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

2. Operant Conditioning – A review
Bang Theory Video
So what’s happening here?
Did anyone catch the mistake in the video?
Around minute 2:50
What are some behaviors that were conditioned?

3. 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

4. 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”

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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?

8. 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”

9. 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”

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