6. Learning Flashcards
Define learning
A relatively permanent change in behaviour, knowledge, capability or attitude that is acquired through EXPERIENCE.
(NOT a temporary change to behavior/knowledge/attitude due to illness, mood, fatigue or stress)
Name the 3 types of learning
classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning
Who is the father of classical conditioning? What did he do?
Ivan pavlov
Doctor in Russia
Won Nobel prize in 1904 for experiments in physiology of digestion
Famous for his studies on conditioned reflexes in dogs
Dog was restrained in a harness in the cubicle and isolated from all distractions. An experimenter observed the dog through a one-way mirror and, by remote control, presented the dog with food and other conditioning stimuli. A tube carried the saliva from the dog’s mouth to a container, where it was measured.
- > Dog was salivating when bell rang
- > Original experiment was to collect saliva that dogs naturally secreted (chance)
Why did pavlov win the nobel prize?
He showed that we could pair a conditioned stimulus with a conditioned response
What is emotional learning?
Smells –> Association to an event
E.g. when your new girlfriend has the same perfume as your ex-girlfriend (associations)
TV commercials link movie stars to products
What is vicarious conditioning?
You don’t learn something by your own experience, but from someone else’s (e.g. mom is scared of mice)
What is stimulus generalization?
tone or stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus produces the conditioned response
Fear of white dog –> also fear of a white rabbit
The salivation conditioned response will decrease the further away from the original tone. (bell curve)
What is stimulus discrimination?
Stimuli does not elicit the CR
E.g. scared of dogs, but cats OK
1: The dog is conditioned to the tone C
2: Generalization occurs, and the dog salivates to a range of musical tones above and below tone C. The dog salivates less and less as the note moves away from C
3: The original tone C is repeatedly paired with food, but when neighbouring tones are sounded, they are not followed with food. The dog is being conditioned to discriminate. Gradually, the salivation response to the neighboring tones is extinguished, while salivation to the original tone C is strengthened
Conditioned stimulus –> conditioned response
Tone C = more salivation
Tone A, B, D, E = progressively less salivation
4: Eventually, discrimination is achieved
Tone C = Stronger salivation response
Tone A, B, D, E = No salivation
example: being able to discriminate between the sounds cars make. Generally we all hear cars and don’t react to the sound the engines make. But if you are someone who is exposed to different cars, you learn to associate a specific engine to a car.
Example: Fresh and spoiled milk discrimination – save you from stomach issues.
What is extinction?
When a classically conditioned stimulus (the tone) was presented in a series of trials without the unconditioned stimulus (the food), Pavlov’s dogs salivated less and less until there was virtually no salivation. But after a 20-minute rest, with the one sound of the tone, the conditioned response would reappear in a weakened form (producing only a small amount of salivation), a phenomenon Pavlov called spontaneous recovery.
What is the acquisition state?
Over a number of pairings, it goes up and plateaus
What is spontaneous recovery?
After a response has been extinguished, it may come back when exposed to the original stimulus
Weaker and shorter duration than original response
Explain higher order conditioning
When another neutral stimulus is paired with a conditioned stimulus that elicits the same response reflex/response
Light reliably signals the bell
Higher order conditioning: Sometimes referred to as “chaining”
Pairing the Cs with another neutral stimulus
Example: (CS) Bell –> (CR) saliva
Light –> bell –> saliva (many times)
Light only –> saliva
It’s the concept that drives advertising companies to pair celebrities with particular brands.
Money is an example of a higher-order conditioning. Alone, money is just cheap metal and paper, but we learn to associate it with other important things in our lives, and we have particular emotional responses when money is involved one way or another.
Another example is when advertisements use celebrities or powerful people in their adds. They want you to associate their brand with something or someone good. Already the brand may make you feel hungry or happy just by looking at it, but by conditioning you to further associate it with a celebrity, they are hoping to have a more powerful response from you.
Explain the little albert study
- Watson & Rayner, 1920
- Purpose: To show that fear could be classically conditioned
- Albert was a normal 11-month-old: No fear of white rat
- Paired sight of rat with loud, scary noise
- After a while, just the sight of the rat, Albert starts to cry: FEAR is conditioned
- Soon, Albert generalized his fear to a white rabbit, Santa Claus mask, etc…
Explain counter-conditioning and the study that explained it
Jones, 1924
Peter was a 3-year-old who had a fear of white rabbits and other white, furry animals
Rabbit was placed far away in lab: rabbit was not a threat
Looks at rabbit –> gets candy
Rabbit moved closer, closer (31 days): each time received candy
Friends brought in and played with rabbit: modelled behaviour
Peter played with the rabbit out of the cage
Name 4 factors that influence classical conditioning
- Number of pairings
(The more pairings, the stronger the association) - How reliably the Neutral stimulus predicts the occurrence of the UCS (response will be acquired more rapidly if conditioned stimulus associated with a strong unconditioned stimulus)
- How reliable the conditioned stimulus predicts the unconditioned stimulus
(the neutral stimulus has to reliably predict the unconditioned stimulus for the organism in order to achieve conditioned stimulus status). - The temporal relationship between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (the conditioning happens faster when they happen right after the other)
It’ll take place more slowly or not at all if there is a larger time interval between the stimuli
What is operant conditioning?
Your behaviour operates on the environment –> our behaviours have consequences
E.g.: people like what you are wearing –> you’ll wear it again
What is reinforcement?
Reward that strengthens the behaviour
Name examples of primary reinforcement? secondary reinforcement?
Primary Reinforcement: Biological rewards
• Food, sex, sleep, water, termination of pain…
Secondary Reinforcement:
• Cultural, learned … money
What is the skinner box?
- A soundproof box that was designed by skinner to demonstrate principles of operant conditioning.
- A common box has a lever or bar that an animal would press to gain a reward of food or water
What is positive reinforcement?
Strengthens behaviour probability of action goes up
If reward is removed, occurrence goes down or is made extinct
Explain token economies
Shaping in real life:
Prisons: Good behaviour is reward with tokens. Exchange for items or access; Cigarettes, TV, etc…
* Key is that the tokens are progressively harder to earn*
What is negative reinforcement?
IT IS NOT PUNISHMENT
The REWARD is the REMOVAL of a negative stimulus.
It strengthens behaviour (= reinforcement)
• Escape behaviour (escape being cold by turning the heat up)
• Avoidance behaviour (avoid coming late to avoid dad being mad)
Pain killer drugs as a negative reinforcement
What is classical conditioning?
Association learned between one stimulus and another
Is the organism or individual PASSIVE or ACTIVE in classical conditioning?
The organism or individual in classical conditioning is PASSIVE. Associations are made between one stimulus and another (or multiple stimuli) and the organism has some sort of response to them. We’ve been conditioned in many different areas.
Define stimulus
Stimulus: any event or object that in the environment that an organism responds to.
What is a reflex?
(RESPONSE): inborn, unlearned, autonomic responses to certain environmental stimuli
Name unconditioned stimuli/responses
– Food --> salivation – Onion juice --> tears – Heat --> perspiration – Loud noise --> startle – Light in eyes --> contraction of pupil – Puff of air in eye --> blink – Touching hot stove --> hand withdrawal
Explain the classical conditioning process
- Neutral stimulus (e.g. tone) played for dog. No response from dog
- Neutral stimulus played for dog just prior to presentation of food powder, the unconditioned stimulus. The dog salivates when presented with the food, the unconditioned reflex/response
- This is repeated over many trials (usually 20 or more)
- The dog associates the neutral stimulus with food after the process and salivates. The neutral stimulus is now called the conditioned stimulus, and the salivation is the conditioned reflex/response.
What is the ideal presentation time of a conditioned stimulus before the “reward”?
Half a second
What is the conditioned stimulus in the peter study? The unconditioned stimulus? the unconditioned response?
Conditioned stimulus: White rat
Unconditioned stimulus: Loud noise
Unconditioned response: Fear reaction
White rat –> fear reaction
Does genetics play a role in classical conditioning?
Genetics DO play a role in CC
Animals and humans have biological predisposition that help them acquire or resist CC
E.g. fearing things with negative effects on health and well-being
Mice avoidance response (animal example)
What did Robert Rescola do about classical conditioning?
Cognitive view Experiment demonstrating the importance of stimulus reliability (factor that influences classical conditioning) Experiment using rats: - Tone: Neutral/conditioned stimulus - Shock: Unconditioned stimulus
Group 1: Tone paired with shock consistently 20 times, shock always during tone
Group 2: Tone/shock pairings, 20 shocks without tone
Results: Group 1 conditioned (association was made); group 2 unconditioned and provided no additional information
The important thing about the stimulus, Rescorla believed, is whether it allowed the organism to adequately predict the occurrence or presence of an unconditioned stimulus.
What did selignman do?
taste aversion
Ex.: taste aversion –> when you develop an intense dislike to something because you developed nausea (a certain alcohol and hangover –> hard to have the same drink again)
Explain Garcia & Koelling’s experiment
taste aversion experiment
Rats were conditioned with 3 stimuli: Bright light, clicking sound, flavored water
2 groups of rats
- 1: Received X-rays or lithium chloride inducing nausea a few hours later = unconditioned stimulus
- 2: Received electric shock to feet = unconditioned stimulus
Results:
• Group 1: Associated flavored water with nausea and avoided it, would drink unflavored water even with the light and clicking flavored water = conditioned stimulus
• Group 2: preferred flavored water over unflavored, but after conditioning process with electric shocks would not drink any water after presentation of light and clicking. –> light and clicking = conditioned stimulus.
What does Garcia and Koelling’s experiment tell us?
1) Stimulus does not necessarily have to be presented directly before the unconditioned stimulus
2) Organisms may be biologically predisposed to make certain associations when confronted with many.
(Traditional view of classical conditioning was that the temporal ordering needed to be just right for the conditioning to take place; a certain stimuli may be more powerful than another in humans.)
Explain the link between classical conditioning and chemotherapy
Taste aversion example in humans
- Radiation and chemotherapy often cause nausea, which patients learn to associate with their foods (even favorite foods)
- Bernstein et al. (1982, 1985) developed a technique to help patients avoid taste aversion during treatment
Patients were fed novel-tasting maple-flavoured ice cream before treatment - taste aversion developed for the ice cream, became target of aversion and thus the patients did not associate other foods with the nausea, protecting their diets.
Development of phobias and anxieties surrounding different objects or environments often a result of ______ conditioning
Classical conditioning
Emotional responses (positive or negative) are often a result of which type of conditioning?
Classical conditioning
Explain the link between classical conditioning and drug overdose
o All drugs product a physiological effect in the body which the body can adjust to = drug tolerance develops –> Familiar cues in the users usual environment acts as a conditioned stimuli to alert the body that the drug is about to be ingested –> Stimulates the body to apply physiological mechanisms to prepare for drug use and to counteract drug’s effect
o User funds self in an unfamiliar setting without the usual cues –> body is not signaled to prepare for large scale drug use and does not prepare mechanism to counteract the drug –> user overdoses in unfamiliar setting
Explain the link between classical conditioning and sexual arousal
Environmental cues (like smells, or jackets) become associated with sexual experiences and subsequently can play a role in successful sexual experiences
What is the goal of operant conditioning?
Goal is to create/strengthen/change behavior. The consequence of a behavior (reinforcement or punishment) tends to change or modify that behavior in the future. This is ACTIVE change.
Define reinforcement (negative and positive)
- Reinforcement: An event that follows a response and increases the strength of the response or the likelihood it will happen. Reinforced behavior tends to increase
- Positive: Something good is being added to INCREASE (or strengthen) a target behaviour
- Negative: Something bad is being removed to INCREASE (or strengthen) a target behavior
Define punishment
Punishment: Something is happening to an organism to DECREASE a target behavior. Opposite of reinforcement, lowering the chance of a response. Punished behavior tends to decrease
Achievement by addition of an unpleasant stimulus, or the removal of a pleasant one
Opposite of reinforcement.
Explain “shaping”
Shaping is the idea that you gradually mold and approach the desired behavior by reinforcing responses that are progressively closer to it (i.e. reinforcing successive approximations. Successive approximations are a series of gradual steps with each step being closer to the final desired response.
• Shaping is used both with animals and people to obtain a desired complex behaviour.
• Behavior is usually shaped using successive approximations of the desired behaviour.
E.g. Teachers will praise or reward a student for very short periods of good behavior at first, but will extend that period over time before reinforcement to promote longer periods of good behaviour.
Define extinction in operant conditioning
Extinction occurs when reinforcers are withheld in operant conditioning
Can spontaneous recovery occur in operant conditioning? Generalization? Discrimination?
• Extinction occurs when reinforcers are withheld in operant conditioning
• Spontaneous recovery can also occur after a break
• Generalization occurs in operant conditioning
• Discrimination occurs when we learn our responses work for one stimulus but not another.
- A Discriminative stimulus is a signal or cue from an environment that allows organisms to recognize that a response or behavior is likely to be rewarded.
What is the quickest way to get a desired behaviour?
Continuous reinforcement: when we reward or reinforce a response after every response
What is partial reinforcement?
Partial reinforcement is best to use after the response has been conditioned if we want it to maintain and/or strengthen. Partial reinforcement is when you only reinforce the desired response every so often. Often in real life, we experience partial reinforcement. Again think of at school and improving a child’s behavior – it is hard for a teacher in a class of 32 students to always reinforce the good behavior of that one child. In fact, this strengthening is known as the partial reinforcement effect: greater resistance to extinction or losing the response is built in if the response is only reinforced a portion of the time, not 100%. Skinner developed different reinforcement schedules that produce different changes in response and behavior.
Name the 4 aspects included in schedules of partial reinforcement.
- Ratio: Reinforcer administered after a set number of non- reinforced trials.
- Interval: Reinforcer administered after the first correct response after period of time.
- Fixed: Schedule the same every time.
- Variable: Schedule changes.
Why would we use a schedule of partial reinforcement instead of another?
continuous reinforcement gets you the desired behavior the quickest, but different schedules of partial reinforcement yield different outcomes in response rates, patterns of response, and resistance to extinction.
Explain the fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement. Which pattern of response does it give?
What is its resistance to extinction?
o Reinforcer administered after a fixed number of non-reinforced correct responses.
o Effective at maintaining high response rate.
o People will respond quick here because they know their rewards are directly related to the number of responses they provide.
o For larger ratios, people tend to take a break but soon head back to high rates of responding.
o Examples are those working in factories are farms who get paid based on the number of units they build or crop they produce.
Pattern of response: STEADY RESPONSE WITH LOW RATIO
Brief pause after each reinforcement with very high ratio
Resistance to extinction: HIGHER RATIO = MORE RESISTANT TO EXTINCTION
Explain the variable ratio schedule of reinforcement. Which pattern of response does it give?
What is its resistance to extinction?
o Reinforcer administered based on an average ratio after a varying number of non-reinforced correct responses
o Results in higher and more stable rates of responding than fixed ratio
o Maintains behavior and guards against extinction
o Can’t predict exactly when a response will be, and thus it will provide high rates of responding in order to receive a reinforcer. A VR of 30 would be an average of 1 in 30 responses get you a reinforcer. So you may get it at 15, or 45, even more or less.
o Best example is slot machines.
Pattern of response: CONSTANT RESPONSE PATTERN, NO PAUSES
Resistance to extinction: MOST RESISTANT TO EXCTINCTION
Explain the fixed interval schedule of reinforcement.Which pattern of response does it give?
What is its resistance to extinction?
o Reinforcer administered following first correct response after a fixed period of time
o Often a pause or sharp decline in responding after last correct response
o Produces lowest response rate
o It does not depend on the number of responses made, only that first response after the time interval has passed. There tends to be a sharp decline in response rate after the first response, but a high response rating as the interval is approaching.
o Example: getting payed every 2 weeks. Midterms and exams – drop after exam, gradually increase as approach next exam, crazy studying just before.
Pattern of response: LONG PAUSE AFTER REINFORCEMENT FOLLOWED BY GRADUAL ACCELERATION
Resistance to extinction: LONGER INTERVAL = MORE RESISTANT TO EXTINCTION
Explain the variable interval schedule of reinforcement. Which pattern of response does it give?
What is its resistance to extinction?
o Reinforcer administered based on average time after the first correct response following a varying time or non-reinforcement
o Provides a uniform and stable state of response, but typically lower rates than ratios
o Random drug tests at work as an example, pop quiz as example. Steady rate given of behavior just in case
Pattern of response: STABLE, UNIFORM RESPONSE
Resistance to extinction: MORE RESISTANT TO EXTINCTION THAN FIXED INTERVAL SCHEDULE WITH SAME AVERAGE INTERVAL
What is the relationship between the percentage of reinforced responses and extinction?
There is an inverse relation between the percentage of responses that have been reinforced and resistance to extinction. The lower the percentage of responses that are reinforced, the more difficult and longer extinction will take when a reinforcement is withheld. This is why parents should NEVER give in to whining or nagging from their child instead of usually not giving in – they are reinforcing the bad behavior on a variable-ratio schedule.
What are the 3 factors influencing operant conditioning?
1) Magnitude of the reinforcement
2) Immediacy of reinforcement
3) Level of motivation
Explain how the magnitude of reinforcement affects operant conditioning
Bigger rewards lead to: - Faster acquisition of response - Higher rate of responding - Greater resistance to extinction So basically, incentives work. To put a positive spin, research has shown that greater incentives lead to greater abstinence in drug users. Or... New video game consoles lead to greater use by children.
Explain how the immediacy of reinforcement affects operant conditioning
Longer delay = more slowly the response is acquired
Ex: ppl who are overweight have difficulty changing eating habits because the long delay that exists between behavior change and weight loss.
Explain how the Level of motivation affects operant conditioning
If you really like or need something, you’ll learn faster
Like soccer? Practice more and learn faster. Like jogging and weight lifting? More likely to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Hungry animal? More likely to press a bar often to get more food.
Name examples of positive punishment
Adding: scolding, receiving a ticket, criticism
Name examples of negative punishment
Removing: withholding affection or attention, suspending a license, removing a privilege.
Differentiate negative reinforcement from punishment
Example of punishment: Grounding a child after not completing homework for the weekend.
Example of negative reinforcement: child is grounded until homework is completed increases child behavior of engaging with homework to remove the unpleasant stimulus of being grounded.
Name 4 downsides of punishment
1) Empirical support that suggests punishment does not fully extinguish a behavior, it is simply suppressed.
Behavior is likely to continue after the punishing agent is not there. If it did work, there would be fewer repeat offenders in any crime or rule breaking
2) Punishment only indicates what behaviors are unacceptable, but does not help people develop more appropriate behaviours.
If used, it should be done so in conjunction with modeling or reinforcements/rewards for good behavior.
3) A person who is severely punished may become fearful, afraid, and/or hostile.
Reactions may make people want to avoid the situation again, escape from the environment, or retaliate against the punisher.
4) Punishment frequently leads to aggression.
Those who administer punishment may become models of aggressive behavior, placing those who experience the punishment at risk for using punishment themselves.
Name 2 alternatives to punishment to prevent the downsides of punishment
- Removing the rewarding consequence of a behavior is better than punishing an unwanted behavior when looking for behavioral change or getting rid of a problem behavior.
- Using praise as positive reinforcement makes good behavior more rewarding.
It is best to pay attention and reward good behavior than punish an unwanted one.
Name 3 factors that can influence the effectiveness of a punishment
- timing
- intensity
- consistency
Explain how timing can influence the effectiveness of punishment
Punishment: best when applied during or soon after the behavior.
Interrupting the undesirable behavior is best. If you cannot do it in time, you must remind the person what happened and the reason for punishment.
Explain how intensity can influence the effectiveness of punishment
Punishment should not exceed what is required.
Unnecessarily severe punishment is likely to lead to the negative side effects mentioned in the downsides. However, the punishment must be as severe as the behavior is rewarding. A 2$ speeding ticket probably won’t hold much sway for you, but a 200$ ticket might make you think a bit.
Explain how consistency can influence the effectiveness of punishment
Punishment must be applied consistently to be effective.
A parent cannot ignore a behavior one day and punish it another. There needs to be consistency with the punishment both from the same person, and from other people. An undesirable behavior is more likely to be suppressed if the odds of punishment are high.
What is escape learning?
Escape conditioning occurs when one learns to perform an operant to terminate an ongoing, aversive stimulus
It demonstrates the power of negative reinforcement (removing a perceived negative consequence).
Escape learning is when you employ negative reinforcement ideas to escape from a situation. For example, running away from a punishing situation to avoid pain, or taking a Tylenol when you have a head Is another
What is avoidance learning?
Avoidance learning is when a person avoids an event, condition, or environment associated with dread or aversive outcomes.
Avoidant learning combines classical conditioning with negative reinforcement. First, a person associates some stimulus (or environment, event, situation, etc.) with an an aversive feeling like sadness, dread, worry, etc. Second, the person avoids the situation in order to not experience those feelings, changing their behavior.
What is learned helplessness?
Learned Helplessness is when we simply accept the aversive situation we are in, rather than attempting to take action to change, escape, or avoid it.
Learned through repeat exposure to the aversive event with no chance to escape
Who did an experiment about learned helplessness in animals? What were the results?
Overmeier and Seligman (1967) experiment with dogs demonstrated learned helplessness in animals.
2 groups of dogs:
1. Experimental group
• Initially strapped to harness and shocked with no escape
• Trials administered where dog learns to jump hurdle to avoid shock when signal sounded
• Result: dog never learns to avoid floor and jump hurdle
Dogs in first group were also less active, had less appetite, and showed depressive-like symptoms after the experiment.
Essentially they destroyed the avoidant learning capacity of the dog, and dog accepted aversive events even with chance to escape and learn ability to avoid the pain.
Classical conditioning - signal shock association; negative reinforcement: jumping to avoid shock.
Differentiate Classical conditioning from operant conditioning based on the type of association it makes.
Classical conditioning: Between 2 stimuli
Operant conditioning: Between a response and its consequence
Differentiate Classical conditioning from operant conditioning based on the state of the subject
Classical conditioning: Passive; responds to the environment rather than acting upon it.
Operant conditioning: Active; operates (does something to) the environment
Differentiate Classical conditioning from operant conditioning based on what the focus of attention is on
Classical conditioning: On what precedes response
Operant conditioning: On what follows response
Differentiate Classical conditioning from operant conditioning based on the type of response typically involved
Classical conditioning: Involuntary or reflexive response
Operant conditioning: Voluntary response
Differentiate Classical conditioning from operant conditioning based on the bodily response typically involved
Classical conditioning: Internal responses; emotional and glandular reactions, movement and verbal responses
Operant conditioning: External responses; muscular and skeletal
Differentiate Classical conditioning from operant conditioning based on the range of responses
Classical conditioning: Relatively simple
Operant conditioning: Simple to highly complex
Differentiate Classical conditioning from operant conditioning based on the responses learned
Classical conditioning: Emotional reactions: Fears, likes, dislikes…
Operant conditioning: Goal-oriented responses
What is behaviour modification?
Behavior modification is the application of learning (classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning) that can be applied systemically. Most, however, use operant conditioning.
In classrooms, are “time outs” a punishment for unwanted behaviour?
Teachers can use time out not as punishment, but as a method to remove the potential positive reinforcement a child may receive from others if they are in the classroom –> withholding reinforcement (attention, praise) helps extinguish behavior.
What is observational learning?
Learning by observing others and consequences they have, or by imitation.
The model is the individual who demonstrates a behavior or serves as an example to someone else in observational learning.
What in the model characteristics play a role in observational learning?
Status, competence, and power play a role. Age, sex, attractiveness, and ethnic status may also have an effect.
Whether or not a model is reinforced or punished for the behavior influence the likelihood the observer actually performs the behavior, or if the observer expects to be rewarded for the observed behavior.
When is observational learning useful?
1) To acquire new responses or weaken existing ones
2) When we find ourselves in unfamiliar situations
3) To weaken or strengthen inhibitions and fears
How does observational learning affect the performance of a behaviour?
Research has shown that performance of a behavior is better after several sessions of observing a behavior.
A lot of who we are as people is from observational learning: of our family, of society, of media –> others’ behavior probably influenced yours, for better or for worse. Those around you are all made up of their learned experiences, and their manerisms may tell you a lot about their background and family.
We take cues from others when we are unsure what to do.
Peer pressure, by seeing or hearing, may make us try things that we would otherwise not have attempted before (drinking as a teen, maybe risky sexual behavior?). Alternatively, by observing adverse situations and events that happen to others may be enough for us to exhibit some self control or avoid a similar event. Yet it could also help us be brave: seeing others be brave and courageous in the face of adversity may make us learn to do the same.
What is Bandura’s boo boo doll experiment? How did it link to observational learning?
Bandura thought aggressive behavior is particularly susceptible to observational learning, through observing others and through mediums of entertainment.
His bobo doll experiment demonstrated how children are influenced by exposure to aggressive models.
3 groups of preschool children doing observational learning :
• Group 1: Observed adult aggressive model
• Group 2: Observed adult non-aggressive model assembling toys
• Group 3: Same setting, but no adult present (control group)
Results: Group 1 participants imitated aggressive behaviors like models AND more aggressive behaviors that the model did not engage in!
Hitting with mallet, kicking, punching, throwing, muttering aggressive words like “sock him in the nose” (lol)
Explain Bandura et al.’s experiment (1983) about observational learning
Demonstrated observational learning when exposed to non-live models of aggressive behavior.
4 groups:
Group 1: Exposed to live model
Group 2: Exposed to video of model
Group 3: Exposed to cartoon depicting aggressive cartoon character
Group 4: control
Results: Groups 1-3 (exposed to aggressive material) significantly more aggression than control.
Discuss the link between observational learning and aggression in kids.
Exposure to violence and aggressive behavior in other forms of entertainment like music, videogames, advertising, internet material, etc. can influence aggressive behavior learning.
Yes, but what if we teach consequences? Children, unfortunately, don’t register and learn consequences the same way adults do. Preschoolers can learn that violence is morally unacceptable, but school aged kids begin to judge whether they believe the violence is justified or not. They believe that in different contexts it may be morally acceptable to be aggressive and violent even in the presence of an authority figure that may punish you. This demonstrates changes in reasoning and moral behavior over time.
Aggressiveness may persist into adulthood, and brain-imaging studies have demonstrated some changes in neural activation when processing certain situations.
Video games can increase feelings of hostility and decrease sensitivity to violence. In addition, some studies have demonstrated that videogames produce similar physiological responses as aggressive behavior, such as patterns of neural activation, hormonal secretions, and heart and respiration rate. Finally, those who have more aggressive tendencies also tend to seek out more violent games, and are more emotionally responsive to them, compared to their non-violent peers.
Sesame street teach valuable social and emotional regulation skills!
What is successive approximation?
Successive approximation is a series of rewards that provide positive reinforcement for behavior changes that are successive steps towards the final desired behavior.
Used in operant conditioning for shaping behaviour
