Lecture 5: Salter, Watson, Guthrie Flashcards
Andrew Salter
Pavlovian clinician
He uses Pavlov to describe the etiology of pathology and treatment of it: he believed that everything was tied to some conditioned stimulus
Depression and anxiety are nothing more than an “Irradiation of inhibition”
**Irradiation→ physiological generalization
[Model is broader than spread of effect]
Most of a depressive’s responses are on an inhibitory schedule—no point in responding to stimuli since they don’t work
Assertion training—increase excitiation to overcome a generalized inhibition
Wrote a book on hypnosis, and its connection to classical conditioning
Salter theorized that the hypnotic state was half-asleep/half-awake
Words used to describe sleep became conditioned stimuli to produce hynpnogogic state [e.g. calm, heavy, trance, sleep etc]
O’Brien’s Hypnosis Study
Words became CS+ after being paired with Nitrous Oxide [US]
40 non-responsive hypnosis subjects [M=3 on Stanford hypnotic susceptibility scale]
12 hyponotic tasks, score 0-12
4 conditions: Gas and Words No Gas and Words Gas and No Words No Gas, No words [control]
Phase 2, subjects were presented with words,
Gas and Words condition produced best results
i.e., words became CS+
External Inhibition
Temporary decrease of a conditioned response to an extraneous stimulus.
E.g. Orienting reflex gets in the way of conditioned response–> CR of orienting gets in the way of CR of salivating
Types of Internal Inhibition
Internal Inhibition→ develops slowly and progressively when a CS is repeatedly presented under one of the following conditions :
Experimental Extinction
Differential Inhibition
Conditioned inhibition
Inhibition by Delay
Disinhibition
Experimental Extinction
Present the CS without US
You build up inhibition slowly, the bell elicits “not responding”, CS-
Differential Inhibition
Reinforcement of one CS, non-reinforcment of another CS
Comes from discrimination training
Reduce generalization
Pavlov’s word for discrimination is differentiation
Conditioned inhibition
A combination of stimuli is renders the CS+ ineffective through non-reinforcement [mostly with humans]
Although the combination includes a stimulus (CS+) which when presented alone continues to evoke the CR
The other stimuli in the combination are called “conditioned inhibitors”
This is enduring and develops slowly and progressively
E.g. 3-year old at birthday party, gets a puppy. All the kids play with the puppy, kid who is fearful of dogs does not experience fear: the other kids serve as conditioned inhibitors
• If the puppy is presented alone, the child will be afraid
Inhibition by Delay
A regular interval of sufficient duration elapses between the beginning of CS and its reinforcement (presentation of US) during the early portion of its isolated action
CS becomes not only ineffective—that is, restricted during the time delay—but it is “actively inhibitory” of other inter-current activities
Disinhibition
The temporary reappearance of an inhibited CR due to an extraneous stimulus
e.g., Ring the bell, no longer salivating thorugh experiment extinction
Then when bright light paired with bell, dog salivates
Blocks internal inhibitory process of bell by external inhibitor of light
[even though the light itself is excitatory for orienting CR]
Watson
He was the most strict behaviorist and mechanist
He and Freud both did research on animals and looked at how learning changed neurological functioning, specifically, the physiological correlates of learning
Popularized strict behaviorism—He preached that the mind had no place in psychology
Thought could be reduced to neurological functioning
Thought was nothing more than silent speech
*a notion that was invalidated by curare paralyzing vocal cords
He believed learning occurred in the PNS
He took a strict view of contiguity theory (as was pavlov’s)
o Learning depends on frequency of repetitions
Much of his emphasis was on relationship of stimulus and kinesthetic and propioceptic feedback
o You learn at the level of hand, hips etc
o You learn at the muscle level
Thorndike was arch enemy—annoyers + satisfiers—Watson was hard on Thorndike
Considered recency as a factor
In addition to frequency there is a second law which is recency law→ the more recent the pairings the stronger it is
RO never has never seen the recency law firmly demonstrated—it may be a factor, but not much of a factor
E.R. Guthrie
Taught at Washington State University
o Had no grad students, no research assistants [whereas Thorndike had Columbia, Watson had Johns Hopkins]
He has basically one book
o Did not produce much research
o Students attracted to theory because of its simplicity
Much of what we learn about Gutherie from Virginia Voeks
Associationist system, stimulus response
S-S system not S-R
It comes directly from Pavlov and Thorndike, mostly Pavlov
He did not accept the law of effect
To him there us one law of learning from which all stems
He was the most molecular of the theorists we learn about—microtheorist—rejected notion of reinforcement of a behavior as too reductionist, so many learned behaviors constitute one observed behavior
E.g. closing door—reinforce student for closing door—not enough
• We should be talking about individual motor movements
• You don’t see a door, you see a brown line—this is the stimulus
Motor movement theorist—rats move paw, not lever—the movement of the lever is a function of the lever
He was very adept at criticizing others’ research—critical of Watson and Thorndike
Learning is all or nothing—you learn it, and that’s what you do
Doesn’t believe in generalization or practice
Thorndike’s learning curve is a group mean, and Gutherie discredited it in favor of one trial learning
Guthrie 1st Postulate
A combination of stimuli that has accompanied a movement will on its reoccurrence tend to be followed by that movement
In other words, you always do what you did last
Aka “best predictor of future behavior is past behavior”
Guthrie 2nd Postulate
A stimulus pattern gains its full associationist strength on the occasion of its first pairing with a response
“One trial learning”
To him nothing is motivational
Points to postulate 1–You always do what you did last in the presence of a stimulus
Errorless Learning
Guthrie’s idea that if something is learned perfectly the first time, no practice is needed
E.g. free-throw—pratice doesn’t improve learning, it removes everything unnecessary associated with learning
There is a specific sequence needed
4 principles of Gutherie
Association
Postremity (recency)
Response Probability
Dynamic Situation
