If a stimulus elicits a response, and then organism gets a reward, response frequency to stimulus increases {instrumental learning}| {instrumental conditioning} {stimulus-response learning} {trial and error learning}.
process
Learning can be by trial and error, using instinctive movements. Accidental successes have satisfying effects. Failures have annoying effects. Behavior changes gradually, rather than by sudden insights. Over time, only correct movements survive.
Training on one task can transfer to training on different tasks, but does not necessarily transfer [Thorndike, 1903] [Thorndike, 1911].
emotion
People learn reactions, such as aggression, withdrawal, and persistence, to emotions through instrumental conditioning.
If organism performs behavior and receives reward, response frequency increases {operant conditioning, learning}| {response conditioning}. Higher animals can perform new behaviors, and rewarded operants reappear more frequently. Response conditioning does not associate stimulus and response. Operant conditioning does not need goals, only rewards. Operant conditioning is stronger if rewards are unpredictable [Watson, 1913] [Watson, 1924].
Instrumental learning experiments can use maze or box {puzzle-box}, from which animal escapes [Thorndike, 1903] [Thorndike, 1911].
Operant conditioning can happen in spontaneous, not learned, motor activities. Reinforced actions increase in frequency. Reward kinds and timing {token economy} affect instrumental conditioning [Bekhterev, 1913].
6-Psychology-Cognition-Learning-Kinds-Conditioning
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Date Modified: 2022.0225