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Exam Information
Exams have been scored, with grades posted temporarily.
Class average is a C-.
Future plan: Grades will be reposted visibly to students.
Invitation for students to review their exams, including right and wrong answers.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is positioning behaviors without biological links.
Examples of behaviors:
Requesting roommate to take out the trash.
Requesting children to pick up toys.
Requesting a dog to go outside.
Continuous reinforcement is expensive.
Introduction of partial reinforcement schedules:
Fixed Ratio (FR)
Behavior reinforced after a specified number of responses.
Example: Press lever 5 times, receive reinforcement.
Graphical representation shows evenly spaced black tick marks.
Variable Ratio (VR)
Behavior reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses.
Example: Reinforcement delivered after an average number of responses.
Graphical representation showing closeness of reinforcements but with unpredictability.
Fixed Interval (FI)
Reinforcement available after a fixed duration.
Example: Lever press only rewarded after a specific time interval.
Observed behavior pattern known as "scallop effect":
Initially no pressing after receiving reinforcement, increasing responses as time for reinforcement approaches.
Variable Interval (VI)
Reinforcement available after varied time intervals.
Steady pace of responses due to unpredictability of reinforcement timing.
Acquisition vs. Endurance
The trade-off is described as:
Easier behaviors to acquire may be easier to extinguish.
Harder behaviors to acquire may endure longer.
Predictable patterns of behavior emerge from different reinforcement schedules.
Behavior Patterns and Watch Checking Example
Students demonstrate watch checking similar to the scallop effect observed in animals on FI schedules.
Early in class duration, students do not check watches as they know it's not time to leave.
Closer to class end, watch checking behavior increases as they approach the reinforcement period (end of class).
Reinforcement Types
Two fundamental categories:
Positive Reinforcement: Adding a stimulus to increase behavior.
Example: Giving chocolates for courteous behavior.
Negative Reinforcement: Removing an aversive stimulus to increase behavior.
Example: Stopping a noise when the seatbelt is on.
Positive Punishment: Adding an unpleasant stimulus to decrease behavior.
Example: Writing on the chalkboard as a punishment.
Negative Punishment: Removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease behavior.
Example: Taking away a toy after misbehavior.
Role of Free Will in Behavior
Discussion of the complexity of behavior determination:
Can external influences control or simply influence behavior?
Biopsychosocial model must incorporate various influences on behavior.
Examples of social media influencers shaping desires and behaviors, raising questions about control over personal behavior.
Classical Conditioning vs. Operant Conditioning
Classical conditioning normally requires repetitive pairings with close timing.
Conditioned Taste Aversion (John Garcia's research):
Example: Rats conditioned to avoid saccharin water after exposure to radiation.
Demonstrates aversion can occur after a single pairing and with delayed reinforcement.
Implications for human treatments (like cancer) where food aversions may develop post-treatment if flavorful foods are linked to adverse conditions.
Instinctive Drift in Conditioning
Example of instinctive drift where trained behaviors revert to natural instincts.
Pigs trained to deposit coins eventually returned to rooting behavior.
Raccoons revert to nut-cracking behaviors over trained tasks.
Constraints of biology create limits on what behaviors can be learned.
Latent Learning
Definition: Learning without immediate reinforcement that becomes apparent once a reward is given.
Experiment with rats running through mazes:
Three groups:
Always reinforced.
Never reinforced.
Initially not reinforced, later reinforced.
Last group displayed significant error reduction once reinforcement was introduced, showcasing cognitive mapping.
Implications for the debate on behaviorism and the importance of biology and cognition in behavior.
Language Development Challenging Behaviorism
Mention of Noam Chomsky’s critique of behaviorism in language acquisition.
Children create "over-regularization errors" (e.g., saying "goed" instead of "went").
Behaviorism fails to fully explain the complexities of language development, as no reinforcement conditioning accounts for errors in speech.