Ch. 9, Behaviorism Flashcards
Determinism
belief that something is caused by a prior event
How do behaviorists conduct. research?
Must only study things that are observable, research is primarily based on animals
Situational specificity
since behavior is governed by environment, behavior varies significantly between environments
Skinner, operant conditioning
control of behavior through punishment/reward; deemphasizes structures: no need for it because behavior varies from one situation to the next only because of environment; REJECTS PERSONALITY AS A THEORY
Response and operants
response: represents external/observable behavior related to environmental events
Operants: responses that cannot be associated with environmental stimuli; occur as a part of the nature of an organism
Skinner, reinforcer, generalized reinforcers, schedules of reinforcement.
Reinforcer: follows a response and increases probability of the response occurring again
Generalized Reinforcer: associated with many other reinforcement stimuli
Schedules of reinforcement: reinforcements don’t have to occur after every response
Skinner, fixed/variable ratio schedule
Fixed ratio: after a certain interval reinforcement is given
Variable ratio: THE WORST OUT OF ALL OF THEM gambling, never know when reinforcement will happen
does not occur every time after response
Behaviorists/free will
Believe humans do not have free will: every action is a product of environment
Skinner, psychopathology
explains it in terms of a maladaptive response: maladaptive response is a response that is unacceptable to the society
OR people develop faulty behaviors because they were punished for good ones and reinforced bad ones
Functional Analysis of Behavior, A-B-C
assess antecedents
assesses behavior
assess consequences of behavior
By applying knowledge from classical and operant conditioning, functional analysis uses the principles of behaviorism to give a mechanistic account of how the individual’s behavior is shaped by contingencies within the person and in their environment
ABA Research design
Baseline measurement is taken, treatment given and measurement taken, return to baseline and measure again
Token Economy
rewarding behaviors with “tokens’
Sign vs. sample approach to research
Sign: test response is seen as an indicator/sign of x
Sample: what behaviorists use, view response as a non-representative sample of behavior
General psychopathology in behaviorism
mental illnesses are not internal
product of a maladaptive environment
goal in therapy is to create new environment
Pavlov, Classical Conditioning
Neutral stimulus becomes a stimuli that elicits strong response
Unconditioned stimulus: doesn’t require training to elicit response
Unconditioned response: response to US
Conditioned Stimulus: requires training to produce response
Conditions Response: response to CS
Generalization, discrimination, extinction
Generalization: response produced to similar stimuli
Discrimination: response not produced to different stimuli
Extinction: neutral stimulus that is repeatedly not paired with conditioned stimulus extinguishes the response over time
Conditioned Emotional Reaction, Pavlov
Works the same way as pairing US with CS, just with fears/emotions
Systematic Desensitization
Inhibits anxiety through counter conditioning
Ranking fears in hierarchy and overcoming them
Scientific analysis of behaviorism
Database: objective/scientific yes, but limited to animals
Comprehensive: very
Systematic: very
Testable: extremely, but more difficult with human participants
Highly replicable but oversimplifies personality
requires more evidence to support related therapy mechanisms
Watson’s primary ideas affair guy
Only overt behavior and external stimuli should be studied
Direct observation, precise definitions, and controlled experimentation should be the ONLY methods used to study behavior: REJECTS QUALITATIVE METHODS
Cognition is thought to be a form of covert speech: “covert” movements of the voicebox that reveals the existence of cognition or “covert speech” (later studies showed that larynx does move when thinking)
Mental states arte private events that cannot be measured or tested: SCIENCE IS CONCERNED WITH PUBLIC/OBSERVABLE EVENTS
Conditoning fears like in the Little Albert case doesn’t work longterm
Skinner’s work with classical (respondent) conditioning
stimulus is associated to a response (conditioning of involuntary behavior, autonomic nervous system/ CONDITIONING OF EMOTIONS, WHICH ARE INVOLUNTARY REACTIONS, CLASSICAL CONDITIONED BUT NOT ALWAYS LEARNED)
Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM Operant Conditioning: how behavior is acquired and modified in response to consequences (voluntary behavior, somatic nervous system, observable behavior) Skinner utilized Pavlov’s understanding of this
Prompting, fading, shaping in operant conditioning g
Prompting: reminding someone to perform a behavior
Fading: progressively withdrawing the prompting and increasing reinforcement (reinforced approximations of behavior)
Shaping: reinforcing closer approximations of the target
Difference between ratios and intervals?
Interval means the schedule is based on the time between reinforcements, and ratio means the schedule is based on the number of responses between reinforcements.
