Behavioral Theory Flashcards
What is behavior?
behavior is EVERYTHING; it is learned and lawful; behavior changes can be explained, predicted, and intervened into, lawfully
Learned
our tendencies are not destinies; what happens to us matters more for our identity, our roles, and/or personality
Lawful (or caused)
behavior is determine by sets of structures and mechanisms and casual realtionships that we can watch, notice, count, map and even quantify
How does behaviorism differ from biology theory?
in behaviorism: we are not destined by biology or nature; what happens to us outside has a great influence than what happens inside; we not only CAN change but we MUST change and are always changing in response to lawful mechanism
Unlearned Behaviors
things that you are born know that help you adapt to the environment; reflexes and instincts
Reflex
a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment; reflexes are simpler than instincts; involving the activity of specific body parts and systems (infant sucking, pupil dilation)
Instinct
innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events such as aging and the change of the season; instinct are more complex, involving movement of the organism as a whole (sexual activity, migration)
Learning
a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience; involves acquiring knowledge and skills through experience
Associative Learning
occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment; central to classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning
Ivan Pavlov
1849-1936; Russian scientist who performed research on dogs, his research led to the discovering of the learning process known as classical conditioning
Conditioned Response
CR; response caused by a conditioned stimulus
Conditioned Stimulus
CS; stimulus that elicits a response due to it being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning
learning in which the stimulus or experience occurs before the behavior and then gets paired with or associated with the behavior
Operant conditioning
form of learning in which the stimulus/experience happens after the behavior is demonstrated
Neutral Stimulus
NS; stimulus that does not initially elicit a response
Unconditioned Response
UCR; natural (unlearned) behavior to a given stimulus
Unconditioned Stimulus
UCS; stimulus that elicits a reflexive response
How does classical conditioning work?
A neutral stimulus (NS) such as a bell or tone is presented immediately before the UCS. After repeated pairings, the NS when presented alone will produce the same response that the UCS produced because it is now associated with the UCS. The NS becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the learned response to the CS is called the conditioned response (CR)
Higher order/Second order Conditioning
an established conditioned stimulus paired with a new neutral stimulus (the second-order stimulus) also elicits the conditioned response without the initial conditioned response being presented
Real World Example of Higher/Second Order
a baby that gets excited and salivates at the sight of a formula container
Acquisition
the initial period of learning, when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
Extinction
the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus
Spontaneous Recovery
the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period
Stimulus Discrimination
when an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar
Stimulus Generlization
when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus (opposite of stimulus discrimination)
Who was behaviorism found by?
John B Watson; and it incorporated elements of Pavlov’s classical conditioning
What did Watson think/do?
he thought that all behavior can be studied as a simple response reaction without regard for internal processes; he said that for psychology to become a legitimate science it must shift from internal processes to outward observable behavior
What was Watson’s famous experiment?
Little Albert experiment; how fears can be conditioned
B.F. Skinner
psychologist associated with operant conditioning; proposed that new behaviors come about through consequences (rewards and punishments) we receive for those behaviors
Law of Effect
proposed by psychologist Edward Thorndike; Law of Effect: B=f(C); behavior is a function of its consequences
Reinforcement
means you are increasing a behavior
Positive Reinforcement
a desirable stimulus (praise, money) is ADDED to increase a behavior
Negative Reinforcement
an undesirable stimulus (annoying car sound) is REMOVED to increase a behavior (seatbelt wearing)
Punishment
means you are decreasing a behavior
Positive Punishment
an undesirable stimulus (scolding, corporal punishment) is ADDED to decrease a behavior (texting in class)
Negative Punishment
a stimulus (favorite toy) is REMOVED to decrease a behavior (child misbehaving/not sharing/ aggression)
Punishment is effective when the consequence…
closely follows the behavior; consistently follows the behavior; is a natural consequence of the behavior; is not a reinforcer; is administered dispassionately; is available for vicarious learning or modeling for others
Shaping
we reward successive approximations of a target behavior; behaviors are broken down into many small achievable steps
The Shaping Process
reinforce any response that resembles the desired behavior; then reinforce the response more closely resembling the desired behavior (you no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response); next begin to reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired behavior; continue to reinforce the response closer and closer to approximation of the desired behavior; finally, only reinforce the desired behavior
When is shaping often used?
to teach complex behavior or a chain of behaviors (getting a child to clean their entire room)
Primary Reinforcers
reinforcers that have innate (not learned) reinforcing abilities, usually because they provide pleasure (candy, jumping into a lake on a hot day)
Secondary Reinforcers
reinforcers that have no inherent value and only have reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer (praise, money, stickers on a sticker chart)
Behavior Modification
uses the principles of operant conditioning to accomplish behavior change so that undersirable behaviors are switched for more socially acceptable ones; often used by teachers and parents (ex- sticker chart)
Continuous Reinforcement
organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior; quickest way to teach behavior and effective for training a new behavior; most successful when reinforcer is presented immediately after behavior
Partial/Intermittent Reinforcement
person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior
Partial Reinforcement Schedules
can be either fixed or variable and either interval or ratio
Fixed Interval Reinforcement Schedule
reinforcement is delivered at predictable time intervals (patient controlled, doctor timed pain relief in hospital: patient can push once per hour)
Variable Interval Reinforcement Schedule
reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable intervals (quality control in restaurants)
Fixed Ratio Reinforcement Schedule
reinforcement is delivered after a predictable number of responses (worker paid after x number of parts made)
Variable Ration Reinforcement Schedule
reinforcement is delivered after an unpredictable number of responses- most powerful reinforcement schedule (gambling)
Cognitive Map
mental picture of something such as a maze
Latent Learning
learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it (a child riding to school everyday; must drive to school alone and knows the route even though they had never driven it before)
What are classical and operant conditioning forms of?
associative learning
Steps in the Modeling Process
Attention- you must be focused on (paying attention to) what the model is doing
Retention- you must be able to retain or remember what you observed
Reproduction- you must be that you observed and committed to memory (able to perform the behavior)
Motivation- you need to want to copy the behavior
Vicarious Reinforcement
if you saw that the model was reinforced for their behavior, you will be more motivated to copy them
Vicarious Punishment
if you observed the model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy them
