1. Explain the basic principles of classical conditioning using an experiment to
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1. Explain the basic principles of classical conditioning using an experiment to illustrate how the principles are used. 2. In the operant conditioning school of behaviorism, what is partial reinforcement? Explain the four main kinds of partial reinforcement. Provide examples. PART B 1. How would Maslow differentiate higher-level needs and basic needs? 2. Explain the placebo effect in terms of an experiment to test a new drug. 3. How is complinace different from conformity? 4. What is a self-fulfilling prophecy?Explanation / Answer
Behaviorists have described a number of different phenomena associated with classical conditioning. Some of these elements involve the initial establishment of the response, while others describe the disappearance of a response. These elements are important in understanding the classical conditioning process. Acquisition Acquisition is the initial stage of learning when a response is first established and gradually strengthened. For example, imagine that you are conditioning a dog to salivate in response to the sound of a bell. You repeatedly pair the presentation of food with the sound of the bell. You can say the response has been acquired as soon as the dog begins to salivate in response to the bell tone. Once the response has been acquired, you can gradually reinforce the salivation response to make sure the behavior is well learned. Extinction Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned response decrease or disappear. In classical conditioning, this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For example, if the smell of food (the unconditioned stimulus) had been paired with the sound of a whistle (the conditioned stimulus), it would eventually come to evoke the conditioned response of hunger. However, if the unconditioned stimulus (the smell of food) were no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus (the whistle), eventually the conditioned response (hunger) would disappear Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for a process of strengthening a directly measurable dimension of behavior—such as rate (e.g., pulling a lever more frequently), duration (e.g., pulling a lever for longer periods of time), magnitude (e.g., pulling a lever with greater force), or latency (e.g., pulling a lever more quickly following the onset of an environmental event)—as a function of the delivery of a stimulus (e.g. money from a slot machine) immediately or shortly after the occurrence of the behavior. Giving a monkey a banana for performing a trick is an example of positive reinforcement. Reinforcement is only said to have occurred if the delivery of the stimulus is directly caused by the response made. Although in many cases in human behavior a reinforcing stimulus is something which is "valued" by the individual or which the individual "likes," (e.g., money received from a slot machine, the good taste of an apple, the positive effects of a drug) this is not a requirement for reinforcing effects. Indeed, reinforcement doesn't even require an individual to consciously perceive an effect elicited by the stimulus. Furthermore, stimuli that are "rewarding" or "liked" aren't always reinforcing: if an individual eats Mcdonald's (response) and likes the taste (stimulus), but believes it is bad for their health, they may not eat it again and thus it was not reinforcing in that condition. Animals and humans repeat behaviours that produce in positive results and avoid performing behaviours that produce negative results.[1] A reinforcer is a temporally contiguous environmental event, or an effect directly produced by a response (e.g., a musician playing a melody), that functions to strengthen or maintain the response that preceded the event. A reinforcer is demonstrated only if the strengthening or maintenance effect occurs. Response strength is assessed by measuring the frequency, duration, latency, accuracy, and/or persistence of the response after reinforcement stops. Early experimental behavior analysts measured the rate of responses as a primary demonstration of learning and performance in non-humans (e.g., the number of times a pigeon pecks a key in a 10-minute session). Types B.F. Skinner, the researcher who articulated the major theoretical constructs of reinforcement and behaviorism, defined reinforcers according to the change in response strength rather than to more subjective criteria, such as what is pleasurable or valuable to someone. Accordingly, activities, foods or items considered pleasant or enjoyable may not necessarily be reinforcing (because they produce no increase in the response preceding them). Stimuli, settings, and activities only fit the definition of reinforcers if the behavior that immediately precedes the potential reinforcer increases in similar situations in the future, for example, a child who receives a cookie when he or she asks for one. If the frequency of "cookie-requesting behavior" increases, the cookie can be seen as reinforcing "cookie-requesting behavior". If however, "cookie-requesting behavior" does not increase the cookie cannot be considered reinforcing. Reinforcement theory is one of the motivation theories; it states that reinforced behavior will be repeated, and behavior that is not reinforced is less likely to be repeated.[2] The sole criteria that determines if an item, activity, or food is reinforcing is the change in probability of a behavior after administration of that potential reinforcer. Other theories may focus on additional factors such as whether the person expected the strategy to work at some point, but in the behavioral theory, reinforcement is descriptive of an increased probability of a response. The study of reinforcement has produced an enormous body of reproducible experimental results. Reinforcement is the central concept and procedure in special education, applied behavior analysis, and the experimental analysis of behavior. [edit]Positive and negative As Skinner discussed, positive reinforcement is superior to punishment in altering behavior. He maintained that punishment was not simply the opposite of positive reinforcement; positive reinforcement results in lasting behavioral modification, whereas punishment changes behavior only temporarily and presents many detrimental side effects.[3] The accepted model of reinforcement began shifting in 1966 when Azrin and Holz contributed a chapter[4] to Honig's volume on operant conditioning. Skinner defined reinforcement as creating situations that a person likes or removing a situation he doesn't like, and punishment as removing a situation a person likes or setting up one he doesn't like.[3] Thus the distinction was based on the appetitive or aversive nature of the stimulus. Azrin and Holz defined punishment "as 'a reduction of the future probability of a specific response as a result of the immediate delivery of a stimulus for that response'."[5] This new definition of punishment encroached on Skinner's definition of reinforcement, but most textbooks now only present examples of the 1966 model summarized below: Helpful definitions: Appetitive stimulus: a pleasant outcome Aversive stimulus: an unpleasant outcome A positive reinforcer is a consequence that increases the frequency of a behavior or maintains the frequency. What is reinforcing is defined by what happens to the frequency of the behavior. It has nothing to do with whether the organism finds the reinforcer "pleasant" or not. For example, if a child gets slapped for saying a "naughty" word but the frequency of naughty words increases, the slap is a positive reinforcer. A "pleasant" consequence is not necessarily a positive reinforcer.[6] Getting a birthday gift is not a positive reinforcer. There is no behavior that will increase (or be maintained) in frequency. When deciding whether or not something is a reinforcer, the basic criteria is the frequency of occurrence of a behavior. Consequences are not universally reinforcing. For example, happy face stickers may be effective reinforcers for some children. Other children may find them silly.[citation needed] A negative reinforcer is not punishment. These terms are often confused. A negative reinforcer increases or maintains the frequency of the behavior that terminates the negative reinforcer. In this case the negative reinforcer is present before the behavior. The organism performs a behavior that terminates the negative reinforcer. The behavior that terminates the negative reinforcer is likely to increase or be maintained in frequency. Suppose someone has a headache (negative reinforcer). The person takes two aspirin but nothing happens. Then the person takes two Tylenol tablets and the headache goes away. The next time the person has a headache it is likely the person will take Tylenol. That is the behavior that has been reinforced. Forms of operant conditioning: Positive reinforcement: the adding of an appetitive stimulus to increase a certain behavior or response. Example: Father gives candy to his daughter when she picks up her toys. If the frequency of picking up the toys increases or stays the same, the candy is a positive reinforcer. Positive punishment: the adding of an aversive stimulus to decrease a certain behavior or response. Example: Mother yells at a child when running into the street. If the child stops running into the street the yelling is positive punishment. Negative reinforcement: the taking away of an aversive stimulus to increase certain behavior or response. Example: Putting ointment on a bug bite to soothe an itch. If using ointment on bug bites increases, the removal of an itch is a negative reinforcer. Negative punishment (omission training): the taking away of an appetitive stimulus to decrease a certain behavior. Example: A teenager comes home an hour after curfew and the parents take away the teen's cell phone for two days. If the frequency of coming home after curfew decreases, the removal of the phone is negative punishment. The following table illustrates that punishment and reinforcement are a function of the presentation or removal of a stimulus and the valence of the stimulus
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