Frustration And Emotional Conflict

Question 1

How May operant learning affect development of a behaviour?

Answer 1

Behaviours successful at avoiding perceived threats
Behaviours successful at achieving perceived rewards
Both will increase frequency of behaviours

Question 2

What are “resources?”

Answer 2

Anything the animal needs or wants - maybe due to associated behaviour eg. Pick up slipper, get to play - doesn’t actually want slipper
Any biological need - food /water/mating
Social contact if species is social
Hunger/sexual cycles may influence what is valuable

Question 3

How may the value of a resource affect an animals behaviour?

Answer 3

Motivation to gain it

Anxiety about risk of losing it

Question 4

What may affect the importance of a resource?

Answer 4

Learning about ease of acquiring said resource eg. Restricted food availability and competition etc
Learning about items that predict important events eg. Social contact
owners do not realise how important their attention is

Question 5

How does food related aggression in dogs begin?

Answer 5

Large litter of pups -> competition! aggression only response that works so transferred to human environment
Reinforced by owner response eg. Punishment for growling, taking food away when eating -> bad!! Will ^ anxiety massively

Question 6

What are attention seeking behaviours and why do they form?

Answer 6

Dog values human attention
Learns behaviours that work to get attention (eg. Biting sleeves, stealing valuable items, jumping up)
-> owners often respond to naughty behaviours and ignore calm behaviours

Question 7

Winch kind of behaviours are often reinforced - in what ways are they reinforced?

Answer 7

Avoidance response eg. Barking at postman - postman doesn’t come near
Exploratory behaviour and reinforcement eg. Picking up stones

Question 8

How may inappropriate play develop and how can it be treated?

Answer 8

Not reinforced for playing with Own toys, only inappropriate ones

Question 9

How May food related aggression be treated?

Answer 9

Take bowl away, add value eg. Give chicken then return

Only when dog is calm and not particularly hungry

Question 10

In what two ways may copraphagia develop?

Answer 10

Avoidance response due to punishment for toileting
Normal exploratory behaviour reinforced by owners chasing etc
Especially seen in pups raised in barren environment eg. Puppy farm
May be a medical issue due to digestion problems

Question 11

When does frustration occur?

Answer 11

When OPERANTLY learned response no longer works

Question 12

What are two main causes of frustration?

Answer 12

Frustration of basic motivations eg. Accessing safe place or trying to chase rabbits but stopped from doing so
Lack of control over access to important resources eg. Predatory behaviour

Question 13

What else, other than a valued resource or aversive event, may frustration be caused by?

Answer 13

Same theory but towards a stimulus that predicts the resource or aversive event

Question 14

What are common behavioural responses to frustration?

Answer 14

Increased intensity of behaviour “extinction burst” - will get worse before it gets better
General increased activity
Aggression (potentially redirected)
Displacement activities (behaviours occurring out of context)

Question 15

How and why does redirected aggression occur in cats?

Answer 15

Frustration from another source taken out on another cat in the house
Rapid escalation due to anxiety in the attacked cat and learnt behaviour that reduces frustration in the attacker

Question 16

What factors may predispose a cat to have reduced tolerance of frustration?

Answer 16

Genetics
Early experience - Esp if hand reared as queen would normally teach them to be patient by not letting them finish feeding
Age
Stress (PFC responsible for behaviour inhibition is damaged by cortisol -> more impulsive behaviour )
Medical factors eg. Pain, hyperadrenocorticism (dogs) hyperthyroidism (cats)

Question 17

Which breeds are particularly predisposed to having low frustration tolerances?

Answer 17

Working cockers, bengals

Question 18

When does emotional conflict occour?

Answer 18

Situation where there is more than one emotion, generally opposite valence, directed towards single stimulus or context

Question 19

How does early learning impact on emotional conflict?

Answer 19

Puppy’s learnt consequences of social signals, BUT these are hard to predict in humans
Outcome of behaviours may change for reasons a dog cannot understand eg. Different situation, different age (pup v adult)

Question 20

Why does deviation from expected outcome or response to behaviour cause problems? What emotion does it evoke?

Answer 20

Anxiety

Question 21

What three ways may behaviour develop?

Answer 21

Reinforcement of behaviours which achieve outcomes
Frustration when learnt behaviours no longer work
Conflicting emotions when behaviour has unpredictable consequence

Question 22

What behavioural signs are associated with emotional conflict?

Answer 22

Signs of frustration or anxiety
More extreme displays of previously learnt behaviours
Flipping between behavioural options eg. Approach and retreat, tail wagging and growling
Showing displacement activities - new alternative response eg. spinning or licking in one place

Question 23

Which behaviours often evoke an emotional conflict?

Answer 23

Those which are initially reinforced and subsequently punished eg. mouthing, stealing items

Question 24

Outline the control of attention programme

Answer 24

Reinforce calm behaviours - call dog over for cuddle/game/training session; reinforce when playing on their own rather than “leaving them be”
Do not reinforce attention seeking behaviours - ie. use thick sleeves, put dangerous items out of reach, plant non valuable items eg. tissues so that interacting doesn’t gain a response