LEARNING: BEHAVIORISMDEFN of Learning: a PERMANENT CHANGE in behavior due to EXPERIENCE or practice (that its permanent, that there is a change, and its due to experience are key)

What is Behaviorism?Major perspective - studies scientifically observable behaviors, not unconscious drives.Names: Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, BanduraIncludes classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learningNurture not nature

Behaviorism Basic Premise:Behavior is motivated EXTERNALLY from OUTSIDE not internally (opposes psychodynamic and humanistic schools of thought) A+A A- B+F

Classical Conditioning

It all started with:

Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov and his Drooling DogsRussian scientist, studying saliva and digestion father of CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Basic Defns:STIMULI: a change in environment that affects a sense organ or glandRESPONSE: a change in a muscle or gland

What is classical conditioning?When your brain and nervous system make an association between 2 stimuli (things).Example: food and a bell(Ivan Pavlov)

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): (the meat) a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response.Unconditioned Response (UCR): (drooling to meat) the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the UCS.

Conditioned Response (CR): (drooling to the bell) the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus.Conditioned Stimulus (CS): (the bell) an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with the UCS, comes to trigger a response.

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1. Sara is watching a storm. A bolt of lightening is followed immediately by a huge crash of thunder and makes her jump. This happens several more times. The storm starts to move away and there is a gap between the lightening bolt and the sound of thunder, yet Sara jumps at the lightening bolt.What is the:UCS UCRCSCR

2. Steve's mouth waters whenever he eats anything with lemon in it. One day, while seeing an advertisement showing lemons, his mouth begins to water.What is the:UCS UCRCSCR

Pavlov spent the rest of his life outlining his ideas. He came up with 5 critical terms that together make up classical conditioning.AcquisitionExtinctionSpontaneous RecoveryGeneralizationDiscrimination

Acquisition (pairing food with bell)The initial stage of learning.The phase where the neutral stimulus is associated with the UCS so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit the CR (thus becoming the CS). Does timing matter?The CS should come before the UCSThey should be very close together in timing.

ExtinctionThe diminishing of a conditioned response.Will eventually happen when the UCS does not follow the CS.Dog stops drooling to bellIs extinction permanent?

Spontaneous RecoveryThe reappearance. After a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response.Dog drools to bell again

GeneralizationWe fear things similar to the original stimulus

DiscriminationThe learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that does not signal UCS. Dog drools to a bell, but not a gong

Garfield

John B. WatsonGive me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own special world to bring them up in, and Ill guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select doctor, lawyer, merchant-chief, and yes, beggar man or thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.

What is the Little Albert experiment?John Watson classically conditioned a baby to fear a white rat. Then the baby feared all furry things.

Stimulus GeneralizationThe Baby was given the rat while Watsonsounded a loud, scary clank. Now the babyis afraid of all furry things.

Cognitive ProcessesEarly behaviorists believed that learned behaviors of various animals could be reduced to mindless mechanisms.However, later behaviorists suggested that animals learn the predictability of a stimulus, meaning they learn expectancy or awareness

Biological PredispositionsPavlov and Watson believed that laws of learning were similar for all animals. Therefore, a pigeon and a person do not differ in their learning.However, behaviorists later suggested that learning is constrained by an animals biology.

Conditioned Taste AversionsCan you think of a food that you once had a bad experience with that still produces a feeling of nausea when you encounter it?Can you think of a benefit to food aversions?

Taste-Aversion LearningThe tendency to develop taste aversions appears to be part of our biological nature.Raises questions about Pavlovs original Classical Conditioning theory.

John GarciaGarcia showed that the time duration between the CS and the US may be long (hours), but yet result in conditioning. Rats avoid drinking or eating from containers that made them sick.They associated flavored water with illness.

How can we apply classical conditioning?

Applications of Taste Aversiontreating alcoholism, using the drug Antabusecauses nausea and violent vomiting when combined with alcoholattempts to create a taste aversion to alcoholProblem: alcoholics tend to stop taking Antabuse so they can drink againbut when used properly, Antabuse does reduce total amount of alcohol consumed

Applications of Taste Aversionhumane methods of controlling predators, agricultural pests?coyotes & wolves ate sheep carcasses laced with nausea-inducing poison; developed aversion to sheep meatwolves penned with sheep later seemed to fear it!

Pavlovs LegacyPavlovs greatest contribution to psychology is isolating elementary behaviors from more complex ones through objective scientific procedures.

Applications of Classical ConditioningWatson used classical conditioning procedures to develop advertising campaigns for a number of organizations, including Maxwell House, making the coffee break an American custom.

What is operant conditioning?Behaviors are a result of reinforcements and punishments.B.F. Skinner is the famous guy.

Edward ThorndikeLaw of Effect: rewarded behavior is likely to recur.Cat in box

Thorndikes Puzzle BoxEdward Thorndike (1874-1949): created a puzzle box: cage with latched door that could only be opened by pressing lever insidecats became quicker and quicker to press lever once they figured it outLaw of Effect: rewarded behaviors are more likely to be repeated

B.F. Skinner

B.F. Skinner Most influential behavioristEnvisioned a utopian society based upon his theoriesSkinner Box Ping-pong playing and figure 8 walking pigeonsShaping training with rewards

Skinner Box

How are these similar?

What is Shaping?Gradually reinforcing a behavior until perfect. (ex: feed pigeon for turning 30 deg, then 60 deg, eventually full circle)

Reinforcement increasing desired behaviorPositive Reinforcement giving something to increase a behavior (example?)Negative Reinforcement taking away something bad to increase a behavior (example?)

Punishment reducing behavior- positive punishment giving something bad to reduce a behavior (example?) spanking = aversive stimulus - negative punishment (omission training) taking away something good to reduce a behavior (example?)

The following are examples of what???Answer choices are: positive punishmentnegative punishmentpositive reinforcementnegative reinforcement

Spanking a child for using markers to draw on your bedroom wall.Positive Punishment

Giving candy for correct answers.Positive Reinforcement

Nagging and nagging until you do the dishes.Negative Reinforcement

Child whines and cries until he gets his candy at the store.The child is _____ _____ the parent for getting candy.The parent is _____ ______ the child for whining.

Taking away cell phone privileges to reduce low grades.Negative punishment

Stop jamming toothpicks up ones fingernails in exchange for information

Draw a cartoon representingPositive, negative punishmentPositive, negative reinforcement 4 cartoons

Can all animals be taught anything?

What is Instinctive drift?Animals will drift (or revert) back to instinctual behaviors while performing tasks. Example: Pigs will deposit coins in a piggy bank but will push the coins through the mud and flip it around on its way.

Reinforcement Schedules

Continuous ReinforcementReinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.Quick AcquisitionQuick Extinction

Partial ReinforcementReinforcing response part of the time.The acquisition process is slower.Greater resistance to extinction.

Fixed-ratio SchedulesA schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.Example: I give cookie monster a cookie every FIVE times he sings C is for cookie.

Variable-ratio ScheduleA schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

Fixed-interval ScheduleA schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response only after a specified (fixed) time has elapsed.Example: People checking the oven to see if the cookies are done.

Variable-interval ScheduleA schedule of reinforcement that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.Pop Quizzes

SummaryContinuous reinforcement reinforce every time (best for animals)Partial reinforcementFIVRVIFR

Schedules of reinforcementFixed predictableVariable not predictable (varies)

Ratio every 3 responses, every 10 responsesInterval time every month, 4 minutes

Fixed-ratio schedule FRVariable-ratio schedule VRFixed-intervalFIVariable-intervalVI1. _______________ Paid 10 dollars for every 20 puzzles solvedFR2. _______________ Studying for a class that has surprise quizzesVI3. _______________ Slot machines are based on this scheduleVR4. _______________ Doing 20 pushups a day to stay fitFR

Fixed-ratio schedule FRVariable-ratio schedule VRFixed-interval FIVariable-intervalVI5. _______________ Playing Bingo

6. _______________ Getting a paycheck at the end of 2 weeks

7. _______________ A strike in bowling

8. _______________ Calling your mechanic to see if your car is fixed

9. _______________ Frequent flyer program where you get points every 100 m.

10. ______________ Waiting for a sunny day to go to the beach

11. ______________ Wife is watching boxing match with husband-she receives a kiss at the end of every 3-minute round

What is Observational (Social) Learning Theory? Albert Bandura: Bobo doll. We learn by observing the behavior of others and from imagining the consequences of our own behavior.

Observational (Social) Learning Theory Cont.Modeling: we imitate people who weResembleIdentify withView as successfulVicarious Reinforcement and Punishment

Bobo doll experimentAlbert Bandura allowed children to watch an adult play with a bobo doll.The experimental group watched a video of an adult playing violently with the dollThe control group watched a boring video.The experimental group children imitated the violent behavior.

Insight Learning: This is an extension of the term, insight which was identified by Wolfgang Kohler while studying the behavior of chimpanzees. He said that insight learning is a type of learning or problem solving that happens all-of-a-sudden through understanding the relationships of various parts of a problem rather than through trial and error. Sultan, one of Kohler's chimpanzes, learned to use a stick to pull bananas from outside of his cage by putting pieces of stick together. Given two sticks that could be fitted together to make a single pole that was long enough to reach the bananas, aligned the sticks and in a flash of sudden inspiration, fitted the two sticks together and pulled in the bananas. He didn't do this by trial and error, but had a sort of sudden inspiration or insight.

Classical Conditioning(to tune of You Are My Sunshine)You are my Pavlov, The dogs of PavlovYou paired the food with the lights and bellsResponse was very involuntaryYou taught classic conditioning well

OPERANT CONDITIONINGHis name is Skinner, oh BF SkinnerYou put the lab rats inside your boxWith reinforcements, and even punishmentsConsequences shape the response

Learning Quiz

1. The major perspective that studies how our behaviors are shaped by our environment isa. psychodynamic b. behaviorismc. humanistic d. biomedical

2. Classical conditioning was studied by

a. Pavlov b. Bandura c. Freud d. Skinner

3."Little Albert," a very young boy, was conditioned to be afraid of a rat. He also became fearful of white furry rabbits and bearded men. This is an example of

a. spontaneous recovery b. higher order conditioningc. extinction d. stimulus generalization

4. A coach who benches a player for poor performance is using

a. aversive conditioning b. modelingc. negative reinforcement d. punishment

5. Advertisers try to use higher order (classical) conditioning by

a. pairing images that evoke good feelings with pictures of their productsb. sounding loud tones at key points in the adc. reducing fear or anxiety as they repeatedly show the same commerciald. associating the UCS with a cognitive response

6. _____ occurs when making a response removes an unpleasant event.

a. positive reinforcement b. extinctionc. negative reinforcement d. punishment

7. Your young niece has a temper tantrum in the store when you two are shopping. If you buy her a toy you are

a. being practical b. being kindc. encouraging more tantrumsd. discouraging more destructive behaviors

8. He was famous for the Little Albert experiment

a. Albert Bandura b. Sigmund Freudc. Ivan Pavlov d. John Watson

9.The Little Albert experiment illustrated

a. How fears can be learnedb. generalizationc. unethical experimentationd. all of the above

10. Which of the following is an example of shaping?

a. A dog learns to salivate at the sight of a box of dog biscuitsb. A new driver learns to stop at an intersection when the light changes to redc. A parrot is rewarded first for making any sound, then for making a sound similar to Laura, and then for speaking its owner's named. A psychology student reinforces a laboratory rat only occasionally, to make its behavior more resistant to extinction

11. People who get sick after eating at a restaurant STILL wont eat at that restaurant even when they know it wasnt the restaurants fault. This is called

a. instinctive drift b. Garcia effectc. secondary conditioning d. Cheech and Chong syndrome

12. Parents nag and nag you until your grades go up. They stop nagging when your grades go up. This isa. positive reinforcement b. negative reinforcementc. positive punishment d. negative punishment

13. Every time you call your boyfriend hes depressed angry and disappoints you in every way. As a result, you dont call him anymore. The boyfriend is unknowingly _____ you for calling him.

positively reinforcingnegatively reinforcingc. positively punishingd. negatively punishing

14. Albert Banduras Bobo Doll experiment illustrated

negative reinforcementsocial learning theoryc. classical conditioning d. operant conditioning

15. Many psychologists cite Banduras research to illustrate how

a. teens conform to fashion fadsb. introverted personalities succeed in high schoolc. exposure to violent TV and games leads to violent behaviord. abused women justify staying with their husbands.

********allows humane preservation of predators, while controlling their impactstill not used much, other effects?***learning by trial-and-error