Behaviorism Psych 150 final

Basic Assumptions of Behaviorism

1. Nearly all behavior is learned

2. need for empirical approach

3. behavior is a function of the situation

tabula rasa

(Blank slate) Idea John watson has that we can molded into any outcome

• life writes on our blank slate and shapes us 

classical conditioning

By pavlov

A type of learning in which a person or animal learns to link two things together.
After learning, something that used to mean nothing now triggers a response.

UCS:

NS:

CS:

CR:

UCR

temporal continuity

• Classical conditioning is based on temporal contiguity (association by time)

Neutral stimulus

stimulus that does nothing before conditioning like the coffee grinder

Later becomes the Conditioned stimulus

Conditioned stimulus

After conditioning the Neutral stimulus becomes this. like the bell or the coffee grinder

unconditioned stimulus

stimulus that gives a response before conditioning like food

unconditioned response

Response given without being learned like salivation or the cat coming to the get food.

conditioned response

after condition, the salivation or cat coming to food is this

Pavlov dog

US

Food

UR	Salivation to food

NS	Bell (before learning)

CS	Bell (after learning)

CR	Salivation to the bell

Chloe and cofee

US

Food

UR	Cat comes to eat

NS	Coffee grinder sound (before learning)

CS	Coffee grinder sound (after learning)

CR	Cat runs to you when it hears the grinder

Principles of classical conditioning

Generalization, discrimination, extinction

Generalization

a similar stimuli (CS) elicits the CR,

like Chloe comes for food when she hears the sound of can opener (b/c it is similar to coffee grinder sounds)

discrimination

discriminating between similar stimuli

• use coffee grinder 🡪 food; use can opener 🡪 don’t get food

• over time, Chloe would learn to discriminate between the CS

extinction

Slow unlearning of association

Chloe doesn’t get fed when coffee is ground at night; eventually unlearns the association

conditioned emotional reaction

• child bitten by dog--fear of that "stimulus"--development, maintenance, and disappearance of emotional reactions 

• dog from NS to CS that gives CR (Fear)

systematic desensitization

• extinction of learned fears/phobias (of snakes)

• very slowly unlearn fears – step by step

• Imagine it

• see it

• same room

• touch it

• hold it

Operant Conditioning

By skinner

Learning by reinforcement or punishment

Reinforcement

Operant conditioning

Reinforce behavior by giving reward etc

they work better than punishment

Punishment

change behavior by punishment

stop eating candy by shouting and scarying the kid

Skinner’s metaphor

The human as a rat

Sign vs sample

Sign: Focuses on traits, motives, complexes

Sample: Environmental variables like frequency, intensity, duration

for behaviors

Sign

: Focuses on traits, motives, complexes

psychodynamic and in trait

Sample

: Environmental variables like frequency, intensity, duration

behavioral

Conflict types

Approach approach

approach avoidance

avoidance avoidance

Approach approach

reward vs reward. Get xbox or switch?

approach avoidance

get reward or punishment

play video games or lag behind work

Avoidance Avoidance

punishment vs punishment

Lose your money or your favorite guitar

Biological Preparedness

1--Remember archetypes—infants born with lots of skills: face recognition, make eye contact,

• 2--Language learning in childhood—evidence for sensitive (or critical) periods in learning

  • Kids are genetically prepared for language acquisition during ages 1 to 5 (Chomsky); no rewards needed

  • Hard to learn second language perfectly after age 12

3.One-trial learning—any associations the organism learns easily/quickly? Seems an evolutionary advantage

critical period for language acquisition

1-5

 one-trial learning

any associations the organism learns easily/quickly? Seems an evolutionary advantage

like food aversions

food aversions

get sick froma food. next time you cannot eat it

Garcia Effect

Organism is prepared to learn certain associations

 foods/flavors and nausea go together

“unnatural” pairs

YES: Much more difficult to learn to associate flavors with shocks, or lights/sounds with nausea

How plausible is Watson’s claim?

Cant’ shape everything if we are genetically predisposed to associate things with other things even in behavior

Cognitive revolution

by early 70s

• Shift in interest to how people think and process information

• Shift happens because technology changes

• computer

  • How info is encoded, stored, and retrieved

S-R connections

• Behaviorism: telephone switchboard

  • S-R = telephone connection

• Stimulus (S) is like an incoming call.

• Response (R) is like the outgoing connection.

• Learning = forming stronger S–R “connections,” just like plugging one line into another.

Cognitive approach

: humans encode, store, and retrieve information like computers do.

Social cognition