PSY 3320 - Exam 1 Ch 1 & 2

Classical Conditioning (Pavlovian or Respondent)

Process by which certain innate/inherited behaviors come to be elicited in new circumstances

Operant Conditioning (Instrumental)

Strengthening or weakening of a behavior as a result of its consequences.

Behavior is more or less likely to occur in the future as a function of what followed it. (Voluntary behaviors)

Behavior

any activity of an organism that can be observed or somehow measured

Learning

a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience

Nativist (nature) perspective

• Plato

• assumes that a person's abilities and tendencies are largely inborn

• learning is simply a process of inner relfection to uncover the knowledge that already exists within

Empiricist (nurture) perspective

• Aistotle

• assumes that a person's abilities and tendencies are mostly learned/acquired through experience

Observational learning

Act of observing someone else's behavior facilitates the occurrence of similar behavior in oneself

4 Laws of Association

Law of Similarity, Contrast, Contiguity, Frequency

Law of Similarity

Similar events/objects are readily associated with one another

(Car, truck, wheel)

Law of Contrast

Opposite events are readily associated

(Black/white, up/down)

Law of Contiguity

Close time proximity events are readily associated

(Thunder/lightning)

Law of Frequency — (supplement to law of contiguity)

More frequently paired items have stronger associations.

Mind-body dualism

• Rene Descartes

• Some human behaviors are reflexes automatically elicited by external stimuli, while other behaviors are freely chosen and controlled by the mind (free will)

• Says only humans can have free will, animals are only reflexive (study reflexive ones to understand the human condition)

British empiricists

maintained that almost all knowledge is a function of experience

John Locke

All knowledge is a function of experience

Tabula Rasa

Blank slate at birth, environmental experiences write you - John Locke

British empiricists also believed that the mind is composed of a finite set of basic ________ that are combined through the principles of _________ association to form our conscious experiences

Elements; Associations

Structuralism — William Wundt

• We can determine structure of the mind by studying basic elements to the conscious mind and how they are combined to create more complex experience.

• Uses introspection

Introspection

Accurate, careful descriptions of one's internal thoughts, emotions, and sensations (emphasizes systematic observation)

William James

Functionalism

Edward Titchener

Structuralism

Functionalism

• Assumes the mind evolved to help us adapt to the world around us and the focus of psych should be to study those adaptive processes.

• psychologists should study the adaptive significance of mind instead of the structure of mind

Darwin's theory of evolution

Proposes that adaptive characteristics that enable a species to survive and reproduce tend to increase in frequency across generations while nonadaptive characteristics tend to die out

natural selection

Concept that animals are capable of adapting to environmental pressures are more likely to reproduce and pass along their adaptive characteristics than those who cannot adapt

Components of natural selection

-traits vary (within species AND between species)

-many traits are heritable

-organisms must compete for limited resources

Evolutionary adaptation

a helpful genetic trait that evolves as a result of natural selection (physical trait or behavior)

the ability to learn evovled because…

it gave significant survival advantages to those who had this ability

Flexion response

Causes someone yo automatically pull away from danger source before you consciously feel the pain

-pull away from hot stove before u realize you're burning

Reproductive advantage

The driving force behind evolution which is held by individuals who possess adaptive traits

John Watson

Behaviorism

Directly observable behavior + the environmental events surrounding it

Behaviorism

Natural science approach to psych that emphasizes study of environmental influences on observable behavior (can’t observe people’s thoughts or feelings)

Law of Parsimony

Simple explanations are better than complex ones for a phenomenon

Morgan’s Canon

Interpret animal’s behavior through lower, primitive processes rather than more mentalistic ones

Watson’s Methodological Behaviorism (aka Classical behaviorism)

For methodological reasons, psychologists should study environmental influences only on those behaviors that can be directly observed

Stimulus-Response theory (S-R) — developed by Watson

Learning consists of a connection being formed between a specific stimulus (environmental event) and a specific response (behavior). Complex behavior includes extremely long chains of these connections

Operationalized

Defined in such a way that they can be measured

Hull's Neobehaviorism (deductive behaviorism)

• Uses intervening variables in the form of hypothesized physiological processes to help explain behavior — emphasizes importance of operational measures

• Can make inferences about events that have never been directly observed but can still be operationalized

• Must infer existance of internal events that might mediate between environment and behavior

• env, events → internal events → observable behaviors

Tolman's Cognitive Behaviorism

• Intervening variables (hypothesized cognitive processes) explain the relationship between environment and behavior

• We create cognitive maps which are mental representations of our spatial surroundings

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

• Cognitive-behavioral approach: importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behavior

• Reciprocal determinism

Reciprocal Determinism

Observable behavior, environmental events, and internal events are all viewed as interacting with each other

Skinner’s Molar View

• Only reflexive behavior are automatically elicited by stimuli that precede them

• Reflexive behaviros are distinguished from behaviors that are controlled by their chonsequences, which are more flexible and less predictable -> explain the behavior by referring to past experience

Skinner’s Countercontrol

Understand how environment affects us, change environment to suit our desired behavior

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism

• Ephasizes the influence of the environment on observable/overt behavior

• Rejects the use of internal events to explain behavior

• Internal events/thoughts are “private” behaviors that need to be explained, just like any other behaviors

Skinner’s View of Genetic Factors

• Behavior is fundamentally the result of the interaction between genes and the environment, but genetic factors are largely unodifiable (assuming that behaviors have a strong genetic basis also assumes that little can be done to alter it)

• Behaviors that lead to favorable outcomes are less likely to be repeated

Skinner and Free WIll

• Free will is not a measurable quantity and thus should not be in empirical researach

• Perception of free will is broken when influencers are aversive (so use positive reinforcement to change behavior)

Applied Behavior Analysis

• Grew out of radical behaviorism

• A technology of behavior in which basic priciples of behavior are applied to real-world issues

Behavioral Economics

Studies the effects of psychological, social, cognitive, and emotional factors on the economic decisions of individuals and institutions and the consequences for market prices, returns, and resource allocation

Predicting popularity

• Focus groups, questionnaires, simulated choice tests, market tests, mechanical TURK

• Orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum is predictive of future processing decisions

Quasi-Independent variable

One that is inseparable from an individual and cannot be manipulated; however, group comparisons can be made based on that variable

Functional relationship

• Relationship between chagnes in IV and changes in DV

• IV = environmental events, DV = changes in behavior

Social Interactions

Chain of stimuli and responses

Motivating Operation

• A procedure that affects the appetittiveness and aversiveness of an event

• Establishing (increases)

• Abolishing (decreases)

Functional Relationship

The relationship between changes in the independent and changes in the dependent

Contiguity

Closeness or nearness

-proximity

Temporal contiguity

the extent to which events occur close together in TIME

Spatial contiguity

The extent to which events are situated close to each other in SPACE

Contingency

A predictive (or functional) relationship between two events, such that the occurrence of one event predicts the probable occurrence of another

Cumulative recorder

Device that measures total number of responses over time + provides graphic depiction

-paper roll + pen

—** steeper the line, the higher response rate

Intensity

Force or magnitude of a behavior

-whisper, speak, yell

Duration

Amount of time an individual repeatedly or continuously performs a behavior, with no concern for how fast or slow the behavior occurs

Speed

Length of time required to perform a behavior from start to finish

-indicates how fast or slow the behavior occurs

Latency

Length of time required for the behavior to begin once the stimulus is presented

Interval Recording

The measurement of whether a behavior occurs during each interval within a series of CONTinuous intervals

-concerned with how many intervals contained the behavior, not how many times the behavior occurred within an interval

Time-Sample Recording

One measures whether a behavior occurs during each interval within a serious of DISCONTinuous intervals

-intervals that are spaced a part

-someone enters for first ten minutes of each half hour

Topography

Physical form of the behavior

-how it looks

-rather than if rat pressed lever, did the rat use left or right hand?

Number of Errors

Any behavior in which responses can be categorized as right or wrong

- # incorrect turns a rat takes in maze

interobserver reliability (interrater)

The extent to which two or more independent observers agree in their observations of the occurrence of a behavior

- number of intervals the agree on/total number intervals

- 80% is minimum accepted, 90% is preferred

Descriptive Research

Gathering info about the behavior and the circumstances within which it occurs

No manipulated variables

Survey, case study, naturalistic observation

Naturalistic observation

-where one systematically observes and records the occurrence of a behavior in its natural environment

Descriptive method most relevant to behavioral research

Experimental research

One or more variables are systematically varied to determine their effect on a dependent variable. Any difference in behavior across conditions are presumed to be CAUSED by the differences in independent variables

Control group design

individuals are randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group

Factorial design

Examines the effects of two or more independent variables across groups of subjects

Limitations of Contril Group Design

1. Large # of subjects needed

2. Focus on the average performance rather than individual

3. Results are interpreted only at the end of the experiment

Simple-Comparison (AB) design

• Behavior in a baseline condition is compared to behavior in a treatment condition

• baseline is A phase, treatment is B phase

Limitations of single-comparison design

Does not control for possibility that some other event occurred at the same time the treatment was implemented, and that other event caused the change in behavior

-no clear functional relationship - can identify correlation, not causation

Reversal design (withdrawal design / ABA or ABAB design)

consists of repeated alternations between a baseline phase and a treatment phase

-can demonstrate if there is a functional relationship (if behavior changes each time treatment is given then withdrawn)

Limitations of Reversal design

1. If the behavior doesn't revert to original baseline when treatment is withdrawn, we will be left wondering if the treatment was effective

2. Inappropriate for treatments intended to produce long-lasting/permanent change in behavior, such that you wouldn't expect to see reversal

3. May be unethical to remove a treatment once some improvement has been obtained

Multiple-baseline design

a treatment is instituted at successive points in time for two or more ...

-persons

-settings

-behaviors

Changing-Criterion Design

The effect of treatment is demonstrated by how closely the behavior matches a criterion that is being systematically altered

-better for gradual improvement studies

Advantages of animal research

Ability to control their...

1. genetic makeup

2. Learning history

3. More strictly control the experimental environment for animals than for humans

4. Some research cannot be ethically conducted on humans

Animal model

a procedure that uses animals to mimic a particular human characteristic or symptom

..such as drug addiction or anorexia nervosa

Criticisms for animal research

1. Limited applicability to humans

2. Morally wrong and animals have rights similar to humans

3.