Contingency
Contingency in
classical conditioning involves the predictability of the occurrence of one
stimulus from the presence of another. For example, at the sight of a lightning
one may expect thunder claps thereby covering ones hear in anticipation of the
sound. Overtime one has learnt that after a lightning comes a thunder claps.
Positive reinforcement
This is the reward
that follows a desirable behavior. It is to strengthen the behavior. For
example, a child does well in school then her mother buys her a bicycle. The
bicycle is to encourage her to keep the good performance going thereby serving
as a reinforcer.
Negative reinforcement
This is to also
increase the reoccurrence of a behavior or response because it is followed by
the removal of an unpleasant stimulus. For example, father nags at you to clean
out the garage. He keeps nagging, finally you get tired of the nagging and
clean out the garage. Your response cleaning the garage removed the unpleasant
stimulus nagging. Thus you clean the garage whenever it is dirty to avoid
nagging.
Primary reinforcement
This is the one that
is unlearned; that is, natural instinct produce them. They do not take any
learning on the organism’s part. For example, the basic physiological needs
such as food, shelter, water and sex.
Secondary reinforcement
It acquires its
positive value through experience. Secondary reinforcers include such social
situations as getting a pat on the back, praise and eye contact.
Token reinforcement
When an object can
be exchanged for some other reinforcer. The object might have a reinforcing
value itself. For example, money is a typical example. It is important on its
own save it is used to acquire primary reinforcers like food, clothing, shelter.
Other examples are gifts, certificate and poker chips.
Generalized conditioned reinforcement
It is a given the
same response to a similar stimuli. For example, a student who has great
success in dating people who dress very neatly and not so good with people who
dress sloppily. The student subsequently seeks date with people who dress
neatly only avoiding sloppily dressed people.
Secondary Negative Reinforcement
Secondary reinforcer
is sometimes called conditioned reinforcer. It is a stimulus or a situation
that has acquired its function has a reinforcer after being paired with
stimulus that functions has a reinforcer or another conditioned reinforcer. For
example money, a child that wants sweat will ask for sweat or money to get it.
The sight of money makes the child happy because he is hopeful for sweat. Negative
reinforcement is the taking off an aversive stimulus to increase certain
behaviour or response. For example, rolling up the window to block the wind. Secondary negative
reinforcement is the removal of a secondary aversive stimulus to increase a
response or behavior.
Chaining
The term is credited
to work of B.F Skinner. Chaining is an instructional or learning procedure used
in behavioral psychology, experimental analysis of behavior and applied
behavior analysis. It involves reinforcing individual responses occurring in a
sequence to form a complex behavior. It is a series of related behaviors, each
of which provides a cue for the next and the last that produces a response. The chain of response is broken into small
steps into task analysis. Parts of a chain are referred to as links. The
learner is taught one step at a time while being assisted through the other
steps forward or backward or if the learner can already complete a certain
percentage of the steps. A verbal stimulus or the prompt is used at the
beginning of the teaching trial. For example, if one wants to buy soda, you
pull money out of your pocket and see the money in your hand and then put the
money in the machine. Seeing the money in your hand was the first cue for
response and was what prompted you to the next response (putting money in the
machine and getting a soda).
Problem Solving
Cognitive processing
directed at finding solution to well defined problems. It is an attempt to find
an appropriate way of attaining a goal when the goal is not readily available.
Whatever the problem is we want to come up with a fast and best solution. For example,
can electrical problem be solved in Nigeria?
Steps in problem
solving are; (1) Find and Frame problems (before a problem can be solved it has
to be recognized. E.g” why can’t there be electricity always”). (2) Develop
good problem solving strategies (define the problem, is it that there is no
electrical dam in Nigeria or the electrical dam can’t cater for the whole of
Nigeria). (3) Evaluate solutions (thinking of effective ways of solving the
problem, maybe generators should be banned, but before then the mega watts
should be increase with necessary material providence). (4) Rethink and
Redefine problems (improvement on the evaluated solutions, is this solutions
really going to work or one re-evaluates).
Operant extinction
In operant
conditioning occurs when a previously reinforced response is no longer
reinforced and there is decreased tendency to perform the response. For
example, a factory worker gets a monthly bonus for producing more than is
quota. Then as a part of economic tightening, the company stops giving the
bonus, his performance decreased. His performance has gone into extinction
because of no reinforcement (bonus).
Reinforcement schedule
This refers to the
pattern or manner in which reinforcement is given following a response. It
could be based on time. For example, a reinforcement in fishing is catching a
fish, until another fish is caught there is no reinforcement.
Continuous reinforcement
This involves a
response in which a response is reinforced every time it occurs. Organisms
learn rapidly with this method. For example, every time a child cries he is
given breast to suckle.
Interval schedule
It is a timeable
schedule in which a response is reinforced after a variable amount of time has
elapsed. For example in fishing, the second catch of fish could be 12 minutes
away from the first, then the third be an hour away from the first.
Fixed ratio schedule
Behavior is
reinforced after a set of number if responses. For example, a sales person
might be required to sell a specific number of items to get a commission.
Performance here drops off immediately after reinforcement.
Variable ratio schedule
A timeable
reinforcer in which responses are
rewarded in an average number of time but on an unpredictable basis. There is a
reinforcement of a response by reward but when the reward will come is not
known. For example, a child knows he will be rewarded for obedience but he
doesn’t know when he will be given.
Fixed interval schedule
Reinforcement is
introduced in the first appropriate response after a fixed amount of time has
elapsed. For example, you might get the reward the first time you put money in
the slot machine after every 10 minutes period have elapsed. Another example
is, every four years there is power change of leadership in the executive
system.
Shaping
This is the process
of rewarding approximations of desired behavior. For example, a parent shaping
their child’s toileting behavior from diaper use to signaling before toileting
in the bathroom.
Discrimination
This means
responding to stimuli that signal that a behavior will or will not be
reinforced. For example, sign boards reading “please walk this way” and another
read “enter at your own risk”. The first is discriminated to have a reward
while the second indicates possible danger (no reinforcement).
Generalization
This is giving the
same response to similar stimuli. For example, A woman believing all men are
violent because her husband is violent.
Stimulus generalization
This is the tendency of a new stimulus that is
similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit the similar response to
the conditioned response. For example, fear of snake and generalizing it to all
reptiles.
Responses
Is an unlearned
reaction to a stimulus. For example, response the sight of a wild lion is fear
and readiness for flight.
Attention
This is a sustained
concentration on specific stimulus, sensation, ideas, thought or activity;
enabling one to use information processing system with limited capacity to
handle vast amount of information available from the sense organs to the memory
store.
Attribution
The placement or
assignment of causes to behavior or the perception or inference of the causes
of behavior. For example, fear can be attributed to the sight of a wild animal.
Placebo reaction
Placebo reaction
occurs when participants’ expectation rather than the experimental treatment
produce the desired outcome.
Demand characteristics
Features of an
experimental situation that encourage certain types of behavior from the
research participant or subject and can contaminate the results especially when
the behavior arises from research participants. For example, participants’
expects the alcohol given them should make them sleep and they decided to
sleep.
Instructions
These are usually
silent questions
References
Santrock, J.W.
(2003). Psychology. Mc Graw Hill. New York.
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