Exam 1 Flashcards
Charles Noris
Charles Norris was New York’s first appointed chief medical examiner and pioneer of forensic toxicology in America
Goal of scientific method
Establish causal relations
Confounding variables
Variables that co-vary with IV. Should be reduced.
What should principles of behavior generalize across?
Behaviors (walking, running, food selection, etc), settings, people, and species.
Reinforcer
A stimulus that is produced by a response that in turn strengthens the behavior on which it is contingent.
Selectionism
- Fecundity: a surplus
- Variability: That surplus varies in a particular property
- Selection: Some aspect of variability leads to survival
Examples:
- Evolution (when applied to species)
- Fecundity: lots of finches
- Variability: different beak types
- Selection: better beaks leads to higher likelihood of reproducing.
- Operant coditioning
- Lots of behavior
- Different in topography
- Consequences
Learning (1)
The ability to respond to short-term (and long-term), local (and overall) changes in our environment (foraging, adapting to a fire)
Learning (2)
Acquisition, maintenance, or change in behavior due to experience.
Acquisition vs performance
Acq - process. Perf - product
Two types of learning
- Operant
2.
Operant
Regulation of behavior by its consequences.
Behavior
Any act in which an organism engages. Two types:
- Observable behavior - evident to two or more people.
- Private events: behavior “beneath the skin”; covert
Scientific
- Observable behavior (eating - partly, thinking - no, seeing - no, speaking - yes
- Deterministic: behavior comes from two sources: environment and genes, both of which discovered and analyzed through science. (role of env is emphasized in BA).
- Objective: we have a precise language that characterizes behavior without guesswork or anthropomorphization (attributing human characteristics to non-human behavior).
- Empirical: we rely on measurement and quantification of behavior through numerical expression.
How the behavioral approach differs from others (traditional).
- No intervening variables. No construct reification (the label becomes a real explanation, as opposed to a description of the behavior).
- Animals are used (though not exclusively).
Problem with intervening variables
Construct reification (the label becomes a real explanation, as opposed to a description of the behavior).
Pros and cons of animal research
Pros:
* Ability to isolate variables
Cons:
* Can it be generalized?
Misconceptions about behavioral approach
- The organism is a “black box.” Black box connotes an empty “box”. Actual: the same events that govern internal behavior govern observable behavior.
- Behavioral analysis doesn’t account for emotions and feelings. Actual: Of course behaviorists do. But they do not CONTROL behavior, they are by-products.
- Behavior analysis is for non-human animals and those of low intelligence. Actual: The principles discovered apply to everyone. In fact the goal of behavior analysis is to discover GENERAL principles of behavior.
What neurons respond to environmental stimuli
Sensory receptors
What neurons innervate muscles?
Motor neurons
What in the axon terminals contains neurons?
Vesicals
Example of chemical changes that take place as part of learning
Long-term potentiation (certain connections become more able to fire after firing).
Main point of class
Outcomes of our behavior are everything. Behavior is a function of its consequences.
Contingency
Casual relation: If Behavior, then Consequence. Consequences in turn strengthen or weaken behavior on which it is contingent. Contiguity is not enough.
How to categorize the consequence
By its impact on the preceding behavior
How to operationalize variables
- Limit to only observable behavior
* Turn adjectives into verbs
* Turn constructs into behavior
Examples of low self-esteem
- Includes self-deprecating talk
Problems with the law of effect
- Anthropogenic
- Not everything that is satisfying is repeated
- Unsatisfying behavior is often repeated
What did Skinner add to Thorndike?
Placed emphasis on function (purpose) of behavior
Reinforcer
Strengthens behavior that produced it - increases or maintains (?) (it actually has to produce it; it can’t be just temporally related)
What are exams in terms of reinforcement?
Negative reinforcer
Examples of negative reinforcement
Alarm clock snooze button, putting on sunglasses,
Superstitious behavior
Accidental delivery (reinforcement) of an outcome
Terminal behavior
Behavior right before the delivery of reinforcer
Interim behavior
Behavior occurring early in interval (typically very hardwired behavior (until reinf happens))
Components of superstitious behavior
Terminal and interim (adjunctive behavior)
Scheduled-induced polydipsia
Under time-based deliveries of reinforcement, the addition of a water source -> excessive drinking
Examples of superstitions in humans
- Athletes
- Compulsions
- Religious behavior (?)
What is shaping
Differential reinforcement of successive approximations of a terminal behavior. I.e., reinforcing partial successes, gradually setting the standard higher and higher.
Differential reinforcement
Only reinforcing a single behavior
Response
Specific part of a behavior
Discriminative stimulus
Sets the occasion or influences the response. May or may not trigger a response. But it is the context that is linked with the response and consequence relationship. It does not make the subject respond though. The stimulus does not cause the response. (It is a moderator?)
Three-term contingency
Discriminative stimulus, operant response, and reinforcer/punisher
Response chain
A set of three-term contingencies in which the reinforcer of one serves as the Sd for another. The chain will end in a primary reinforcer.
Primary vs secondary reinforcer
Intrinsic (unlearned) vs extrinsic (learned, unique to individuals) reinforcer (satiation vs praise). Secondary reinforcers are learned by being paired with primary reinforcers.
Example response chain
“get beer”: dog runs to fridge -> towel
towel: pull -> fridge opens
open fridge: grab beer -> beer in mouth
… etc
owner: drop beer in hand -> treat and “good boy!”
Operant
Something that you do that changes the environment in some way
Free operant procedure
Procedures where the subject is free to engage with the reinforcer as much as the subject wants.
Discrete trial procedure
Controlled reinforcement sessions where the subject only gets the reinforcer if the trainer decides. It is highly controlled by the trainer.
Response rate
?
Traditional group design
Randomly assign people to a group with different levels.
Problems with group design
- Outliers can create potentially false effects
- Snapshot effect: is one instance enough? Does it in fact reflect that person.
- The focus is on the average subjects (because we’re looking at the mean)
- You can usually get an effect by increasing the number of subjects in your group
Single subject design
- Uses a small number of subjects
2. Look at how a variable affects the behavior of each subject: baseline, treatment, reversal
Benefits of single subject design
- The subject serves as her/his own control
- Treatment effects are individualized
- No “snapshots” of behavior - a pattern of behavior is able to be established under each condition
Drawbacks of single subject design
- Generalization
