Psych 210 - Exam 1 Review

What are the two purposes of science?

to find order in nature and to find the like in the apparently unlike

what is the continuity of species

animals learn in similar ways

behaviro is part of a lawful and determinisitic system

behavior is amenable to scientific study using methods that have proven useful in other branches of science

Behavior is the subject matter of psychology

many of the causes of behavior are open to direct observation and description

What is circular reasoning

where someone attempts to prove his conclusion by simply restating it he says P is true becuase Q is true and Q is true becuase P is true

What are the goals of behavior analysis

to accurately predict behavior and to discover finctional variable that may be used to positively influence behavior

Prediction

specifying the occurrence of some event based on ones past experience

control

arranging the conditions responsible for producing some event

Parsimony

when given 2 or more competing explantions for the same thing we must pick the simpler one

covert behavior

private behavior (not visible to the outside observer)

overt behavior

Behavior that can be directly observed by another individual

Pros of lab research

strips away distractions/details that may confound our experiment

cons of lab research

lab research may not apply to the real world

pros of real world research

includes distractions and details that occur naturally

cons of real world

the distractions and details may confound our experiment

RCT: phase 1 (control condition)

3 baseline testing sessions approximately 23 days apart

Baseline scores

RCT: phase 2 (intervention condition)

4 weekly intervention sessions + twice daily homework

Pre/post session scores → short term intervention effects

RCT: phase 3 (follow up testing)

1 follow up testing session 1 week after end of intervention

Follow up scores → longer lasting

learning

a relatively permanent change in an organisms behavior due to experience

materialism

behavior and its causes are real life physical events that can be observed measured and manipulated

determinism

behavior is determined by genetic and environmental factors

stimulus

anything that can trigger a physical or behavioral change

what is behavioral taxonomy

focus on evaluating which behaviors have the greatest health implications

what are experimental operations

procedures for studying behavior (what environmental stimuli affect behavior)

what are behavioral processes

Human activities, including acquisition, manufacturing , use and depositiosn behavior that produces tangible archaeological remains

fixed action pattern

series of behaviors that are phylogenic in origin

releasing stimulus

a specific feature of an object or animal that elicits a modal action pattern

reinforcing consequence

increase the future probability of a response

punishing sequence

less likely to repeat behavior

consequation

describes what you did or will do contingent on behavior

Anthropomorphism

attributing human chracteristics to an animal or inanimate object (personification)

Establishing operation

a motivating operation that increases the effectiveness of some stimulus object or event as a reinforcer

elicited behavior

behavior that is drawn out by a preceding stimulus

emitted behavior

a behavior an organim performs with some choice

observation

directly observe in the lab or natural environment

stimulus presentation

stimulus A is presented

consequential procedure

response B has consequence C

S Control + S presentation

Stimulus D signals presentation of stimulus E

S control + C presentation

Stimulus F signals that response G will have consequnece H

what is stimulus discrimination

Related to the differential availability of a currently effective form of reinforcement fro a particular type of behavior

EX: the gas gauge in our car is a discriminative stimulus, the guage controls our behavior by telling that we better emit a target behaviro by getting gas other wise an unpleasant consequence will result

Approximate age of the earth

4.6 billion years

Artificial selection

breeding organisms with specific traits in order to produce offspring with identical traits

natural selection

the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype

how old is our species

100,000 years old

what has happened to plants regarding herbicides

herbicides are weed killers that are used to kill unwanted plants but within our lifeitme crops become resiteant to herbicides

significance of darwin

he noticed that features of plants and animals were being selected in the breeding of animals and horticulture

phylogeny

evolutionary history of species

ontogeny

the developement of individuals over their lifespan

meme

an idea or style that is spread from person to person in a culture

3 levels of selection

Phylogenic Selection: that which occurs over the evolutionary history of the organisms species

Ontogenic Selection: the selection that occurs within the lifetime of the organism. The environment selects which responses occur with greater frequency (not you).

Cultural Selection: the selection of behavior as it is passed from one organism to another

reflex

a reliable relationship between a stimulus and a change in behavior

strength

a combination of 3 measures of the reflex

habituation

a reduction in responding with repeated presentations of stimuli

potentiation

an increase over repeated presentations of respondent behavior elicited by stimuli

relevant for reflexes

conseqeunces are not relevant but they do determine most of our behavior

reflexes

something a newborn baby would probably do, they fall under the stimulus control and stimulus presentation category

what will not produce a reflexive resposne

too much or too little stimulus

the three measurable properties of the reflex

1. Latency = time it takes a from stimulus presentation to behavior

2. Magnitude = size of behavioral change

3. Duration = temporal extent of the change; how long the response lasts

what would an ideal startle repsonse have

short latency, large magnitude and extended duration

synonyms for respondent conditioning

classical and pavlovian

respondent conditioning

a process whereby a previosuly neutral stimulus elicits a response due to pairing of the neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus

• the US elicits and UR

• as a result of the NS+US → the NS becomes the CS

delay conditioning

the CS is presented for a period before the US and overlaps with the US. it is more effective when there is an overlap

stimulus conditioning

the onset of the CS preceding that of hte US by no more than 5s

trace conditioning

CS is presented for a breif period of time then it turns off later the US is presented

backward conditioning

the US is presented and consumed before the CS is presented most likely to work with biologically significant CS

John B watsons experiment

Little Albert

Why is a conditioned stimulus not a discriminative stimulus?

The conditioned stimulus produces the response, while the discriminative stimulus signals the opportunity to respond.

How does respondent conditioning play a role in shaping human emotion?

When we remember important, meaningful events that happen in our lives, we tend to recall things that co-occurred with those events (were paired with those events).

How would respondent extinction be conducted?

The repeated presentation of a conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus