PSYC 2800 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Operant Conditioning, Behaviorism, Foodborne Illness
11 Nov 2015
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Document Summary
Operant conditioning: learning based on reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement contingencies: circumstances that determine whether responses lead to presentation of reinforcers. Primary reinforcers: inherent reinforcing events that satisfy biological needs (food, water, warmth) Secondary (conditioned) reinforcers: events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers (money, good grades etc) Acquisition: initial stages of learning a desired response pattern. Shaping: reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response. Extinction: process by which the association between response and contingency is broken. Intermittent reinforcement: behavior is reinforced every (x) amount of times. Fixed ratio (fr): low resistance to extinction every third time, the behavior is reinforced. Variable ratio (vr): higher resistance to extinction it changes every time so reinforce after 3 times, then after 7 times, then after 2 times etc, it varies (gambling on a slot machine difficult to extinguish) Fixed interval (fi): low resistance to extinction reward is provided after 5 minutes.
