DJ

Learning and Behavior – Key Vocabulary

Positive Punishment (Spanking)

  • Definition
    • Punishment = any post-behavior event that reduces the future rate of that behavior; the conceptual opposite of reinforcement.
    • Positive punishment ≠ “good”; it means adding an aversive stimulus after the response.

  • Empirical criterion
    • Must produce a measurable ↓ in response frequency; if behavior ↑, the event was actually reinforcement.

  • Current status of corporal punishment
    • Public schools in Australia and nearly every other developed country legally barred from physical punishment.
    • Domestic spanking rates falling "generation by generation," though not yet extinct—partly because parents tend to re-create the child-rearing they experienced.

  • Common side-effects / risks
    • Classical-conditioned fear: child begins to fear the punishing adult (e.g., “Wait till your dad gets home”).
    • Conditioned punisher: parent’s mere presence elicits anxiety.
    • Aggression & retaliation: escalation risk once the child is physically capable (≈ 12 – 15 yrs); example of novelist Pat Conroy confronting his Marine father at ≈ 20 yrs.
    • Modeling of violence: lesson = “Big uses pain to control small,” potentially cultivating bullying.
    • Reinforcer mis-ID: If attention is scarce, the pain + parental focus can accidentally reinforce misbehavior.
    • Avoidance & lying: children may hide or fabricate to escape the aversive consequence.

  • Practical takeaway
    • “If spanking truly works you do it once and never need to repeat.”
    • Because of predictable side-effects, psychologists and government bodies advise against routine corporal punishment.

Non-Violent Parenting Alternatives

  • Triple P – Positive Parenting Program: evidence-based package of reinforcement, modeling, and mild (non-physical) consequences.

  • Core tactics
    • Catch & reinforce desired behavior (“Catch Johnny being good”).
    • Provide calm explanatory feedback—may be mildly aversive via boredom rather than pain.
    • Teach pro-social replacements: request, share, negotiate, ask permission.

Observational Learning (Modeling)

  • Basic principle: behavior change via watching others & the consequences they receive.

  • Forms of models
    • Live – parents, siblings, peers, spouse, teachers.
    • Video – tutorials, TV shows, movie characters, therapy demos.
    • Story / Biography / Fiction – written narratives of real or imagined individuals.

  • Model characteristics that maximize imitation
    • Clearly reinforced outcomes (e.g., applause for good speech).
    • High status (celebrity, expert).
    • Similarity to observer (age, role, starting skill level).
    • Likeability / attractiveness (humor, warmth, physical appeal, etc.).

  • Classic laboratory example
    • Preschoolers randomly assigned to watch an aggressive vs. neutral computer game.
    • Aggressive-video group later punched & kicked a Bobo doll; neutral group played politely.
    • Demonstrates powerful, immediate observational transfer.

  • Everyday examples
    • Teenage slang, drug use, curse words spread through peer modeling.
    • Students emulate admired lecturers’ pacing, gestures, humor.

Behavioral Skills Training (BST)

  • 4-Part learning package used for social, occupational, clinical & athletic skills.
    \text{Instruction} \rightarrow \text{Modeling} \rightarrow \text{Rehearsal} \rightarrow \text{Feedback}

  • Details
    • Instruction – explicit rules/steps (“Maintain eye contact; give concise answers”).
    • Modeling – view an expert demonstration (live or video).
    • Rehearsal – repeated role-play / practice under realistic conditions.
    • Feedback – self-evaluation first, then trainer adds praise + one corrective point (human working-memory limit).

  • Applications
    • Job-interview coaching (dress, tone, non-verbals; remove "30–40" noisy bangles!).
    • Assertiveness, public speaking, substance-relapse coping, sports technique.

Phobias: Acquisition & Maintenance

  • Classical conditioning path
    • Father trapped in dark cave once at ≈ 8 yrs ➔ lifelong (60 yrs) fear of dark/enclosed spaces.

  • Operant maintenance
    • Escape (leaving dark cinema) → rapid fear reduction = negative reinforcement.
    • Avoidance (deciding not to enter) prevents fear altogether, further reinforcing phobic pattern.

  • Modeling path
    • Mother’s lifelong water fear modeled to child; child avoids swimming.
    • Severe first-day swim-class slide → acute terror ➔ avoidance.

  • Treatment implication: systematic, gradual exposure breaks the reinforcement loop.

Latent Learning

  • Definition: learning that occurs without obvious reinforcement & isn’t immediately expressed.

  • Classroom example
    • While reading the textbook, student can covertly learn writing structure: headings, italics, paragraph flow.
    • Requires minimal extra effort—just mindful attention.

  • Strategic use
    • Observe instructors’ methods (storytelling, pacing) for future teaching roles.
    • Monitor workplace culture to learn unwritten rules before acting.

Insight Learning ("A-ha" Moments)

  • Sudden cognitive re-structuring that solves a problem without step-by-step trial-and-error.

  • Famous cases
    • 1941 Swiss engineer George de Mestral: burrs on clothes & dog fur ➔ observed hooks & loops ➔ invented Velcro (name from French velours + crochet).
    • 1840s Austrian physician Ignaz Semmelweis: noticed maternity deaths linked to doctors who didn’t wash hands; advocated hand hygiene decades before germ theory (met resistance until Pasteur).

  • Personal & societal value
    • Can lead to fortunes, life-saving medical advances, or everyday problem solutions.
    • Encouraged by broad observation, openness, and reflecting on anomalies.

Additional Take-Home Concepts & Examples

  • Reinforcement vs. Punishment Review
    • Reinforcement = response rate ↑; Punishment = response rate ↓. Both can be positive (add) or negative (remove).

  • Mis-labeling: Parent must measure behavior change, not assume spanking = punishment.

  • Public Speaking Anxiety
    • Lecturer conquered phobia via repeated forced-exposure in high-school & university speech classes: desensitization + cognitive shift from “What will they think?” to “I don’t care.”

  • Model-Based Bullying Risk
    • Child observing parent use physical force may generalize strategy to peers (“violence gets results”).

  • Ethical & Practical Edge
    • Use reinforcement & modeling first; reserve physical punishment (if ever) for absolute last resort.