Psych 2440 assn 2 pdf PDF

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Psych 2440. Make sure to use own examples where required. All other answers are from text book so they are correct....

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Chapter 5 2.* Explain what an unconditioned reinforcer is. Give two examples. We have inherited the capacity to be reinforced by some stimuli without prior learning. Such stimuli or events are important for our biological functioning or survival as a species and are called unconditioned reinforcers. Two examples include: Cold towels or ice water for someone who is hot. Additionally, getting playing time after not receiving it for a while could also be another example. 3. Explain what a backup reinforcer is. Give and explain two examples. When a stimulus becomes a conditioned reinforcer through deliberate association with other reinforcers, the other reinforcers are called backup reinforcers. Examples: Sound from hand held clicker with the delivery of fish to a dolphin. Fish is the backup reinforcer. Sound of a bell and dog does a trick or listens, treat is then delivered to the dog. The treat is backup reinforcer. 5.* Describe a target behaviour I would use better time management as a target behaviour for myself. I would use a similar points system to Erin’s; whenever I am early or on time to an event I award myself 2 points, the more points I attain, the more time I can spend doing my back up reinforcer. My backup reinforcer would most likely be watching T.V. or having downtime to relax. 9. Give two examples of stimuli that are conditioned reinforcers but not tokens. Explain why they are conditioned reinforcers, and why they are not tokens. Sound of ice cream vendors bell. Not a token because bell sounds cannot be ‘cashed in’ for backup reinforcers. Praise from a parent or friend. Not a token because praise cannot be exchanged for a backup reinforcer.

12. Is praise a generalized conditioned reinforcer? Defend your answer. Praise is a generalized reinforcer. A mother who expresses pleasure to her Childs good behaviour is disposed to smile at, hug, or play with the child. Sometimes a treat, toy, or other things the child enjoys may accompany the mothers praise. 14. List three factors that influence the effectiveness of conditioned reinforcers. 1. The strength of Backup Reinforcers. 2. The variety of backup reinforcers. 3. The number of pairings with a backup reinforcer.

15. Explain what causes a conditioned reinforcer to lose its value. For a conditioned reinforcer to remain effective, it must, at least occasionally, continue to be associated with a suitable backup reinforcer. Example if teacher discontinued backup reinforcers, the children may have

Application exercise ch.5 1. (a). The probable reinforcer is the beautifully coloured leaves on the trees. The strengthened behaviour would be the walks through the park in autumn. The reinforcer is unconditioned; witnessing beautifully coloured leaves on trees is typically inherited. (b). The probable reinforcer would most likely be the runner’s “high”. The strengthened behaviour would be jogging 3 miles. A runners high is an unconditioned reinforcer as the body produces endorphins and cannot be learned. (c). The probable reinforcer is being allowed to use the family car. The strengthened behaviour is mowing the lawn. The reinforcer is conditioned because the teenager learn’s that mowing the lawn allows them to use the family car. (d). The probable reinforcer is drinking the glass of milk. The strengthened behaviour is ridding of the thirst with a glass of milk. The reinforcer is unconditioned because the child is accomplishing the natural need to quench thirst (thirst cannot be learnt) by drinking the glass of milk.

Chapter 6: 4. Suppose that, immediately after an instance of swearing, parents remove a portion of the child’s weekly allowance and the result is that swearing decreases. Is this an example of operant extinction? No, because the removal of a portion of the child’s weekly allowance after an instance of swearing is referred to as response-cost punishment. It involves the removal of a specific amount of a reinforcer immediately following a behaviour. Whereas as operant extinction is a decrease in an operant response due to it no longer being reinforced.

6. Explain the difference, in terms of procedure and results, between the loss of value of a conditioned reinforcer and the operant extinction of a positively reinforced behaviour. When a conditioned reinforcer has lost its value it means that its backup reinforcer is no longer suitable. The behaviour is not decreased on purpose; the individual stops a certain behaviour because they no longer care about the back up reinforcer. The operant extinction of a positively reinforced response means that the reinforcement has completely been stopped on purpose to decrease the frequency of a specific behaviour. In both cases, behaviour has been decreased but one happens purposely. 8. Why did the mother’s attempt to extinguish the child’s cookie eating fail. The mother’s attempt to extinguish the child’s cookie eating failed because the actual reinforcer for the behaviour was not withheld. It is important during application of extinction to ensure that reinforces that you are withholding are the ones that are actually maintaining the undesired behaviour. Failure to do this would not meet the definition of extinction and the undesirable behaviour would not likely decrease. 12.* Define continuous reinforcement and give an example that is not in this chapter. Continuous reinforcement is an arrangement or schedule in which each instance of a particular response is reinforced. Example: Coach gives his appraisal to his players after each practice.

13.* Define intermittent reinforcement and give an example not in this chapter. Intermittent reinforcement is an arrangement or schedule in which a response is reinforced only occasionally rather than each time it occurs. Example: Parents buy their kid a new toy or game every so often if their kid has been doing well in their sport. 18.* Describe two examples of operant extinction that you have encountered, one involving a desirable behaviour and one involving an undesirable behaviour. For each example, identify the situation, behaviour, immediate consequence, and probable long-term effects. Desirable behaviour Situation: Individual wants to be kinder to others. Response: Compliments people while at work. Immediate Consequences: The overkill of compliments turns some people off from the individual and they attempt to avoid them while at work. Long-Term Effects: Individual realizes they don't need to compliment all the time; therefore, they stop complimenting so much.

Undesirable behaviour Situation: Kid wants to sleep in parents bedroom, parents ignore the kid. Response: Kid urinates in their bed in an attempt to be able to sleep in parents room. Immediate Consequence: Parents need to clean child’s sheets; however, they do not reward their kid’s behaviour and the child still has to sleep in their bed (which is clean now). Long-Term effects: Child less likely to urinate in bed in an attempt to get what they want. 21. What are three possible reasons for the failure of an operant extinction program? (1) The attention you are withholding following the undesirable behaviour is not the reinforcer that was maintaining the behaviour. (2) The undesirable behaviour is receiving intermittent reinforcement from another source. (3) The desired alternative behaviour has not been strengthened sufficiently.

Application exercise ch.6 Situation: Went to hockey store and bought gloves on sale. Response: Bought the gloves, tried them out in games and practice’s. Immediate Consequence: The gloves are not comfortable and are falling a part after only a few ice sessions. Long-Term Effect: Less likely to buy gloves on sale just because they’re a good deal. The quality of the product may not be adequate and therefore may spend more money and better quality equipment in the future.

Chapter 7: 6.* In terms of the three stages in a shaping procedure, describe how patterns might shape their child to say a particular word. (1) Specify the desired behaviour: A mother wants their baby/toddler to say the word “Mama”. (2) Identify a response that can be used as a starting point in working towards the final desired behaviour: The mother could reinforce their child for making sounds like “puu”; sounds like puck the mother could introduce a puck to associate

(3) Reinforce the starting response, then reinforce closer and closer approximations until eventually the desired occurs: The toddler must say “puck” before a puck is given to them to play with. 7.* List five dimensions of behaviour that can be shaped. Give two examples of each. Topography (form): Physical movements involved in the behaviour. Examples: (1) Properly performing the bench press with proper form for most efficiency, safety, and strength. (2) Practising with a skating coach to better improve skating. Amount (frequency): Number of instances of the behaviour in a given time. Examples: (1) Number of kilometres biked in 20 minutes. (2) Number of bicep curls done in 1 minute. Amount (duration): Continuous amount of time that behaviour lasts. Examples: (1) Length of time spent playing video games (2) Length of time practicing your snap shot. Latency: Time between the controlling stimulus and the behaviour. Examples: (1) Time between when you tell your parents you are hungry and their response of making dinner. (2) Time between getting a penalty in hockey and receiving the penalty once your team touches the puck.

Intensity (force): Amount of energy expended on the behaviour. Examples: (1) Force of shot in hockey. (2) Force of bodycheck in hockey.

8.* Describe a behaviour of yours that was shaped by consequences in the natural environment, and state the several of the initial approximations. Making my protein shakes at night and I used to make it with extremely water that would end up giving me brain freeze; Over time, I changed the temperature of the water so that it would not give me brain freeze and I could enjoy my shake. 12. Why is it necessary to avoid under-reinforcement at any shaping step. It is necessary to avoid under-reinforcement at any shaping step because trying to go to a new step before the previous approximation has been well established can result in losing previous approximation through extinction without achieving the new approximation. 13. Why is it necessary to avoid reinforcing too many times at any shaping step. It is necessary to avoid reinforcing too many times at any shaping step because if one approximation is reinforced for so long that it becomes extremely strong, new approximations are less likely to appear. 15. Give an example of the pitfall in which the failure to apply shaping might have an undesirable result. An example would be a parent not being responsive enough to their child’s babbling behaviour. Expecting a lot more from the child and not being impressed when they say words like “da-da” instead of “father” and not reinforcing remote approximations of normal speech. 16.* Give an example from your own experience of a final target behaviour that might be best developed through a procedure other than shaping. Example: Practicing hockey skills for an hour each day. Application Exercise Ch.7

Behavioural deficit: Not eating enough food. Target behaviour: Eating a minimum of 3500 calories a day. Appropriate reinforcer: Building lean muscle mass, having a more athletic and stronger body for sports. The initial plan: Start waking up earlier in the day so I have more day time to eat and consume food. Implementing the plan: Eat more calorie dense foods such as peanut butter and weight gainer shakes, also eat more carbohydrates such as white rice to ensure I hit my daily caloric intake goal.

Chapter 8: 14.* Example: Volunteers are told that they will receive a complimentary tickets to the next jets game if they volunteer for 3 days. This involves a free-operant procedure Example: A car salesman told if he sells X amount of cars, he will receive car salesman of the month. This is a discrete-trials procedure. 17. What are two questions to ask when judging whether a behaviour is reinforced on an FI schedule? What answers to those questions would indicate that the behaviour is reinforced on an FI schedule? (i) Does reinforcement require only one response after a fixed interval of time? (ii) Does responding during interval affect anything? If you answered yes to the first question and no to the second question, your example is FI. 18. Suppose that a professor gives an exam to students even Friday. The students’ studying behaviour would likely resemble the characteristic pattern of an FI schedule in that studying would gradually increase as Friday approaches, and the students would show a break in studying after each exam. This is not an example of an FI schedule for studying because the students cannot study after the test in order to get a good grade. 21.* An FR/LH schedule stands for Fixed-Ratio Schedules with a Limited Hold. In a FR schedule, a reinforcer occurs each time a fixed number of responses of a particular type are emitted and in addition to that is a limited hold, which is a deadline for meeting the response requirement of a schedule of reinforcement. Example: Jack’s powerlifting coach tells him if he completes 20 reps of 225 on the bench press in two minutes, he can abstain from his strict diet and have a cheat meal. That would be FR 20/ LH 2.

30.* Two examples of how FD might be applied in training programs: (1) A hockey player must continuously practise for 20 minutes before they can take a water break/rest. (2) Weightlifter must continuously practice squat form for 45 minutes before they can take a rest.

31.* A variable-duration schedule has a reinforcer presented only if a behaviour occurs continuously for a fixed period of time and the interval of time form reinforcer to reinforcer changes unpredictably. Example: Driving to school school and back home varies in time due to factors including traffic density and weather conditions. 33. If an individual has an option of engaging in two or more behaviours that are reinforced on different schedules by different reinforcers, four factors in combination that are likely to determine the response that the person will make are: (1) The types of schedules that are operating (2) The immediacy of reinforcement (3) The magnitude of reinforcement (4) The response effort involved in the different options. 35. Six schedules of reinforcement commonly used to develop behaviour persistence are: (1) Fixed ratio (2) Variable ratio (3) Fixed-interval with limited hold (iv) variable-interval with limited hold (v) fixed duration (4) Variable duration

Application Exercise: Ch.8 An appropriate reinforcer would be spending 60 minutes playing Fortnite. The best schedule would be the fixed-ratio (FR) schedule with limited hold. This way, it would be easier to allocate specific number of pages to read per day. I would read 30 pages each day until the book is done. The FR would be the appropriate schedule to keep track of the number of pages I read everyday. I would set my goal to be 6 pages per hour and reinforce my reading by taking a breather/rest. The reading should be completed in 6 to 7 days. This schedule would be FR 6/LH 60 minutes....