4.2 Fagen et al (Elephant learning) Flashcards
Psychology being investigated
operant conditioning
positive reinforces and negative reinforcers
secondary reinforcers have to be learned, associated with primary reinforcers
punishment
Learning trunk-washing through positive reinforcement improves the psychological well-being of elephants (tuberculosis)
SPR training
What is operant conditioning?
learning through the consequences of our actions
What is a positive reinforcer?
a reward for behaviour that fulfils a biological need is known as a primary positive reinforcer. A stimulus that is associated with primary reinforcers can also be learned and is known as a secondary reinforcer
What is positive reinforcement?
a form of operant conditioning. It involves rewarding desirable behaviour to encourage it to be repeated.
What is SPR training?
secondary positive reinforcement (SPR) training
training in which a secondary reinforcer such as a sound marker is used and then followed by the administration of a primary positive reinforcer (typ[ically food)
Aim
To investigate whether free-contact, traditionally trained elephants can be trained to participate in a trunk wash by using positive reinforcement
Research Method And Design
Controlled observation
(used behavioural checklist so could be considered a structured observation)
Sample and sampling technique
5 female elephants
4 juvenile (5-7 years)
1 adult (50)
all gentle/ tame (docile) , not pregnant or taking care of a child
the mahouts had to be willing to take part
none of the elephants had previous experience with SPR
Name the primary and secondary reinforcer used in this study
Primary-
Chopped bananas
Secondary-
Short whistle blow
What were the three methods the elephants of teaching trunk washing?
- Capture: waiting for the animal to perform the behaviour naturally then ‘capturing’ it by marking it with a reward
- Lure: for non-natural behaviours, an animal is ‘lured’ into a certain body position by placing a reward in a certain place
- Shaping: after starting either capture or lure, rewards are then only given for the behaviours that are ‘best’
Name the 5 behavioural tasks and give a description
pg.135 Cambridge
Describe the procedure
pg.136 Cambridge
pg,121 Hodder
What were the measured variables?
- length of each training in minutes from the first cue to the last cue
- number of times the elephant was given a cue or ‘offer’ for behaviour
After session 10, every 5 session the elephants were tested on previously taught behaviours, 80% was the passing score
What is behavioural chaining?
a process that allows separately trained behaviours to be performed in sequence in response to cues
Results
The four juvenile elephants learned the full trunk wash in 25-35 sessions. Mean duration 12 minutes, overall training time 367 minutes
Elephant 5 failed to learn the sequence
The most difficult behaviour to learn was trunk hear, 295 offers
Least difficult blow into the bucket, 54 offers
Methodological strengths
behavioural checklist- detailed descriptions increased the reliability
no additional cues from mahouts- increased validity as mahouts did not influence secondary reinforcement
quantitative data- objective analysis
good ecological validity because it happened in the natural environment with similar distractions like tourists or noise- can be done in other zoos
Methodological weaknesses
subjective when the observers had to decide if the behaviour was successful or failed- bias, angle not quite right
small sample size, all female, captive- not generalisable
Ethical issues
right to withdraw- could move away if did not want to train
adequate food, shelter, could socialise, well treated
study helped with captive management of elephants- enable tuberculosis to be diagnosed quckly
Real-life application
safe and efficient way of training captive elephants to cooperate in critical veterinary procedures
training through positive reinforcement will improve psychological wellbeing of the animals that are used in psychological studies
