Problem 2: Behaviourism

Question 1

what are the 3 types of conditioning

Answer 1

classical
emotional
operant

Question 2

what is classical conditioning?

Answer 2

process when a stimulus which is initially nautral brings out a strong response – specific involuntary behaviour

Question 3

classical conditioning requires 2 conditions

Answer 3

1. organism must already respond to some class of stimuli reflexively – the response must occur reliably and automatically whenever the stimulus occurs.
   –> reflex: existing connection between a stimulus and a response, such that the first causes the second
   ex: touch oven→ pull hand away
   some reactions are innate others learned in the past, but in each case a stimulus leads reliably to a particular response
2. stimulus in the reflex must be associated in time and place with another stimulus
   –> second stimulus is usually (not always) neutral at first
   neutral stimulus: causes no particular response beyond being noticed, and it can be pretty much anything (color, sound, object, person…)

Question 4

what was the Pavlov’s dogs study like?

Answer 4

Procedure:
dogs drool with food (1), so Pavlov decided to ring a bell when the food was present (3)
Results:
after a while the dogs would drool when hearing the bell even without the food (4)
the food and the bell are stimuli (singular form ⇒ stimulus)
behaviour of the dog is the response

Question 5

identify the US, the CS, the UR and the CR in the pavlov experiment

Answer 5

1. food ⇒ original stimulus = unconditioned stimulus (even without conditioning it leads to a response)
2. bell ⇒ new stimulus (neutral) ⇒ conditioned stimulus
3. drooling when seeing food ⇒ unconditioned response
4. drooling when hearing the bell ⇒ conditioned response

Question 6

so, how does classical conditioning occur? (2 stages)

Answer 6

STAGE 1. situation before conditioning
- only the reflex exists, a stimulus causing a response

stimulus is called the unconditioned stimulus (US)
the response it creates is called unconditioned response (UR)
–> unconditional: no special condition is required for the response to occur, it’s automatic when the stimulus occurs)

STAGE 2: conditioning
- neutral stimulus occurs along with, or slightly before, the US.
neutral stimulus is termed conditioned stimulus (CS)
when paired the response it creates is called conditioned response (CR)
(conditioned: a response occurs in its presence only under the condition that the US is there too - when the US comes the UR follows automatically)

CS and US are paired frequently → CS can produce CR (without US)

CR is often very similar to the UR, in some cases they look identical, but CR is less intense

if the UR has an (un)pleasant quality so will the CR

SUM UP:

1. There is a pre-existing reflexive connection between a stimulus (US) and a response (UR).
2. A neutral stimulus (CS) is then paired repeatedly in time and space with the US.
3. The result is the development of a new response, termed a conditioned response (CR).
4. Once conditioning has occurred, presenting the CS by itself will now lead to the CR.

Question 7

if you know that US has occurred repeatedly with a neutral stimulus, how do you know whether conditioning has taken place?

Answer 7

present CS by itself (without US) → if there’s no reaction, there’s been no conditioning.

Question 8

The more frequently the CS is paired with the US,…

Answer 8

the more likely conditioning will occur.

Question 9

If a US is very strong, however (causing a very intense UR) …

Answer 9

→ conditioning may occur with only one pairing.

Question 10

what is higher-order conditioning (3rd stage of classical conditioning)? give an example

Answer 10

once conditioning has taken place CS-CR act as any other reflex meaning that once it’s there it can act as a reflex for another instance of conditioning

back to ex: once Sicilian music has been conditioned to induce sexual arousal, Sicilian music can be used to condition that arousal to other things (photograph in the place where you listen to the songs).

Question 11

what is generalization? give an example

Answer 11

is responding in a similar way to similar-but-not-identical stimuli.

ex: Suppose your experiences in the Sicilian restaurant have led you to associate candlelight, crimson wallpaper, and Italian food (as CSs) with sexual arousal (as CR). What would happen if you walked into a room with similar stimuli to the one that got linked to sexual arousal.? you’d probably start to feel the glow of arousal, although probably not as much as in the first room.Your reaction would fall off even more if the new room differed even more from the first room.

Question 12

what is discrimination? give an example

Answer 12

means responding differently to different stimuli.

ex: If you walked into a room with fluorescent lights and blue walls, the mellow glow associated with the Sicilian restaurant would surely not emerge.You would discriminate between the two sets of stimuli. Discrimination and generalization are complementary – Generalization gives way to discrimination, as the stimuli become more different from the initial CS.

Question 13

what is extinction? give an example

Answer 13

Extinction occurs when a CS appears repeatedly without the US. At first, the CS leads reliably to the CR. But gradually, over repeated presentations, the CR grows weaker.The CR doesn’t actually disappear, however. Even when a response stops in a session, there’s a “spontaneous recovery” the next day

ex: when the dog does not get food when ringing the bell for a long time - CR fades away

Question 14

what is spontaneous recovery? give an example

Answer 14

once a stimulus is conditioned it never really leaves it can weaken only which leads to spontaneous recovery: reappearance after amount of time

Question 15

what is emotional conditioning?

Answer 15

Classical conditioning in which the CR are emotional reactions

Question 16

What was the aim of Watson’s “Little Albert” experiment? (hypothesis)

Answer 16

Can we condition fear of an animal by visually presenting it and simultaneously striking a steel bar ?

If such a conditioned emotional response can be established, will there be a transfer to other animals or other objects?

what is the effect of time upon such conditioned emotional responses?

If after a reasonable period such emotional responses have not died out, what laboratory methods can be devised for their removal?

Question 17

How was Albert?

Answer 17

reared almost from birth in hospital environment (mom was a nurse in the Harriet Lane Home for Invalid children
healthy from birth and one of the best developed at the hospital
he was stolid and unemotional → his stability is one of reasons why he was used for the test

Question 18

what happened in “phase 1: before conditioning” ?

Answer 18

Albert is 9 months old
to determine whether fear reactions can be called out by other stimuli than sharp noises and the sudden removal of support
the infant was confronted suddenly and for the first time with
- a white rat
- a rabbit
- a dog
- a monkey
- masks with and without hair
- cotton wool
- burning newspapers (fire)
these were objects that he initially liked and caused positive reactions (the white rat was the fav)
Albert never showed fear or rage and barely ever cried

Question 19

what happened in “phase 2: conditioning” to test the first hypothesis:
“Can we condition fear of an animal by visually presenting it and simultaneously striking a steel bar?”
what did the experimenter conclude?

Answer 19

albert is 11 months 3 days old
Rat showed to albert
When he touched it they struck the bar immediately behind his head
He was scared but did not cry the first 2 times

1 week break

albert is 11 months 10 days old
3rd time: rat was presented without sound, he did not reach for it, when the rat touched his hand he immediately moved it way → 2 previous simulations had effect on him
tested with his blocks afterwards to see if they shared the process of conditioning: he picked them up and played with them — these blocks were used to test his general emotional state and always removed from sight when the experiment took place.
EVENTUALLY (after +-7 trials) the sight of the rat alone made him cry and began to crawl away rapidly (panic) – 1st time he cried
–> answer: yes, conditioning was observed

Question 20

what happened in “phase 2: conditioning” to test the second hypothesis:
“If such a conditioned emotional response can be established, will there be a transfer to other animals or other objects?”
what did the experimenter conclude?

Answer 20

albert is albert is 11 months 15 days old
1. tested with blocks and he reached for them → shows there was no general transfer to the room, table, blocks
2. rat alone → whimpered, retrieved
3. blocks again → reached for them
4. rat alone → crawled away
5. blocks → reached for them, smiling
6. rabbit alone → negative response: crawled away crying
7. blocks → played more energetic than ever
8. dog alone → cried when we approached his head
9. blocks → played
10. fur coat → withdrew immediately, cried, crawled away
11. cotton wool → did not touch it
12. Watson’s hair → negative response
13. Santa Claus mask → negative response
some more trials were conducted
answer: yes→ generalization

Question 21

what happened in “phase 2: conditioning” to test the third hypothesis:
“what is the effect of time upon such conditioned emotional responses?”
what did the experimenter conclude?

Answer 21

1 month break –> albert is now 1 year 21 days old
presented with santa claus mask, fur coat, fur coat again, blocks, rat, blocks, rabbit, dog
same loud noise
showed fear response (except for blocks with which he played joyfully)
conclusion: phobias are most likely conditioned responses

answer: directly conditioned emotional responses as as those conditioned by transfer persist, although with a certain loss in the intensity of the reaction, for a longer period than 1 month.

Question 22

what happened in “phase 2: conditioning” to test the fourth hypothesis:
“If after a reasonable period such emotional responses have not died out, what laboratory methods can be devised for their removal?”
what did the experimenter conclude?

Answer 22

albert left the hospital → not possible to build up an experimental technique by means of which we could remove the conditioned emotional responses
ideas were:
1. habituation → confronting child with stimuli frequently – hoping it corresponds to “fatigue” of reflex
2. “recondition” → pairing objects associated with fear responses (visual) with stimulation of erogenous zones (tactual)
3. “recondition” → pairing feared objects with food/ candy
4. building up constructive activities around the object by imitation

Question 23

what were the US, UR, CS and CR in this experiment?

Answer 23

unconditioned stimulus: loud noise
unconditioned response: fear/ startled
conditioned stimulus: the white rabbit
conditioned response: fear/ startled

Question 24

main conclusions:

Answer 24

Emotion transfer took place
phobias are most likely conditioned responses
Were not able to test if fear could be removed
Conditioned emotion took place

Question 25

what is the main criticism of this experiment?

Answer 25

it is unethical
no consent because the baby cannot decide for himself
wanted to do reversed conditioning
after some time - he still had persistent fears but not as intense

Question 26

what is Joseph Wolpe’s therapy technique called? what is its purpose?

Answer 26

Systematic Desensitization
→ designed to inhibit anxiety through counterconditioning

counterconditioning: a person learns a new response that physiologically incompatible with an existing response.

if the existing response is fear or anxiety → goal: have the person learn a new response such as relaxation.
once the person learns, through new classical conditioning experiences, to experience relaxation in response to the previously feared stimulus his/her fear should be eliminated

Question 27

4 phases of systematic desensitization

Answer 27

1. therapist trains the patient to relax (usually through deep muscle relaxation)
2. construction of an anxiety hierarchy
   list of stimuli that arouse anxiety, grouped into themes within which they are arranged in order from most disturbing to least disturbing
   ex: theme - claustrophobia: 1. being stuck in an elevator; 2. being in a train; 3. reading of miners trapped underground
3. desensitization procedure
   patient should achieve a deep state of relaxation and imagine the least anxiety-arousing stimulus
   if he can imagine stimulus without anxiety → moves up to next stimulus on hierarchy
   if he can’t imagine stimulus without anxiety → moves back to previous stimulus on hierarchy
   periods of pure relaxation are interspersed with periods of relaxation and imagination of anxiety-arousing stimulus
4. relaxation in relation to imagined stimuli generalizes to relaxation in relation to these stimuli in everyday life.

Question 28

what is Skinner’s theory on conditioning? what does it consist of? differences with classical and emotional conditioning

Answer 28

Instrumental/operant conditioning

active form of conditioning (not passive like classical conditioning): the animal or person in question has to do something.

the requirement for operant conditioning is that the behaviour leads to a certain outcome ⇒ conditioning behaviour with reinforcement/ punishment
connection consequences (the behaviour shown) to voluntary behaviour

ex: Bird is being rewarded for correctly matching the colour of the button with the vehicle. making it more likely to match the correct colour in the future.

Question 29

what is Skinner’s experiment on operant conditioning?

Answer 29

Skinner box - with a rat would have a lever that the rat may press and some mechanism for delivering a reinforcer such as a food pellet. One would present the reinforcer and determine whether it influenced the frequency with which the rat engaged in the behavior of pressing the level

Question 30

what are reinforcers and punishments and in what do they result?

Answer 30

reinforcers: “encourage behaviour” things you want - food or money… –> increases the occurrence of a specific behaviour

punishments: “ things you don’t want - loud noises, shocks… –> decreases the occurrence of a specific behaviour

Question 31

what is a generalised reinforcer? example

Answer 31

generalised reinforcer: stimuli that originally do not serve as reinforcers may come up to do so through their association with other reinforcers → MONEY

Question 32

what are primary and secondary reinforcers? and punishments? give examples for each

Answer 32

Primary Reinforcer: diminishes a biological need → food or water…

Secondary Reinforcer: has acquired reinforcing properties by association with a primary reinforcer or by virtue of the fact that it can be used to get primary reinforcers
Example - saying good boy to the dog - (secondary reinforcement) - when receiving food

Primary Punishment: intrinsically aversive→ pain

Secondary Punishment: aversive due to their asssociation with primary punishers

Question 33

what are positive/negative reinforcers and positive/negative punishment? give examples

Answer 33

positive reinforcer: giving something the person wants – ex: good behaviour rewarded with candy

negative reinforcer: taking away something the person doesn’t want (removing an unpleasant stimulus) – ex: removing bad sound

positive punishment: giving something the person doesn’t want – ex: bad behaviour punished with bad sounds/ pain

negative punishment: taking away something you want - very helpful when raising children. “time out (from positive reinforcement)” – bad behaviour punished with a day without phone

Question 34

which one works better reinforcers or punishments?

Answer 34

reinforcers work better than punishments

Question 35

2 schedules of reinforcement

Answer 35

continuous reinforcement schedule: behaviour is followed by a reinforcer every single time

partial reinforcement schedule: behaviour is followed by a reinforcer only some of the time

Question 36

2 differences on effects on behaviour between partial and continuous

Answer 36

1. new behaviours are acquired faster when reinforcement is continuous

2.partial reinforcement effect: take away the reinforcer, and a behaviour acquired by continuous reinforcement will go away quickly. a behaviour built in partial reinforcement remains longer – it’s more resistant to extinction

Question 37

rewards can be _______ based or _______ based (what is it and exmaples)

Answer 37

response-based ⇒ reward behaviour after a certain amount of responses occured , no matter how long it takes (presses of a bar)

time-based ⇒ reward behaviour after a certain amount of time (ex: 1 minute)

Question 38

2 types of interval (what are they and examples)

Answer 38

fixed interval ⇒relation of behaviours to reinforcers remains constant. – reward after every 3 occurrences (vending machine)

variable interval ⇒relation of behaviours to reinforcers changes unpredictably. – first reward after 5 occurrences, then after 3 occurrences… (slot machine in casino) → produces higher rates of response

Question 39

4 types of interval and based rewards explain each and give examples

Answer 39

fixed response-based: get a reward everytime you jump 3 times

fixed time-based: get a reward everytime you jump for a minute

variable response-based: get a reward unpredictably when you jump 3 times → leads to slowest extinction

variable time-based: get a reward unpredictably when you jump for a minute

Question 40

what is extinction

Answer 40

extinction occurs when expectations are no longer met - certain behaviour is no longer reinforced, after a while, the behaviour occurs less often, because there is no expected reward.

Question 41

2 types of scheduling

Answer 41

Interval scheduling - getting paid by the hour

Ratio scheduling - getting paid by the number of tasks finished

Question 42

according to Skinner complex behaviour results from… (ex with Skinner box rat to run in circles)

Answer 42

a process called shaping/successive approximations:

through a gradual step-by-step process, one reinforces increasingly complex behaviours that approximate to a greater and greater degree the final behaviour that is desired. The behaviour of the organism is “shaped” until it matches a desired response.

ex: make rat in Skinner box run in circles → 1. reinforce running → 2. reinforce running in curved path → 3. reinforce runs half a circle → 4. reinforce when runs in circles

Question 43

what is the law of effect?

Answer 43

If an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated - more encouraged to behave in that way
By an unpleasant consequence - tend to be not repeated

Question 44

what does behaviourism say in the context of pathology

Answer 44

individuals are not “sick” → they merely do not respond appropriately to stimuli. either they fail to learn a response or they learn a maladaptive response. Because…

• they were not reinforced by adaptive behaviours
• they were punished for behaviours that later would be considered adaptive
• they were reinforced for maladaptive behaviours
• or they were reinforced under inappropriate circumstances for what would otherwise be adaptive behaviour.

Question 45

behavioural approach to assessment empahsizes…

Answer 45

1. identification of specific behaviours, often called target behaviours or target responses

2.identification of specific environmental factors that elicit, cue or reinforce target behaviours

3. identification of specific environmental factors that can be manipulated to alter the behaviour

Question 46

what is the ABC approach?

Answer 46

functional analysis of behaviour, involving effort to identify the environmental conditions that control behaviour, sees behaviour as a function of specific events in the environemtn. One assesses the:
Antecedent conditions of the behaviour
the Behaviour itself
and the Consequences of the behaviour.

Question 47

what is the ABA reserach design

Answer 47

one measures behaviour at one point in time (the “A” period) – baseline
introduces reinforcer and measures behaviour again at a second point in time (the “B” period) – experimental treatment: conditioning
and then one takes away the reinforcer to see if the behaviour returns to its original level (the “A” state of affairs) – return to baseline

Question 48

what are sign and sample approaches? which one do behaviourists support?

Answer 48

sign approach: given response is seen as an indicator of some inner characteristic possessed by the individual: “I like parties” ⇒ sign of extroversion

behaviourists adopt → sample approach: given response is seen as a sample of behaviour, that is, indicator of some inner characteristic possessed by the individual: “I like parties” ⇒ behaviour that, in the past, has been reinforced for this individual

Question 49

what are the strengths and weaknesses of behaviourism?

Answer 49

Strengths:
1. Environmental factors - personality influenced by the environment, based on external forces → in contrast to Freud “ who we are as people is innate”
behaviourism vs Freud → environment vs innate

2.Laws to how behaviours are formed - the world having an impact on us

3.Nature- nurture affect - nature is the important for behaviourists

4.The results are reliable

5.Treatments - exposure therapy, ABA

6.Recognises the environmetal and situational factors that influence behavior

7. More objective, systematic

Weaknesses:
1. Humans are not machines
2. Testing in a laboratory in fixed environments - low ecological validity
3. Unethical - little Albert
4. Was more tried on animals