IB PSYCH SL - CHAPTER 5 BEHAVIORAL

Learning

process that produces a relatively enduring change in behavior/knowledge as a result from experience

Conditioning

process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses

Ivan Pavlov

brilliant russian scientist/physiologist. Dog saliva study (salivating was a reflex, involuntary, automatic response)

classical conditioning (pavlovian/respondent conditioning)

explains how certain stimuli can trigger an automatic response, causes existing behaviors to occur, shows reflexive behavior, neutral stim. paired with unlearned stim.

unconditioned stimulus (ucs)

stimulus that elicits an automatic response (food in pavlov experiment)

unconditioned response (ucr)

The unlearned, reflexive response that is elicited by an unconditioned stimulus (dog's salivation)

conditioned stimulus (cs)

a formerly neutral stimulus that acquires the capacity to elicit a reflexive response (sound of bell)

conditioned response (cr)

the learned, reflexive response to a conditioned stimulus (neutral stimulus, dog's salivation to sound of bell)

stimulus generalization

occurs when stimuli that are similar to original cs also elicit cr, even though they never paired w/ ucs

stimulus discrimination

occurs when particular cr is made to one stimulus but not other

extinction

decline and eventual disappearance of cr

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance of a learned response (cr) after extinction has occurred without exposure to cs

behaviorism

the science of behavior that focuses on observable behavior only

John B. Watson

founder of behaviorism, didn't believe in introspection, believed human behavior was a result of conditioning and learning. Said intelligence, talent, and personality are shaped (role of environment). Thought human emotions were reflexive responses involving muscles and glands. Him and Rosalie Rayner did classical conditioning with Little Albert B, brought humans (babies) into classical conditioning. Didn't disclose if fear would persist and modify personality through life. Exposed to loud clanging sound and rat. Undue harm and stress. Had an affair with Rayner so he went into advertising and took classical conditioning there.

3 emotions that Watson believed were natural reflexives

love, rage, fear

Drug effect seen in

placebo effect/response, occurs when individual has psychological/physiological reaction to what is a fake drug. (can be seen with ppl's blood pressure who dropped when they thought they were taking anti hypertension medicine)

according to behavioralists

mental processes weren't needed in explaining conditioning

Robert Rescorla

demonstrated classically conditioned rats asses reliable signals. rats use cognitive and were classically conditioned the every tone was paired with a shock, only were neurotic when it was unreliable.

principle believed that all species would...

act the same for classical conditioning -- exception = taste aversion (only need once)

taste aversion

guy had spaghetti (neutral stim.), had stomach virus (ucs) so he had nausea (ucr), avoided spaghetti and felt queasy from having it (happens later and only ONCE). More readily to be classically conditioned.

John Garcia

One of the first researchers to experimentally demonstrate the existence of taste aversions and other exceptions to the general laws of classical conditioning. His research emphasized the importance of the evolutionary forces that shape the learning process. Taste aversion in lab rats (saccharine water (neutral) with drug in it (ucs) made them have GI distress (ucr) so they didn't have sugar water (became cs). Many said findings were impossible, Garcia said cs used in classical conditioning matters (pain associated with external response//tase association with internal). Another example is chemical on lamb that made wolves not want to eat. Biological preparedness.

Biological preparedness

the idea that an organism is innately predisposed to form associations between certain stimuli and responses (from sensory capabilities and feeding habits, quail relies on vision, rats rely on tased/odor)

Martin Seligman

bio preparedness -- said phobias came from things that posed threat to ancestors, said we didn't need prior learning (spiders, snakes, height), learned helplessness (dogs in cage with shock)

Edward L. Thorndike

animal learning and voluntary behaviors influenced by consequences, before pavlov, puzzle boxes with cats, instrumental learning (animal operating the world like an instrument, early operant) precedes skinner in operant, trial and error, law of effect and exercise

law of effect

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

law of exercise

satisfying consequences strength paralleled to number of times met with satisfying, strengthen response/avoidance

B.F. Skinner

searched for lawful processes that would explain order in behavior, used to write, wanted to understand behavior, worked with pigeons, skinner box, pigeon pecking, only believed in observable, said operant learning was more similar to learning in daily life, avoided term voluntary bc it implied behavior was conscious, used pigeons through his Skinner Box to positively reinforce (by giving them food) behaviors/operants such as playing ping-pong or pecking a circle.

operant conditioning (skinnerian conditoning)

any active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequences.

reinforcement

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

reinforcer

stimulus/event that is sought

positive reinforcement

the reinforcement of a response by the addition of a stimulus, behavior always increases (skinner advocated for this)

negative reinforcement

the reinforcement of a response by the removal of a stimulus (usually aversive/unpleasant), behavior always increases; escaping/avoiding something

primary reinforcer

stimulus that is naturally rewarding, such as food or water

conditioned reinforcer

(secondary reinforcer) a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer (money, awards, degree)

punishment

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows (aversive consequence, prevents undesired behavior)

punishment by application

Positive punishment

the punishment of a response by the addition or experiencing of an unpleasant stimulus

punishment by removal (response cost, extinction)

negative punishment

the punishment of a response by the removal of a reinforcing stimulus following a behavior

discriminative stimulus

A specific stimulus in the presence of which a particular response is more likely to be reinforced, and in the absence of which a particular response is not likely to be reinforced (phone ringing likely to be picked up)

operant chamber

Skinner box containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain food or water reinforce; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking, death with shaping

shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

continuous reinforcement

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

partial reinforcement

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

partial reinforcement effect

feeling like there's a chance reinforcement may occur (dog begging for food)

schedules of reinforcement

specific patterns that determine when a behavior will be reinforced

fixed ratio

describes a schedule of reinforcement wherein a worker is paid for a certain sum for each product produced

variable ratio

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an average, unpredictable number of responses, gambling

fixed interval

reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

variable interval

reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

behavior modification

the application of learning principles to help people develop more effective or adaptive behaviors (remote controlled rats)

Edward C. Tolman

American psychologist who studied the importance of cognition in learning, and challenged the prevailing behaviorist model that a reward must be presented in order for an organism to learn. He believed that rats running through a maze were capable of constructing a cognitive map of the maze - a mental representation of its layout. He concluded that learning involves the acquisition of knowledge rather than simple changes in outward behavior. To describe learning that is not immediately demonstrated in overt behavior, he coined the term latent learning. said animals were smart `

rats training in maze graph

in notebook

cognitive maps

An internal representation of the spatial relationships between objects in an animal's surroundings.

latent learning

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

learned helplessness

the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past

Keller and Marian Breland

found that animals showed a strong evolutionary history that sometimes over-road conditioning -- instinctive drift, tried to teach chickens to play baseball but they just kept pecking it instead. Also tried to do this with raccoons with a coin and box but they just rubbed 2 coins together instead. Was explained through Instinctive Drift. biology overrides learning.

instinctive drift

tendency for animals to return to innate behaviors following repeated reinforcement

Albert Bandura

observational learning, modeling, social learning, observing others to imitate, (ob. learning is...) the result of of cognitive processes that are actively judgmental and constructive. Bobo Doll study in which children watched an adult hitting a Bobo Doll aggressively with different outcomes. Positive reinforcement such as candy resulted in children being more aggressive and punishment resulted in the kids being less aggressive.

kohler

developed insight learning based on experiments with chimps trying to get bananas in boxes, getting peanut from tube, says prior learning is unnecessary. Put food out of reach for chimpanzees which resulted in them doing a wide variety of things to try and get it such as building a "ladder" out of boxes.

seligman, brelands, tolman, and kohler all...

debunked previous learning (feelings, not behaviorism)

Ader and Cohen

Exposed rats to water along with an unsuppressing drug, and once they drank the water, their lupus symptoms reduced.

Wolpe

Used counter conditioning to eliminate fear/phobias, used relaxation techniques in place.

Mary Cover Jones

Helped children/infants to cure their fear of rats by providing a positive stimulus with the rats such as food.