCS given the presence of the NS/CS. Learning happens more easily when there is a strong contingency between the NS/CS and the UCS.Stimulus value of the UCSRefers to how much the learner cares about predicting the presence of the UCS. Learning happens more easily when the UCS is highly valued by the learner.Novelty of the NSRefers to whether there has been any prior training with the NS. Learning happens more easily when the NS new to the learner, and not associated with previous learning.Stimulus generalizationOccurs in the transference of the conditioned response to other neutral stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus. Example: A dog has learned to respond to the sound of his alarm in the same way that it responds to the wife's alarm.Stimulus discriminationOccurs when there is no trance ferns of the condition response to other neutral stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus. Example: The dog realized that the wife's alarm meant they got food and that his alarm means they did NOT get food.Operant conditioningA behavior is associated with reward or punishment. Actions consequences determine the likelihood of it being repeated.Reinforcement vs. punishmentAlways strengthens behavior while punishment weakens the behavior. IN PHOTOS (positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment)ReinforcementMeans that you are more likely to do somethingPositive punishmentDo bad for a good resultShapingInvolves successive reinforcement of the desired behavior by reinforcing behaviors that are close to or similar to the correct outcome, then continue reinforcing as you slowly move towards the correct behavior. Example: used when training dogs to perform a complex task (closing a door)Reinforcement schedulesWhen operate conditioning is being applied, the researcher must determine how often a reinforcer should be given. This frequency and timing of reinforcement is called the reinforcement schedule. IN PHOTOS (fixed interval, variable interval, fixed ratio, variable ratio)Fixed vs. variableA fixed schedule is constant and predictable vs. A variable schedule which is random and unpredictableInterval vs. ratioInterval schedules require the passage of time vs. ratio schedules that require a number of responsesIntermittent schedules of reinforcement and the partial reinforcement effectThe partial reinforcement effect relates to the learners ability to predict the occurrence of a consequence and how that influences the maintenance vs. extinction of operantly trained behavior. When behavior is no longer followed by its consequence, a previously reinforce behavior will extinguish.Continuous schedule of reinforcementIt is easy for the learner to predict when a consequence will happen - behaviors are always followed by consequences.Fixed schedules of reinforcementThe pattern of the schedule is predictable.Variables schedules of reinforcementThings are not easy for the learner. The pattern of the schedule is unpredictable so the learner can't match his behavior to the schedule and instead ops for a strategy of engaging in a continuous stream of the behavior.Applied behavior analysisIs a therapeutic technique in which the principles of learning are applied to help individuals correct for behavioral excess and/or absencesAcquisition and extinctionIn photosNon-associative learningCorresponds to how our natural response to a stimulus changes over time. Your initial response to a stimulus is not learned, it's simply a reflexive or instinctual response. But, if you are repeatedly exposed to a stimulus over time then your response might change.SensitizationExample: each time you hear an air horn, your response gets more pronounced each time (A greater and greater anger each time the airhorn is blast). Or each time someone you live with taps their finger on a table, it becomes more and more annoying to you (something you find annoying).HabituationExample: each time you hear an air horn your response gets less and less pronounced (less and less aware as you grow used to it). Showing less of a response.DishabituationNoticing the absence of a previously habituated stimulus is called dishabituation (example: hearing the airhorn before and not hearing it now).Social learningTheory proposes that new behaviors can be learned by observing others behaviors and their consequences. Often referred to as "observational learning".ModelingImitation of observed behavior.Vicarious reinforcementNot only do we learn to mimic through observation, we can also learn the contingencies of operate contingency through observation.