Psych Ch 8 Updated
Escape learning
-A type of learning in which the subject acquires a response that terminates some aversive stimulation -already in the situation -when you see your ex and turn the other way -your ex comes up to you to talk and you act like you're on the phone.
Discrimination
-the learned ability to distinguish between similar stimuli so that the (CR) occurs ONLY to the original (CS) but not to other stimuli.
What is Learning?
-A relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavior potential) due to experience. -(and cannot be attributed to illness, injury, or maturation)
Learning
-A relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavioral potential) due to experience
Instrumental Conditioning
-The strengthening of a stimulus response association by following a response with the reinforcing stimulus (also called operant conditioning)
John Watson & Emotional Conditioning
-1919 Little Albert -Watson concluded that conditioned fears "persist & modify personality throughout life." -Mary Cover Jones (1924) - Peter 3 yr. old feared rats, fur coats, rabbits. -Peter (in a high chair) was given candy & the rabbit was put in the same room Over 38 sessions, Peter lost his fear of rabbits & furry things in general
Escape Training
-The subject learns how to escape or get out of the parking situation
Avoidance training
-The subject learns to completely avoid the punishing stimulus
Edward L. Thorndike
-Trial & error is basis of most behavioral changes
Changing Conditioned Responses
-After conditioning an animal to salivate to a tone, what would happen if you continued the sound, but no longer paired it with food? -Pavlov found that without the food, salivation to the tone became weaker & weaker until it finally disappeared. (AKA extinction). -Pavlov let the dog rest for 20 minutes, & then brought back into the laboratory. He found that the dog would again salivate to the tone. AKA spontaneous recovery -Assume you have conditioned a dog to salivate when it hears the tone of middle C played on the piano. Would it also salivate to B or D? -Pavlov found that a tone similar to the original stimulus would produce the (CR) AKA generalization -Salivation decreased the farther the tone was from the original conditioned stimulus, until the tone became so different that the dog would not salivate at all. -Pavlov demonstrated this with the sense of touch as well. However, the response was weaker & shorter in duration than the original response.
Learning from Television & other Media
-Albert Bandura - thought that aggression & violence on TV, tend to increase aggressive behavior in children. -Bobo doll experiment -Some studies have shown that exposure to violent video games have increased aggressive behavior in children, adolescents, & young adults.
Shaping Behavior
-An operant conditioning procedure in which successive approximations of a desired response are reinforced -He used shaping to condition complex behaviors. -He used successive approximations, or he rewarded each step towards the desired goal. -He invented the Skinner box (for animal testing) -The key to operant conditioning is reinforcement. -Any event that follows a response & strengthens or increases the probability of the response being repeated.
Disinhibitory effect
-Displaying a previously suppressed behavior because a model does so without receiving punishment -when someone swears in front of you so then you swear too
Elicitation effect
-Exhibiting a behavior similar to that shown by a model in an unfamiliar situation -when you go to a different church so you do what the person next to you is doing because you don't know what is going on
The Conditioned & Unconditioned Stimulus & Response
-In Pavlov's experiments, food powder was placed in a dog's mouth. -The salivation was an automatic response or unconditioned response (UR) -A stimulus that brings forth an unconditional response is called an unconditional stimulus. -Pavlov found that dogs could be conditioned to salivate to a variety of stimuli never before associated with food. -EX: Music -Pavlov found that if music & food were paired more that 20X, the tone alone would elicit salivation. -The tone was a learned stimulus, or conditioned stimulus (CS) & salivation to the tone was the learned response or conditioned response (CR).
Higher-Order Conditioning
-In classical conditioning, a procedure in which a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus through association with an already established conditioned stimulus -EX: Getting blood drawn -Sitting in a chair you see needles, syringes, etc. --Something is tied around your arm. The nurse pats your skin until a vein is visible. -All of these steps signal that a needle "stick" is unavoidable. -The stick itself is the US, but all the steps that precede it are CS that cause you to anticipate pain itself. With each step, your muscles respond by contracting a bit more in anticipation of the stick. -When conditioned stimuli are linked together to form a series of signals, a process called higher-order conditioning occurs.
The Process of Operant Conditioning
-In operant conditioning, the consequences of behavior are manipulated in order to increase or decrease the frequency of an existing response or to shape a new response. -the process by which a response becomes more likely to occur or less so, depending on its consequences -Behavior that is reinforced (followed by rewarding consequences) tends to be repeated. A reinforcer ( EX. candy) is anything that strengthens the probability of the response it follows.
Successive Approximation
-In the procedure of shaping, behaviors that are ordered in terms of increasing similarity or closeness to the desired response
B. F. Skinner: A Pioneer in Operant Conditioning
-Influenced by Pavlov & Watson -Believed that the causes of behavior are in the environment, not in inner mental events like thoughts or feelings. -Worked at the Univ. of Minnesota in the 1930s.
The Cognitive Perspective
-Pavlov thought repeated paring of CS & US was the most critical element of classical conditioning. Later studies have found exceptions. -Later research has shown that an organisms' biology can limit the associations they can form through classical conditioning.
Thorndike & the Law of Effect
-Responses closely followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated. -Thorndike insisted that it was "unnecessary to invoke reasoning" to explain how reasoning took place. -EX. The cat & the puzzle box (pg. 170) -Law & effect was the starting point for B. F. Skinner & the Skinner Box
Learning by Insight
-Sometimes solutions to problems come from insight—that sudden realization of the solution to a problem. -A solution gained by insight is more easily learned, less likely to be forgotten, & more readily transferred to new problems then one learned through rote memorization.
Inhibitory effect
-Suppressing a behavior because a model is punished for displaying the behavior -swearing in front of your parents
Behavior Modification
-The application of conditioning techniques to teach new responses or to reduce or eliminate problematic behavior -This is a method of changing behavior through a systematic program based on conditioning and/or modeling -Many schools, mental hospitals, prisons, etc. have used behavior modification programs with varying success. -Some institutions have used token economy to motivate socially desirable behavior. -Another example of behavior modification is time out (a removal of positive reinforcement). -A type of behavioral therapy in which the principles of Operant Conditioning (reinforcement, punishments, etc.) are used to eliminate some type of unwanted, behavior -putting the situation in place -pulling a card when getting in trouble to make them not want to get in trouble ever again -being put into a time out
Reinforcement
-The process by which a stimulus or event strengthens or increases the probability of the response that it follows -event when made a dependent on a response increases the strength of the response
Observational Learning
-The process in which an individual learns new responses by observing the behavior of another rather than through direct experience; sometimes called vicarious conditioning -Albert Bandura - states that many behaviors are acquired through observational learning. (AKA -Social-cognitive learning, AKA Modeling) -People observe the behavior of others & note the consequences of that behavior. -The person demonstrating a behavior or whose behavior is imitated is called a model. -Any behavior acquired from a model is known as the modeling effect. -A type of observational learning common in unusual situations is known as the elicitation effect. -Some models influence us to exhibit behaviors that we have been taught to suppress—the disinhibitory effect. -Suppressing behavior after observing a model receive punishment is an example of the inhibitory effect.
Spontaneous recovery
-The reappearance of a learned response after its apparent extension
The law of effect (most important)
-the consequence of a response will determine whether the tendency to respond in the same way in the future will be strengthened or weakened
Extinction
-the elimination of the conditioned response by presenting the CS without the UCS
Learned helplessness
-When an organism (person, animal, etc.) is prevented from avoiding some aversive stimulus repeatedly (e.g., continuous electric shocks) the organism will reach a state in which it becomes passive and depressed because he believes that there are no actions it can take to avoid the aversive stimulus -you tried but there is not anything else you can do -when you get denied from all of the colleges you applied to so then say that college is not for you -people in the holocaust did not move when they were free because they could not believe that the were free -passive resignation to aversive conditions. In studies, humans who have suffered painful experiences they could neither avoid or escape may also experience this. They give up & act withdrawn & depressed.
Biological Perspective
-Why are many people afraid of snakes, spiders, sharks, etc.? Some experts say it's in our biology. -Taste aversion - the intense dislike/avoidance for certain foods that are linked to nausea & discomfort.
Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life
-Why do certain songs, scents, foods, remind us of pleasant or unpleasant past events? The answer is classical conditioning. -advertisers seek to classically condition consumers when they use models or famous people. -Even our immune system is subject to classical conditioning. -EX rats and sweet water.
Ivan Pavlov
-Working on physiology of digestion & "accidentally" contributed to psychology. -He spent the rest of his life conducting the now famous salivary response in dogs experiments. -How could an involuntary response such as salivation come to be associated with the sights & sounds involved in feeding?
B.F. Skinner
-Wrote - The behavior of Organisms (1938) -Walden Two (1948) -At Harvard, he wrote Science & Human Behavior (1953) -Beyond Dignity (1971) -Free will is a myth, everyone's behavior is shaped by someone - parents, friends, even TV. -Rather than leaving the control of human behavior to chance, societies should systematically shape the behavior of their members for the larger good.
Avoidance learning
-a behaviorist term that describes when an organism learns a response in order to avoid experiencing an unpleasant stimulus. The reinforcement (desired, pleasant result) results from not experiencing the negative stimulus (or punishment) -avoiding the situation from occurring -if you break up but before you always met them at a certain place you walk a different way so they aren't at the old place -usually occurs due to phobias. If you had a bad experience speaking in public, you may begin to avoid speaking to others in large groups, or taking classes that require public speaking.
Token Economy
-a reward system used in a behavior modification programs -the physical thing that you give or do to them -giving a kid a cookie later if they behave (giving the physical cookie)
Stimulus
-an event or object in the environment to which an organism responds
Primary Reinforcement
-an item which is reinforcing in and of itself
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
-being paired with a stimulus that causes a response this will eventually cause a similar response
Latent learning
-learning that occurs without apparent reinforcement and is not demonstrated until the organism is motivated to do so -nobody taught you to hold the door for people but you just do it too because you've always seen other people do it too -just pumping gas because you've seen your parents do it before -knowing how to drive somewhere because you've gone there so many times before -This is learning without apparent reinforcement & not demonstrated until motivated to do so.
variable interval
-like fixed interval, but the time period varies from trial to trial
Fixed ratio
-reinforcement after a certain number of responses
Fixed interval
-reinforcement comes after the first correct response after fixed time period passed from the last reinforcement
Variable ratio
-reinforcement varies with the number of correct responses
Secondary Reinforcement
-reinforcement which stands for primary enforcement
Shaping
-reinforcing a series of behaviors which progressively become more specific and similar to the desired response
Positive reinforcement
-roughly, a reward -A reinforcement procedure in which a response is followed by the presentation of, or increase in intensity of, a reinforcing stimulus; as a result, their response becomes stronger and more likely to occur
Secondary reinforcement
-some acquired or learned through association with other reinforcers (praise, good grades, money) -A stimulus that has acquired reinforcing properties through association with other reinforces (reinforcers)
Primary reinforcement
-something that fulfills a basic need for survival (food, clothing, shelter) -A stimulus that is inherently and reinforcing, typically satisfying a psychological need: an example is food (reinforcer)
Punishment
-stimulus event, which when made dependent on response, decreases the strength of the response -Punishment is the opposite of reinforcement. -It usually lowers the probability of a response by following it with an unpleasant consequence. -Punishment can be accomplished by either adding an unpleasant stimulus or removing a pleasant stimulus.
Generalization
-subject reacts to a class of stimuli similar to the original CS
Negative reinforcement
-the behavior is reinforced by the termination or avoidance of an unpleasant condition. -A reinforcement procedure in which a response is followed by the removal, delay, or decrease in intensity of an unpleasant stimulus; as a result, the response becomes stronger and more likely to occur
Conditioned Response (CR)
-the behavior of an organism when a conditioned stimulus is presented after the CS has been paired with a UCS
Classical Conditioning
-the process by which a previously neutral stimulus acquires the capacity to elicit a response through association with a stimulus that already elicits a similar or related resonse -learning through which an organism learns to associate one stimulus with another. (aka respondent conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning)
The Process of Classical Conditioning
-the reflex: an involuntary response to a particular stimuli -Two kinds - Conditioned (learned) & Unconditioned (unlearned) -Salivation is unlearned because it is automatic. -A dog's salivation due to rattling dishes was a result of learning. These learned involuntary responses were called conditioned reflexes.
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
-the stimulus which causes an automatic unlearned response
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
-the unlearned behavior of an organism which occurs naturally as a result of stimulation
Aversive Training
-using punishment to train a subject
Insight
Insight- a type of learning or problem solving that happens all-of-a-sudden through understanding the relationships various parts of a problem rather than through trial and error -when there is a problem and then someone comes up with a solution -when you are in an argument and can't think of a comeback and then think if one when it's too late
Observational Learning (Social Learning)
Observational Learning (Social Learning)- The process of acquiring information by observing others -using a makeup tutorial to do your makeup
Changing Conditioned Responses Steps
Step 1: the dog is conditioned to salivate in response to the tone C. Step 2: Generalization occurs. Step 3: The original tone C is repeatedly paired with food. Neighboring tones are also sounded, but they are not followed by food. The dog is being taught to discriminate. Other tones (A,B, D, & E) are extinguished, while C is strengthened.