Dual Enroll Psychology Behaviorism and Social (Exam 2)

Negative reinforcement ___________ a behavior whereas punishment __________ a behavior (refer to the lecture notes)

Negative reinforcement increases a behavior whereas punishment decreases a behavior

Discuss normative social influence vs. informational social influence.

Normative social influence is conformity for the sake of fitting in, gaining social approval, or to feel good. Informational social influence is conforming because they believe the group's opinions or actions are true.

Define obedience. Briefly discuss Milgram s research on obedience. What was a key point found in Milgram s research on obedience?

Obedience is when someone does something or changes their behavior because they were told to do so. In Milgram's research, participants would "shock" subjects when they answered a question incorrectly. The participants were told it was a technique that would increase learning. However, when the subjects, who were confederates, pleaded for them to stop, the participants continued to "shock" the subjects because they were told to do so by the researcher. The key point in this experiment was that many people follow the orders of authority figures, even if they deem them to be wrong.

Discuss (or define) observational learning.

Observational learning is done by first, watching someone, then you imitate or model, exactly what they say or do. Such as people doing things similar to their parents when they are older because they grew up watching them

Stimulus discrimination

Occurs when there are different consequences for the same behavior in a different situation. For example, If you tell a joke to your friends it may be funny to them. However, if you tell that same joke in a church, It may not cause laughter or be funny.

Identify and describe the different types of partial reinforcement schedules (fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval.

On a fixed ratio, reinforcement is given after a set number of responses which produces a high response rate. A variable ratio has reinforcements given after an unpredictable number of responses and leads to a greater resistance to extinction than a fixed ratio. On a fixed interval, a reinforcement is given after a set amount of time and is the least resistant to extinction and the least productive. A variable interval has reinforcements after a random amount of time and has a slower response rate

Complete this sentence: Once learning has occurred, the neutral stimulus then becomes the _____________ stimulus.

Once learning has occurred, the neutral stimulus then becomes the CONDITIONED stimulus.

Discuss the negative effects of physical/corporal punishment on behavior. (refer to the lecture notes)

One negative effect can be the learning of fear by the child subject to the punishment. This would mean fear of the person giving the punishment. It can also lead to aggressive and anti-social behavior, due to the child seeing their parents rely on aggression to teach a lesson, which can lead to the child then in situations being aggressive themselves

Describe the general process of operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning is a form of learning that changes the likelihood of a voluntary response occurring. After a voluntary response, either a positive or negative consequence is given. The subject learns to associate the response with the consequence and either increases or decreases their behavior

Extinction

The weakening of a conditioned response over the course of time, eventually resulting in the said behavior decreasing or disappearing. Going back to Pavlov and his dogs, if Pavlov after conditioning his dogs to salivate to a bell, ringed the bell and did not bring food for multiple times, the dogs would no longer salivate to the bell. I thought this cartoon helped

Define persuasion. What factors may affect the success of persuasive attempts? What characteristics is associated with more resistance to persuasion (intelligence, education, gender, age, self-esteem, mood)?

Persuasion is the process of changing our attitude on something, typically through communication. Factors that affect persuasion include credibility and trustworthiness of the source or communicator, presentation of both sides of the argument or just one side, subtlety and repetetiveness of the conveyed message, fear without being terrifying, and being face to face rather than through the media. In terms of resistance to persuasion, there is reactance, which does the opposite of the intended desire and occurs when the persuasion takes away freedom; forewarning, which allows someone to come up with an opposing opinion and view both sides of the argument; and also avoiding the topic altogether. People with higher education and intelligence are harder to persuade. People with a moderate amount of self-esteem are easier to persuade. Younger adults are easier to persuade in comparison to older adults.

What is meant by pro-social behavior? Who was Kitty Genovese? How did her murder inspire research on altruism?

Pro-social behavior is voluntarily helping others which can be due to egoism or altruism (Textbook pg 438-439) Kitty Genovese was a woman who was attacked and murdered outside of her apartment. Even after her screams, no one came to help her or call the police for her. (Textbook pg 437) The bystander effect, the fact that no one came to help Kitty, influenced more research to be done on altruism. It is likely many of her neighbors realized the cost of going to help her outweighed their benefit. (Textbook pg 437-438)

Discuss the cognitive dissonance theory. Suggest a way that this theory can be used to decrease prejudice attitudes.

Psychological discomfort arising from holding two or more inconsistent attitudes, behavior, thoughts, beliefs, or opinions. When we experience a conflict in our behaviors that runs counter to our positive self views, we experience psychological discomfort. This theory can be used to change bad behaviors, such as smoking cigarettes, due to the way that you view yourself while smoking. With that, many people can quit smoking by the way that it affects their self view, and how others view them. Another example is people in boot camp viewing the positives of training rather than the difficulties of the training

Discuss shaping. Give an example of a behavior one might learn by shaping .

Shaping is used in operant conditioning to break down behaviors into smaller steps. A reward is given each response that is closer to the desired behavior. An example of shaping is teaching a kid how to write their name. You give them praise for writing the first letter and each time they write an additional letter, you give them praise until they can write their entire name

Influence by one person to alter the behavior/attitudes of others is called: ____________________

Social Influence

Define social loafing. How can you reduce social loafing?

Social loafing is when someone doesn't put any effort in group work. This occurs when people are less motivated since they are not as responsible for themselves as much as they would be working alone. If you want to prevent social loafing, make the assignment harder. People tend to go into a relaxed mode if the project assigned is too easy. Don't make it too hard that it becomes impossible but, if it's hard enough, everyone will work on the assignment trying to get a good grade

Define social psychology.

Social psychology looks at the social aspect in situations and how people's thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced.

Give examples of learned behaviors.

Some learned behaviors are learning to crawl, walk, surf, play a sport. Anything that takes skill or experience to get down, not an instinct or something we naturally get.

Define attribution theory.

The attribution method is the research to understand the cause that makes one feel a certain way or certain behaviors will be shown.

Discuss the effect and how it can lead to diffusion of responsibility.

The bystander effect is when a witness watches something bad happening without attempting to help or intervene. This can lead to diffusion of responsibility because an individual can assume someone else will jump in to help

What is the difference between reinforcement and punishment?

The difference is that with reinforcement, you are adding or taking something away to increase the chances that a behavior or action is repeated. With punishment, you are adding something or taking something away to decrease the chances of something happening

Conditioned stimulus

- stimulus that is supposed to have a specific reaction after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Describe a typical "Skinner box".

A "Skinner box" was a chamber used by B.F. Skinner to teach operant conditioning to small animals. It contained a lever that the animal could press/peck for a food reward. Things like lights and speakers would be associated with certain behaviors and a recorder would count the number of responses that the animal would make

What is a reinforcer?

A reinforcer is a positive or negative consequence that increases the likelihood of the behavioral response

Acquisition

Acquisition refers to the first stages of learning in which a response is established. In classical conditioning, this is the part where the stimulus brings about a conditioned response. For example in Pavlov's dog experiment, Pavlov was able to condition his dogs to salivate to a sound. The phase of the dogs salivating to the sound of a bell is the acquisition period.

Define aggression and discuss the two types of aggression? How is aggression acquired? What factors have been demonstrated to lead to aggression? Discuss the frustration-aggression hypothesis.

Aggression is when someone intends to do harm to someone else. There is hostile aggression, where someone is driven by feelings like anger to inflict pain, and instrumental aggression, where someone is driven to achieve a goal and not always cause pain. (Textbook pg 435) The textbook mentions a few ways of acquiring aggression such as from an evolutionary perspective and also frustration aggression. From the evolutionary perspective males tend to display hostile aggression over other males to preserve their genes, while women tend to display instrumental aggression. (Textbook pg 435-436) The frustration-aggression hypothesis says that if someone is not able to achieve a goal, they are frustrated which produces aggression. (Textbook pg 436)

Give examples of primary and secondary reinforcers. If one uses a token economy as a form of learning or reinforcement, which type of reinforcers would one use (primary or secondary)?

An example of a primary reinforcer is food because it is not a learned reinforcer, it is a basic necessity. Praise would be a secondary reinforcer because it is only worth something if it is linked to a primary reinforcer and has to be learned. If someone were to use a token of economy as a form of reinforcement it would be a secondary reinforcement because it would not satisfy a biological need and only be useful if you used it to acquire a primary need

Define attitudes. How do we acquire attitudes?

Attitude is our evaluation of a person, an idea, or an object. They have three components: feelings, behavior, and belief/knowledge. Our attitudes and beliefs are influenced by both internal forces that we can control, and also external forces. Attitudes can be gained through personal experiences, and also societal values and how others view a certain object.

Describe the general process of classical conditioning (define classical conditioning). Is the underlying process one of association or one of consequence?

Classical conditioning is a process where we learn to associate some stimulus with a certain response. There is an unconditioned stimulus that provokes an unconditioned response, and while this is being done a conditioned stimulus is being introduced (also a neutral stimulus). This leads to a conditioned response which means every time the conditioned stimulus shows up, the conditioned response happens

Define compliance. What techniques may be used in attempts to have someone agree to a request? (foot-in-the-door, door-in-the-face...)

Compliance is when you agree or go along with something, typically because of a request from another person. There are several techniques used for compliance. First, there's foot-in-the-door, which is when someone agrees to a small request before they are asked to do a large request. Second, door-in-the-face, which is asking for a large request and then asking for a small request. Third, when you get some bonus after buying something. Fourth, low-ball, which is convincing someone to do something and then changing what you make them do to something less desirable. Then you have scarcity and deadlines, or get one before it's gone and limited time offer.

Define conformity.

Conformity is the change in one's behavior in order to go along with a group, usually an effect of social pressures.

Discuss some of the cons of watching violence on television.

Cons of watching violence on TV include learning displayed violent behaviors, and potentially acting them out, and becoming desensitized to violence. (textbook pg 220)

Which provides the rapid learning , which produces the greatest resistance to extinction?

Continuous reinforcement provides the rapid learning and partial reinforcement produces the greatest resistance to extinction

Discuss deindividuation.

Deindividuation is when someone's identity with a group of people overrides his or her own identity and self-awareness. This happens in groups because, people feel like they aren't as responsible for themselves. There are two types of deindividuation: One way can be positive such as feeling like you belong. The other way is emotional. People will feel exhilarated after they come back to self-awareness.

Discuss group think and group polarization. When are they most likely to occur? How can they be avoided?

Group think: This occurs when a group of people make irrational or non-optimal decisions. These group people only value harmony and coherence above rational ranking. These people hold back what they are feeling so that they don't have to deal with confrontation if necessary. Found on https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/groupthink How to avoid group thinking is by creating a working environment in which Groupthink is unlikely to happen. Also, being able to recognize that the stakes are high and you need to make a real effort in making good decisions. Found on https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_82.htm Group polarization: is the strengthening of an original group attitude after the discussion of views within a group. This group is usually the group that will agree on a viewpoint and then after stronger discussion their opinion on that agreement will get stronger. in the opposite case, if they opposed a viewpoint, they would have another discussion and after a while, their viewpoint on that opposition would get stronger. Found on Chapter 12.2 pages 426-427. How to avoid group polarization is to be situational instead of being dispositional. This will help escape the thoughts of stereotyping.

Discuss or define habituation.

Habituation is when we learn to ignore a stimulus (like a noise) or not respond to it that repeats itself multiple times. Some stimulus repeats over many times so we take our focus off of it.

Discuss Solomon Asch's study on conformity. What are factors affecting conformity as demonstrated by the Asch studies?

In Asch's study, there were lines of differing lengths. Asch introduced another line and asked his group of subjects to identify which line from the first group matched the second line. In this experiment, there was a group of subjects, known as confederates, who were told to falsely guess the answer, which was clearly the wrong choice. The subject who didn't know the answer then had to openly guess which one he/she believed was correct, while undergoing the pressure of the others' answers. Asch stated that the three factors affecting conformity were... 1. Size of the group and majority; larger groups of majority bring more conformity than smaller groups. 2. Cohesiveness; more attraction to the person or group with influence means more conformity, especially when opinions must be made publicly instead of privately. 3. Presence of another dissenter or ally; when another person disagrees with the group, there is less conformity.

Discuss the differences between continuous and partial reinforcement.

In continuous reinforcement the subject receives a reinforcement every time they display the behavior. It is the quickest way to teach someone a behavior, especially a new behavior. On the other hand, partial reinforcement is where the subject does not get reinforced every time they display the behavior. Through partial reinforcement it will take longer to acquire behaviors, but the responses are more resistant to extinction

Spontaneous recovery

The reappearance of the conditioned response after a rest period or period of lessened response. With the dogs, Pavlov found that a two hour rest period the salivation response reappeared when the sound of the bell was presented.

Complete the following sentences. Don t forget to give examples. _____________ attributions explain behavior as due to the characteristics of the person. Give an example. _____________ attributions explain behaviors as arising from the situation. Give an example.

Internal Attributions explain behavior as due to the characteristics of the person. (Slide 5, Chapter 12) Ex: When a cashier is rude at the grocery store and the woman must assume he is like that all the time. External Attributions explain behaviors as arriving from the situation. (Slide 5, Chapter 12) Ex: Jacob's tire is punctured and blames it on the bad roads he is driving on.

Discuss or summarize Pavlov's experiments regarding classical conditioning. What was the neutral stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned stimulus, the unconditioned response, the conditioned response.

Ivan Pavlov became interested in conditioning when he observed dogs from a laboratory who salivated before food was in their mouths. (Chapter 6 PPT slide 6) In his experiment, he rang a bell, and the bell was considered a neutral stimulus. After ringing the bell, he put meat powder on the dog's tongue. (Chapter 6 ppt slide 7) Every time Pavlov rang the bell he kept putting the meat powder on the dog's tongue. Bell, meat powder, salivation. This was the sequence that was repeated many times. As the conditioning started, the bell began to cause salivation without the meat powder. Now, the bell was producing the same response the food did (Chapter 6 slide 8). The bell became the conditioned stimulus where the dog learned to respond. The meat powder is the unconditioned stimulus because the dog didn't learn to respond to it. (Chapter 6 slide 10) The unconditioned response is salivation. When the bell produced salivation, the response from the dog's became an unlearned reflex. This results in salivation becoming a conditioned response. (Chapter 6 slide 11) Key points: The bell is the neutral stimulus Repetition in the experiment (bell, meat powder, and salivation) The bell caused salivation, so it became the conditioned stimulus Meat powder is the unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned response is salivation The bell produced salivation, so the response is an unlearned reflex Salivation becomes a conditioned response

Discuss or summarize Watson's experiments regarding classical conditioning.

John B. Watson's experiment of classical conditioning was the "Little Albert" experiment. The experiment was conducted by John Watson and Rosalie Rayner. They had a 9-month-old infant who was unafraid of a white rat and white rabbit. The first time "Little Albert" was exposed to a white lab rat, he showed no signs of fear. The next time he was exposed to the rat, Watson clanged a metal pole and a hammer together causing a loud noise behind "Little Albert". Through the loud noise, the infant associated the scary loud noise with the rat. He showed signs of fear towards the rat by crying and attempting to crawl away. After the experiment, "Little Albert" was afraid of most things white and fluffy. This is known as stimulus generalization. (chapter 6 slide 17)

Define what is meant by self-serving bias . Why might it occur?

The self-serving bias is people's tendency to attribute positive events to their own character but attribute negative events to external factors. This occurs because it makes individuals feel better about themselves.

Define learning.

Learning is a somewhat permanent change in behavior or knowledge through experience. In order to learn you must gain experience.

Stimulus generalization

The tendency for a conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after a response has been conditioned. In the Little Albert experiment, Little Albert was conditioned to be scared of a white lab rat. His fear of the lab rat also caused him to be scared of other things that were white and furry. The picture below also helps.

Discuss the social facilitation theory.

This theory is when people are watching you perform a task, you perform a lot better compared to if you were to work alone.

give an example of behavior that a person may perform but that is not learned behavior.

When a baby is born, it is given the instinct of sucking on things like nipples and bottles. This behavior is not learned or taught to babies, but they adapt to this sucking motion to get food.

Discuss the fundamental attribution error.

When somebody points out others characteristics and ways, while over looking their own ways and tendencies.

Stimulus

a message sent to the brain the makes some of the receptors in it react,

Discuss (or define) negative reinforcement. Give examples:

a response or behavior is strengthened by stopping, removing, or avoiding a negative outcome or aversive stimulus. Examples: If you are planning on heading out to the beach, you would use negative reinforcement by applying sunscreen to avoid a negative outcome, such as sunburn. Another is, if you left a mess in the kitchen, you would use negative reinforcement by cleaning the kitchen to avoid getting into a fight with the person you're living with

Unconditioned response

natural behavior or reaction to some stimulus

Response

reaction to something

Conditioned response

specific response caused by the conditioned stimulus

Neutral stimulus

stimulus that doesn't give a reaction/response right away

Unconditioned stimulus

stimulus that has a reflexive response, something that naturally triggers a response