PSYCH 7A Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Implicit Learning, Learned Helplessness, Applied Behavior Analysis
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PSYCH 7A Full Course Notes
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Operant conditioning is a form of associative learning in which the consequences of a behavior change the probability of the behavior"s occurrence. Thorndike"s resulting law of effect states that behaviors followed by pleasant outcomes are strengthened and that behaviors followed by unpleasant outcomes are weakened. Shaping refers to rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior. Reinforcement is the process by which a stimulus or event (a reinforcer ) following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again. Avoidance learning occurs when the organism learns that by making a particular response, a negative stimulus can be altogether avoided. In learned helplessness the organism has learned that it has no control over negative outcomes. A primary reinforcer is innately satisfying; that is, a primary reinforcer does not require any learning on the organism"s part to make it pleasurable. A secondary reinforcer acquires its positive value through an organism"s experience; a secondary reinforcer is a learned or conditioned reinforcer.
