PSYC122 weeks 9-12 Flashcards
Salience bias
asserting something as more prevalent if it comes to mind very readily/predisposes individuals to focus on or attend to items, information, or stimuli that are more prominent, visible, or emotionally striking.
Confirmation Bias
Darley and Gross (1983): showed participants a video of an oral test- child being interviewed about what she learns in schools, participants had to make judgements about how much the child knew about material
Two participant groups- group A were told she was from a middle class background, group B were told she was from a poor background, group a reported more examples of good answers, group b reported more examples of bad answers, difference in judgement according to framing of situation, look for confirmation of what they already believed
This is not just stereotyping- it’s where you focus attention, look to confirm preconceptions, ignore what challenges them
Raters attended more to evidence confirming their expectations
We base most judgement/decisions on heuristics- work most of the time, problems arise when heuristic go wrong
Tversky and Kahneman (1972)
The representativeness heuristic
strategy we use quick judgements about situations/contexts/individuals based on a small amount of information
To classify something, we assess how closely it matches our ‘prototype’ for that group i.e. Missed signs mean more women die of heart attack
The availability heuristic
= tendency to assess outcomes as more probable if they come to mind readily- rule of thumb, doesn’t work in all situations, one situation where it doesn’t work is when an event is highly salient in our minds for a reason other than personal experience, over assess the probability of an event
This is the core principle underlying the salience bias
Tversky and Kahneman (1982)
given description of imaginary person, participants were asked to rate the likelihood of Linda being a feminist (high match) or Linda being a bank teller (much lower) or Linda being a feminist and a bank teller (better than just a bank teller)
Some terms
Heuristics = rules of thumb about the world/shortcuts to take decisions
Schemas = mental knowledge structures based on experience (e.g. snow textures)
Scripts = common action routines (e.g. going to a restaurant)
Dan Kahneman Thinking Fast and Slow- book- two ways of thinking
System 1 (Fast)
Automatic- no way to inhibit it
Draws on concepts, routines and rules of thumb acquired through extensive practice
System 2 (Slow)
- Slow, effortful
- Needed in unfamiliar situations
- Or where creativity is called for
- Or where precision is paramount
‘Fast’ thinking and expertise- developed with practice, solution to our resource limitation
Experience builds richer knowledge structures and rules of thumb:
- Patterns of movement that signal need to break
- The appearance ‘soft’ v ‘hard’ snow- learn to ski, as you get experience you detect patterns in snow, no conscious judgement
- Chess board patterns and sequences of moves- need cognitive resources (slow thinking)
Is there a cost to expertise?
richer knowledge sutures so you can download more of the decision making process to automatic processes which frees up mental capacity to focus on most challenging aspect of the problem, the rapid way in which we make decisions can confer great confidence
Heuristics are rapid, they may confer overconfidence
Berners & Graber (2008)
Doctors were given case descriptions- rich descriptions, included characteristics
Some led to high disagreement between doctors
However, each individual doctor was confident they were correct- asked doctors to rate their confidence in own diagnosis, large percentage of doctors rated their confidence so high that they would not see it necessary to seek a second opinion
Thinking
Often experienced as inner speech- imagine them as verbalised, thinking is more than an internal monologue
- Can also involve images, music, action sequences or even complex scenarios
- Makes up only a tiny fraction of mental activity- unconscious processes
- A working definition: thinking is the conscious experience of generating mental representations and operating on them in some way
So conscious thought is
Resource intensive- reserve thinking capacity to the most important task on hand
Requires effort, filtering out distractions
The default mode network
resting, pretty difficult to shut down if you’re not involved in another activity
- Mind wandering
- Integrating past and present
- Imagination, creative thinking
- Creating scenarios for future actions, ‘episodic future thinking’
- In major depressive disorder the default mode networks shows some hyperconnectivity- tool for understanding what is going wrong in psychological disorders, render a person more rigid, less flexible at switching between different modes of thinking
When people are at rest in an fMRi scanner, a network of ‘structures’ talk to each other, areas located on the midline of brain, communicating with one another, actively influencing each other, hippocampus (memory), postural stimulate (mental imagery), network of structures that talk to each other (default mode network)
Modes of thinking
Open-ended (reflection)
Goal-oriented- oriented towards external world, performing problem solving/computation on what we see/feel, engage different mode of structure
In fact, these two ‘modes’ of thinking involve two different brain networks
Open-ended reflection: the default mode network
Goal directed thinking: the ‘executive control’ network- effortful problems requiring conscious thought, lateral parts, switching between both networks, thought is limited, can’t do both at the same time, shift between different networks of activity from moment to moment
Goal-oriented thinking
More complex problem solving tasks
The tower of Hanoi problem:
Move the discs to the right peg in as few moves as possible
You can only move one disk at a time
You cannot put a larger disk on top of a smaller one
These tasks engage a wide network of brain structures
E.g. mental rotation- very different parts activated, two different modes of thinking (at least)
Neuroscience perspective
- A ‘thought’ is a pattern of activity across a widely dispersed range of brain areas
- At any one time, one pattern dominates
For many tasks, we need to switch between states
Hot Cognition
The mental processes involved in making judgements and decisions in situations involving strong emotion- high stakes, emotion-led judgement, used everyday
* Making choices based on preference (e.g., where to go for dinner)
* Responding appropriate in socially sensitive situations
* Understanding how other people might be feeling in a situation
Hot cognition can facilitate rapid decisions in these situations
Michael
- shrapnel injury, combat
- damaged frontal lobes
- still intelligent, could solve complex problems.- cold cognitive context
- but poor judgement (financial decisions, impulsive marriages)- poor decisions when emotions involved, when emotions are important to guide decision making
Hot Cognition and Decision Making
Lower wins, small losses = BEST STRATEGY
High wins, VERY high losses = HIGH RISK
skin conductance Response (SCR):
Mostly measures fear and anxiety, can’t tell the difference but reliable measure of emotional response- card task- measuring emotional response and card picks, involves hot cognition because respond emotionally when they lose, emotional response even when they think about picking from one the high risk decks after they learn the task
Healthy people learn to avoid high risk decks
They show an SCR when they approach these decks
People with frontal damage – to orbital region – don’t- don’t learn to anticipate emotionally what is going to happen if you pick from specific deck, don’t exhibit emotion when they hover over the cards, don’t use emotion to guide future decisions
- People learn what decks to avoid even when not “aware” of the rule.
- They learn to associate losses with a “bad feeling”
- This guides them towards the safer card decks
- Those who can’t do this perform badly on the task
Damasio’s Somatic Marker Hypothesis
- This brain region binds memories together with their emotional (and physiological) associations- just above eye orbits on frontal lobe
- When faced with a decision, we recall emotions from previous similar actions/situations- brings up associated memory from previous event
- Bad associations deter us from that action, good associations encourage us
- Damasio says we use these emotional “markers” in many everyday situations
Hot Cognition and Making Choices
- When there is no one obvious right answer, semantic markers help us make decisions faster
EVR: “Deciding where to dine might take hours, as he discussed each restaurant’s seating plan, particulars of menu, atmosphere, and management… but even then he could not finally decide which to choose.” (Eslinger & Damasio, 1985, p. 1732).
Hot Cognition and Social Inference-Making
Patients with frontal damage can fail the Faux Pas task.- complex task, people like Michael really struggle to pick up social cues
Mike, a 9-year-old boy, just started at a new school. He was in one of the cubicles in the toilets at school. Joe and Peter, two other boys at school, came in and were standing at the sinks talking. Joe said, “You know that new guy in the class? His name’s Mike. Doesn’t he look weird? And he’s so short!” Mike came out of the cubicle, and Joe and Peter saw him. Peter said, “Oh, hi, Mike! Are you going out to play football now?”
Patients may also have trouble interpreting subtle social cues:
“Emotion, tears, that’s all gone out of the window. If I saw someone cry I’d just laugh–people look silly getting upset.” Hornak et al (1996)- area is helpful for evaluating social situations and context as well as making judgements
Definition of learning
’…an experiential process resulting in a relatively permanent behaviour change that cannot be explained by temporary states, maturation or innate tendencies. ‘
(Klein, 1996)
According to this definition:
a) There must be a change in behaviour.
Could be:
- development of new behaviours,
- modification of old ones, or
- a reduction in behaviour.
b) The change is relatively permanent. e.g. sneezing only when in presence of pollen is NOT learning.
c) Learning is the result of experience.
Therefore, many instances of behaviour change ARE NOT examples of learning:
* genetically predetermined behaviours (reflexes)
* changes brought about by maturation (e.g., growing or hormonal influence on sexual development).
* temporary states (e.g. fatigue, drug effects).
Example of Classical Conditioning (Ikemi & Nagakawa, 1962)
A person with hypersensitivity to the Japanese wax tree is told:
“ I’m going to touch your arm with leaves
from a wax tree “
A harmless leaf is applied to the person’s exposed forearm.
Outcomes …
a. person jerks their arm away
b. person reports that their arm itches
c. redness develops on their arm
d. subject develops blisters on their arm
Before conditioning (i.e. before being told leaf is from wax tree…)
poison = unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
–> allergic reaction = unconditioned response (UCR)
leaf = neutral stimulus –> no reaction
During conditioning … Poison and leaf effectively paired together by telling
person that leaf is one they are allergic to …
After conditioning …
conditioned stimulus (CS) (leaf) –> conditioned response (CR) (allergic reaction)
… in an nutshell classical conditioning is all about learning to associate stimuli (an UCS with a CS) such that we now react to the CS in a way we never did before, i.e. our behaviour in the presence of the CS has changed.
Basic Features of Classical Conditioning (i.e. what factors influence how much learning takes place)
a) ACQUISITION .. some examples…
Although conditioning can be established in a single trial, typically a number of pairings of a CS with a UCS are required before a CR emerges as a response to the CS alone.
b) STIMULUS GENERALISATION & DISCRIMINATION
Once a CS has been established, other similar stimuli will also elicit the CR (e.g. ‘white rabbit’ in Little Albert case) = generalisation.
However…
Not all stimuli elicit the CR (e.g. ‘people’ did not produce fear in Albert) = discrimination.
Generalisation allows learning to carry over to new situations / stimuli without requiring further learning. Whereas discrimination restricts new learning from being inappropriately applied to ALL situations.
c) EXTINCTION
If the CS continues to be presented without the UCS occurring then the CR is eventually eliminated. This extinction of the CR only happens if the CS occurs but the UCS does not.
Thus, a learned CR can persist a very long time if CS only happens very rarely (common with phobias).
Operant Conditioning
Many behaviours are influenced by the
CONSEQUENCES that follow behaviour
(e.g. studying behaviour maintained by grades achieved)
OC is learning about the relations between
environmental stimuli and our own behaviour.
The basic principle underlying OC is that ‘we tend to repeat behaviours that lead to desirable outcomes and we tend to stop performing behaviours that lead to undesirable outcomes’.
Pavlov’s classical conditioning
Pavlovian/classical conditioning- hardest things is labels, original experience- his dog, before conditioning, meat (unconditioned stimulus)→salivation (natural response/unconditioned), played the dog a sound/tone (neutral stimulus, no response) → orienting response but no salivation, during conditioning process, presents meat + tone together → salivation, tone is still neutral, does not cause reaction on it’s own, after conditioning, tone (conditioned stimulus) presented alone → salivation (conditioned response, not naturally caused)
Edward Thorndike
Place hungry cats within a box that required a simple action to open, in order to access food outside of the box. The puzzle box itself had a door which was shut by weighted string, and that string was attached to a lever or switch; by operating these, the door would open.- overtime the cat got faster at escaping the box
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
Thorndike (1898, 1911) said that if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects (reinforcement), the association between that stimulus and response is strengthened.
B.F. Skinner
A Skinner box, also known as an operant conditioning chamber, is a device used to objectively record an animal’s behavior in a compressed time frame. An animal can be rewarded or punished for engaging in certain behaviors, such as lever pressing (for rats) or key pecking (for pigeons).
The 3-Term Contingency
… describes the relationship between environmental events and behaviour.
A → B → C
where …
A = antecedent stimulus or discriminative stim.
B = the behaviour
C = the stimuli that occur as a consequence of the behaviour (normally just called ‘consequences’)
e.g…
phone rings → answer → a friend starts to talk to you
Stimulus Control
the relationship between A & B
A = antecedent stimulus or discriminative stim.
B = the behaviour
Antecedent / discriminative stimuli set the occasion for responding, i.e. signal what behaviour is now appropriate.
e.g. ringing signals that picking up phone is now appropriate behaviour.
Schedule Control
the relationship between B & C.
B = the behaviour
C = the stimuli that occur as a consequence of the behaviour (normally just called ‘consequences’)
Skinner said the reason you continue to perform particular behaviours in the presence of particular antecedent stimuli was because you had gained desirable consequences when performing those behaviours in the past.
We call such desirable consequences REINFORCERS.
However, aversive consequences that reduce the occurrence of a learned behaviour are called PUNISHERS.
POSITIVE REINFORCER (OC)
A consequence that causes an increase in the rate of responding
e.g. rat pressing lever for food
e.g. turning up to work to earn pay
- addition of a positive stimulus
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT (OC)
is where responding is maintained or increases as the result
of the termination of an aversive stimulus
e.g. taking aspirin to remove aversive feeling of headache.
e.g. parent stops child complaining by giving food
- the removal of an aversive stimulus
Positive Punishment (also simply called ‘punishment’, or ‘aversive punishment’) (OC)
… when responding decreases as a result of the delivery of an aversive stimulus.
e.g. trying to drink beer thru’ your nose
–> nasty sensation –> don’t do it again!
- the addition of an aversive stimulus
Problems with positive punishment
Skinner pointed out several problems with use of punishment to decrease behaviour:
i) most effective forms cause pain or
discomfort,
ii) induces fear and hostility,
iii) learn to escape/avoid punishing situation,
iv) only learning what response ‘not to make’.
Response Cost
(also called negative punishment, omission training) (OC)
a decrease in the frequency of a response that is followed by the termination of, or lack of access to, positive stimuli or events.
e.g. ‘Supernanny‘ & the ‘naughty step’!
- the removal of a positive stimulus
What makes an event a reinforcer or
punisher?
2 main factors:
a) Primary Reinforcers / Punishers
Events that satisfy an inherent survival need (e.g., food) & punishers that are inherently aversive (e.g., painful stimuli).
b) Conditioned Reinforcers / Punishers
e.g. money, kind words, etc.
e.g. flashing lights on police car, fines,
unkind words etc. Are established by our past learning history via classical conditioning (e.g. primary reinforcers have
been paired with previously neutral stimuli such as money in past).
Experimental Evidence: Premark (1959)
Behaviours that result in a preferred response are strengthened..
* Kids were given the choice between eating candy or playing pinball.
* Kids who preferred candy over pinball would play more pinball if it
meant they gained access to candy
* Kids who preferred pinball over candy would eat more candy if it
meant they would gain access to pinball.
