Conditioning

Question 1

Behaviorist Theory

Answer 1

• The behaviourist theory says personality is the result of learned behavior patterns based on a person’s environment – it’s deterministic, in that people begin as blank states and the environment completely determines their behavior/personalities. Do not take thoughts and feelings into account.
o The psychoanalytic theory would be the most opposite of this theory (focuses on mental behaviour).
Environment DETERMINES BEHAVIOR
- • Focuses on observable and measurable behaviour, rather than mental/emotional.
• 1. Skinner – strict behaviourist, associated with concept of operant conditioning. Uses rewards/punishment to increase/decrease behaviour, respectively.
• 2. Pavlov – associated with classical conditioning, ex. Pavlov dog experiment. Places a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to trigger an involuntary response. Ex. ringing a bell in presence of food causes dog to start salivating.
o People have consistent behaviour patterns because we have specific response tendencies, but these can change, and that’s why our personality develops over our entire lifespan. Constantly evolving and changing.

Question 2

The cognitive theory

Answer 2

• What connects the observable (behavioral) to mental approach (psychoanalytic) approach? The cognitive theory, a bridge between classic behaviourism and other theories like psychoanalytic. Because cognitive theory treats thinking as a behaviour, and has a lot in common with behaviour theory (Albert Bandura comb)

Question 3

• Associative learning

Answer 3

– when one event is connected to another, ex. classical and operant conditioning.

Question 4

Classical Conditioning: Neutral, Conditioned, and Unconditioned Stimuli and Responses

Answer 4

• Classical conditioning (also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning) is a learning process in which an innate response to a potent stimulus comes to be elicited in response to a previously neutral stimulus; this is achieved by repeated pairings of the neutral stimulus with the potent stimulus.
• Classical does not involve change in behaviour like operant conditioning.
o Unconditioned means it’s innate, already do naturally, and not learned.
o While conditioned means it’s a learned behavior.
- a neutral stimuli: a stimuli you can sense by sight, taste, or hearing it that typically doesn’t not produce the reflex that is being tested.
• Conditioning is produced when the neutral stimulus is presented shortly before the unconditioned stimulus – presentation of both stimuli is caused a trial.

Question 5

Classical Conditioning: Extinction, Spontaneous Recovery, Generalization, Discrimination

Answer 5

• Generalization: tendency/ability of a stimulus similar to conditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response, and more similar the stimulus is to original conditioned stimulus - the greater the conditioned response.
o Has an adaptive value.
o Generalization allows us to make appropriate response to similar stimuli. Ex. meeting someone new who smiles, reminds us of other smiles (both exhibit feelings of joy).

• discrimination, when you learn to make a response to some stimuli but not others. Also has an adaptive value because you want to respond differently to related stimuli.

extinction. When a CS does not elicit a CR anymore.
o It is used to train certain phobias. Ex. If you are afraid of heights, the therapist would expose you to various heights and the stimuli would not elicit the same response anymore (the response of fear)

spontaneous recovery (when old conditioned stimulus elicits response). Don’t know why it happens, usually infrequently, doesn’t persist for a long time, and less strong. 
•	In classical conditioning, behavior that is typically in response to one stimuli becomes the response due to another stimulus (due to pairing)

• Extinctive Burst (short-term): When an animal no longer receives regular reinforcement, its original behavior will sometimes spike (meaning increase dramatically) - this is known as an extinction burst.

Question 6

o Classical conditioning usage in therapy:

Answer 6

1. • Aversive Conditioning: Aversive conditioning is usually used to stop a particular behavior. The process involves pairing a habit a person wishes to break, such as smoking or bed-wetting, with an unpleasant stimulus (UCS) such as electric shock or nausea that elicits pain (UCR). Thus the smoking will become the CS and the pain the CR (but only if the shock is no longer given).
2. • Systematic Desensitization: Systematic Desensitization was developed by Joseph Wolpe and is a process that involvers teaching the client to replace feelings of anxiety with relaxation. It works great with phobias.
   - -> o Most of the time, systematic desensitization occurs gradually, but some therapists use a technique called implosive therapy. Here they throw Akira in a room with thousands of spiders with the idea that if they face their fear and survive, they will realize their fear is irrational. This technique often produces a lot of anxiety.

• Extinction occurs in both operant and classical conditioning.
• Phobic responses are acquired through classical conditioning.

Question 7

Counterconditioning (also called stimulus substitution) is a form of respondent conditioning

Answer 7

Counterconditioning (also called stimulus substitution) is a form of respondent conditioning that involves the conditioning of an unwanted behavior or response to a stimulus into a wanted behavior or response by the association of positive actions with the stimulus.
o Counter conditioning is very similar to extinction seen in classical conditioning. It is the process of getting rid of an unwanted response. But in counter conditioning the unwanted response does not just disappear, it is replaced by a new, wanted response. “The conditioned stimulus is presented with the unconditioned stimulus”.[3] This also can be thought of as stimulus substitution. The weaker stimulus will be replaced by the stronger stimulus. When counter conditioning is successful, the process can not just be explained by simply substitution of a stimulus. It usually is explained by things such as conditioned inhibition, habituation, or extinction
o It is a common treatment for aggression, fears, and phobias. The use of counter conditioning is widely used for treatment in humans as well as animals. The most common goal is to decrease or increase the want or desire to the stimulus. One of the most widely used types of counter conditioning is systematic desensitization.

Question 8

Operant Conditioning/instrumental conditioning - BF Skinner

Answer 8

• Operant conditioning ALSO CALLED Instrumental Conditioning focuses on the relationship between behavior and their consequences, and how those in turn influence the behaviour (classical conditioning NO change in behaviour)
• In operant conditioning, behaviours have consequences – two types: reinforcement (increase a behavior) and punishment (decrease a behavior). Two types of reinforcement (positive and negative) and two types of punishment (positive and negative).

o All these consequences shape (influence) the behavior
o The immediacy of feedback is an important factor in influencing behavior.

• How is motivational state defined?: By depriving the subject of some desirable stimulus for a period of time.

Question 9

o Positive reinforcement

Answer 9

o Positive reinforcement = something is being added to increase tendency of behavior,

Question 10

o Negative reinforcement =

Answer 10

o Negative reinforcement = taking something away to increase tendency behavior will occur again.

Question 11

o Positive punishment =

Answer 11

o Positive punishment = Positive punishment means something is added to decrease tendency something will occur again

Question 12

o Negative punishment =

Answer 12

o Negative punishment = something taken away in effort to decrease tendency it’ll occur again. Ex. taking away your license.

Question 13

• Primary reinforcers & • Secondary reinforcers

Answer 13

• Primary reinforcers are innately satisfying/desirable, like food, water, sexual activity
• Secondary reinforcers are those learned to be reinforcers, such as previously neutral stimuli. requires a pairing or association with a primary reinforcer for it to have value.

Question 14

• Token economy

Answer 14

• Token economy – system of behaviour modification based on systematic reinforcement of target behaviour, reinforcers are “tokens” that can be exchanged for other reinforcers (ex. Prizes).

Question 15

• Operant Extinction:

Answer 15

• Operant Extinction: In operant conditioning it results from some response by the organism no longer being reinforced (for example, you keep getting your dog to sit on command, but you stop giving it a treat or any other type of reinforcement. Over time, the dog may not sit every time you give the command).

Question 16

• Instinctual drift:

Answer 16

• Instinctual drift: it is the phenomenon whereby established habits, learned using operant techniques, eventually are replaced by innate food-related behaviors. So the learned behavior “ drifts” to the organism’s species-specific (instinctual) behavior.
o Instinctive drift or instinctual drift is the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with a conditioned response. The concept originated with B.F. Skinner’s former students Keller Breland and Marian Breland when they tried to teach a raccoon to put tokens into a piggy bank. Instead, the raccoon drifted to its instinctive behavior of putting the tokens on the ground or turning them over in its paws, as they often do with food

Question 17

Operant Conditioning: Shaping

Answer 17

Learning through successively reinforcing behaviors that approximate the target behavior is shaping.
• What is the target behavior? The final behavior you wish to train

Question 18

partial reinforcement schedule

Answer 18

partial reinforcement schedule – behavior is reinforced only some of the time. More resistant to extinction than continuous reinforcement. Behavior is shaped through a process of successive reinforcement of approximations of target behavior.

Question 19

• Continuous reinforcement

Answer 19

• Continuous reinforcement becomes less reinforcing so there is a need for ulterior reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement occurs on a 1:1 ratio - this means that for each behavior, there is a reward. Discovered by B. F. Skinner via reward schedules with animals but apply to animals as well.

Question 20

• Fixed-Ratio

Answer 20

• Fixed-Ratio – Reinforcement only occurs after a fixed # of responses regardless of how long it takes to complete responses

• Jobs that demand someone to work in a fast paced manner typically pay workers on fixed-ratio (ex. Factory workers, fruit pickers)
• 2nd most effective

Question 21

• Fixed-Interval

Answer 21

• Fixed-Interval – acronym: Interval = TIME. ex. receives pay check every 2 weeks – in this case, time is constant. Pay doesn’t change if he sells 1 car or 100 cars. Less incentive to sell cars. Response rate is slower.
- least effective

Question 22

o Variable-Ratio

Answer 22

o Variable-Ratio – acronym: Variable = VARIATION. Reinforcement is delivered after average # of right responses has occurred. Similar to fixed-ratio, except # changes for each reward. Just fixed-ratio but varies. Average # of correct responses is the same.
- o Another example is slot machine. You don’t know if the next pull will be the jackpot (because it makes it very difficult to walk away from something).
- MOST EFFECTIVE
• VR is most effective (acronym: produces a Very-Rapid response)

Question 23

• Variable-Interval

Answer 23

• Variable-Interval – Responses are reinforced after a variable amount of time has passed, regardless on amount Ex. bonus can come randomly on different days.
- 3rd most effective

Question 24

o Simple innate behaviors–

Answer 24

o Simple innate behaviors–

1. reflexes (squint or blinking – natural behaviors), taxis (bugs fly towards light, can be towards or away from stimulus – a purposeful movement ||acronym:
2. Taxis have a purposeful movement),
3. kinesis (rats randomly scurrying in different directions – no purpose of movement). [example was a light source as being the stimuli]

Question 25

o Complex innate behaviors

Answer 25

o Complex innate behaviors –

1. fixed action patterns (mating dance),
2. migration (birds flying south in winter),
3. circadian rhythms (biological clock, waking up early to sing) [example was a singing bird]

Question 26

o Habituation

Answer 26

o Habituation – response to alarm decreases over time.

. “Loss of response to repeated stimuli”

Question 27

o Insight learning

Answer 27

o Insight learning – solve a problem using past skills, the “aha” moment is insight learning. Ex. Use math skills previously learned to solve a problem

Question 28

o Latent learning

Answer 28

o Latent learning- learned behaviour is not expressed until required

Question 29

• Innate Learning

Answer 29

• Innate Learning: fixed instinctive action patterns that are “hard wired”

Question 30

aversive control

Answer 30

• Escape and avoidance/ avoidant learning are 2 types of aversive control , situations where behavior is motivated by threat of something unpleasant – examples of negative reinforcement (removing undesirable stimulus following correct behavior)

Question 31

o Escape

Answer 31

o Escape – escape an unpleasant stimulus once it has occurred (the stimuli has an element of surprise usually). The response is conditioned (of escaping) in response to a stimuli and then stimuli goes away. (negative reinforcement). Typically, the response would not occur. Fire in a building, and you have to find a way to get out.
 Escape conditioning occurs when the animal learns to perform an operant to terminate an ongoing, aversive stimulus. It is a “get me out of here” or “shut this off” reaction, aimed at escape from pain or annoyance. The behavior that produces escape is negatively reinforced (reinforced by the elimination of the unpleasant stimulus). Source:

Question 32

o Avoidance

Answer 32

o Avoidance – signal is given before aversive situation. The behavior is to avoid the situation, which results in continued avoidance because it is reinforced by the removal of the pain/undesirable stimuli. Ex. A fire alarm allows you to avoid the fire and you are able to “Avoid” the situation.
 Avoidance behaviors are incredibly persistent. This is true even when there is no longer anything to avoid. The reason is that an animal that performs an avoidance reaction never experiences the aversive stimulus. But it receives negative reinforcement in the form of RELEIF. Because of this, avoidance behavior is SELF-reinforcing. Negative reinforcement.

Question 33

Non associative learning

Answer 33

habituation, sensitization, or the same response due to the stimuli.

• In response to series of stimuli of thunderclaps you have three options:
o Same response – you jump equally as high with each subsequent stimuli. (ex: you jump same distance out of bed with each thunderclap)
o Become habituated - the same stimuli results is a decreased response with episode of stimuli (ex: you begin jump lower distance over time)
o You could become sensitized, the same stimuli there is an increased response. Opposite of habituated.

• Sensitization and Habituation are the two forms of non-associative learning – learning where no punishment/rewarding is occurring with increase/decrease of response. You are simply noticing how response changes in relationship to the same stimuli over time.

Question 34

 Sensitization

Answer 34

 Sensitization is a non-associative learning process in which repeated administrations of a stimulus results in the progressive amplification of a response.[1] Sensitization often is characterized by an enhancement of response to a whole class of stimuli in addition to the one that is repeated. For example, repetition of a painful stimulus may make one more responsive to a loud noise.

Question 35

• Taste aversion

Answer 35

• Taste aversion – when you eat something because you like it, but then stop eating it because you become sick (have a bad experience). Aversions are strong, and they don’t always make sense.

Question 36

• Phobias

Answer 36

• Phobias: another example of a biological influence on learning. We are more likely to develop phobias to something that impacted our ancestors rather than things that might be dangerous to us in the real world. Very likely to have a phobia against heights, snakes, spider but are unlikely to have a phobia to a car or electric outlet (even though you are more likely to be hurt by these factors today than the phobias that most people have). It used to be evolutionary advantageous to have the adaptive value to avoid food that made you sick, spiders, snakes, heights in the past – so they are passed on.

Question 37

• Adaptive associations

Answer 37

• Adaptive associations (those who have a biological advantage) are learned faster than learning with no biological value. Learning is not simply classical and operant conditioning.