Introduction to Psychology Learning and Behavior Analysis

Chapter 6 Journal To what extent is your behavior the product of your experiences and your environment? Do you control how your environment effects your behavior?

“By discovering the causes of behavior we can dispose of the imagined internal cause, we dispose of free will…it is the objective of the science of behavior to find the causes [of behavior] and once you have found those causes there is less a need to attribute to an internal act of will and eventually I believe we will attribute nothing to it” -B.F. Skinner

Chapter 6 Vocabulary Skinner Bandura Watson Pavlov Learning Classical Conditioning Unconditioned Stimulus Unconditioned Response Neutral Stimulus Conditioned Stimulus Conditioned Response Acquisition Extinction Stimulus Generalization Stimulus Discrimination Little Albert Experiment Thorndike Discriminative stimuli Operant Conditioning Reinforcement Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Punishment Positive Punishment Negative Punishment Primary Reinforcer Secondary (conditioned) Reinforcer Shaping Schedules of Reinforcement Latent Learning Observational Learning Bobo Doll Experiment Vicarious Reinforcement/Punishment Behavior Modification

Learning Learning: the process, based on experience, that results in a relatively consistent change in behavior. Learning-Performance Distinction: the difference between what has been learned (cognitively) and what is expressed (behaviorally) Some behaviorists (B.F. Skinner) only believe learning has occurred when the behavior is observed; while others (Bandura) say that learning can occur even without seeing it.

Behaviorism John Watson Argued that the study of private experiences (cognition, perceptions, emotions) was NOT scientific Defined the chief goal of psychology was to predict and control [observable] behavior Famous for the “Little Albert” experiment Classical conditioning of fear in an orphan infant 12-infants quote

Little Albert Experiment John Watson conducted the “Little Albert” experiment in order to demonstrate that emotional reactions are the result of experience Orphan Little Albert was conditioned or trained to elicit a fear response to a white rat, which he previously had no feelings towards https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p 3r3NJw2otw

Behavioral Conditioning Classical Conditioning Discovered, by accident, by physiologist Ivan Pavlov Classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that depends on the temporal association between two stimuli 1) The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) elicits an unconditioned response (UR; reflex) 2) The neutral stimulus (NS) is paired simultaneously with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) 3) after successful pairing or acquisition, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus, and elicits the same response/reflex (now conditioned response or CR)

Behavioral Conditioning

It’s Not Just Salivating Dogs Humans respond to classical conditioning procedures in the same way as animals Krasnogorski applied the Pavlovian conditioning procedures to human children When a lamp flashed, a cookie was sent down a ramp into the child’s mouth After several pairings, the children would salivate to the light alone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V si1sAMb8MA Lol, ethics

Behavioral Conditioning Stimulus Generalization: the automatic extension of the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus. Little Albert & all the little fuzzy things Stimulus Discrimination: the organism responds different to stimuli that are distinctly different from the conditioned stimulus. Extinction: when the conditioned stimulus no longer elicits the conditioned response Can occur when the CR is presented frequently without the original UCS

Learning and Stimulus Habituation (boredom): a decrease in behavioral response when a stimulus is presented repeatedly. Used to study how animals and non-verbal humans remember stimuli Typically occurs with neutral or pleasant stimuli Sensitization (on-edge): an increase in responsiveness to a stimulus when it is presented repeatedly. More likely to occur with stimuli that are irritating or painful

Behavioral Conditioning Applications of classical conditioning Organisms can’t help it! Classical conditioning happens all the time! Any reflex can be conditioned! Food aversion One of the powerful forms of classical conditioning As few as 1 pairing can result in lifetime behavioral changes Advertising Treatment of certain disorders Addiction (Aversion Therapy) Phobias (Exposure Therapy)

Operant Conditioning The Law of Effect (Thorndike): the ability or power of a stimulus to evoke a behavioral response is dependent on a history of reinforcement Operant Conditioning (Skinner): learning in which the probability of behavior is changed by it’s consequences (reinforcement or punishment) Both rely on the organism first emitting a behavior spontaneously, then receiving the consequences

Behaviorism B.F. Skinner Founded radical behaviorism Walden II Not only are mental or internal events not the cause of behavior; rather these events are the result of environmental stimuli (unidirectional) Walden II A novel about a utopian society based on manipulating environmental consequences for all behavior Served as the father of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA therapy) Focus on how environmental stimuli determine behavior (functional analysis)

Behavior Analysis Behavior Analysts rely on Functional Analysis to determine the environmental contingencies that are either perpetuating or preventing behaviors The structure of the behavior matters very little; it is the function or contingency of the behavior that matters According to behaviorists we do not need to look inside for the cause of behavior – the causes of behavior are external and can be measured/manipulated

Behavior Analysis The Three Term Contingency Consists of A-B-C Antecedent stimulus (Stimulus Control) The opportunity for the behavior needs to be present Behavior Consequence

Behavioral Conditioning Reinforcement: increases probability of the behavior Positive reinforcement: + good (reward) Negative reinforcement: - bad (avoidance) Punishment: decreasing the probability of the behavior Positive punishment: + bad (corporal punishment) Negative punishment: - good (removing pleasant) What makes a reinforcer reinforcing? A punishment, punishing?

Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Operant Examples Positive Reinforcement Positive Punishment Negative Reinforcement Negative Punishment

Behavioral Conditioning What if you don’t want to use punishment? Differential reinforcement Reinforce the absence of the behavior Reinforce a different behavior Reinforce a physically incompatible behavior

Behavioral Conditioning Motivating Operations: The effectiveness of a certain consequence based on the organism’s features at a particular moment Establishing Operations: makes the consequence MORE desirable Hunger Abolishing Operations: makes the consequence LESS desirable Already full

Behavioral Conditioning Operant conditioning is most effective when the consequence immediately follows the behavior Consequences given later may accidentally alter the probability of another behavior that is more proximal to the consequence Dog training Hangover v. Antibuse Verbal humans are able to “understand” delays in consequences – which is sometimes good (biweekly paycheck) or bad (getting arrested for a crime)

Shaping Behavior Chaining Successive approximation Reinforcing small, distinct sequential parts of the behavior until the entire behavior is achieved Teaching a child to brush their teeth Successive approximation The organism’s behavior is reinforced as it becomes closer and closer to the desired behavior Teaching a dog to roll over Practice (sports, music, etc)

Behavioral Conditioning Operant Extinction: when a behavior no longer produces predictable consequences, the behavior will return to the previous level before conditioning Extinction burst Toddler in the grocery store Spontaneous recovery Fading: when the behavior analyst gradually reduces the rate of extrinsic or artificial reinforcement Relies on the environment having a natural, built-in contingency for the behavior

Behavioral Conditioning Primary Reinforcers: have reinforcing properties all on their own Secondary (conditioned) Reinforcers: have been paired with a primary reinforcer to elicit the same response Generalized Reinforcer: have been paired with many primary reinforcers to elicit various responses Token Economy What is an example of a generalized reinforcer? Premack’s Principle: one behavior can be used to reinforce another behavior Homework v. Video Games

Schedules of Reinforcement In operant conditioning, a pattern of delivering and withholding consequences of behavior Behaviors given partial reinforcement are much harder to extinguish than those with continuous reinforcement Fixed-Ratio (i.e. every 5 behaviors) Fixed-Interval (i.e. every 5 minutes) Variable-Ratio (i.e. an average of every 10 responses – could be at 5 responses, 7 responses, 15 responses, etc) Variable-Ratio is the hardest to extinguish Variable-Interval (i.e. an average of every 10 minutes, could be at 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc)

Learned Helplessness What happens when an organism’s behavior has no effect on the consequences? Learned Helplessness: a phenomenon in which a persistent inability effect the environment results in low or zero responding When an organism’s behavior has no consequences or the consequences are unpredictable, the organism stops responding Learned helplessness is one of the major factors in depression Seligman conducted an experiment on learned helplessness in dogs Learned helplessness is also seen in neglected human infants

Observational/Social Learning Albert Bandura Observational Learning: watching another organism perform a behavior is enough to elicit the behavior Can be with or without vicarious reinforcement or vicarious punishment Influenced by the model’s attributes Authority Similarity Bandura believed that social learning can occur without the learner producing the behavior until later in time (Latent Learning)

Bobo Doll Experiment The Bobo Doll Experiment investigated how young children’s behavior is shaped by watching the behavior of others Children watched the behavior of adult models Group 1: watched a model play peacefully with a variety of toys (ignoring bobo doll) Group 2: watched a model play nicely with the bobo doll Group 3: watched a model play aggressively with the bobo doll Children who watched the aggressive model copied many aspects of the behavior including aggressive language, punching and hammer behavior, as well as adopted novel aggressive behavior