learning and motivation 2/2/22

• Animal Research
  • advantages:
  • can control genetic makeup
  • can control animal’s learning history
  • can control environment entirely
  • some research can’t be ethically conducted with humans
  • disadvantages:
  • animals should have rights similar to humans
  • findings may have limited application to humans
• How do we measure behavior?
  • operationalize your definitions
  • record behavior
  • rate of response / frequency
  • intensity / magnitude of behavior
  • speed of behavior, start to finish
  • time required for behavior to begin (latency)
  • interval recording - continuous intervals
  • time-sample recording - discontinuous intervals
  • topography: observing physical form of the behavior
• Assessing Reliability (repeatability)
  • interrater reliability: measures the degree to which 2+ coders agree
• Research Designs
  • experimental research - establishes cause and effect
  • group design: manipulate 1+ IVs across group
  • comparative design: independent species are dif IVs
  • single-subject design
  • pros: only need one subject, is individualized, statistical tests may not be needed to determine if there are meaningful changes in behavior, can have precise control over the variables
  • cons: does behavior revert to baseline after treatment is revoked?
    • inappropriate for situations when treatment intended to produce a long-lasting effect
    • ethically inappropriate to remove treatment once improvement is obtained
    • to get around these: use multiple baseline design
• Multiple-Baseline Design
  • treatment is instituted at successive points in time for 2+ persons, settings, or behaviors
  • pros: don’t have to return to baseline, can produce permanent change in behavior
  • cons: treatment effect might generalize across dif settings / behaviors before treatment instituted

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