Behaviour Modification - Part A Flashcards
What does behaviour modification imply?
Implies the intentional or structured use of conditioning or learning procedures to modify behaviour
What animals habituate more readily than adult animals?
young animals
Why is habituation necessary?
Saves an animal from being continuously and needlessly startled or frightened by chronic harmless stimuli
What is the paradigm for habituation?
US (bang) —> emotional activation
US (bang) - repetitive presentations —> weak emotional activation
US (bang) - repetitive presentations —> no emotional activation
Will an animal habituate if the US is loud and frequent?
The louder and more frequent it is, the harder it will be to habituate however, animals will STILL habituate it will just take longer
What is desensitization?
An intentional or structured habituation program; desensitization is a type of intentional habituation
What is flooding?
When the stimulus is presented repetitively at full strength the desensitization process is referred to as flooding
*flooding is a type of desensitization
What is learned helplessness?
Can happen if you flood an animal; animal is so overwhelmed that they shut down and that is why they have stopped reacting
What has to happen for an animal to continue to be habituated?
Habituation is an active process, the animal must continue to be periodically exposed to the stimuli
- behaviours that are learned have to be maintained
- habituation is a learning process that requires maintenance
What is gradual habituation referred to as?
Systematic desensitization
How does systematic desensitization work?
over a series of systematic stages the stimulus intensity is gradually increased until the animal is habituated to the stimulus at full strength or near full strength
When is systematic desensitization used?
Used with unhabituated fears with fears or phobias that may be acquired by virtue of classical conditioning
What are unconditioned reflexes?
At birth, an animal is born with a set of reflex behaviours that do not depend upon the conditions of our experiences
ex. salivation
Define unconditioned stimulus (US)
Naturally and involuntarily causes a response
Define unconditioned response
Unlearned response to an unconditioned stimulus
Define conditioned stimulus
Previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually triggers a conditional response
ex. a clicker
Define conditioned response
Learned response to the previously neutral stimulus
How do we get from a UR to a CR?
- repeated pairings of the CS with the US
- once the CS alone is able to produce the UR, we can now consider the UR a CR
*the CR begins to look exactly like the UR