Behaviorism and Learning
Definitions and Key Concepts
Learning: A change in behavior that occurs because of experience.
Classical Conditioning
Behaviorists: Psychological studies should focus on observable actions (acts).
Pavlov's Experiment:
Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Meat powder placed in the mouths of dogs.
Unconditioned Response (UR): Salivation to the meat (natural response).
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A stimulus that was originally neutral (e.g., the sound of footsteps or a can opener) that eventually elicits a conditioned response after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned Response (CR): Salivation at the sound of footsteps or a can opener.
Conditioning Definitions:
Neutral Stimulus: Initially does not elicit a response (e.g., bell or can opener).
Conditioned Stimulus: A neutral stimulus that, through conditioning, elicits a conditioned response.
Higher-Order Conditioning: When a neutral stimulus becomes a condition response by being paired with an already conditioned stimulus, e.g., salivating to a bell after being conditioned to salivate at the light, then later salivating to the bell alone.
Extinction: The weakening and eventual disappearance of a learned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance of a conditioned response after a pause, indicating that extinction is not entirely forgotten.
Stimulus Generalization: An organism’s tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus (e.g., Pavlov's dogs salivating to various bell sounds).
Stimulus Discrimination: The ability to differentiate between different stimuli, leading to a response only to specific stimuli (e.g., recognizing that food is only given after the sound of a piano note).
Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning: Learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior.
Positive Reinforcement: A stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behavior, e.g., receiving a cookie after asking for one.
Negative Reinforcement: The removal of an unpleasant stimulus to increase a behavior, e.g., studying more to stop parental nagging.
Punishment: An action that decreases the likelihood of a behavior occurring.
Reinforcement Schedules:
Continuous Reinforcement: A behavior is reinforced every time it occurs, leading to quickest learning but also faster extinction.
Intermittent Reinforcement: A behavior is reinforced only some of the time, which leads to slower extinction because the subject continues to respond in anticipation of the reward.
Shaping: Reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior, often used in animal training.
Instinctive Drift: The tendency for an organism to revert to innate species-specific behaviors despite the reinforcement of new behaviors.
Assumptions and Concepts of Learning
Observational Learning: Learning that occurs through observing the behavior of others, also known as modeling.
True/False Statements for Review
Negative reinforcer and punishment are not synonyms; they are opposites.
The sooner a reinforcer follows a response, the greater its effect on the response is true.
Primary reinforcers can have drawbacks because they may lead to negative outcomes (e.g., using sweets as rewards).
Unless it increases response, no matter how pleasurable, a stimulus is not a reinforcer.
Applications in Real Life
Example of Conditioned Response: A child develops a fear response to a rat after experiencing a loud noise when they interacted with it (Watson and Rayner's Little Albert experiment).
Example of Counter Conditioning: Reducing fears by pairing the feared object with positive experiences, such as candy while in the presence of a previously feared rabbit.
Example of Systematic Desensitization: Gradually exposing someone to their fear in a controlled environment until the anxiety diminishes.
Ethical and Practical Implications
Understanding classical and operant conditioning is crucial in various fields, such as psychology, education, and animal training, as it provides insights into behavior modification strategies and therapeutic techniques.