PSYC214 Lecture 4: Instrumental-operant conditioning
Document Summary
Learning: process by which our behaviour adapts to its environment, we adapt to environmental changes by changing our behaviour so as to maximise outcomes. Instrumental/operant conditioning: focus on effect of behaviour in environment, behaviours are goal-directed to produce a desired environmental outcome. In many ways, today we"ll the talking common sense: that has been systematised and studied scientifically. Thorndike - animal intelligence: thorndike: systematic study of "animal intelligence" If a behaviour is followed by a "positive" consquence, the chances of it happening again increase. If a behaviour is followed by a "negative" consquence, the chances of it happening again decrease: behaviour is a function of its consequences. Discrete trail procedures: thorndike (and others) used discrete trail procedures, target behaviour (and its consequences) end trail. So once the cat escaped the trail ended therefore just measuring the latency (time) of the behaviour/escape: measure of performance (dv), time to perform target behaviour, number of errors made before target behaviour.
