What is the nurture in Nature vs What is the nurture in Nature vs. Nurture (Part 3: Bringing it together) PSYC 320

Operant Conditioning – A review Bang Theory Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt4N9GSBoMI So what’s happening here? Did anyone catch the mistake in the video? Around minute 2:50 What are some behaviors that were conditioned?

Operant Conditioning Types of Reinforcement Positive Reinforcement Positive = giving Negative = taking Reinforce – increases beh. Punish – decreases beh. Types of Reinforcement Positive Reinforcement Giving something good to increase likelihood that the operant behavior is repeated Negative Reinforcement Taking away something bad to increase likelihood that the operant behavior is repeated Positive Punishment Giving something bad to decrease the likelihood that the operant behavior is repeated Negative Punishment Taking away something good to decrease the likelihood that the operant behavior is repeated

Operant Conditioning Shaping vs Autoshaping Questions? Schedules of Reinforcements Continuous vs Partial Reinforcement Relationship to Extinction What is extinction again? Keep in mind – extinction vs forgetting (for classical & operant) Extinction – active learning process Forgetting – passive degradation (occurs w/ absence of stimuli) And – Extinction vs Habituation (for classical only) Habituation – passive learning process, Stim/Resp relationship weakens; the organism “get’s used to it”

So… The Question Remains Do we have free will? As groups of 4-5… let’s discuss Given your group’s assigned position: Question 1: Skinner’s notion that free will is an illusion Question 2: Skinner said, “Give me any two infants – if I can control their environments, I can create a doctor in one and a criminal in another.” What say ye? Question 3: Everything can be explained using associative conditioning. Therefore, applying the law of parsimony, aka Occam’s Razor, this theory is, in itself, both necessary and sufficient to a discussion of motivation.

Ok… So what? Assignment for Friday Discuss classical and operant conditioning. How are they alike and different? Provide some real life examples of “negative reinforcement” “Shaping” in your own life? Think of a complex behavior – outline how classical and operant conditioning comes together

So… The Question Remains Do we have free will? As groups… let’s discuss What do you think? Going back to Skinner… Do we “think”? From a behavioristic perspective, how would you explain “creativity”? What do cognitive scientists think?

Ok… So what? Skinner Video – Thoughts? Skinner (often called a “radical behaviorist”) believed that every observable behavior (and many you can’t observe – i.e. language, thought, etc) could be explained entirely based on external stimuli Skinner denied the concept of free will – all behavior can be predicted/determined if we were to merely be able to quantify all of the complex, competing S-R relationships i.e. Cheating on a test; speeding on highway Went so far as to argue that thought doesn’t truly exist, but that it is merely “subthreshold vocalization”

Youtube Video Noam Chomsky on Behaviorism 1st off – What is “Verbal Behavior” – video of Isaac ”talking” Behaviorism = Operant Conditioning… essentially Thoughts? Critique on the experiments in behaviorism Essentially argued that the findings of early operant conditioning were misinterpretations of poor methodology Valuable point! “If you do this, you can fool yourself into thinking you have results”… “so this kind of wiped out the whole field”

Youtube Video Skinner vs. Chomsky Thoughts? Explained Jason Silva/Shots of Awe: “Do We Have Free Will” What is the idea of “ontological design”?