Chapter 6: Behaviorism

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Chapter 6 Behaviorism

• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Observational Learning

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Behaviorism

• Dominated Psychology in the first half of the
  20th Century.
• Dealt with behavior only, not mental processes.

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Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov
• 1849-1936
• Russian physician/ neurophysiologist
• Nobel Prize, 1904
• studied digestive secretions

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Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning

• Pavlovs device for recording salivation

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Pavlovs Apparatus for Studying Classical
Conditioning in Dogs
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Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning Respondent
Behavior

• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
• stimulus that unconditionally- naturally and
  automatically - triggers a response
• Unconditioned Response (UCR)
• unlearned, naturally occurring response to the
  unconditioned stimulus
• salivation when food is in the mouth

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Classical Conditioning Respondent Behavior

• learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the
  capacity to elicit a response after being paired
  with another stimulus that naturally elicits that
  response
• Unconditioned response (UCR) automatic response
  to a stimulus
• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) naturally and
  automatically elicits a response
• Conditioned response (CR) learned response to a
  previously neutral stimulus
• Conditioned stimulus (CS) after repeated
  pairings with UCS, elicits the same response

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Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning Respondent
Behavior

• Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
• originally neutral stimulus that, after
  association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes
  to trigger a conditioned response
• Conditioned Response (CR)
• learned response to a previously neutral
  conditioned stimulus

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Pavlovs Classic Experiment
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Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning
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Classical Conditioning
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Classic Conditioning Allows Animals to Learn to
Predict Events

• Learning theorists once believed that the
  learning in classical conditioning is
  unintentional and automatic (classic
  behaviorism).
• Most contemporary learning theorists now believe
  classical conditioning involves quite a bit of
  mindfulness because, (through the conditioning
  process) humans and other animals are learning to
  reliably predict upcoming events.

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Classic Conditioning Allows Animals to Learn to
Predict Events

• Psychologists once believed that the key to
  acquiring a conditioned response was the sheer
  number of CS-UCS pairings.
• However, the order and timing of CS-UCS pairings
  is also very important because it provides
  valuable information about the upcoming
  occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus.

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Utility Avoiding a Predators Attack through
Classical ConditioningStep 1
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Avoiding a Predators Attack through Classical
ConditioningStep 2
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Avoiding a Predators Attack through Classical
ConditioningStep 3
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Stages in Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning

• Acquisition
• the initial stage of learning, during which a
  response is established and gradually
  strengthened
• the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an
  unconditioned stimulus

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Stages in Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning

• Extinction gradual weakening and disappearance
  of the conditioned response
• Spontaneous recovery reappearance of an
  extinguished response after a period of
  nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus

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After Acquisition, Other Stimuli Can Produce the
Conditioned Response

• Stimulus generalization tendency for a
  conditioned response to be elicited by stimuli
  similar to the conditioned stimulus

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Generalization
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Animals Differ in What Responses Can Be
Classically Conditioned

• Early learning theorists assumed that the
  principles of conditioning were similar across
  all species, but subsequent research indicates
  that this assumption is incorrect.
• Animals often differ in what responses can be
  conditioned.
• In some animals, some responses can be
  conditioned much more readily to certain stimuli
  than to others.
• An animals biology steers it toward certain
  kinds of conditioning.

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Taste aversion study by Garcia and Koelling

• Rats learned to avoid a light-noise combination
  when it was paired with electric shock, but not
  when it was followed by X rays that made them
  nauseous.
• In contrast, rats quickly learned to avoid
  flavored water when it was followed by X rays,
  but they did not readily acquire an aversion to
  this same water when it was followed by shock.
• It is also adaptive that in taste aversion,
  strong conditioning develops despite the long
  delay between the CS (the taste) and the UCS (the
  nausea).

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Biological Constraints on Taste Aversion in Rats
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Classically Conditioned Phobias

• Phobias exaggerated and irrational fears of
  objects or situations
• Such intense fear reactions often develop through
  classical conditioning.
• We can develop a phobia toward anything, but some
  objects (snakes) or situations elicit phobic
  reactions more easily than others.

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Nausea Conditioning among Cancer Patients
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Little Alberts Fear Conditioning
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John B. Watson Famous Behaviorist

• Conditioned Emotional Responding
• Extreme Nurture (learning) position
• Fear learned through stimulus generalization?
• Emotion-evoking Advertising