Chapter 6

observational learning

type of learning that occurs by watching others

adapt ; change

Both reflexes and instincts help an organism adapt to its environment and do not have to be learned. For example, every healthy human baby has a sucking reflex, present at birth. Babies are born knowing how to suck on a nipple, whether artificial (from a bottle) or human. Nobody teaches the baby to suck, just as no one teaches a sea turtle hatchling to move toward the ocean. Learning, like reflexes and instincts, allows an organism to _________ to its environment. But unlike instincts and reflexes, learned behaviors involve ________ and experience:

primitive ; medulla

Reflexes tend to be simpler than instincts, involve the activity of specific body parts and systems (e.g., the knee-jerk reflex and the contraction of the pupil in bright light), and involve more __________ centers of the central nervous system (e.g., the spinal cord and the ___________).

entertaining behaviors ; bell ; discrimination

Shaping is often used in teaching a complex behavior or chain of behaviors. Skinner used shaping to teach pigeons not only such relatively simple behaviors as pecking a disk in a Skinner box, but also many unusual and _____________________, such as turning in circles, walking in figure eights, and even playing ping pong; the technique is commonly used by animal trainers today. An important part of shaping is stimulus discrimination. Recall Pavlov's dogs—he trained them to respond to the tone of a _____, and not to similar tones or sounds. This _______________ is also important in operant conditioning and in shaping behavior.

negatives effects ; reinforcement

While positive punishment can be effective in some cases, Skinner suggested that the use of punishment should be weighed against the possible ____________. Today's psychologists and parenting experts favor ____________ over punishment—they recommend that you catch your child doing something good and reward her for it.

Skinner's Experiment/Skinner Box

Working with Thorndike's law of effect as his foundation, Skinner began conducting scientific experiments on animals (mainly rats and pigeons) to determine how organisms learn through operant conditioning. He placed these animals inside an operant conditioning chamber, which has come to be known as a "Skinner box". A Skinner box contains a lever (for rats) or disk (for pigeons) that the animal can press or peck for a food reward via the dispenser. Speakers and lights can be associated with certain behaviors. A recorder counts the number of responses made by the animal.

unconscious ; conscious and unconscious

You will see that associative learning is central to all three basic learning processes ; classical conditioning tends to involve ______________ processes, operant conditioning tends to involve conscious processes, and observational learning adds social and cognitive layers to all the basic associative processes, both __________________.

observational ; imitating

______________ learning extends the effective range of both classical and operant conditioning. In contrast to classical and operant conditioning, in which learning occurs only through direct experience, observational learning is the process of watching others and then __________ what they do. A lot of learning among humans and other animals comes from observational learning.

symbolic model

can be fictional characters or real people who demonstrate behaviors in books, movies, television shows, video games, or Internet sources

learning

change in behavior or knowledge that is the result of experience

verbal instructional model

does not perform the behavior, but instead explains or describes the behavior, as when a soccer coach tells his young players to kick the ball with the side of the foot, not with the toe

token economies

entire behavior management systems in which tokens, which are also secondary reinforcers, can then be traded in for rewards and prizes ; used in mental hospitals, prisons, and schools

itself ; timing ; brief ; several hours

During acquisition, the neutral stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response, and eventually the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the conditioned response by _________. ___________ is important for conditioning to occur. Typically, there should only be a ________ interval between presentation of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Depending on what is being conditioned, sometimes this interval is as little as five seconds. However, with other types of conditioning, the interval can be up to _______________.

cocaine

Gambling is seen as just addictive as _____________.

classical conditioning

learning in which the stimulus or experience occurs before the behavior and then gets paired or associated with the behavior

latent learning

learning that occurs, but it may not be evident until there is a reason to demonstrate it

cognitive map

mental picture of the layout of the environment

operant conditioning

form of learning in which the stimulus/experience happens after the behavior is demonstrated

associative learning

form of learning that involves connecting certain stimuli or events that occur together in the environment (classical and operant conditioning)

primary reinforcer

has innate reinforcing qualities (e.g., food, water, shelter, sex)

secondary reinforcer

has no inherent value unto itself and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with something else (e.g., money, gold stars, poker chips)

punishment

implementation of a consequence in order to decrease a behavior

reinforcement

implementation of a consequence in order to increase a behavior

variable ratio reinforcement schedule

number of responses differ before a behavior is rewarded

acquisition

period of initial learning in classical conditioning in which a human or an animal begins to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus will begin to elicit the conditioned response

model

person who performs a behavior that serves as an example (in observational learning)

vicarious punishment

process where the observer sees the model punished, making the observer less likely to imitate the model's behavior

vicarious reinforcement

process where the observer sees the model rewarded, making the observer more likely to imitate the model's behavior

fixed ratio reinforcement schedule

set number of responses must occur before a behavior is rewarded

higher-order conditioning

(also, second-order conditioning) using a conditioned stimulus to condition a neutral stimulus

Shaping Steps:

1) Reinforce any response that resembles the desired behavior. 2) Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired behavior. You will no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response. 3) Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the desired behavior. 4) Continue to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. 5) Finally, only reinforce the desired behavior.

According to Lefrançois there are several ways that observational learning can occur:

1) You learn a new response. After watching your coworker get chewed out by your boss for coming in late, you start leaving home 10 minutes earlier so that you won't be late. 2) You choose whether or not to imitate the model depending on what you saw happen to the model. Remember Julian and his father? When learning to surf, Julian might watch how his father pops up successfully on his surfboard and then attempt to do the same thing. On the other hand, Julian might learn not to touch a hot stove after watching his father get burned on a stove. 3) You learn a general rule that you can apply to other situations.

stimulus generalization

demonstrating the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus

Tolman's Experiment/Maze

Although strict behaviorists such as Skinner and Watson refused to believe that cognition (such as thoughts and expectations) plays a role in learning, another behaviorist, Edward C. Tolman, had a different opinion. Tolman's experiments with rats demonstrated that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement. This finding was in conflict with the prevailing idea at the time that reinforcement must be immediate in order for learning to occur, thus suggesting a cognitive aspect to learning. In the experiments, Tolman placed hungry rats in a maze with no reward for finding their way through it. He also studied a comparison group that was rewarded with food at the end of the maze. As the unreinforced rats explored the maze, they developed a cognitive map: a mental picture of the layout of the maze. After 10 sessions in the maze without reinforcement, food was placed in a goal box at the end of the maze. As soon as the rats became aware of the food, they were able to find their way through the maze quickly, just as quickly as the comparison group, which had been rewarded with food all along. This is known as latent learning: learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it.

variable ratio ; fixed interval

Among the reinforcement schedules, _____________ is the most productive and the most resistant to extinction. _______________ is the least productive and the easiest to extinguish.

Bandura's Experiment/Bobo Dolls

Bandura researched modeling behavior, particularly children's modeling of adults' aggressive and violent behaviors. He conducted an experiment with a five-foot inflatable doll that he called a Bobo doll. In the experiment, children's aggressive behavior was influenced by whether the teacher was punished for her behavior. In one scenario, a teacher acted aggressively with the doll, hitting, throwing, and even punching the doll, while a child watched. There were two types of responses by the children to the teacher's behavior. When the teacher was punished for her bad behavior, the children decreased their tendency to act as she had. When the teacher was praised or ignored (and not punished for her behavior), the children imitated what she did, and even what she said. They punched, kicked, and yelled at the doll.

Watson's Experiment/Little Albert

In 1920, Watson was the chair of the psychology department at Johns Hopkins University. Through his position at the university he came to meet Little Albert's mother, Arvilla Merritte, who worked at a campus hospital. Watson offered her a dollar to allow her son to be the subject of his experiments in classical conditioning. Through these experiments, Little Albert was exposed to and conditioned to fear certain things. Initially he was presented with various neutral stimuli, including a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks, cotton wool, and a white rat. He was not afraid of any of these things. Then Watson, with the help of Rayner, conditioned Little Albert to associate these stimuli with an emotion—fear. For example, Watson handed Little Albert the white rat, and Little Albert enjoyed playing with it. Then Watson made a loud sound, by striking a hammer against a metal bar hanging behind Little Albert's head, each time Little Albert touched the rat. Little Albert was frightened by the sound—demonstrating a reflexive fear of sudden loud noises—and began to cry. Watson repeatedly paired the loud sound with the white rat. Soon Little Albert became frightened by the white rat alone. Days later, Little Albert demonstrated stimulus generalization—he became afraid of other furry things: a rabbit, a furry coat, and even a Santa Claus mask. Watson had succeeded in conditioning a fear response in Little Albert, thus demonstrating that emotions could become conditioned responses. It had been Watson's intention to produce a phobia—a persistent, excessive fear of a specific object or situation— through conditioning alone, thus countering Freud's view that phobias are caused by deep, hidden conflicts in the mind. However, there is no evidence that Little Albert experienced phobias in later years. Little Albert's mother moved away, ending the experiment. While Watson's research provided new insight into conditioning, it would be considered unethical by today's standards.

associate ; punishment

In operant conditioning, organisms learn, again, to ___________ events—a behavior and its consequence (reinforcement or ____________).

Watson ; measured

In stark contrast with Freud, who considered the reasons for behavior to be hidden in the unconscious, _______________ championed the idea that all behavior can be studied as a simple stimulus-response reaction, without regard for internal processes. Watson argued that in order for psychology to become a legitimate science, it must shift its concern away from internal mental processes because mental processes cannot be seen or measured. Instead, he asserted that psychology must focus on outward observable behavior that can be _______________.

sexual activity ; higher

Instincts are more complex patterns of behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole (e.g., _________________ and migration), and involve _____________ brain centers.

sequence

Our minds have a natural tendency to connect events that occur closely together or in _____________.

Ivan Pavlov's Dog Experiments

Pavlov was a physiologist, not a psychologist. Physiologists study the life processes of organisms, from the molecular level to the level of cells, organ systems, and entire organisms. Pavlov's area of interest was the digestive system. In his studies with dogs, Pavlov surgically implanted tubes inside dogs' cheeks to collect saliva. He then measured the amount of saliva produced in response to various foods. Over time, Pavlov observed that the dogs began to salivate not only at the taste of food, but also at the sight of food, at the sight of an empty food bowl, and even at the sound of the laboratory assistants' footsteps. Salivating to food in the mouth is reflexive, so no learning is involved. However, dogs don't naturally salivate at the sight of an empty bowl or the sound of footsteps. These unusual responses intrigued Pavlov, and he wondered what accounted for what he called the dogs' "psychic secretions". To explore this phenomenon in an objective manner, Pavlov designed a series of carefully controlled experiments to see which stimuli would cause the dogs to salivate. He was able to train the dogs to salivate in response to stimuli that clearly had nothing to do with food, such as the sound of a bell, a light, and a touch on the leg. Through his experiments, Pavlov realized that an organism has two types of responses to its environment: (1) unconditioned (unlearned) responses, or reflexes, and (2) conditioned (learned) responses.

food aversion

a type of conditioning in which an interval of several hours may pass between the conditioned stimulus (something ingested) and the unconditioned stimulus (nausea or illness) Ex: Between classes, you and a friend grab a quick lunch from a food cart on campus. You share a dish of chicken curry and head off to your next class. A few hours later, you feel nauseous and become ill. Although your friend is fine and you determine that you have intestinal flu (the food is not the culprit), you've developed a taste aversion; the next time you are at a restaurant and someone orders curry, you immediately feel ill. While the chicken dish is not what made you sick, you are experiencing taste aversion: you've been conditioned to be averse to a food after a single, negative experience.

stimulus discrimination

ability to respond differently to similar stimuli

positive reinforcement

adding a desirable stimulus to increase a behavior

positive punishment

adding an undesirable stimulus to stop or decrease a behavior

fixed interval reinforcement schedule

behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time

variable interval reinforcement schedule

behavior is rewarded after unpredictable amounts of time have passed

law of effect

behavior that is followed by consequences satisfying to the organism will be repeated and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences will be discouraged

extinction

decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus

live model

demonstrates a behavior in person, as when Ben stood up on his surfboard so that Julian could see how he did it

unconditioned response (UCR)

natural (unlearned) behavior to a given stimulus

conditioned response (CR)

response caused by the conditioned stimulus

spontaneous recovery

return of a previously extinguished conditioned response

continuous reinforcement

rewarding a behavior every time it occurs

partial reinforcement

rewarding behavior only some of the time

shaping

rewarding successive approximations toward a target behavior

neutral stimulus (NS)

stimulus that does not initially elicit a response

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

stimulus that elicits a reflexive response

conditioned stimulus (CS)

stimulus that elicits a response due to its being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

negative punishment

taking away a pleasant stimulus to decrease or stop a behavior

negative reinforcement

taking away an undesirable stimulus to increase a behavior

instinct

unlearned knowledge, involving complex patterns of behavior; instincts are thought to be more prevalent in lower animals than in humans

reflex

unlearned, automatic response by an organism to a stimulus in the environment

habituation

when we learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change