John WATSON
•founder of Behaviorism
•conducted the famous & controversial “Little Albert” experiment
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Turn off sound!• Little Albert Video
Watson’s Baby Albert Experiment
NS (neutral stimulus):
UCS (unconditioned stimulus)
UCR (unconditioned response)
CS (conditioned stimulus)
CR (conditioned response)
furry things
loud noise
startled
furry things
startled
John GARCIA
•Discovered idea of Taste Aversion
•Taste aversion later became known as the “Garcia Effect
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Garcia’s Taste Aversion Studies
• Set up experiment with rats. Exposed them to sights, sounds, and tastes (CS) and later also gave them radiation or drugs that led to nausea and vomiting (UCR).
• Even if sickened hours later, rats avoided the particular flavor of water but did NOT develop aversions to the sights or sounds.
Importance of Taste Aversion Studies
1.) Violated behaviorists principle that any stimulus could serve as a CS.
2.) Shows that nature prepares the members of each species to learn those things crucial to their survival.
3.) Are exceptions to classical conditioning rules: UCS does not always have to follow CS immediately.
Edward THORNDIKE
•Proposed the “Law of Effect” – behaviors followed by favorable outcomes are more likely
•conducted puzzle box experiments on cats
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Comparing Classical Conditioning & Operant
Conditioning• Behavior affected is
usually INVOLUNTARY• Behavior affected is
usually VOLUNTARY
• Key events are PRESENTED to the learner
• Key events are PRODUCED by the learner
• Events CAUSE the behavior
• Events CONTROL the behavior
• The learner does not have a choice
• The learner has a choice
B.F. SKINNER• Most significant name in behaviorism
(behavior is controlled by reinforcement, not your unconscious)
• Research on operant conditioning
• Creator of the operant chamber (Skinner Box)
• Author of Walden II
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B.F. = (Burrhus Frederic )
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Pigeon ping-pong
Schedules of Reinforcement (pigeon pecking behavior)
Training a puppy to roll over
Reinforcement• All Reinforcement
INCREASES THE LIKELYHOOD that a particular behavior will occur.
• Positive Reinforcement: encourages a certain behavior by offering a positive stimulus (reward).
Negative Reinforcement IS NOT Punishment
•Negative Reinforcement also ENCOURAGES a particular behavior by removing an aversive (negative) stimulus.
•Punishment: DISCOURAGES a particular behavior by usually adding an aversive stimulus.
Examples of Negative Reinforcement*
• Prisoners being released early for good behavior. (encouraged to be good so negative environment is removed).
• You cannot drive your car UNTIL you get better grades. (encouraged to study harder so negative of not having your car is removed).
• The seatbelt alarm in a car buzzes until you put on the seatbelt. (encouraged to put on seatbelt so that annoying sound is removed)
Examples of Punishment: DISCOURAGES behavior
• You are grounded because you lied.
• A child is spanked for cussing.
• A teacher forces a student
to stand in the corner because he interrupted him.
Primary vs. Conditioned Reinforcers
Primary ConditionedInnately satisfying
UNLEARNED
Satisfying because they are associated with a primary
reinforcerLEARNED
food
water
sex
Affiliation (family and friends)
Removal of pain
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Types of Reinforcement• Continuous Reinforcement: reinforcing
the desired behavior everytime it occurs. – Learning happens very quickly.– Extinction happens very quickly if
reinforcement is stopped.
• Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement: reinforcing a desired behavior only part of the time. – Learning takes longer (slower acquisition)– TAKES LONGER for extinction to occur.
Schedules of Reinforcement
Reinforcement always occurs after a fixed number of operant responses
Fixed-ratio
A factory worker may be paid $1 for every 3 T-shirts they make.
= $1
Schedules of Reinforcement
Reinforcement usually occurs after a certain number of operant responses
Variable-ratio
A gambler might win the jackpot after just one pull of the slot machine, or after 52 pulls, or after 2,397 pulls.
Schedules of Reinforcement
Reinforcement always occurs after a fixed amount of time has passed
Fixed-interval
A factory worker may be paid $1 for every 3 hours they work.
= $1
Schedules of Reinforcement
Reinforcement usually occurs after a certain amount of time has passed
Variable-interval
A person on parole may be given a random drug test. He/she has no idea when they will be asked for a urine specimen. It could be next week, or a month from now, or several months from now.
The next drug test will be: ?????????
Immediate vs. Delayed Reinforcement*
• In rats, if you delay reinforcement, virtually no learning will occur.
• Although humans do recognize delayed reinforcement, immediate gratification sometimes move us into risky behavior. EX: smoking, drinking, unprotected sex.
Skinner Box (a.k.a. “operant
chamber”)
Skinner tried unsuccessfully to market and sell the operant chamber to parents under the names “Heir conditioner,” “Air crib” and “Baby tender”
Shaping*
• Shaping refers to an operant conditioning technique in which reinforcers guide behavior closer and closer towards a desired goal.– Uses successive
approximations.
How would you have trained this
cat to become potty trained?
(Meet the Parents Clip – Psych in Film)
Shaping a dog's behavior
Shaping pigeon turning behavior
Behaviorist vs Cognitivist Theories
Behaviorist: Only cares about behavior – what a person does – what can be observed or proven Learning is mechanical – you behave the way you do because of external stimuli – no internal processes are required (learning by thinking about something or watching it)
Cogntivist: Care about what a person knows (instead of does). Learning serves a purpose. You can learn by watching or thinking about something.
Cognition’s Effect on Operant Conditioning
Cognitive map: a mental representation of one’s environment that is developed without the aid of reinforcement.
Latent learning: learning that occurs (like cognitive map) that is not apparent (hidden) until there is an incentive to justify it.
– Ex: rats that were not reinforced while in a maze could navigate it just as fast when there was a reward put at the end. If there was no food at the end, they just roamed through the maze (they were in no rush to get to the end).
Albert BANDURA
•Researched social theories of learning (a.k.a. observational learning or modeling)
•Conducted the famous “Bobo the clown” experiment
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Albert Bandura’s Experiment on Modeling (Bobo Doll Experiment)
• Experiment that showed children could easily learn aggression through observational learning modeling.
• Frustrated children go to beat on clown after seeing adult model do the same.
• After a variety of experiments, many consider Bandura to be the father of social learning theory.
Social Learning Theory: Monkey See, Monkey Do (Observational Learning)
• Observational learning describes process of learning by observing others.
• Modeling is an example of observational learning by which we imitate a specific behavior.
Wolfgang KOHLER
•Insight learning. Argued that animals do not simply learn through trial and error but from insight learning (a.k.a. the “aha!” moment)
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Kohler’s Experiment
PROBLEM: Food has been placed beyond the reach of the chimps, outside a closed
pen.
1. failure 2. pause
3. look at the potential tools
4. the attempt
The chimps behavior all seemed to follow a similar pattern that suggested to Kohler that the chimps were demonstrating insight and
planning
the chimp jumps fruitlessly at bananas that have been hung out of reach
after a period of unsuccessful jumping, the chimp apparently becomes angry or frustrated, walks away in seeming disgust, pauses
the chimp looks at the food in what might be a more reflective way, then at the toys in the enclosure, then back at the food, and then at the toys again.
the animal begins to use the toys to get at the food