Psychology Chapter 4
- A tabula rasa (blank slate) - Inborn
- Some philosophers including Aristotle have speculated that we come into life as a ______?_______. Our lives are the process of acquiring (learning) all knowledge. - Other philosophers have proposed that we come into life with all knowledge basically ______?______ (hard-wired by biology to learn certain things over others)
Applied Behavioral Analysis
Newer term for behavior modification; use of operant conditioning principles to help clients in a clinical setting
Contiguity
Objects occur closely together thus causing an association in the mind
Learning (major focus in the 1970s, still exerts tremendous influence)
A relatively permanent change in behavior based on experience - Area most associated with America
Operant Conditioning
A type of learning in which consequences (i.e., reinforcements or punishments) determine whether a behavior will increase or decrease in its frequency or intensity is called
Shaping
ALL animal training/behavior is done through this method:
Spontaneous Recovery
After extinction trials, allow the organism rest, then re-pair CS with UCS; leads to fast learning curve
VARIABLE interval (VI 2) schedule of reinforcement.
An animal may get rewarded on the average of every two minutes, but the time could vary
FIXED interval schedule of reinforcement Ex. Many workers get paid weekly or monthly that could be translated as an FI 7 or FI 30 (days) schedule of reinforcement
Animals are rewarded after a particular period
Interval schedule of reinforcement
Animals were reinforced after a certain period of time
Puzzle Box
Apparatus built by Thorndike in which cats would be placed and try to escape.
Unconditioned Response (UCR) -- Unconditioned: not learned
Automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus
Partial reinforcement extinction effect Ex. slot machines, lottery tickets, and scratch off cards
Behavior is more persistent (continue to exist longer) under conditions of partial reinforcement than under conditions of continuous reinforcement
Law of Effect (Thorndike) - The cat would explore the puzzle box eventually find the lever that released the door and led to its escape. the time it took to find the lever the second time was greatly reduced. Eventually, the cat would escape immediately upon being placed in the box
Behavior that produces a desired outcome will be repeated - occurs because the stimulus-response bond is strengthened
Edward L. "Ted" Thorndike
In 1898, a poor American student did research on animal learning at Harvard University
Pavlov's Pouch
Cannula (thin tube) that allowed the precise measurement of gastric juices collected from research dogs
Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck (cognitive limitation)
Cognitive-behavioral theorists who made the bold statement that it is not the events in our lives that cause our distress, rather it is our thoughts and perceptions about these events that cause us misery.
Edward C. Tolman (observational learning)
Demonstrated in the 1930s that reinforcement often had more of an impact on performance than on learning.
Teaching Machine
F. B. Skinner believed that students should read the chapter, take a test on it, and proceed when they could pass a certain criterion. It was a programmed system of instruction (PSI) --> no lectures
Walden Two
In his book, F. B. Skinner described an experimental community whose happiness was the result of a lack of social strife (anger/conflict) and the use of operant conditioning principles in the raising of children and community government.
1. used to help severely autistic children to talk 2. allowed schizophrenic individuals to leave the hospital and live in the community 3. shape the college professor to stand in a certain position. If he stands on the left side of the room, students are bored. However, when he moves to the right, students become attentive 4. Elementary School Teachers
Examples of shaping:
- He had three groups of rats running the same maze under differing conditions. - First group received no reinforcement --> found no food (the "goal box") at the end of the laboratory maze. - Second group received reinforcement for correct performance on every single trial, and they soon learned to find the "goal box" very quickly. - Third group received no reinforcement on the first 10 days, they simply were allowed to run the maze. Then on Day 11, they were reinforced with a goal box. They showed a spectacularly fast learning curve and caught up with the continuously reinforced group almost immediately. Apparently, they had already learned the maze by forming cognitive maps.
Explain Edward C. Tolman's experiment:
White rat (CS) then banged two iron bars together to make a loud noise. The loud noise (UCS) automatically led to the response of fear and crying (UCR). After only six conditioning trials, merely the sight of the white rat (CS) evoked the response of fear, an attempt to escape the situation, and crying (CR) --> classically conditioned and stimulus generalization USC (noise) ---- UCR (cry) -----> CR CS (white rat) ---- oriented response
Explain Little Albert situation in terms of unconditional and conditional:
- 99% of the population knows that very soft and subtle music was a cue for the arrival of a killer shark BUT BEFORE THAT were screams of fear 1. UCS (killer shark) --- UCR (scream) - discovered, the UCS is usually paired with the CS (music) and the CR is the screaming 2. CS (music) ---- orientating response (grabbing attention by hearing it)
Explain the 1975 movie Jaws based on the book by Peter Benchle (shark, cry, music):
Positive Reinforcement Ex. A teacher tells a joke and the students laugh (reward). Because of positive reinforcement the teacher is much more likely to tell a joke. Ex. A baby cries and the parents rush to sooth them. Their caring attention (reward) has become a positive reinforcement for crying in the child
Follow a behavior with a reward to increase the probability of the behavior
- Positive Reinforcement - Negative Reinforcement - Positive Punishment - Negative Punishment
Four possible contingencies:
Dave Letterman
Has been showing "Stupid Pet Tricks" for 30 years on his late night talk show. He has been the recipient of a lot of shaping. - Ex. dog that was trained to buy beer from a grocery store for its owner
B. F. Skinner
He taught his pigeons to play ping pong and invented the cumulative recording device for animals
Albert Bandura
His investigation of children's interaction with an inflatable knockdown Bobo Doll; those children who witnessed aggressive behavior in others were more likely to demonstrate it themselves (observational learning)
- Usually a dramatic shot down a long hall and the music gets louder/longer. The audience expects a major event, but the music stops and nothing happens. However, without warning, something happens. - By the time you have heard, "These jeans . . ." you have already stopped listening realizing it is a commercial. Many modern commercials will show people talking about something interesting before they pan down to the Dockers logos on their pants.
How do horror/thriller directors go about with classical conditioning? What about commercials using classical conditioning?
The best way to learn a foreign language is when one is IMMERSED IN A CULTURE. Everything about the environment is a cue for what the word means. When these cues are gone and you are not practicing the language every day, it is easy to forget. However, spontaneous recovery occurs when you relearn the language in a short time, with or without the cues.
How does spontaneous recovery apply to learning a foreign language?
The animal will eventually stop responding altogether. From a superficial standpoint it looks as if learning has never occurred
If you continue with extinction, what will happen to the animal?
Reinforcement
Increases the probability of the original behavior
Black Box (cognitive Limitation)
Influence of the organism; unnecessary in S—R psychology
Biological limitations - it is easier to get pigeons to peck for food or flap their wings (natural responses) than it is to get them to sing (unnatural response). Most of the animal responses that are easy to train are those that serve an evolutionary purpose or are adaptive for the animal.
It is easier to train animals to do certain behaviors in their innate behavioral repertoire (born/natural) than it is to train unnatural behaviors AND most human phobias are adaptive in small amounts
- Model: behaviorism - Therapeutic approach: applied behavior analysis
Learning is a highly research-oriented version of psychological science that often employs animal models discovered in the laboratory. It led to the model of psychology known as ______?_____ and the therapeutic approach of ___________?___________.
- Cognitive limitations - Biological limitations - Observational learning limitations
Learning theory has 3 experienced limitations:
Negative Reinforcement
Listed as one of the most misunderstood concepts in psychology (right next to the differences between a psychologist and a psychiatrist)
Punishment
Long and controversial history; a consequence that DECREASES the probability of the original behavior
Behaviorism
Model of psychology employing learning principles and classical/operant conditioning
Positive Punishment Ex. If a student asks a question in the class and the professor belittles her, question-asking behavior usually decreases.
One follows the behavior with an aversive stimulus to DECREASE the probability of that behavior
Continuous Reinforcement Ex. vending machine is very effective when it gives you your chips every time you put in your money. However, you would stop paying very quickly if it did nothing after you put in your money.
One gets a reward every time the desired behavior is performed - more effective at establishing a NEW behavior - downside: the behavior drops out very quickly once it is not reinforced.
Scratch off lottery tickets
One of the real unknown addictions of many college students
Modeling
One performs behaviors by watching others perform them
1. Animal must act (not wait till paired like CC) 2. Reinforcement or punishment is contingent (depending) on behavior 3. Voluntary behavior (emitted not elicited)
Operant Conditioning is different from classical conditioning because it (3)....
- When fed - When a person first entered a room - In response to various sounds (footsteps towards bowl)
Pavlov changed his life at age 50 because he discovered "psychic secretions" in dogs. When did they salivate?
Classical Conditioning - What leads to what?
Pavlov's elaboration on the Locke model of association. At its core, its places great importance on the idea of contiguity.
Learning
Pavlov's work became the foundation of the subspecialty of psychological science known as....
Negative Punishment Ex. a young graduate was having difficulty getting his dissection (degree) completed. His friends said anytime he submitted an assignment late, they would burn his first edition books. He missed his first assignment and his friends burned a book. He never missed another assignment after that
Penalty, one follows the behavior with the removal of something good to DECREASE the probability of that behavior
Variable Ratio
People are very persistent with slot machines, lottery tickets, and scratch off cards. These are examples of which of the following types of reinforcement?
Acquisition phase of learning - the conditioned response (CR) is virtually the same as the unconditioned response (UCR), it is simply exhibited in response to the conditioned stimulus (CS)
Process of classical conditioning from original UCS to CR
John Locke
Proposed the Law of Association in the 17th century
Zeitgeist of American academia
Psychological science's insistence on precise measurement of observable stimuli fit the __________?__________ and resulted in thousands of publications on observable behavior. - successful both in the laboratory and in the clinic.
Ivan Pavlov ("Absent Minded Professor")
Russian physiologists who developed the idea of classical conditioning using "Pavlov' Pouch". He received the Noble Prize in digestion in 1904 at about 50 years of age (20th century)
B. F. Skinner
Second most recognizable psychologist in the world
Conditioned Response (learned)
Similar to the unconditioned response but it is a learned response to the conditioned stimulus
Baby Tender (F. B. Skinner)
Skinner's larger version of an operant chamber for infants; designed to be sold to the general public (sales did not increase)
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) --Unconditioned: not learned
Starts with a stimulus that automatically leads to the unconditioned response
B. F. "Fred" Skinner
Stated that in Thorndike's examples of the cats, behavior "operates" on the environment and the animal learns from its contingencies
1. USC (food) ---- UCR (salivate) 2. Neutral Stimulus (bell) -- USC (food) -- UCR (salivate) (Neutral stimulus becomes conditioned) 3. CS (bell) --- CR (salivation) conditioned: learned
Steps of Classical Conditioning (salivate, food, bell)
Stimulus Discrimination Ex. dog responds to wife (for food) but not to the husband
The animal exhibits a response to one stimulus but not to another similar stimulus
Ratio schedule of reinforcement
The animal is rewarded after a certain number of times the behavior occurs
FIXED ratio schedule of reinforcement Ex. a factory worker may be paid after he has constructed 50 wagons --> FR 50 schedule
The animal is rewarded after a particular number of times the behavior occurs.
VARIABLE ratio schedule of reinforcement Ex. a factory worker could be on an IR 50 schedule of reinforcement in which he gets paid after an average of 50 wagons; however, he may get paid after 25 or 75 Ex. slot machines and lottery tickets
The animal is rewarded on the average of a certain number of times the behavior occurs
Behavior Modification - helps overcome maladaptive behaviors, fears, and anxieties
The application of operant conditioning principles
Adaptive: fear of hot stove --> fear of all stoves because you learn that they are all hot and dangerous
The more similar the stimulus, the stronger the response. Give an example...
orienting response
The neutral stimulus only gets your attention or, in Pavlov's terms, it produces an _______?______.
Skinner Chamber (F. B. Skinner)
The operant chamber for rats in which the researcher could easily record the animal's behavior
Cognitive Maps
Tolman's idea of what rats were developing while running the maze
Latent Learning
Tolman's term for learning without reinforcement
1. Classical Conditioning 2. Operant Conditioning.
Two forms of learning:
Extinction Ex. Imagine if you presented the bell without the food or if you repeatedly played the Jaws music without the shark
Undo conditioning/acquisition (learned skill) --> When one presents the CS without the UCS; leads to a decrease in responding
Mary Cover Jones - demonstrated that you could use the same classical conditioning principles to undo the fear of a rabbit in a three-year-old boy by the name of Little Peter. (decondition/uncondition)
Watson had intended to undo the phobic learning in Little Albert B. by using the same classical conditioning principles; however, the boy's mother moved away from the hospital before this could take place. What psychologist experimented his idea?
Conditioned Stimulus (learned)
With repeated trials, it is learned to predict the unconditioned stimulus and leads to the conditioned response
Law of Association (John Locke) - 17th century Ex. toilet flushing, water pressure change, and hot/cold water. You learned that the events went together and in that order.
We acquire knowledge about the world through associating ideas that occur closely together.
Psychologists went on a quest to locate the boy, but sadly he passed away at age five from a serious illness
What ever happened to Little Albert B?
- He was unable to obtain lab space for his work on chickens so he hid the chickens in his (no pets allowed) apartment - His landlord found the fowl and kicked him out - He told his story to WILLIAM JAMES who took pity and allowed him into his home - Thorndike changed from chickens (cost $) to free stray away cats - William James children liked him because he always had animals to play with
What happened to E.L Thorndike?
He was robbed of his suitcase in the train station
What happened to Pavlov when he arrived in New York City.
We gain knowledge through divine means (God) and rational means (reason/logic)
What have some philosophers hypothesized how we acquire information:
Direct conditioning - two stimuli presented simultaneously Rabit :( + Food :) = (bringing together) happy child
What was Mary Cover Jones method and what does it mean?
Fish, friends, and freedom (3 F's)
What was the puzzle box motivated by?
Stimulus Generalization Ex. my fear of dogs
When you learn a response to one stimulus but you also perform it to other, similar stimuli.
Partial Reinforcement Ex. bamo-bina pizza study, casino
You do not get rewarded (or punished) every time the behavior occurs - resistant to extinction (dropping out) - most of nature works this way (life)
Observational Learning
You do not have to experience the reinforcement or punishment directly, you can learn the consequences of certain actions by watching their contingencies on others.
Negative reinforcement Ex. Ibuprofen removes the aversive stimulus (headache), so our likelihood to use the medication as well as to use it in greater strength has increased
You follow the behavior with the removal of an aversive stimulus to INCREASE the probability of that behavior - NOT a punishment
Continuous Reinforcement
You get a reward every time you perform a desired behavior - get fast acquisition
The water temperature will either get really hot or really cold. - How do we know this IN ADVANCE (when we all come from different backgrounds and experience different things)
You move into a new apartment and the first thing you do is take a shower. Your roommate decides to flush the toilet three times. At that exact moment you feel a change in the water pressure and you move out of the path of oncoming water. Why?
Shaping - Must be patient, it takes TIME
You reward (positively reinforce) closer and closer approximations to the desired behavior.
