rule governed behavior: verbal description of a contingency behavior generated through exposure to rules

• ex: doing homework listed on the course syllabus

• human characteristic

some disadvantages of rule governed behavior

• less efficient than behavior that has been directly shaped by natural contingencies

  • ex: rule governed is don’t be late for school / the bus. missing the bus is more powerful than just agreeing to the rule.

  • rule governed is insensitive to actual contingencies of reinforcement in a particular setting

personal rules in self-regulation

• personal rules / self-instructions: verbal descriptions of contingencies that we present to ourselves to influence our behavior

  • do to others what you would have them do to you

• say-do correspondence: match what we say we are gonna do with what we actually do at a later time

  • clear, specific rules are important

  • “i’m a man of my word”

• bright boundaries: clear and distinctive boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior

contagious behavior - instinctive / reflexive

stimulus enhancement: when attention is drawn to a stimulus

observational learning in classical (vicarious emotional responses) operant (acquisition and performance)

imitation: copy model behavior

social learning and aggression: watching violence has big impacts