PSY 3103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Foreign Body, Dog Park, Alarm Clock

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 3103
• Professor: Christine Boisvert

Document Summary

Thorndike"s law of effect: (behaviors change because of their consequences. ) Responses with satisfying results are stamped in. responses with annoying effects (that don"t work) and stamped out (we don"t use them as often/they die out). :=sets the occasion for doing the behavior. Decreasing the probability that a behavior will repeat. Unfortunately the behaviors are suppressed only under certain conditions. When specific stimulus in the environment (s delta punishment) I. e. seeing cop on the road will punish speeding behavior. Intensity of punishment: if you want punishment to decrease/suppress a behavior, you want the punisher to be quite intense. The more intense the punisher, the faster the suppression of the behavior should happen. It should also happen close in time to the behavior happening. If it is really intense, you have some fallout you may or may nor want. If its toot strong, you"ll have fallout, and if its not strong enough, it just wont work.