Module 2.1: Behaviourism Flashcards
What is Behaviourism?
The study of learning and behaviour change.
Learning is defined as a relatively permanent change (it can be reversed and does not necessarily last forever) in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience.
3 Learning Processes According to Behaviourism
(1) Classical Conditioning (J.B. Watson & Ivan Pavlov)
(2) Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner)
(3) Observational Learning
Learning
A relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience.
Experience
Depends on our interaction with the environment.
Classical Conditioning
In Classical Conditioning, organisms learn to associate events (or stimuli) that repeatedly happen together.
The organism becomes sensitive to the fact that certain stimuli reliable occur together.
Stimulus (S)
Any internal or external event, situation, object or factor that is measurable and may affect behaviour.
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
A stimulus or trigger that leads to an automatic response. (Eg. Dust in your eyes causes you to blink, therefore Dust is the US - unconditioned stimulus)
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
A stimulus that doesn’t initially trigger a response independently.
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
A stimulus that was once neutral, but due to association now triggers a response.
Unconditioned Response (UR)
An automatic response that occurs without thought when an unconditioned stimulus is present.
Conditioned Response (CR)
A learned response or a response that is created where no response existed before.
Pavlov’s Conditioning Experiment
Pavlov showed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time that they were given food.
J.B. Watson’s Little Albert Experiment
Watson took Pavlov’s research a step further by showing that emotional reactions could be classically conditioned in people.
The boy learned to associate a neutral stimulus (white rat) with a fearful stimulus (loud bang) to be scared of the white rat.
Real-Life Examples of Classical Conditioning
(1) Phone Notifications
(2) Music - Nostalgia
(3) Advertisements
Operant Conditioning
Developed by B.F. Skinner
Organisms learn to associate events (a behaviour) and its consequence.
A pleasant consequence encourages more of that behaviour in the future, whereas a punishment deters that behaviour.
Reinforcement
Increases the frequency of a desirable behaviour.
May be positive reinforcement, or negative reinforcement.
Positive Reinforcement (+)
Something is ADDED to increase the likelihood of behaviour.
Occurs when a behaviour is followed by an apetitive (desired) stimulus. This follow-up (positive reinforcement) makes the behaviour more likely to occur.
Example: Praising and rewarding a child when he completes a chore, makes him more likely to repeat the same behaviour.
Negative Reinforcement (-)
Something is REMOVED in order to increase the likelihood of behaviour.
Occurs when a behaviour prevents or removes an aversive (undesired) stimulus. This procedure makes the behaviour more likely to occur.
Example: The frustrating beeping noise your car makes when you haven’t buckled your seat belt. The car makes this beeping noise in order to increase the likelihood of you buckling your seatbelt
Punishment
Procedure used to decrease the frequency of an undesirable behaviour.
Positive Punishment (+)
Something is ADDED to decrease the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated.
Example: A teacher assigning extra homework when a student misbehaves, makes them unlikely to misbehave again.
Negative Punishment (-)
Something is REMOVED to decrease the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated.
Example: After a teenager misbehaves, his parents take away his mobile phone, making him unlikely to repeat the behaviour.
Reinforcement
Reinforcement is delivered based on the number of responses emitted by the individual.
Interval
Reinforcement is delivered based on the passage of time, regardless of the number of responses.
Fixed Interval
Reinforcement is delivered at predictable time intervals.
Example: Receiving a weekly paycheck.
Variable Interval
Reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals.
Example: Checking social media, pop quizzes
Fixed Ratio
Reinforcement is delivered after a predictable number of responses.
Example: Factory worker getting paid for every ‘x’ number of items being manufactured.
Observational Learning
Pioneered by socio-cognitive psychologist, Albert Bandura
The process of learning by watching the behaviors of others. Bandura emphasized that humans merely mimic forms of behaviour.
He considered cognitive processes in behaviour change, whereby we evaluate who the person is and the consequence of their behaviour.
Factors that increase the likelihood of behaviour being imitated
Behaviour is more likely to be imitated if we,
(a) Identify with the model (eg. parent, sibling, celebrity)
&
(b) The consequence of the behaviour observed is considered favourable.
The 4 Steps Involved in Psychological Modelling
1) Attention
They must be paying attention to the model’s observable human learning behaviours.
2) Retention
The second condition of observational learning is to memorize the witnessed behaviour.
3) Reproduction
A complex process which includes the mental and physical ability of the person to copy the observed behaviour while doing a physical task.
4) Motivation
If the human or animal does not have a reason for imitating the behavior, then no amount of attention, retention, or reproduction will overcome the lack of motivation.
Bobo Doll Experiment
Research experiment carried out by Albert Bandura.
This was a study in which adult researchers physically and verbally abused a clown-faced inflatable toy in front of preschool-age children, which led the children to later mimic the behaviour of the adults by attacking the doll in the same fashion.
