Title: NOTES FOR FINAL EXAM BEGIN HERE Chapter 6: Aversive Regulation of Behavior
1NOTES FOR FINAL EXAM BEGIN HEREChapter
6Aversive Regulation of Behavior
2Classes of Reinforcing and Punishing Stimuli
3Contingencies of Punishment
- Positive punishment occurs when a stimulus is
presented following an operant and the rate of
response decreases. ex. Spanking - Negative punishment occurs when a stimulus is
removed contingent on a response occurring and
the rate of response decreases. ex. Response cost
timeout.
4Contingencies of Punishment
- Premack principle states that the opportunity to
engage in a higher frequency behavior will
reinforce a lower frequency response. - Likewise, opportunity to engage in a LOWER
frequency behavior will PUNISH a HIGHER frequency
response.
5Reinforcement and Punishment
- All things being equal, most people respond
better to both immediate reinforcement and
immediate punishment. (They learn the
contingencies easier this way). - Most punishments in American society are given
for behaviors that are immediately reinforcing,
(drug use) while the threat of the punishments
for these deeds is delayed and uncertain.
6Reinforcement and Punishment
- Punishment, by itself, tends to be ineffective
except for temporarily suppressing undesirable
behavior. Only very severe punishment can produce
long-term suppression of behavior - Mild, logical and consistent punishment can be
informative and helpful as FEEDBACK
7Effectiveness of Punishment
- Azrin and Holz 1966
- Manner of introduction
- Immediacy of punishment
- Schedule of punishment
- Schedule of reinforcement
- Motivational variables
- Availability of other reinforcers
- Punisher as discriminative stimulus
8Making Punishment Most Effective
- Intensity of punishment
- Immediacy of punishment
- Punishment is most effective at reducing
responses when it is presented shortly after the
behavior - Schedule of punishment
- Punishment delivered continuously is more
effective versus intermittently. As the rate of
punishment increases the response decreases.
9If using punishment
- If you are punishing a specific behavior, the
reinforcement for that behavior should be
discontinued, or at least reduced or made
available contingent upon some other appropriate
behavior. - Punishment only teaches one thing What NOT to
do. What kind of teacher would only try to teach
by just saying No!?
10Motivation and Punishment
- When motivation is reduced the punishment is most
effective. - Behavior may be completely suppressed when the
motivation to respond is low. - Research suggests when motivation is increased
after punishment, responding will not recover to
prepunishment levels.
11Types of Negative Reinforcement
- Escape
- Avoidance
- Discriminated avoidance
- Non-discriminated avoidance
12Escape vs. Avoidance
- Negative reinforcement occurs whenever an operant
results in the removal (ESCAPE) or prevention
(AVOIDANCE) of a stimulus and the operant
subsequently increases in rate - In general, people learn to escape before
avoidance - Escape responding is reactive, it is acquired
more readily than avoidance responding. - Avoidance responding is proactive and will only
be acquired after a history of escape. - Avoidance responses are VERY resistant to
extinction. Why?
13Types of Avoidance
- If a warning signal precedes the aversive
stimulus and a response during this warning
stimulus prevents the aversive stimulus delivery,
this constitutes discriminated avoidance. - Discriminated avoidance can be very difficult to
acquire, as the warning stimulus comes to be a CS
that will elicit respondents that can interfere
with the avoidance.
14Nondiscriminated Avoidance
- If no warning stimulus precedes the aversive
stimulus which itself occurs periodically, this
constitutes nondiscriminated avoidance. - Many behaviors of clinical interest are avoidance
responses (ANXIETY DISORDERS)
15What maintains avoidance responding
- After an avoidance response, nothing happens, so
why is it maintained? - Two factor theory
- Respondent Conditioning warning stimulus (CS)
acquires aversive effects and elicits fear (CR) - Operant Conditioning running away during the
warning stimulus reduction of fear (running
away is a negatively reinforced operant
behavior!) - Extinction of Avoidance
- avoidance responses are very resistant to
extinction because YOU NEVER FACE THE CS AND
EXPERIENCE IT WITHOUT THE US!
16Reasons to not use punishment
- Since punishment can be so effective, it is
reinforcing for the user, and the user can come
to rely on it too much. - Some critics argue that using punishment in any
form will always lead to the person becoming
abusive (but this argument has no empirical
support)
17Reasons to not use punishment
- Seligman
- Repeated exposure to unpredictable and
uncontrollable aversive events can have
debilitating effects learned helplessness and
depression. - Other emotional behavior occurs in response to
punishment pain-elicited aggression and
counterattack, (person who delivers punishment is
feared)
18Learned helplessness
- Person experiences learned helplessness when it
is exposed to an aversive stimulus and unable to
escape. - After several pairings of this condition, person
gives up and stops attempting to escape. - When given the opportunity to escape, learned
helplessness is demonstrated by not attempting to
escape.
19Helplessness and Depression
- Helplessness is involved with and is a model for
depression. Depression may arise when a person
feels inescapable of abuse. - Helpless dogs (have previously learned
helplessness) which are forced to make a response
that escapes shock begin to make that response on
their own. Depressed individuals may go through
treatment in which they are not allowed to fail. - In this situation, the person may learn to emit
appropriate responses in the presence of aversive
events
20Aggression
- Respondent aggression occurs when painful stimuli
are presented to two organisms and the organisms
attack each other. This may also be known as
pain-elicited aggression. The probability of
aggression increased as more and more shocks were
presented. This result of aggression to aversive
stimuli applies to humans
21Operant Aggression
- When one person punishes anothers behavior, the
punished individual may retaliate, a strategy
known as operant aggression - One way to escape aversive stimulation is to
eliminate/neutralize the person who is delivering
it - Operant aggression is shaped and maintained
through negative reinforcement
22Social Disruption
- When punishment is used to decrease behavior, the
attempt is usually made to stop a particular
response - Hopefully unpunished behavior is not affected,
but two factors work against this - The person delivering the punishment
- The Setting
- Both become conditioned aversive stimuli (Save)
- This negative side effect is known as Social
Disruption - Also, a social agent who frequently uses
punishment becomes a conditioned punishing
stimulus, whose presence can disrupt all ongoing
operant behavior
23Coercion and its Fallout
- Murray Sidman, a prominent behavior analyst, has
researched the social disruptive effects of
aversive control - Coercion Use of punishment and the threat of
punishment to get others to act as we would like,
and to our practice of rewarding people just by
letting them escape from our punishments and
threats - Involves the basic contingencies of punishment
and negative reinforcement
24Coercion and its Fallout
- Dropping out is an escape contingency, and a
major social problem - People drop out of education, family, personal
and community responsibility, citizenship,
society, and even life - Sidman notes the common element b/w these forms
of conduct is negative reinforcement - Once involved in an aversive situation, a person
can get out by removing themselves from the
situation, thus strengthening the behavior of
dropping out
25Chapter 7Part 1 Operant-Respondent
Interrelationships and Part 2 the Biological
Context of Conditioning
26Analysis of Operant/Respondent Interactions
- Respondent procedures are often embedded in the
arrangement of operant contingencies. - Think of 2-factor theory of phobias
- What signals the appearance of the feared
stimulus is a CS for fear (CR) as well as an Sd
for avoidance (negatively reinforced operant
behavior) - Think about commercials the sight of a Whopper
is a CS when it elicits hunger pangs (CR) but it
is also an Sd when it sets the occasion for
driving to the Burger King (an operant behavior)
27Sign Tracking
- Sign Tracking- refers to approaching a sign that
signals a biologically relevant event - also referred to as autoshaping because of the
elicited approach and subsequent manipulation of
the sign stimulus. - How it works A pigeon typically approaches a lit
key that precedes food delivery. The bird makes
pecking movements at the key and eventually pecks
the key itself. If food is then delivered, the
elicited peck can be operantly reinforced. The
peck comes to be more of an operant than an
elicited response.
28Sign Tracking in Humans?
- Kens silly theory when we are attracted to
another, we tend to approach them (elicited
behavior) but, over time, the other person may
reinforce our approach behavior with kind words,
jokes, hugs, kisses, companionship, etc. and this
approach behavior becomes operantly conditioned
as well.
29Operant Contingencies and Regulation of Behavior
- Can we reinforce reflexive behavior?
- Water deprived dogs reinforced for increasing
saliva flow showed an increase and dogs
reinforced for less saliva showed a decrease
(Miller and Carmona, 1967).
30Operant Control ofRespondent Behavior
- Obviously we can come to exert voluntary
control over our reflexes or we couldnt become
toilet trained (duh!) - Various reflexes can be controlled by operant
reinforcement contingent upon occurrences of the
response (although these two processes are often
fighting it out) - Biofeedback demonstrates that such control can be
acquired by everyday people in the real world
31Biological Context of Conditioning
- principles of learning can be considered
universal principles throughout animal kingdom. - From species to species, though, some differences
occur - This does not invalidate behavioral principles
but tells us that an organisms physiology and
evolutionary history must be taken into
consideration in conducting and evaluating
learning studies - That is, different species have different
evolutionarily prepared responses BUT ALL CAN
LEARN!
32Taste Aversion Learning
- Garcia and Koelling (1966)
- Group 1 rats drank sweet flavored water
- Group 2 rats drank unflavored water accompanied
by lights and noises (bright-noisy water) - After the rats drank the water, one half of each
group was given electric shock for drinking - 1) Flavored water (CS) ---------gt Shock (US)
-
- 2) Bright, noisy water (CS) ---gt Shock (US)
33- Garcia and Koelling (1966)
- The other animals were made ill by injecting them
with lithium chloride or by irradiating them with
X rays -
- 3) Flavored water (CS) --------gt LiCl/X rays
(US) -
- 4) Bright, noisy water (CS) ---gt LiCl/X rays
(US) - WHO STOPPED DRINKING?
- rats that received shock after drinking the
bright-noisy water and the ones that were made
sick after ingesting the flavored water
substantially reduced their fluid intake - Water intake in the other two groups was
virtually unaffected (Animals made sick after
drinking bright-noisy water and shocked after
drinking flavored water did not show a
conditioned aversion) WHY?
34Implications Garcia and Koelling (1966)
- During traditional respondent conditioning, the
CS and US typically overlap or are separated by
only a few seconds - BUT In Garcia and Koellings experiment, the
taste CS was followed much later by the US (drug
or X ray) - We often assume that choice of CS and US is
irrelevant for respondent conditioning - BUT Taste and grastrointestinal nausea produced
aversion, but taste and shock did not condition - Sofor some stimuli, the animal is GENETICALLY
prepared to make a connection, and for others
they may even be contra-prepared - Typically, many CS-US pairings are required to
learn, but aversion to taste often occurs after a
single pairing of flavor-illness
35Conditioned taste aversion in humans
- Humans more likely to develop aversion to tastes
and smells than sights and sounds, even when we
know it wasnt the food that made us ill (sauce
dbearnaise effect). - Humans on chemotherapy can develop anticipatory
nausea and vomiting (ANV) to the sight of a
doctor, a clinic, the day of chemotherapy, among
other stimuli. (All of these are CSs for the
internal nauseating effects of the chemotherapy
(US)
36Chapter 9Choice and Preference
37Choice vs. Preference
- From a behavioral view, the analysis of choice is
concerned with the distribution of operant
behavior among alternative sources of
reinforcement - When several choices are available, one
alternative may be chosen more frequently than
others. When this occurs, it is called
preference for an alternative source of
reinforcement - For example, a person may choose between two food
markets (a large supermarket and the corner
store) on the basis of price, location, and
variety - Each time the individual goes to one store rather
than the other, he or she is said to choose
38Concurrent Schedules
- In the laboratory, choice and preference are
investigated by arranging concurrent schedules of
reinforcement - Two or more simple schedules (FR, VR, FI, or VI)
simultaneously available on different response
keys - Each key is associated with a separate schedule
of reinforcement, and organism is free to
distribute behavior between alternative schedules - distribution of time and behavior among
alternatives is behavioral measure of choice and
preference
39Concurrent Schedules
- Concurrent schedules of reinforcement have
received considerable research attention, b/c
they may be used as an analytical tool for
understanding choice and preference - Simply stated, all other factors being equal, the
more reinforcement provided by an alternative,
the more time and energy spent on that alternative
40Concurrent Ratio Schedules
- With ratio schedules, rate of reinforcement is
directly related to rate of responding (faster
one responds, sooner one obtains the next
reinforcement). - With a choice between two (or three response
options) a preference develops for response
option that produces most frequent reinforcement,
(an FR10 would be chosen over an FR50, VR5 over a
VR10, etc.) - This preference assumes that reinforcer quantity
and quality are the same for all response
options, and that the required response effort is
the same for all. Why? - If response option A operated according to a VR
10 schedule of reinforcement and response option
B operated according to an FR 10 schedule, a
preference would likely develop for which
response option?
41Concurrent Interval Schedules
- On interval schedules, rate of reinforcement is
not directly related to rate of responding on a
FI 60 sec schedule, whether the subject emits 1,
10 or 100 responses, the reinforcer will not
come any sooner than once every 60 seconds. - With a choice between two FI schedules, subjects
come to predominately spend their time responding
on the schedule with the shortest interval, a FI
10 sec schedule will be preferred over a FI 30
sec schedule BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY (see next)
42Concurrent Fixed Interval Schedules
- subjects develop a pattern of predominately
responding on the response option with the
shortest interval AND periodically switching to
respond on the alternative to obtain
reinforcement on it before switching back to the
shorter interval option. - A subject will respond predominately on a FI 30
sec schedule (about every 30 sec) and every once
in a while (about every 90 sec) switch to respond
on a FI 90 sec schedule.
43Concurrent VI VI Schedules
- To avoid the regularity of switching that can
occur with concurrent FI schedules, concurrent VI
schedules are employed. Here since the passage of
time cannot be as accurately discriminated (since
the intervals vary) regular switching does not
develop as switching will not as likely result in
reinforcement.
44Experimental Procedures to Study Choice
- The basic paradigm for investigating choice and
preference is now complete. In summary, a
researcher interested in behavioral choice should - Arrange two or more concurrently available
schedules of reinforcement - Program interval schedules on each alternative
- Use variable- rather than fixed-interval schedules
45The Matching Law
- In 1961, Richard Herrnstein published an
influential paper that described that
distribution of behavior on concurrent schedules
of positive reinforcement - He found that pigeons matched relative rates of
behavior to relative rates of reinforcement - When 90 of the total reinforcement was provided
by schedule A (and 10 by schedule B),
approximately 90 of the birds key pecks were on
this schedule - This relationship is known as the matching law
46Terminology
What is relative rate of response? This term
refers to the rate of response on response
alternative A in relation to the rate of response
on A B Likewise the relative rate of
reinforcement on A the rate of reinforcement on
A/ rate of reinforcement on A rate of
reinforcement on B Herrnstein states that
organisms will come to approximately match their
rate of responding on various alternatives to the
relative rates of reinforcement for each
alternative.
47The Generality of Matching
- Matching has been seen with many different
species, rats, pigeons, cows, laboratory animals - In humans, matching has been seen across many
different situations
48Departures from Matching
- In the complex world of people and other animals,
matching does not always occur - This is because in complex environments,
contingencies of positive and negative
reinforcement may interact, reinforcers differ in
value, and histories of reinforcement are not
controlled - Discrimination of alternative sources of
reinforcement may be weak or absent
49Matching Time on an Alternative
- Behavioral choice can also be measured as time
spent on an alternative - Time spent is a useful measure of behavior when
the response is continuous, as in talking to
another person - The matching law can also be expressed in terms
of the relative time spent on an alternative - Ta/(Ta Tb) Ra/(Ra Rb)
50Sources of Error in Matching Experiments
- Many unknown variables also affect choice in a
concurrent-operant setting - These factors arise from the biology and
environmental history of the organism - Sources of error may include different amounts
of effort for the responses, qualitative
differences in reinforcement such as food versus
water, a history of punishment, a tendency to
respond to the right alternative rather than to
the left alternative, and sensory capacities
51Behavioral Economics, Choice, and Addiction
- The use of basic economic concepts and principles
translated into behavioral terms and concepts. - Law of demand, price, substitutability (ect.) are
used to analyze, predict, and control behavior in
choice situations - Monkeys will choose cocaine over food in a
concurrent schedule as determined by size of dose
but if the price of cocaine is increased (more
response effort required to obtain cocaine) fewer
cocaine choices were made. If the same dose
became too costly, monkeys chose to work for food
instead.
52Self-Control
- Given a choice between a small but immediate
payoff versus a delayed but larger payoff,
choice of the former would be impulsive, the
latter would constitute self-control. - Ainslie-Rachlin Principle reinforcement value of
something decreases as the delay between making a
choice and obtaining the reinforcer increases
53Preference Reversal
- If a person examines a choice that they can make
later, then the value of a smaller, immediate
reinforcer will be less than the value of the
larger, delayed reward, indicating a preference
reversal - BUT as time to make the choice draws near, then
the immediate small reward looks more appealing!
So what do we do?
54How can self-control be made more likely?
- A Preference Reversal for the larger but delayed
outcome instead of the smaller but sooner outcome
can be more likely via a Commitment Response, a
response that eliminates the impulsive choice as
an option.
55Why is DRO Effective?
- Self-injurious behavior can be shown to be
maintained by social reinforcement. - Rates of self-injurious behavior matched rates
of social attention for such acts. - DRO increases the rates of extraneous sources of
reinforcement availability.
56 Chapter 10Conditioned Reinforcement
57A scenario
- Imagine you are lost
- You finally stumble upon a landmark that is
familiar to you - You become happy because you know how to get home
from this spot - This spot is both a CS that elicits happiness
as well as an SD for the behavior of getting
home. - There is also a THIRD function of this stimulus
- It has also served as a reinforcer for the
stumbling around behavior that led you to it - In fact, if we consider any series of linked
behaviors (like following directions or recipes,
etc.), the consequence of completing each step is
both a reinforcer for completing that step as
well as an SD for completing the NEXT step
58Conditioned Reinforcement
- Conditioned reinforcement is when behavior is
strengthened by consequence events that have an
effect because of a learning history. - The critical aspect of this history involves a
pairing between an arbitrary event and an already
established reinforcer. - Once the arbitrary event increases the frequency
of an operant behavior, it is called a
conditioned reinforcer.
59Chain Schedules and Conditioned Reinforcement
- One way to investigate conditioned reinforcement
is to construct sequences of behavior. - A chain schedule of reinforcement involves two
or more simple schedules (CRF, FI, VI, FR, etc.)
each of which is presented sequentially and is
signaled by an arbitrary stimulus (each has its
own SD). - Only the final or terminal link in this chain
results in primary reinforcement.
60Multiple Stimulus Functions
- An unsignalled chain (or tandem schedule) is a
sequence of two schedules (such as an FR150 -gt FI
120 seconds) in which distinct SDs do not signal
the different components - In equivalent tandem vs. chain schedules,
performances will be BETTER on the chain than the
tandem - This shows that distinct signals serve as both
SDs and conditioned reinforcers.
61Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Chains
- Operant chains are classified as homogeneous when
the topography or form of response is similar in
each component, i.e., a similar response
requirement is in effect in all components. - A heterogeneous chain requires different
responses in each link.
62Teaching a backwards Chain
- For complex tasks with many steps, often better
to teach the final step FIRST and reinforce its
completion - After practicing this final unit many times and
reinforcing its completion many times, ACESS to
this unit of SD -gt R -gt SR will now serve as am
effective conditioned reinforcer for the second
to last unit on the chain of behavior - More
63Teaching a backwards Chain
- After practicing the second to last and final
unit many times, ACESS to the SECOND TO LAST unit
of SD -gt R -gt SR will now serve as am effective
conditioned reinforcer for the THIRD to last unit
on the chain of behavior - And so on!
- Note that we are not doing the behavior in
reverse! We are simply completing the final step
first in our teaching procedure
64Determinants of Conditioned Reinforcement Strength
- Frequency of Primary Reinforcement paired with
the conditioned reinforcer - Variability of Primary Reinforcement paired with
the conditioned reinforcer - Establishing Operations
- Delay to Primary Reinforcement
65Delay Reduction and Conditioned Reinforcement
- Delay-reduction hypothesis
- Stimuli closer in time to positive reinforcement,
or further in time from an aversive event, are
more effective conditioned reinforcers. - Stimuli that signal no reduction in time to
reinforcement (S?) or no period of safety from an
aversive event (Save) do not function as
conditioned reinforcement.
66Concurrent-Chain Schedules of Reinforcement
- Previously we talked about choice where the
organism is free to switch back and forth between
different response alternatives (called
CONCURRENT SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT) - But often in the real world, once you choose one
response alternative, you lock out the
opportunity to do some other behavior for a
period of time - that is, choosing one response COMMITS you to
that particular response for at least some period
of time
67Concurrent-Chain Schedules of Reinforcement
- How would we study such an idea in the lab?
- we could ask which does a person prefer, working
on an FR10 or a VI60s each for some set period of
time? - this is a CONCURRENT CHAIN SCHEDULE
- It involves two different components (an initial
LINK, or menu, and a terminal LINK)
68Concurrent-Chain Schedules of Reinforcement
- subject is given a "menu" in which it must press
a particular key to TURN ON a particular schedule
of reinforcement. - There is no reinforcer given for making the
initial link choice itself and the subject is
given immediate access to whatever reinforcement
schedule he chose - Subject must stay on that schedule for some
specified time. - Then he can make a choice again.
- What is our measure of choice in a concurrent
chain schedule? - the proportion of times subject chooses one
schedule over another
69Concurrent-Chain Schedules of Reinforcement
- IF we put in a delay to access to the terminal
links, however, then a subject is LESS likely to
choose that initial link because there is now an
increased delay to reinforcement - For example, in a two-key concurrent-chain
procedure with equivalent initial links but
different lengths of delay to get to terminal
links.
70Generalized Conditioned Reinforcement
- any event or stimulus paired with or,
exchangeable for, many sources of primary
reinforcement. - Generalized reinforcement does not depend on
deprivation or satiation for any specific
reinforcer. - Generalized social reinforcement for human
behavior approval, attention, affection, praise
71Tokens, Money and Generalized Reinforcement
- Other conditioned reinforcers are economic since
they are exchangeable for goods and services.
Probably the most important such reinforcement is
money. - A token economy is a set of contingencies based
on token reinforcement the contingencies specify
when and under what conditions, particular forms
of behavior are reinforced with tokens. Tokens
are exchangeable for a variety of backup
reinforcers.
72Chapter 11Correspondence Relations Imitation
and Rule-Governed Behavior
73Correspondence Relations
- People often do what others do. A child who
observes an older sibling raid the cookie jar may
engage in similar behavior. - This is a correspondence between the modeled
behavior and the replicated behavior. - Technically, behavior of one person sets the
occasion for (is an SD for) an equivalent
response by the other.
74Correspondence Relations Continued
- There are other correspondence relations
established by our culture. We often receive
reinforcement if there is a correspondence
between saying and doing. - A large part of socialization involves
reinforcement for correspondence between what is
said and what is done.
75Correspondence Relations Continued
- Other people reinforce our behavior if there is
consistency (correspondence) between spoken
words and later performance. - A minister who preaches moral conduct and lives a
moral life is valued when moral words and moral
deeds do not match, people become upset and act
to correct the inconsistency. (They deliver
punishment!)
76Imitation
- Learning by observation involves doing what
others do - The behavior of an observer or learner is
regulated by the actions of a model. - imitation requires that the learner emit a
response that could only occur by observing a
model emit a similar response.
77Spontaneous Imitation
- Innate or spontaneous imitation is based on
evolution and natural selection rather than
learning experiences - Implies imitation of others may be an important
adaptive behavior.
78Immediate vs. Delayed Imitation
- Imitation may occur only when the model is
present or it may be delayed for some time after
the model has been removed. - delayed imitation is more complex since it
involves remembering the modeled stimulus (SD),
rather than direct stimulus control.
79Operant and Generalized Imitation
- It is possible to teach imitation as an operant
behavior - discriminative stimulus is behavior of the model
(SDmodel), - operant is a response that matches the modeled
stimulus (Rmatch), and reinforcement is verbal
praise (Srsocial). - Matching the model is reinforced, while
non-correspondent responses are extinguished.
80Operant and Generalized Imitation
- If imitation is reinforced and nonimitation is
extinguished, imitation of the model will
increase. - On the other hand, nonimitation will occur if
imitation is extinguished and nonimitation is
reinforced. - Learner learns to do as the model does
regardless of what the form of the model is!
81Operant and Generalized Imitation
- Donald Baer and his associates provided a
behavior analysis of imitation called generalized
imitation - involves several modeled stimuli (SDs) and
multiple operants (Rmatch). - In each case, what the model does sets the
occasion for reinforcement of a similar response
by the child all other responses are
extinguished. - This training results in a stimulus class of
models and an imitative response class. The
child now imitates whichever response that the
model performs.
82Generalized Imitation
- The next step is to test for generalization of
the stimulus and response class. - Baer and Sherman (1964) showed that a new-modeled
stimulus would set the occasion for a novel
imitative response, without any further
reinforcement. - Generalized imitation accounts for the appearance
of novel imitative acts in children- even when
these specific responses were never reinforced.
83Rules, Observational Learning, and Self-Efficacy
- For Skinner, following the rules is behavior
under the control of verbal stimuli SDs. - That is, statements of rules, advice, maxims, or
laws are discriminative stimuli that set the
occasion for behavior. - Rules, as verbal descriptions, may affect
observational learning.
84Rule-Governed Behavior
- A large part of human behavior is regulated by
verbal stimuli. - The common property of these kinds of stimuli is
that they describe the operating contingencies of
reinforcement. - Formally, rules, instructions, advice, and laws
are contingency-specifying stimuli, (they
describe the SDR? Sr relations of everyday
life.) - The term rule-governed behavior is used when the
listeners (readers) performance is regulated by
contingency-specifying stimuli.
85Rule-Governed and Contingency-Shaped Behavior
- People are said to solve problems either by
discovery or by instruction. - From a behavioral perspective the difference is
between the direct effects of contingencies
(discovery) and the indirect effects of rules
(instruction). - When performance is attributed to direct exposure
to reinforcement contingencies, behavior is said
to be contingency-shaped. - As previously noted, performance set up by
constructing and following instructions (and
other verbal stimuli) is termed rule-governed
behavior.
86Rule-Governed and Contingency-Shaped Behavior
- The importance of reinforcement contingencies in
establishing and maintaining rule-following is
clearly seen with ineffective rules and
instructions. - When rules describe delayed and improbable
events, it is necessary to find other reasons to
follow them.
87Instructions and Contingencies
- In his discussion of rule-governed and
contingency-shaped behavior, Skinner (1969)
speculated that instructions may affect
performance differently than the actual
contingencies of reinforcement. - One way to test this idea is to expose humans to
reinforcement procedures that are accurately or
inaccurately described by the experimenters
instructions. - If behavior varies with the instructions while
the actual contingencies remain the same, this
would be evidence for Skinners assertion.
88Instructions and Contingencies
- Instructions are complex discriminative stimuli.
- Instructional control is a form of rule-governed
behavior.
89Chapter 12Verbal Behavior
90Language and Verbal Behavior
- In contrast with the term language, verbal
behavior deals with the performance of a speaker
and the environmental conditions that establish
and maintain such performance - Verbal behavior refers to the vocal, written and
gestural performance of a speaker, writer or
communicator. This behavior operates on the
listener, reader or observer, who then arranges
reinforcement of the verbal performance.
91Speaking, Listening and the Verbal Community
- Verbal behavior refers to the behavior of the
speaker, writer or gesturer. - The verbal community the practices and customary
ways a given culture reinforces the behavior of a
speaker
92Operant Functions of Verbal Behavior Mands
- A mand is a response class of verbal operants
whose form (what is said or written) is regulated
by specific establishing operations (deprivation,
satiation, etc.) - In lay terms, mands involve asking for something
you need to happen - It is commonly said that a mand specifies its
own reinforcer as in Give me a cookie but such
commands are only a small part of mands.
93Operant Functions of Verbal Behavior Tacts
- A tact is a response class of verbal operants
whose form (what is said or written) is regulated
by specific nonverbal discriminative stimuli - tact is derived from contact in that tacts
are verbal operants that make contact with the
environment. - In lay terms, tacts involve pointing something
out, commenting about something, labeling or
identifying something
94Does the form of the Verbal Behavior identify the
type? NOPE
- Behavior Honey, you sure look sexy tonight!
- Is this a tact or a mand?
- Identifying the type of verbal behavior depends
on the FUNCTION of the behavior! - What function does this statement have?
95Training Verbal Operants Mands
- To teach manding, the most direct procedure is to
manipulate an establishing operation (remove the
toy), and then reinforce the verbal response
(can I have the toy?) with the specified
consequence (guess what it is!). - Sometimes called teaching requesting
96Training Verbal Operants Tacts
- To teach tacting, a speaker must emit a verbal
operant whose form (what is said) is a function
of a nonverbal discriminative stimulus
reinforcement is non-specific to that stimulus. - A child comes home from preschool and when seeing
her mother the child says, Let me tell you what
I learned today and the child names several
parts of the body and points to where they are.
These would be tacts that would likely be
reinforced by praise and hugs from the proud
parent. (Mother may need to PROMPT that tacting
by the child What did you do in school today?)
97Additional Verbal Relations Intraverbals
- An intraverbal is a verbal operant (what the
listener says) controlled by a verbal
discriminative stimulus (what the speaker says)
but there is no one-to-one relation between the
intraverbal and its SD. - If you overhear me saying. Ill be damned! to
which you covertly reply I sure hope so your
response is an intraverbal - Teaching a child ABCs You say ABCDEFG and the
child says HIJK-ellamennopee - Free association therapy demonstrates this when
the therapist says Mother and you say
dominatrix (haha!)
98Additional Verbal Relations Echoics
- An echoic is a verbal operant in response to a
verbal SD but with a point-to-point
correspondence between the SD and operant. If you
swear after hitting your thumb with a hammer
(Damn!) and your four year-old-son subsequently
repeats your expletive, his response is an echoic.
99Additional Verbal Relations Textuals
- A textual is a verbal operant in which the verbal
SD (written or spoken words made by another) and
the response the listener makes correspond to
each other but not with a formal PHYSICAL
similarity. - In lay terms, you are READING aloud (or to
yourself) or TAKING NOTES -
100Symbolic Behavior and Stimulus Equivalence
- Stimulus equivalence occurs when presentation of
one class of stimuli occasion responses made to
other stimulus classes. - Example Most Americans will have a specific
response to the written or spoken word or image
of Osama Bin Laden. - The word in any recognizable form or media, or
the image of the person whether in cartoon
caricature, photograph or video footage, will
occasion the same response. - Stimulus equivalence is said to exist when
reflexivity, symmetry and transitivity can be
shown to be in effect between distinct stimuli.
101Basic Equivalence Relations
- Reflexivity (also referred to as identity
matching or matching to sample) a picture of
Bin Laden is matched up with an identical picture
of Bin Laden. (AA) - Symmetry stimulus A is interchangeable with
stimulus B, or AB and BA a picture of Bin
Laden is matched up with the phrase head of Al
Queida and vice versa. - Transitivity consists of showing that stimulus A
B and stimulus BC and if the learner responds
to A as interchangeable or equivalent to C then
transitivity is in effect between A, B and C. If
stimulus A (a picture of Bin Laden) is equivalent
to stimulus B, head of Al Queida and B is
equivalent to written words OSAMA BIN LADEN as
stimulus C if the picture of Bin Laden (stimulus
A) is matched up with the written words OSAMA BIN
LADEN (stimulus C) then transitivity is shown.