Verbal Conditioning without Awareness Using a Highly Discriminable, Monetary Reinforcer

1976 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth B. Koffer ◽  
Grant Coulson ◽  
Leslie Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Reinforcement Contingency ◽  
Verbal Conditioning ◽  
Target Response ◽  
The Third

During discussion of a variety of topics by 2 undergraduates a target response, 1 of 3 affirmatives, was reinforced by one of the discussants by delivery of a nickel. Although nickel delivery increased the frequency of the target response, neither of the 2 subjects could describe the reinforcement contingency until the end of the third session. It was concluded that operant conditioning without awareness occurred even when the response was reinforced by the highly discriminable event of delivery of a nickel.

Do sows need straw for nest-building ?

1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 187 ◽  
Author(s):  
GD Hutson
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Thermal Protection ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Genetic Adaptation ◽  
The Third ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Nesting Behaviour ◽  
Fourth Experiment ◽  
Conditioning Apparatus

The motivation of sows to obtain straw was measured in 4 experiments using operant conditioning apparatus. In the first experiment there was no significant difference in the operant level of response when lifts on a lever produced access to an empty box or a box containing straw. None of the 6 sows, 4 about 10 weeks pregnant and 2 non-pregnant, showed any interest in the straw. In the second experiment variation in motivation to obtain straw was measured by testing pigs for 7 consecutive days every 2 weeks from mating to weaning. All pigs showed little change in lever lifting behaviour, although 2 gilts showed increased responsiveness to straw at farrowing time. In the third experiment 4 sows were allowed to farrow in the test pen with access to the lever and straw box. The sows showed an increase in activity prior to farrowing which coincided with increased manipulation of the lever. The response to straw was variable, although all pigs showed an increase in pawing behaviour. However, in a fourth experiment, 4 control pigs showed similar increases prior to farrowing in activity, lever manipulation, and pawing behaviour when the straw box was empty. The apparent low motivation of sows towards utilisation of straw is discussed in relation to its importance as a key stimulus for nesting behaviour and its role in thermal protection of the piglets, and also in relation to possible absence of appropriate nest-building stimuli, previous experience, genetic adaptation and animal welfare.

Verbal Operant Conditioning of Severely Antisocial Adolescents by Delinquent and Normal Es

1968 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 745-748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy W. Persons
Keyword(s):  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Verbal Conditioning ◽  
Verbal Reinforcement ◽  
Verbal Operant

An inmate peer and an adult professional were used as Es in a verbal conditioning study with sociopaths. The sociopaths were conditioned as a function of verbal reinforcement. They conditioned more readily to guilty content than to hostile content. The sociopaths emitted significantly more hostile verbs when reinforced by the adult E than when reinforced by the inmate E.

Operant Conditioning with Subjects Suffering From Dementia

1992 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian S. Burgess ◽  
John H. Wearden ◽  
Tristram Cox ◽  
Mark Rae
Keyword(s):  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Acquisition Training ◽  
Fixed Interval ◽  
Continuing Care ◽  
Partial Replication ◽  
Temporal Control ◽  
Conditioning Procedure ◽  
Severe Dementia ◽  
The Third ◽  
Male Patients

Two experiments are reported in which patients who resided on continuing care psychogeriatric wards were exposed to an operant conditioning procedure. In the first experiment, the subjects were three female patients, all of whom were suffering from severe dementia. For two of the subjects, extended acquisition training was required before evidence of learning was found. Responding under fixed interval (FI) schedules of three different durations was well maintained by the third subject. Evidence of temporal control was found. The second experiment was a partial replication of the first. The subjects were two male patients who were suffering from mild to moderate degrees of dementia. They were exposed to FI schedules of three different durations. Responding was maintained for the 16 sessions of the study. Procedural modifications as well as some broader implications of these results are noted.

Multidimensional Stimulus Differences in Discrimination Learning and Verbalization of the Reinforcement Contingency

1965 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-240
Author(s):  
Randall B. Martin ◽  
Sanford J. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
Reinforcement Contingency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Verbal Conditioning ◽  
Multidimensional Stimulus

This study explored the effects of the number of dimensional differences on discrimination learning in a verbal conditioning task. The stimulus dimensions were degree of hostile connotation and color disparity. Ss were presented pairs of neutral and hostile words and were reinforced for using hostile words. In one group, the hostile group, the hostile words were printed in different colors from the neutral words; in the other group, both were printed in the same color. In one group, the hostile words were of mild intensity; in the other group they were of intense hostility. Color disparity was the only variable consistently to affect use of the reinforced hostile word and post-experimental report of the response reinforcement contingency.

Logical Relationships of Questions to Issues in Verbal Conditioning Studies

1966 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin A. Locke
Keyword(s):  
Correct Response ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Reinforcement Contingency ◽  
Verbal Conditioning ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Theoretical Issues

Previous reviews of the literature on verbal learning have not shown the relevance of type of question asked Ss to the theoretical issues involved. The present paper classifies commonly used questions into four major types: purpose of the experiment, response-reinforcement contingency, intention to get the reinforcement or to give the correct response, and recall of behavior. It is argued that only the second and third types of questions are directly relevant to the automatic Law of Effect issue. It is pointed out, however, that many Es have used only the first and fourth types. Measurement of S's intention has been particularly neglected in verbal conditioning studies. The importance of specifying level of awareness, referent, and context when dealing with abstract concepts is emphasized.

Intervening Variables in Unaware Subjects in a Verbal Conditioning Task

1968 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-198
Author(s):  
George A. Clum
Keyword(s):  
Normal Subgroup ◽  
Correct Response ◽  
Personality Inventory ◽  
Reinforcement Contingency ◽  
Anxiety Scale ◽  
Verbal Conditioning ◽  
Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale ◽  
Manifest Anxiety ◽  
Intervening Variables

33 Ss, judged in a lengthy post-conditioning interview to be unaware of the correct response-reinforcement contingency as employed in a Taffel verbal conditioning task, were compared on the interrelationships of their scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, the E and N scales of the Maudsley Personality Inventory, an auditory measure of vigilance, the spiral aftereffect test, and a verbal conditioning measure. Verbal conditioning was found to be related to manifest anxiety and neuroticism in a psychiatric subgroup but not in a normal subgroup. Variables affecting verbal conditioning were discussed.

On the Lack of Relationship between Hypnotizability and Response to Verbal Conditioning

1964 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Clarke ◽  
Thomas E. Long
Keyword(s):  
Classical Conditioning ◽  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Direct Measure ◽  
Verbal Conditioning ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Positive Correlation

A positive correlation was found between classical conditioning and hypnotizability by Das (1958) and between operant verbal conditioning and an indirect measure of hypnotizability by Weiss, et al. (1960). The present study utilized a direct measure of hypnotizability and related it to operant verbal conditioning. The obtained correlation was essentially zero, a finding which failed to confirm the earlier results. It was speculated that by virtue of the procedures employed, hypnosis might well be more closely related to classical than to operant conditioning.

Type of Reinforcement and Generality in Verbal Operant Conditioning

1971 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 495-500
Author(s):  
Irving P. Unikel ◽  
G. S. Strain
Keyword(s):  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Noncontingent Reinforcement ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Social Approval ◽  
Verbal Conditioning ◽  
Stimulus Situation ◽  
Rapid Extinction ◽  
Verbal Operant ◽  
Group Extinction

Social approval and correctness reinforcement were compared, with a noncontingent reinforcement control group. Extinction trials were conducted either by the same E or by a different E. 5 Es, randomly selected from 10 available, generally were assigned 2 Ss in each of the resulting 6 conditions. The two types of reinforcement appeared to be equally effective with respect to effects on verbal operant conditioning ( p < .001), but social approval resulted in less generality than reinforcement for being correct. Ss receiving social approval exhibited significantly more rapid extinction in an altered stimulus situation with a different E ( p < .05). As social approval typically has been used, these results suggest why numerous previous verbal conditioning studies have failed to yield generalizable effects.

Reinforcement of Verbal Social Behavior in Moderately Retarded Children

1968 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. McClure
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Reinforcement Contingency ◽  
Contingent Reinforcement ◽  
Verbal Instructions ◽  
Social Responding

Operant conditioning techniques were used to study talking behavior of retarded peers. A design using concurrent verbal and nonverbal operants was devised to test several hypotheses. Verbal social responding increased in a group with contingent reinforcement and verbal instructions about the reinforcement contingency but not in groups with either condition alone.

Selection of Consequences: Adaptive Behavior from Random Reinforcement

1985 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Marken
Keyword(s):  
Operant Conditioning ◽  
Adaptive Behavior ◽  
Reinforcement Contingency ◽  
Apparent Effect ◽  
Human Operant ◽  
Conditioning Experiment ◽  
Random Reinforcement ◽  
Random Change ◽  
Selection Of

The behavior of subjects in a human operant conditioning experiment was “shaped” using a random reinforcement contingency. Bar-press responses kept a moving cursor near a target although the consequence of each response was a random change in the direction of the cursor. The apparent effect of reinforcement on behavior is shown to be an illusion created by ignoring the consistency of behavioral results.

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