Ch. 11

Question 1

observational learning (often referred to as social learning)

Answer 1

the behavior of a model is witnessed by an observer and the observer’s behavior is subsequently changed.

Because observational learning is essentially a social process, and humans are social beings, we can quickly acquire new behavior patterns in this way.

this type of learning can occur without our even being aware that our behavior has been influenced in this way.

These models need not be aware that their behavior is being observed, which means that we do not have to “teach’” someone for them to learn from us.
_{—another reason the term social learning is often used.}
- Being in a social situation can change behavior, even if no one in the group realizes it.

_{constitutes a significant aspect of Bandura’s social learning theory.}

Question 2

“observational learning,” not “observable learning.”

Answer 2

The latter simply refers to learning that we can observe taking place, such as when we watch a child going through the process of learning how to skate.

By contrast, an example of observational learning would be a child learning how to skate by watching other children skating.

_{Behavioral contagion and stimulus enhancement are clearly examples of social influence. But it can be argued that they are at best rudimentary forms of social influence in that they may result in only a momentary change in behavior}

_{More substantial forms of learning occur when observation of a model plays a role in classical and operant conditioning}

Question 3

Contagious behavior

Answer 3

is a more-or-less instinctive or reflexive behavior triggered by observing the same behavior in another individual.

Ex:
- yawning
- Fear responses of all kinds are quite contagious, which makes good adaptive sense.
_{In a dangerous environment, you are more likely to survive and reproduce if you flee when you notice that someone else is fleeing, as opposed to taking the time to look around and ask a lot of questions,}

Certain behaviors that are important for social interaction and bonding can also be contagious.
_{—we laugh more in the presence of others than when we are by ourselves}

Orienting responses can also be contagious.
_{—Not only do we orient ourselves toward stimuli we have just sensed (like a sudden noise or movement in our peripheral visual field), but we also orient ourselves in the direction that others have oriented.
—this effect also occurs across species.}

Question 4

stimulus enhancement,

Answer 4

_{is related to contagious orienting}

in which a person becomes more likely to approach a particular obiect or location because their attention has been drawn to that object or location by the behavior of another individual.

_{Stimulus enhancement is particularly effective for increasing the probability of a behavior associated with eating, drinking, or mating}

Stimulus enhancement simply allows the triggers to be noticed.

Stimulus enhancement effects can also be generated by using learned symbols.

Question 5

vicarious emotional responses

Answer 5

are classically conditioned emotional responses that result from the observation of that emotional response being exhibited by others.

This type of conditioning is therefore called vicarious emotional conditioning.

_{vicarious emotional responses, once acquired, can motivate other types of new behavior patterns}

_{In fear conditioning, the expressions of fear in other people may function as both CSs and USs that elicit the same emotional response in ourselves.}

Question 6

Vicarious emotional conditioning

Answer 6

can take place in two ways.

expressions of fear in others may act as unconditioned stimuli (USs) that elicit the emotion of fear in ourselves

Question 7

Observational Learning in Operant Conditioning

Answer 7

Descriptions of this process traditionally emphasize the distinction between acquisition and performance of a behavior.

_{Much social learning about food and flavor preference is related to stimulus enhancement and social referencing, through which individuals (especially young children) attend to those things that others are attending to, and look to others for emotional cues about how to behave.}

Question 8

Acquisition

Answer 8

Acquisition of an operant response (or, for that matter, a classically conditioned response) through observational learning first requires that the observer pay attention to the behavior of the model.

Of course, you can also acquire information about a behavior without ever translating that information into performance.
_{—violent scenes in movies, but very little people act them out}

Question 9

Acquisition

So, what makes us attend to a model?

1st factor

Answer 9

First, we are very sensitive to the consequences of the model’s behavior.

If a model’s behavior is being reinforced, an observer is more likely to attend to that behavior.

_{—For example, if you watch a television commercial featuring a man receiving lavish praise and affection for sending flowers to his partner, you are likely to learn that sending flowers may result in positive reinforcement.}

Question 10

Acquisition

So, what makes us attend to a model?

2nd factor

Answer 10

A second factor that influences attention is whether the observer receives reinforcement for the behavior of attending to a model

Teaching is often based on this principle.

_{— Teachers demonstrate desired behaviors something as basic as reading or as complex as writing a college essay and reinforce their students’ attention to their demonstrations.}

_{—may also use various techniques for drawing attention to their behaviors, including prompting, and physical modeling}

Question 11

Acquisition

So, what makes us attend to a model?

3rd factor

Answer 11

A third determinant of whether we attend to a model depends on whether the observer has sufficient skills to benefit from the modeling.

_{For example, if a model plays the very simple tune “Chopsticks” on the piano, even a musically inexperienced observer may be able to pick up the tune quickly and, with appropriate help, play it themselves. However, if a model plays a complex Beethoven sonata, the observer may give up all hope of ever being able to play the piano}

Modeling works only when observers have the skills necessary to learn the behavior.

Question 12

Acquisition

So, what makes us attend to a model?

4th factor

Answer 12

Finally, the personal characteristics of a model can strongly influence the extent to which we will attend to their behaviour.

We are much more likely to attend to models who resemble us for example, if they are roughly the same age, dress similarly, and have similar interests.

We also attend to models we respect or admire, or who are noted authorities in that realm of activity.

Question 13

Performance

3 factors

Answer 13

Reinforcement and punishment work to modify our behavior in modeling situations in three ways.

First, we are more likely (or less likely) to perform a modeled behavior when we have observed the modeled behavior being reinforced (or punished)
_{—The effect of such consequences on our behavior is technically known as vicarious reinforcement (or vicarious punishment).}

A second factor that influences performance is the consequence for the observer of performing the modeled behavior.
_{—We are more (or less) likely to perform a modeled behavior when we ourselves will experience reinforcement (or punishment) for performing that behavior.}

A third factor that influences our performance is our own history of reinforcement or punishment for performing modeled behaviors.
_{—Throughout our lives, we learn when it is appropriate to perform modeled behaviors as well as who is an appropriate model.}

Question 14

True Imitation

Answer 14

is a form of observational learning that involves the close duplication of a novel behavior (or sequence of behaviors).

_{For example, imagine that Chelsea is standing in a line outside an exclusive club when she sees a woman walk to the front of the line and begin flirting with the door attendant. The door attendant allows the woman to enter without standing in line. Chelsea gets out of line, walks up to the attendant, and also begins flirting with them.}

_{If she flirts in a different way from the other woman (using her own “flirting style”), this would be an example of observational learning but not true imitation.}

_{But if she flirts in virtually the same way as the other woman, which also happens to be quite different from the way Chelsea normally flirts (so it is a novel behavior pattern for her), then we would say that true imitation has taken place.}

Question 15

Generalized imitation

Answer 15

is therefore the generalized tendency to imitate new modeled behaviors in the absence of any specific reinforcement for doing so.

_{Applied behavior analysts make use of it when working with special needs individuals who are deficient in their ability to learn through observation. By deliberately reinforcing the imitation of some behaviors, therapists can produce in these individuals a generalized
tendency to imitate, which then greatly facilitates their ability to learn other behaviors.}

Question 16

Can Animals Imitate?

Answer 16

early animal behaviorists and learning theorists, like Romanes (1884), Morgan (1900), and Thorndike (1911),

debated whether animals could “intentionally” imitate (which could be construed as indicative of higher-level cognitive functioning)

or whether any appearance of imitation was due to some lower-level, perhaps instinctive, mechanism.

Question 17

Can Animals Imitate?

Monkey and food in a box

Answer 17

Most of these studies have examined the ability of animals, usually monkeys and apes, to solve novel problems such as how to obtain food locked away in a box.

In a typical experiment, an observer animal watches a model animal perform a complex series of behaviors such as getting a key, opening a lock, pulling a lever, and then using a stick to pull food out of a hole that has now been revealed in the side of the box.

The observer animal is then given a chance to try opening the box. If the animal can imitate, it should be able to duplicate the actions performed by the model to obtain the food.

What often happens, though, is that the animals do not copy the actions of the model exactly they may pull the lever, for example, but not use the key; or they may turn the box over and shake it to remove the food rather than use the stick

Question 18

Can Animals Imitate?

Chesler (1969) and kittens

Answer 18

demonstrated that kittens more quickly learned to press a lever for food if they had observed their mothers pressing a lever than if they had observed a strange female cat pressing the lever.

Galef (1988) pointed out that the study might simply demonstrate that mothers are better stimulus enhancers than strangers are.

_{— Kittens will likely pay more attention to their mother than to a stranger, and attend to any item that she manipulates.}

_{Thus, simple stimulus enhancement (i.e., simply becoming more aware of a stimulus, such as the presence of a lever) could result in a duplication of behavior that looks a lot like imitation.}

Due to these kinds of difficulties, some researchers have suggested that nonhuman animals are incapable of true imitation

Question 19

Can Animals Imitate?

Horowitz (2003), and chimps and adult humans

Answer 19

Other researchers, however, have argued that sufficient evidence now exists, gathered from well-controlled studies, to indicate that at least some animals (especially birds and great apes) are capable of true imitation.

_{replicated a study using a task that had previously revealed greater evidence of true imitation in children than in chimpanzees, but also gave that task to adult humans.}

_{found that the adults’ level of imitation was more similar to that of the chimpanzees than the children’s was!}

_{In other words, both human adults and chimpanzees displayed more flexible behavior patterns in solving the problem as compared to the children, who had a stronger tendency simply to do what the model had demonstrated.}

_{The lower rate of imitation that had been shown by chimpanzees compared to the children in the previous study therefore seems like a poor basis for drawing inferences about their lack of imitative ability, insofar as one can hardly argue that human adults are also incapable of true imitation.}

Question 20

Can Animals Imitate?

Russon and Galdikas (1993, 1995) and orangutans

Answer 20

observed orangutans living with humans in a camp designed to reintroduce the animals to the wild.

They found that the orangutans regularly copied the complex actions of the humans with whom they interacted, including learning to hang hammocks, build bridges, and use boats.

In one case, an orangutan even learned how to start a fire something that the researchers did not expect and certainly did not demonstrate on purpose!

Question 21

Can Animals Teach?

Answer 21

_{can “deliberately” act as models for teaching another animal.}

_{This is not an easy question to answer, because people usually assume that teaching requires a “conscious intention” to demonstrate, or transfer knowledge from one individual to another, which is obviously difficult to assess in nonhuman animals.}

For example, consider a mother ape that seems to be calling her offspring’s attention toward her use of a tool, such as using a twig to dig an insect out of a hole in the ground.

By simply observing her actions, we may find it difficult to determine if she is trying to teach her young to use the tool to get food or simply trying to get food while at the same time keeping her offspring nearby.

If her offspring do learn to use the same tool in the same way, were they intentionally taught by the mother?

Or did the offspring simply pick up the behavior on their own through observational learning or stimulus enhancement?

Question 22

Can Animals Teach?

True imitation

Answer 22

As with true imitation, some researchers have argued that teaching is a behavior performed only by humans.

They contend that evidence that does suggest teaching by animals is often anecdotal and subject to anthropomorphism (assuming human motives or characteristics when observing animal behavior).

Question 23

Can Animals Teach?

The bonobo Kanzi

Answer 23

At the Georgia State University Language Research Center in Atlanta, a bonobo called Kanzi has been trained to communicate with people.

Realizing that some of his fellow apes do not have the same training, Kanzi occasionally adopts the role of teacher.

_{He once sat next to Tamuli, a younger sister who has had minimal exposure to human speech, while a researcher tried to get Tamuli to respond to simple verbal requests; the untrained bonobo didn’t respond.}

_{As the researcher addressed Tamuli, it was Kanzi who began to act out the meanings. When Tamuli was asked to groom Kanzi, he took her hand and placed it under his chin, squeezing it between his chin and chest.}

_{In this position, Kanzi stared into Tamuli’s eyes with what people interpreted as a questioning gaze. When Kanzi repeated the action, the young female rested her fingers on his chest as if wondering what to do}

In the quote, you may have noticed several assumptions, which may or may not be warranted, that were made about Kanzi’s and Tamuli’s motives.

On the other hand, the behaviors Kanzi displayed are the types of behaviors that, with humans, we often use to infer the existence of an “intention.”

It is difficult, therefore, to witness a behavior like this and not have the impression that Kanzi is making a humanlike attempt at teaching.

_{But it should also be noted that Kanzi is unique among bonobos in his demonstrated language and problem-solving abilities and may have skills that are not typical of other apes.}

Question 24

The aggressive behavior of children in Bandura’s studies was so similar to the model’s behavior that it can be considered as an example of ___ ___?

Answer 24

1. true imitation

Watching a model demonstrate violent behavior has been shown to lead to an increase in violence by observers; observing the reinforcement of violent behavior further increased the amount of violence displayed by observers.

Although children in Bandura’s study exhibited somewhat less violent behavior if the model’s behavior had been punished , their levels of violence increased again if they were later offered a(n) incentive for behaving violently.

_{Longitudinal studies and prospective studies are especially useful for isolating critical factors in violent behavior.}

Question 25

Longitudinal studies have shown that exposure to violent media is ___ correlated with ___ and ___ behavior

One troubling aspect of gender differences in response to media violence is that while __ are more likely to become violent as a result of such exposure, ___ may be more likely to become ___ of violence.

The problem with the media giving equal airtime to those who are ____ about the effects of media violence on violent behavior is that the public is then misled into thinking that the evidence for
such effects is ___ than it actually is.

Answer 25

1. Strongly
2. Aggressive
3. antisocial
4. Men
5. Women
6. Victims
7. skeptical
8. Weaker

Question 26

Rule-Governed Behavior

Answer 26

Behavior that is generated through exposure to rules.

Question 27

verbal behavior

Answer 27

is behavior that involves language and results in a consequence.

It can be spoken, written, or gestural, and it requires both a speaker and a listener although these can sometimes be the same individual, as when we talk to ourselves.

In general, the speaker emits the behavior and the listener provides the consequence.

As with operant behavior in general, verbal behavior is strengthened through reinforcement and weakened through punishment or extinction.

Thus, whereas language is typically analyzed in terms of its structure (e.g., subject, object, verb), verbal behavior is analyzed in terms of its function.

Question 28

Skinner’s analysis, a mand (as in “demand”)

Answer 28

is verbal behavior that requests or seeks something that the speaker wants or needs.

receiving the requested action or item being the effective reinforcer.

the form of the mand is determined by the motivation that lies behind it.

Question 29

Skinner’s analysis, a tact (as in
“contacting” something)

Answer 29

is verbal behavior that labels or identifies an environmental event.

the form of the behavior is determined by the object or event being referred to (which is essentially the SD for the event),

and the effective consequence is typically some type of social reinforcement as occurs when you correctly respond to a question someone has asked

Question 30

rules and instructions

Answer 30

A rule can be defined as a verbal description of a contingency.

In other words, it is a statement telling us that in a certain setting, if we perform a certain behavior, then a certain consequence will follow.

it does not say anything about how we should respond with respect to that contingency.

If it does say something about how we should respond, then it can also be called an instruction.

Rules (or instructions) are extremely useful for rapidly establishing appropriate patterns of behavior in a setting without direct exposure to the contingencies operating in that setting.

_{Children learn to follow rules and instructions because they are often praised for following instructions. As well, they learn that following instructions is usually a good way to actually accomplish a task.}

_{The result is that most children acquire a generalized tendency to follow rules and instructions.}

In general, the extent to which we follow instructions as well as the specific
instructions we choose to follow- depends largely on the consequences we have received for following instructions

Question 31

drawbacks to rule-governed behavior

Answer 31

1. It’s often less efficient than behavior that has been directly shaped by natural contingencies.
2. Is that such behavior is sometimes surprisingly insensitive to the actual contingencies of reinforcement operating in a particular setting.
   _{—experimental subjects who are told to press a button to earn money sometimes display a high rate of responding on an FI schedule of reinforcement, which is different from the type of responding typically shown on such schedules by animals.}

Question 32

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Answer 32

The basic rationale that underlies ACT is that human verbal behavior has both advantages and disadvantages.

_{Just as language allows us to reminisce about the past and plan for tomorrow, so too it allows us to relive painful experiences and catastrophize about the future. Thus, our ability to use language can sometimes be a serious drawback.}

The culture that we live in engrains within us a particular set of rules about our psychological difficulties.

• Psychological problems are indicated by unpleasant feelings, thoughts, bodily sensations, and so on.
• These unpleasant experiences are “signals” that we have some type of deficiency (e.g., a lack of confidence) that needs to change for us to become healthy.
• This can be achieved by understanding or modifying the factors that caused the difficulty (e.g., “working through” our thoughts and feelings about a difficult childhood that resulted in low self-confidence).

In short, we must somehow get rid of our negative thoughts and feelings in order to live a satisfying life.

Question 33

basic goal in ACT is to

Answer 33

enable clients to recognize the futility of their usual strategies for handling their symptoms.

clients are encouraged to “give up the struggle” and to “lean forward” into their symptoms.

Once they learn to accept their thoughts and feelings as they are, they can then commit themselves to carrying out personally valued activities.

This process by itself may result in a certain degree of symptom alleviation, insofar as clients will no longer be avoiding the events that elicit their symptoms (thereby allowing extinction to take place).

More importantly, though, clients will come to understand that unpleasant thoughts and feelings are a normal part of everyday life, and that eliminating these events is not a prerequisite for engaging in appropriate and worthwhile behavior.

_{ACT is not the only type of therapy that preaches the benefits of focusing on behavior and accepting one’s thoughts and feelings.}

_{Two other behaviorally oriented forms of therapy, dialectical behavior therapy and functional analytic psychotherapy.}

_{Also an older Japanese form of therapy, known as Morita therapy. They learn that feelings are largely uncontrollable while actions are controllable, and that they must place greater emphasis on the latter if they wish to lead a satisfying life. Westernized version of which is called
“constructive living”).}

Question 34

personal rules (or self-instructions)

Answer 34

which can be defined as verbal descriptions of contingencies that we present to ourselves to influence our behavior.

Many of the personal rules that we use to regulate our behavior exert their effect as a function of training in “say-do correspondence.”

most effective when they establish a “bright boundary” between acceptable and unacceptable patterns of behavior.

Question 35

Say do correspondence

Answer 35

occurs when there is a close match between what we say we are going to do and what we actually do at a later time.

Question 36

personal process rules

Answer 36

personal rules that indicate the specific process by which a task is to be accomplished.

And a possible reason such rules are effective is that they establish a bright boundary between actions that conform to the rule and those that do not.

the act of clearly specifying when, where, and how a goal is to be accomplished can significantly affect the probability of accomplishing that goal. —> implementation intentions.