Behaviorism

Behaviorism

1. Classical Conditioning A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

   • Ivan Pavlov
     • Response
       • Unconditioned Response- The natural response to the unconditioned stimulus
         • Ex: Salvation when food is around
       • Conditioned Response- the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus
         • Ex: After witnessing a terrible car accident, you might develop a fear of driving
     • Stimulus
       • Unconditioned Stimulus- An event that naturally and automatically triggers a response
         • Ex: Your eyes watering when you cut up an onion
       • Conditioned Stimulus- an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, triggers a reaction
         • Ex: The reaction of pets to the sound of a can opener
     • In the mid-1920s, Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov was studying the digestive system of dogs by measuring the amount of saliva they produced in response to various foods (response to unconditioned stimulus, natural reflex). During these experiments, he noticed that the dogs started to salivate before they even tasted the food (response to conditioned stimulus). They were salivating at the sight of food, when they heard the footsteps of the lab personnel (meaning it was feeding time) and even at the sight of an empty food bowl. He initially termed these types of salivation “psychic secretions”. Pavlov went on to conduct several carefully controlled experiments to see what types of stimuli that had nothing to do with food would cause the dogs to salivate. Some of the stimuli that caused salivation were the sound of a bell, a touch on the dog’s leg and a light.
       • Influenced John B. Watson
         • John B. Watson was an American psychologist who popularized the study of behaviorism and classical conditioning
     • Learned Helplessness- the belief that we can't change the course of negative events
     • Respondent Behavior-Behavior that is evoked by a specific stimulus and that will consistently and predictably occur if the stimulus is presented.
   • Learning- the modification of behavior based on specific experiences
     • Acquisition
       • When one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so the neutral stimulus begins, triggering an unconditioned response
     • Higher-order conditioning
       • a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus.
         • Ex: an animal that has learned a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone.
     • Spontaneous Recovery
       • the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
     • Extinction
       • The diminishing of a conditioned response
     • Generalization
       • The tendency for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
     • Discrimination
       • The learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus.

2. Operant Conditioning- A type of associative learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior

   • B.F. Skinner
     • Operant Behavior- behavior that operates on the environment producing consequences
     • Law of Effect- Thorndike's rule that behaviors which have positive outcomes tend to be repeated
     • Skinner box (Operant Chamber)- A box in which the rat presses a lever and then receives food for it.
     • Shaping- An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
     • Discriminative stimulus- a type of stimulus that is used consistently to gain a specific response and that increases the possibility that the desired response will occur.
     • Reinforcement
       • Positive Reinforcement- Adding something good to increase the likeliness of the behavior repeating
         • Ex; Taking a child out to ice cream after they get an A on their report card
       • Negative Reinforcement- Taking something away to increase the likeliness of the behavior repeating
         • Ex: Taking away a child's curfew because they've been keeping up with chores
       • Continuous Reinforcement- reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
       • Partial Reinforcement- In partial (or intermittent) reinforcement, the response is reinforced only part of the time
     • Reinforcer-any event that strengthens the behavior it follows
       • Primary reinforcers- Things we can't live without; food, water, shelte
       • Conditioned Reinforcers- A stimulus that becomes an effective reinforcer because of its association with a primary or unconditioned reinforce
         • Ex: Money, grades and praise
     • Schedules
       • Fixed Ratio- a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.
       • Variable ratio- a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
       • Fixed interval- A schedule that provides a reward at consistent times
       • Variable Interval- A schedule in which reinforcement is given to a response after specific amount of time has passed (an unpredictable amount of time), but this amount of time is on a changing/variable schedule.
     • Punishment-Adding/taking something away to decrease behavior in the future.
       • Positive Punishment- dding an aversive consequence after an undesired behavior is emitted to decrease future responses
         • Ex: A child earning a spanking after throwing a tantrum
       • Negative punishment- taking away a certain reinforcing item after the undesired behavior happens in order to decrease future responses.
         • Ex: Confiscating a child's phone after you catch them staying up past their bedtime