behavioral-conditioning level (exam 2)

Personality (behavioral view)

A collection of learned behaviors; the person "is" what the person "does"

Learning

Change in physiology and behavior from acquiring new information/experience or modifying existing ones

Primary needs

Innate biological needs (hunger, thirst, sex)

Secondary needs

Learned needs (money, status, power, love, mastery, creativity, self-realization)

Primary drives

Motivate meeting primary needs; strength increases with deprivation

Secondary (learned) drives

Learned motives that drive much of our behavior

Cue

Stimulus that determines when, where, and how one responds; varies in intensity

Four factors in learning

Drive (motivation), cue (stimulus), response (act or thought), reinforcement (reward)/extinction/punishment

Ivan Pavlov

Studied digestion; noticed dogs salivating to pre-feeding routines; 1904 Nobel Prize in medicine; classical conditioning

Classical conditioning

A neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus by being paired with an unconditioned stimulus; requires a preexisting reflex

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Elicits a response without prior learning (e.g., food)

Unconditioned response (UR)

Unlearned reflexive response to the US (e.g., salivating to food)

Neutral stimulus

Stimulus that initially produces no response (e.g., bell before conditioning)

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Formerly neutral stimulus that now elicits the response after pairing (e.g., bell)

Conditioned response (CR)

Learned response to the CS (e.g., salivating to the bell)

Extinction

Decreasing the likelihood of a behavior by removing the consequence that normally follows it (classical: CS repeatedly presented without the US)

Higher-order conditioning

A new neutral stimulus is paired with an existing CS and becomes a CS itself (dish paired with bell → salivation); also explains valuing items paired with positive/negative words

Trauma to anxiety

After trauma, stimuli associated with the event (S2, S3, S4) can elicit anxiety on their own

B. F. Skinner

1904-1990; behaviorism; operant conditioning; studied behavior only, rejected inferred motives

Operant (instrumental) conditioning

The outcome of a response determines how likely similar responses are in the future

Operants

Freely emitted responses that operate on the environment

Reinforcer

Increases the tendency to repeat the preceding behavior

Primary reinforcer

Biological reinforcer (e.g., food)

Secondary reinforcer

Learned reinforcer (e.g., money)

Positive reinforcement

Adding a desirable stimulus to increase behavior (I slow down, you smile, I slow down more)

Negative reinforcement

Removing an aversive stimulus to increase behavior (I slow down, you stop frowning, I slow down more)

Punisher

Decreases the tendency to repeat the preceding behavior

Positive punishment

Adding an aversive stimulus to decrease behavior (I sing, you boo, I stop singing)

Negative punishment

Removing something desirable to decrease behavior (I sing, you stop smiling, I stop singing)

Stimulus control

Conditions/stimuli/situations that "control" behavior

Importance of the situation

Behaviorists emphasize stimuli and situations in regulating behavior

Rosenhan (1973)

Healthy people faked symptoms to enter a mental hospital; though they then behaved normally, staff kept treating them as psychotic → power of the situation

Rejection of inferred motives

Skinner saw needs/motives as mere labels ("fictions"); explain behavior via observable events and conditions

Discriminative stimuli

Signal when a response will or won't be reinforced

Discrimination

Responding in the presence of one stimulus but not others (go on green, stop on red)

Generalization

Behavior with similar consequences across settings spreads to other situations

Superstitious behavior

Accidental response-reinforcement pairing produces irrational behavior (lucky red socks)

Classical vs. operant

Classical: neutral stimulus precedes US → becomes CS; organism learns CS signals US. Operant: emitted response followed by favorable outcome → increases; organism learns response produces outcome

Critique of behaviorism

Ignores thoughts, feelings, physiology (e.g., hormones); ignores innate behaviors; disregards individual differences; cultural differences; animal findings may not apply to humans

Behavioral assessment

Focuses on specific external conditions and learning processes governing behavior, observed across time and situations

Gary's anxiety case

Diary showed 90% of anxiety hours occurred within 1 hr of public speaking; build anxiety hierarchy → desensitization

Situational behavior sampling

Observing behavior in structured, lifelike situations (e.g., exposing fearful people to real/symbolic fear stimuli)

Time-sampling

Recording behavior at regular time intervals to assess frequency

Timed Behavioral Checklist

Paul (1966); performance anxiety signs recorded per time period (pacing, trembling, no eye contact, voice quivers)

Self-report in behavioral assessment

Supplement: client lists stimulus conditions that cause discomfort or distress

Generalized conditioned reinforcers

Learned reinforcers that work broadly (praise, social approval, money)

Token economy

Ayllon & Azrin (1965); psychiatric patients earned tokens exchanged for reinforcers; privacy most valued (1352 tokens), then commissary items, leave from ward

Functional analysis

Introducing a change and observing whether it modifies behavior; links behavior to precise controlling conditions (IV = stimulus events, DV = responses)

Ann case

4-year-old isolated from peers; adult attention given only when playing with children; peer interaction 10% → 60%; reversal brought back old pattern, reinstating restored it

Systematic desensitization

Wolpe; counterconditioning based on classical conditioning; anxiety is a conditioned response to stimuli not anxiety-provoking for others

Three steps of desensitization

1) Build anxiety hierarchy (least to most severe) 2) Train an incompatible relaxation response 3) Pair relaxation with hierarchy items, moving gradually upward

Anxiety hierarchy

Ranked list of anxiety-evoking situations (e.g., reading about speeches → dressing the morning of → giving the speech)

Counterconditioning

Replacing an anxiety response with an incompatible response (relaxation)

Overjustification effect

Excessive external reward can undermine intrinsic interest; behavior drops when rewards stop

Contingency contracting

Client and therapist contract: rewards for desired behavior, withheld otherwise

Symptom substitution

Criticism that changing behavior leaves roots untouched so new symptoms appear; evidence shows it is NOT automatic, especially with therapist guidance

Advantageous behaviors

Behaviors with positive personal and interpersonal consequences

Maladaptive behaviors

Behaviors with negative consequences or that endanger the potential of the person or others

Does changing behavior change personality

Evidence shows changing behavior improves self-feelings; critics note some problems stem from distorted self-evaluation (low self-esteem), not performance

Behavioral basic units

Behavior-in-situation

Behavioral causes of behavior

Prior learning, cues in the situation (including others' behavior), reinforcement contingencies

Behavioral favored data

Direct observations of behavior in target situations; behavior change as situations change; responses used as behavior samples

Behavioral approach to change

Changing conditions; learning experiences that modify behavior

Behavioral role of situation

Extremely important; regulates behavior and elicits emotional reactions