PS261 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Animal Cognition, B. F. Skinner, Classical Conditioning
Document Summary
In this conditioning, obtaining a goal or reinforcer depends on the prior occurrence of a designated response. Stimuli an organism encounters are a result or consequence of its behaviour. Called instrumental or goal directed because responding is necessary. Instrumental behaviour: behaviour that occurs bc it was previously effective in producing certain consequences. Lab and theoretical analyses of ic began with e. l. thorndike who"s original intent was to study animal intelligence. Devised series of puzzle boxes for his experiments, placed hungry animal in puzzle bos with some food left outside in plain view of the animal which had to learn to get out of box. Animals got faster in escaping the box over trials, he said this is not because they gained insight but because they learned a new s-r association. If a response r in the presence of a stimulus s is followed by a satisfying event, the association between s and r become strengthened.
