PSYC 365: Unit 9

generality

a behaviour change is said it have generality if following occurs:

1. stimulus generalization - trained beh transfers from training situation to target situation

2. response generalization - training leads to dev of new behaviour not specifically trained

3. behaviour maintenence - train beh persists in target situation over time

stimulus generalization

trained beh transfers from training situation to target situation

the tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to the original conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response

refers to the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of a situation and the effect of the response becoming more probable in another situation

response generalization

training leads to development of new behaviour not specifically trained

The extent to which a learner emits untrained responses that are functionally equivalent to the trained target behaviour.

Occurs for 3 reasons:
1. the more physically similar two responses are the more unlearned response generalization occurs
2. learned response generalization can occur if different responses share common characteristic
3. individual might show response generalization because they learned a functionally equivalent response to a stimulus

functionality equivalent responses

different responses that produce the same consequences

concepts

When a child learns a concept they are likely to show unlearned stimulus generalization but for other concepts with only limited physical characteristics in common it might take some learning for stimulus generalization to occur

learned response generalization

for some concepts with only limited physical characteristics in common it might take some learning for stimulus generalization to occur

unlearned response generalization

When a child learns a concept they are likely to show unlearned stimulus generalization

ie for a car they are likely to be able to identify many cars

training situation

the setting in which the behavior is initially strengthened

target (or test) situation

the setting in which we want the final behaviour to occur

programming for generality

includes strategies of programming for stimulus generalization, response generalization and behaviour maintenance

training sufficient stimulus exemplars

A common element stimulus classes have many members reffered to as exemplars of that class, ie a dog has many members in that there are a wide variety of dogs. It is something a child is likely to generalize.

a variation of it is general case programming- teacher identifies range of relevant stimulus situations to which a learner is expected to respond and the response variations are required -> during training acceptable variations are brought under control of samples/range of stim

-> used to teach adolescents w dev. disabilities how to use vending machines by Sprague and Horner (1984)

general case programming

a variation of training sufficient stimulus exemplars

teacher identifies range of relevant stimulus situations to which a learner is expected to respond and the response variations are required -> during training acceptable variations are brought under control of samples/range of stim

-> used to teach adolescents w dev. disabilities how to use vending machines by Sprague and Horner (1984)

training sufficient response exemplars

A strategy for programming response generalization is similar to that of training sufficient stimulus exemplars to establish stimulus generalization

behavioural trap

a contingency in which a behaviour that has been developed by programmed reinforcers is "trapped" or maintained by natural reinforcers -> effective way to program behaviour maintenance

low probability instructions and high probability instructions

low-prob instructions:

→ instructions a child has a low chance of complying with

high-prob instructions

→ instructions a child is likely to follow

natural environment

changing the behaviour in the natural environment is more difficult than behaviour trapping

• involves changing behaviour of people in natural environment so they will maintain leaners behaviour that has generalized from training situation

• must teach them how to continue to reinforce this behaviour

self-management

The personal application of behavior change tactics that produces a desired change in behavior.

self-modification

A collection of cognitive behavioral strategies based on the idea that change can be brought about by teaching people to use coping skills in various problematic situations.

behavioural self-control

the personal use of operant conditioning principles to change or control one's own behaviour -> means emitting a control behaviour to effect a change

recruit a natural community of reinforcement

intermittent schedules make a beh more persistent in the target situation and increase the prob of the beh lasting until it can come under the control of natural reinforcers

antecedents

events that precede a response

antecedent control

A behavior change intervention that manipulates contingency-dependent consequence events to affect stimulus control.

aka stimulus control

rules

a rule is a verbal stimulus that describes a situation in which a particular behaviour will lead to a particular consequence

specific operant beh will have specific good/bad outcome in situation

some rules clearly identify reinforcers/punishers ass. w rules other times they are simply implied

ply- source of reinforcement is the rule giver

track- source of reinforcement is external to rule giver

augmental- rule affects the reinforcing/punishing strength of a source

partial rules

rules that do not identify all three aspects (situation/beh/consequence) of a contingency of reinforcement

contingency-shaped behaviour

behaviour tht is shaped b/c of immediate consequences rather than spec. statement/rule

rule-governed behaviour

behaviour that is controlled by the statement of a rule

indirect effect of a reinforcer

adding a rule can increase the chances of a delayed reinforcer having and effect on a behaviour --> strengthening of a response that is followed by a reinforcer even though the reinforcer is delayed

goals

level of performance or outcome that an individual or group attempt to achieve -> motivational

goal setting- process of making goals for oneself or more ppl

are more effective when:

- goals are public

- deadlines are included

- feedback on progress so far is included

- when individuals are committed to goals

mastery criterion

a specific guideline for performing a skill so that if the guideline is met, the skill is likely to be mastered ex learning athletic skills, academic skills such as reciting periodic tablepu

public goals

are more effective than private goals → result in public standard for which performance can be evaluated and implies social consequences for not achieving

private goals

goals that you keep to yourself and do not share

commitment

goals are important, learner will work towards it and recognized the benefits of doing so

modeling

procedure by which a sample of a given behaviour is demonstrated to an individual to induce that individual to engage in a similar behaviour -> as with rules it can be powerful -> history of reinforcement/punishment are factors for if we imitate a model

peer models

similarity of the model and observer enhances SE, attention, and motivation to perform skill -> we imitate those who are more similar to us in age, race, gender ect

symbolic modeling (also called video modeling)

showing a video display of someone engaging in desired behaviours
-> has certain adv's:
-model is presented in perfectly controlled manner
- videos can be viewed anywhere
- learner can be used a model for his own beh. thru video self monitoring

physical guidance

Application of physical contact to induce an individual to go through the motions of the desired behavior

typically only one component of teaching behaviour → ex. a teacher leading a student through a dance or in overcoming fears

facilitates the dev of generalized imitation by which an individual after learning to imitate # of responses through shaping/fading/physical guidance/reinforcement learns to imitate new resp on first trial without reinforcement

physical guidance may also be used as transition to other types of prompting

behavioural skills training (BST)

combination of instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and reinforcement to teach variety of skills -> not new principle or procedure it is a collection of principles and procedures previously discussed combined

generalized imitation

learning to imitate a number of new behaviours through shaping/physical guidance/reinforcement learns to imitate a new response on the first trial without reinforcement

situational inducement

influence of a behaviour by using situations/occasions that already exert control over the behaviour

ex. supermarkets/department stores display pics of products prominently/attractively to induce buying

ex. at home people display objects of art to stimulate conversation

examples fall in 4 categories:
- rearranging the existing surround
- moving activity to new location
- relocating people
- changing the time of the activity

observational learning

learning through observing a model

subject generalization

Subject generalization occurs when a procedure used to change the behaviour of one or more target subjects also causes changes in the behaviour of other nontarget subjects to whom the behaviour change procedure was not applied directly.

ie if you are using a procedure to teach one child in a family to do a half-hour of math every evening, and this procedure increases that child’s math work and increases the math work of her siblings, who are not part of the procedure, then this would represent subject generalization.

behavioural maintenance

Behaviour maintenance simply refers to the longevity of the behaviour change once the formal procedure has ceased. Behaviour maintenance is sometimes called generalization of the response over time.

Receptive-expressive and expressive-receptive generalization:

Sometimes stimuli and responses have dual identities. For example, suppose you are teaching a student the locations of the countries of the world. One way to do this would be to tell the student the name of the country and ask the student to point to the country on a world map (e.g., "Where is Cambodia?"). In this kind of receptive or comprehension task, a verbal stimulus acts as a discriminative stimulus for the student's response of selecting the correct response from a number of alternatives. Another way to teach this would be to point to the country on a world map and ask the student to state the name of the country (e.g., "What is the name of this country?"). In this kind of expressive task, the student is required to state the correct label for a specified stimulus. In the first case, the label is the stimulus, and pointing is the response; in the second case, pointing is the stimulus, and the label is the response.
When stimuli and responses are reversible, as seen in receptive and expressive tasks, how does training in one kind of task generalize to the other? If training in the receptive task helps the subject learn the expressive task, then receptive-expressive generalization (or transfer) has occurred. Conversely, if training in the expressive task helps the subject learn the receptive task, then expressive-receptive generalization has occurred. Questioning how training in one type of task generalizes to another type of task is of practical importance because teaching will be most efficient if the task that generalizes best is taught first.

expressive-receptive generalization

In receptive-expressive generalization, training is given on a task in which the learner is required only to respond to a stimulus, and the student learns to emit the corresponding verbal response (i.e., the name or label for the stimulus).

receptive-expressive generalization

In receptive-expressive generalization, training is given on a task in which the learner is required only to respond to a stimulus, and the student learns to emit the corresponding verbal response (i.e., the name or label for the stimulus).

peer modeling

Refers to one child setting an example and the other imitating that example

self-modeling

Advances in audio and video recording technology have given people opportunities to observe themselves in ways that were previously not possible. This has made self-modeling possible, a procedure in which an instance of a person's desirable behaviour is taped and later replayed by that person, allowing the individual to imitate their own behaviour. Research has shown that self-modeling can be useful in improving performance.

covert modeling

In covert modeling, a model is imagined performing a behaviour that a person wishes to perform. No real model performs the response. For example, Cautela et al. (1974) used covert modeling to reduce the fears that female university students had of laboratory rats. At first, none of the students could bring themselves to hold a rat. Two managed to touch the rat, but then ran out of the laboratory immediately afterward in a state of fear. One group of students practiced covert modeling. These students were asked to sit in a chair and vividly imagine scenes that the experimenter read to them. These were six two-minute descriptive scenes in which they imagined the experimenter talking and holding a rat. In a post-test, students in the covert modeling group did as well as students in a real or overt modeling group in approaching and handling a real rat. Both overt and covert modeling students did better on this test than a control group that received neither overt nor covert modeling did.

participant modeling

One type of modeling that has been used primarily to treat people with unreasonable fears is called participant modeling. In participant modeling, the modeled behaviour is broken down into steps. At first, the model demonstrates a response the learner can engage in relatively easily, and the learner is required to do so. The model then demonstrates behaviours that are increasingly more difficult for the learner, who is prompted and encouraged to imitate the model’s behaviour at each stage of the process.

vicarious reinforcement

In vicarious reinforcement, participants observe a model being rewarded for a behaviour, and this makes the observer more likely to engage in the modeled behaviour. For example, a child may see another child being rewarded with a sticker for doing well on a math homework assignment. As a result, the observer child does his homework more frequently. This would be an example of vicarious reinforcement. Note that vicarious reinforcement is not really a form of reinforcement; rather, it is a variant of modeling in which the behaviour is modeled and rewarded as well.

vicarious punishment

In vicarious punishment, participants observe a model being punished for a behaviour, and this makes the observer less likely to engage in the modeled behaviour. For example, suppose a child incorrectly answers a question that a teacher poses out loud, leading the teacher to reprimand the student for not knowing the answer. Then, a child who observed this becomes less likely to answer questions as a result. This would be an example of vicarious punishment. Note that vicarious punishment is not actually a form of punishment; rather, it is a variant of modeling in which the behaviour is modeled and punished.