Chapter 4 Flashcards
3 Major types of learning
- Classical conditioning (pavloinian)
- Instrumental Operant learning
- Social learning
Classical Conditioning
- view of human
-ppl learn if rewarded or punished for behavior. Biological factors account for individual diffs in susceptibility to classical conditioning. Classical conditioning perspective presumes that human is an automaton and acts in monotonous routine manner w/out intelligence
Operant Learning
- Skinner’s belief
- unlike cc
- learner must to something to environment in order to obtain reward or avoid punishment.
- Operant conditiong is learning to make or withhold a response because of its consequences; a fundamental learning process that is acquired or elimenated by the consequences that follow
- Skinner accepted classical conditionig but said we need additional type of conditiong to account more fully for all forms of behavior (in classical, dogs did not operate on enviros to receive rewards, food occurred regardless of what they did) Skinner called this “responding conditioning” and contrasted it with when a person does something to affect the situation
- Skinner established association btwn behavior and consequence
Social Learning
- social learning theory of criminal behavior
- assumption
- criminal behavior and social learning
- modeling
more complex; involves watching others and organizing social experiences in the brain. Most representative of contemp psych. enables us to integrate knowledge from aspects of encironment and to consider bio and social environment
- Social Learning Theory suggests that to understand criminal behavior we must examine perceptions, thoughts, expectanceis, competencies, and values. Place emphasis on cognitive processes or internal processes called thinking and rembering.
- Social learning reflects theory’s strong assumption that we learn by observing ppl around us in social environment. Believe that social enviroment is most imp factor of acquisition of human behavior. Still accept reinforcment
- Criminal beahvior may be acquired thru association and observation but whether it is maintained will depend upon reinforment
- family members most imp source of modeling
Behaviorism
- focuses on/ human behavior?
- History?
- Watson’s beliefs
- A perspective that focuses on observable,
measurable behavior and argues that the social environment and learning are the key determinants of human
behavior. - began in 1913 with john B Watson and traced back to Aristotle. Science of behavior, we should eliminate the mind and all its vague concepts from sci consideration because they cannot be observed and measured. Fundamental goal to understand, predict, control human behavior.
-Watson believed consciousness and mind do not exist, thought is just tiny movements of speech and apparatus
-Watson influenced by classical conditioning; thougght psychology should focus on interplay btwn stimulus and response. Said all behavior was controlled by external environment
Pavlov’s dogs
Pavlov’s Dogs: Meat was US, saliva was UR, bell became CS, saliva to bell became CR
Cognitive processes
processes are those internal mental processes that enable us to imagine, gain knowledge, to reason and to evaluate info
Stimulus & Response
- Stimulus is a person, object or event that elicits behavior
- Response is the elecited behavior
Skinner’s theory
- like Watson(goalofpsych)
- Unlike Watson
- Skinner: Cognitive processes
- human nature
- Like Watson, Skinner believed prim goal of psych is prediction and control of behavior and enviromental external stimuli are primary determinants of all behavior
- Unlike Watson, skinner did not deny extinsesnce of mental events or conitive processes. However these stimuli are not needed by a science of behavior since products of mental activity can be expalined in ways that do not require allusion to unobserved mental states. Mental activity can be explained by observing what a person does
- Skinner said congnitve processes exist but don’t lead to science of behavior. In order to understand and modify antisocial behavior, thoughts, values, decsisons, and intentions of criminal mind irrelevant. Instead must focus on enviro stimuli, observable bevhavior and rewards
- believe all humans are born neutral
- Independent V
- Dependent V
- Variable
- Independent variables are the environmental stimuli
- Dependent variable are the behaviors they elicit
- Variable is any entity or behavior that can be measured
Behaviorism as method of science
-Behaviorism posits that knowledge about human behavior can be best advanced if we use referents that have a physical basis and can be publicly observed (private events inside heads not seen so not subjected to rules of science)
Behaviorism as perspective of human nature
- Skinner and Darwin
- Skinner’s 2 beliefs
- View that humans differ only in degree from animal ancesters. Behavior of humans follows same basic laws of all animals
- Like Darwin, Skinner saw no radical diffs between animals and humans (even human language, conceptual thinking nondistinctive)
- Skinner was a strong situationist
1. Situationism is belief that all behavior is at the mercy of stimuli in the environemnt and individuals have virtually no control or self-determination; independent thinking and self control are myths; humans are like robots
2. Reductionism is the procedure where complex behavior can be broken down into simple behavior; best understood by looking at stimulus response chains
Reinforcement
- is?
1. Positive
2. Negative
3. Punishment
- is what skinner refered to as rewards; anything that increases probablity of future responding
1. is when we gain something as consequence of behavior
2. is when we avoid unpleasant event/stimulusa as consequence of behavior
3. Punishment is a painful stimuli as consequence of behavior
Extinction
- Skinner’s belief
is when person recieves neither reinforcement or punishment
-Skinner said punishment is less effective way to eliminate behavior bc its temporary; instead use extinction
Operant learning and crime
- skinner’s belief to reduce crime
-Skinner said if we wish to elminate crime we must change society thru behavioral engineering based on scientific concpetion of humans. Must make society learn early that positive reinforement will not occur if they transgree against rules (difficult bc reinforcment for antisocial behavior already occuring and not always obvious and maybe complex)