Unit 3.2 - Behavioralism

Learning

A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience

Behaviorists

Psychologists focused on observable behavior

Habituation

decreased responsiveness in a stimulus (get used to)

Insight Learning

Occurs when the solution to a problems occurs without any association, consequence, or model (Lightbulb moment)

Edward Tolman

Discovered latent learning

Latent Learning

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

Cognitive map

mental representation of the layout of one’s environment

Classical Conditioning

Type of learning in which one learns to link 2+ stimuli to anticipate events

ex: Bruno hears bowl → knows it’s time to eat

ex: sound of bowl = food

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

a stimulus that unconditionally triggers a response

Unconditioned response (UCR)

The unlearned, naturally occurring response to an UCS

ex: the dog drooling

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

a stimulus that does not naturally cause a reoccurring response

ex: bell → bells have no impact on dogs

Conditioned response (CR)

the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

ex: drooling

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

the originally neutral Stimulus that has been paired with the UCS enough times isn’t present

ex: the bell

Acquisition

when one links a neural stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neural stimulus begins to trigger the conditioned response

Higher order conditioning

(adding on) to the conditioned stimulus

Extinction

the diminishing of a CR

ex: when you ring the bell but the dogs don’t drool

Reconditioning

presenting the NS/CS with the UCS again to bring the CR back

ex: retraining the dogs to connect with the bell → will be faster this time

Spontaneous Recovery

the reappearance of an extinct/weakened conditioned response

ex: dogs stops responding to the bell, but then one day they do

Stimulus generalization

the tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to trigger the conditioned response

ex: dogs responding to all sorts of bells

Discrimination

the ability to distinguish between a CS and a random stimuli

One-trial conditioning

the single pairing of a stimulus and response is enough to create an association or aversion

(done one time to create a reaction)

ex: dog bite

Biological preparedness

how animals are biologically predisposed to learning certain stimulus-response parings more quickly than others— survival

Taste aversion

an acquired reaction to the smell or taste that an animal is exposed to before getting sick much faster than normal CC

ex: Taco Bell

Operant Conditioning

type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Edward Thorndike’s Law of effect

Behaviors which are rewarded will be more likely to be repeated and behaviors that are punished will be less likely to be repeated

ex: more likely to go trick or treaking when you get candy (reward); less likely to get a rock (punishment)

Superstition

occurs when consequences reinforce or punish unrelated behaviors

ex: Wear lucky socks → reinforced by good test score → wear socks again because you think you’ll be rewarded again

Reinforcement

the presentation of AA stimulus or event (reinforcer) that follow a behavior or response, which increases the chances of the behavior being repeated

• ALWAYS increases behavior

Shaping

uses reinforcers to guide behavior gradually toward desired behavior through rewarding successive approximation of the desired behavior

ex: caught being good

Positive reinforcement

Increases the likelihood of a behavior by following the behavior with a desired or favorable stimulus or event

ex: giving a dog a treat when they do a trick

Negative reinforcement

Increasing the likelihood of behavior by following the behavior with the removal of an undesired stimulus or event

• The removal of something bad increases that behavior to occur again

ex: if you do your homework, I’ll take away the test (you’re more likely to do your work

Skinner box

B.F. Skinner devised a chamber for rats that contained a bar and when the rat pressed the bar, a food pellet was delivered

→ rats continuously pressing the bar to get food

Primary reinforcer

innately reinforcing stimulus

ex: biological need, like food, water, love/pleasure

Secondary reinforcer

gains it’s power through it’s association with a primary reinforcer

AKA: conditioned reinforcer

ex: money → get food

Continuous reinforcement

Reinforcer is given after every desired response

• quickly goes extinct

ex: every time you play the lottery, you win something → eventually get bored

Partial reinforcement

Reinforcer is only given after particular, not every, desired response

ex: only win some of the time, if at all

Ratio

number of occurrences

Interval

time

Fixed

specific, rigid

Variable

spontaneous, unpredictable

Fixed-ratio

reinforces a response only after a specified (fixed) number of responses

ex: buy 4 coffees, get the 5th free → reinforces behavior of buying coffee

Fixed-interval

reinforces a response only after a specified time (interval) has elapsed

ex: pizza Friday every Friday → encouraged behavior of coming into the office

Variable-ratio

reinforces response after an unpredictable (variable) number of responses

ex: slot machine wins → don’t always win → reinforces playing

Variable-interval

reinforces behavior after an unpredictable amount of time

ex: caught being good → never know when the teacher will reward your good behavior so you’ll always be good

ex: golden ticket in first day of 2nd grade

Punishment

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows

• → teaches fear and discrimination

Positive punishment

administer an adverse stimulus

ex: detention, speeding ticket, spanking

Negative punishment

take away a desirable stimulus

ex: no phone, grounding, revoked license, no recess

Instinctive drift

animals have the tendency to drift back to their original behaviors even after being reinforced/punished → instinct wins out

ex: raccoons trained to put coins in a slot, but always “washed” them despite training

Learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation animals/humans will learn when unable to avoid repeated adverse events

ex: Seligman & Overmier’s dog shock experiment

Social Learning

learning can occur by observation and does not have to involve personal experience with a concequence

ex: hitting dog doll after it does something bad → dog knows not to do it

Models

those we observe as examples

ex: watching a professional kick a soccer ball → you copy their form

Mirror Neurons

frontal love neurons that fir when performing certain actions AND when observing another doing so (copy cat)

ex: YouTube tutorials

Prosocial behaviors

actions that intend to benefit another individual

• Think promoting society

Antisocial behaviors

acts that intend to harm another individual

• Think: someone who doesn’t like people is “antisocial”