Applications of behaviour and learning

- Improving self-control and productivity

- Treating psychological disorders
- Overcoming fears and anxieties
- Improving relationships
- Raising children
- Managing employees

Two of the most important concepts - (need to be confident on throughout this

course)
Classical Conditioning - is when new behaviours come to be elicited in new
circumstances, often these are behaviours that are reflexive or involuntary - elicited
by a stimulus in the environment.

Examples of classical conditioning: Blinking when a puff of air hits your eye,
salivating when you see food

Operant conditioning - new or existing behaviours are strengthened or weakened

as a result of its consequences.
- When we strengthen or weaken either new behaviours or previously
developed behaviours, and this is done by a consequence that occurs
following the behaviour

Examples of operant conditioning: going to work, talking to people, opening the

fridge - things we do in our day-to-day lives
Schools of Behaviourism –

Watson Methodological Behaviourism: - ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

ONLY - Which focused only on the environmental influences on behaviour -so
only the things that we can see and observe

Hull's Neobehaviourism: INTERVENING VARIABLES WITH

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES - added into the study of the environmental
factors - but they also added in intervening variables - included other variables
such as our physiological features

Tolman’s Cognitive Behaviourism: INTERVENING VARIABLES WITH

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES AND HYPOTHEISZED COGNITIVE
PROCESSES - the biggest distinction here is that they added in hypothesized
cognitive processes - basically they suggest that behaviour has larger goals - bigger
cognitive processes that are involved in why behaviour is occurring

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory: OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING AND

COGNITIVE VARIABLES - similar to Hulls neobehaviourism - but the biggest
distinguishing is that Bandura's theory focuses on observational learning - internal
events are considered actual events that influence behaviour and should be
considered when explaining behavior -
INTERNAL EVENTS ARE IMPORTANT

Skinners Radical Behaviourism: ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCE ON OVERT

BEHAVIOURS AND COVERT BEHAVIOURS ARE SIMILARLY EXPLAINED
-
- STRICT FORM OF BEHAVIOURISM - studies behaviour by analyzing
environmental influences ONLY and uses covert behaviour such as our
internal thoughts and feelings as other types of behaviours
Independent & dependent variables –

Independent variables- THE ASPECT OF THE EXPERIMENT THAT IS MADE

TO CHANGE ACROSS DIFFERENT CONDITIONS
- Are the variables in which you make changes within your experienment to
test the outcome
- Whatever you are changing from one group to another group to see how the
results are

Dependent variables- THE EFFECT OF THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

(OUTCOMES)
- is the outcome that you are studying

Functional relationship: OCCUR WHEN A CHANGE IN THE INDEPENDENT

VARIABLE EVOKES A CHANGE IN THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE
- see changes in the dependent variable because of the changes you made to
the independent variable
- THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT
VARIABLES IS CALLED FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP
STIMULUS, RESPONSE, OVERT AND COVERT–

Stimulus - any event that can potentially influence (ELICIT OR EVOKE)

behaviour -

An example of this could be: a puff of air - eliciting an eye blink, an open sign at
the door - evoke someone to walk into the store - anything that could potentially
impact a behaviour would be a stimulus.

Response- the behaviour following a stimulus event - blinking your eye would be
a response following the puff of air.

Overt behaviour - behaviour that can be observed by other people - for example:
walking into a store, clapping your hands

Covert behaviour - behaviour that can only be perceived by the person

performing the behaviour - thoughts and feelings you are experiencing and they
can only ever be reported by yourself - you can't assume or observe my own
feelings or thoughts.
Appetitive, Aversive, Motivating Operations

Appetitive Stimulus - an event that an organism will seek out - seeking out food,
water, shelter

Aversive Stimulus - an event that an organism will avoid - something painful,

harmful -doing chores, doing work

Establishing operation - increase the appetitiveness or aversiveness of an event. -

going all day without food - establishing operations for accessing food because of
the appetitiveness of food is much higher because you are hungry - you have been
deprived

Abolishing operation - decreases the appetitiveness or aversiveness of an event. -

if you eat a large meal - it might decrease the appetitivesness of seeking more food
or dessert

Contiguity & Contingency

Contiguity - refers to the closeness of two events occurring (temporal, spatial) -
when they occur close to each other in either temporal contiguity or spatial
contiguity -

Contingency - a functional relationship between two events - if one thing occurs,

something else will occur – do your work well = you will get a good grade

Behavioural measurement:

Behavioural definitions - objective descriptive of observable aspects of an

individual's behaviour
( make sure you know all of them - can be found in the textbook )

Research Designs
Descriptive research - information gathering
- Consists of gathering information surrounding your target questions

Experimental research - the primary goal is to manipulate the independent

variable.

Single subject designs - only requires one or a few subjects to conduct the
experiment/analyses.

May 11, 2024

Ch 3 - focuses on classical conditioning.

Elicited behaviours

Reflexes: a simple automatic response to a stimulus - behaviours that are simple

and automatic - require no prior training to occur - for example- reaching out your
arm if you are falling - blinking if a puff air comes into your eye
Fixed action patterns: fixed sequence of responses elicited by a specific stimulus -
one stimulus occurs - several different responses will occur following the
presentation of that stimulus.

Habituation: a decrease in the strength of the elicited response following repeated

presentation of the stimulus - natural occurring response - starling if you hear a
loud siren - response is really strong - after living there - your response is
weakened as a result of hearing the sirens over and over again

Sensitization: an increase in the strength of the elicited response following repeated

presentation of the stimulus - feeling scared - the more you hear a sketchy noise -
the more you feel scared

Classical Conditioning →

Unconditioned stimulus (US) elicits unconditioned response (UR)

Neutral stimulus (NS) with no previous history with the US can be paired with the
US Response occurring due to the NS paired with US becomes the conditioned
response (CR)
Now, the NS + US is considered a conditioned stimulus (CS) because it reliably
evokes the CR

Appetitive conditioning - The US is something that organisms will SEEK OUT

(pleasant)

Aversive conditioning - the US is something the organism will AVOID

(unpleasant)

Excitatory conditioning - the US and NS (become CS) and elicit response

Inhibitory conditioning - NS is associated with the absence or the removal of US so

the CS inhibits a response
Temporal Factors in Conditioning

Delayed conditioning - the onset of the NS precedes the onset of the US, and the
two stimuli overlap - NS occurs first

Trace conditioning - the onset and offset of the NS precede the onset of the US -
sound ends before the food is presented

Simultaneous conditioning - the onset of the NS and the onset of the US occur
simultaneously.

Backward conditioning - the onset of the NS follows the onset of the US - food
first, then the sound.

Basic Conditioning Phenomena -

Acquisition - the process of developing and strengthening the conditioned response

through repeated parings of the NS and the US

Extinction - the CR is weakened or eliminated when the SD is presented in the

absence of the US - when we want to weaken a response, Extinction is what we
will use

Spontaneous recovery - the reappearance of a CR to a CS following a rest period

Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination

Stimulus Generalization - the tendency for a CR to occur in the presence of a

stimulus that is similar to CS - conditioning a blue card with food to elicit
salivation

Stimulus Discrimination - the tendency for a response to be elicited more by one

stimulus than another - presenting a green care- salivation will not occur
Extensions to Classical Conditioning

Higher-order conditioning - a stimulus that is associated with a CS can also

become a CS - becoming afraid of wasps due to being stung in the past

Sensory preconditioning - one stimulus is conditioned as a CS, and another

stimulus with which it was previously pared can also become a CS - associating
garbage cans with your fear of wasps - both elicit the same response

US revaluation - the post-conditioning presentation of the US at a different level of

intensity, thereby subsequently altering the strength of response to the previously
conditioned CS

Specificity in Classical Conditioning

Overshadowing - the more salient number of a compound stimulus is more readily

conditioned as a CS and thereby interferes with conditioning of the less salient
members. - wasp most salient - fear of wasps

Blocking - the presence of an established CS during conditioning interferes with

conditioning of a new CS

Occasion setting - a stimulus signals whether a stimulus is likely to be followed by

a US and thereby determines whether that stimulus will act as a CS that elicits a
CR

Latent inhibition - a familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition as a CS than an

unfamiliar stimulus
CH 5&6

Underlying Processes in Classical Conditioning

Stimulus-Substitution theory: the CS acts as a substitute for the US

Preparatory response theory: the purpose of the CR is to prepare the organism for
the presentation of the US

Rescorla-Wagner theory: a given US can support only so much conditioning, and

this amount of conditioning must be distributed among the various CSs that are
present

Practical Applications of Classical Conditioning

Understanding phobias: fears and anxieties typically develop as a result of classical

conditioning, but can occasionally be overgeneralized and become phobias
(some adaptive- protect us from harm or injury and other times maladaptive)

Observational learning: phobias can be acquired by observing fearful reactions in

others - that can be the unconditioned stimulus to elicit fear - just seeing other
people can be the unconditioned stimulus

Temperament: one’s level of emotional reactivity (- such as how quickly or how

strongly they react to external stimulation can affect how easily a conditioned
response-), including how quickly and strongly one reacts to external stimulation

Preparedness: innate tendency to learn certain behaviours or make certain types of

associations more easily than others - some ppl develop fears of certain events
Incubation: strengthening of an already established conditioned fear response to an
aversive CS as a result of repeated brief exposures to the CS by itself

Practical Applications of Classical Conditioning CONT

US revaluation: exposure to a US of a different intensity than that was used during

conditioning can alter the strength of the response to a previously conditioned CS -
fear responses can be strengthened as a result of other events

Selective sensitization- another factor in phobia developing: an increase in one's

reactivity to a potentially fearful stimulus following exposure to an unrelated
stressful event

Treating Phobias

Systematic desensitization: a behavioural treatment for phobias that involves

pairing relaxation strategies with a succession of stimuli that elicits increasing
levels of fear - move through a hierarchy of fear levels until the fear is treated -
fear of going to the dentist - walk through this fear in steps - 1. Waling in 2. Sitting
in the chair 2. Talking to the dentist - pair these steps with relaxation strategies

Flooding: behavioural treatment that involves prolonged exposure to a featured

stimulus, thereby proving maximal opportunity for the conditioned fear response to
be extinguished - putting the patient in the dentist chair - go ahead, we are going to
do this push through the fear

Aversion Therapy
A treatment procedure that reduces the attractiveness of a desired event by
associating it with an aversive stimulus

Eg. Paring the taste of alcohol/smoking with nausea or electric shock - used to
prevent the future occurrence of the behaviour - because they have a negative
association to them

Review: medical applications of classical conditioning (p.201)

Operant conditioning

Operant Conditioning: a type of learning in which the future frequency of a

behaviour is affected by its consequences -which are reinforcement and
punishment

Operant behaviour: a class of emitted or avoked responses that result in certain

consequences that affect the future frequency of those responses - NOT
ELICTED!!!!!

Reinforcer: increases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring in the future under
similar conditions - BEHAVIOUR WILL CONTINUE TO OCCUR

Punisher: decreases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring in the future under
similar conditions - WE DO NOT USE REINFORCERS/PUNISHERS ON
PEOPLE - WE USE REINFORCERS AND PUNISHERS ON BEHAVIOURS

Discriminative stimulus (SD): a stimulus in the presence of which responses are

reinforced and in the absence of which they are not reinforced

Dicirimative stimulus for punishment (SDp): a stimulus that signals that a response
will be punished

Four Contingencies
Positive reinforcement: the presentation of a stimulus following a response, which
leads to an increase in the strength of that response in the future - ex: getting a
paycheck for working - the money is given to you following the completion of
your work - and that increases the likelihood of you showing up for work

Negative reinforcement: the removal of a stimulus following a response, which

leads to an increase in the strength of that response in the future - ex: giving a kid a
break from school

Positive punishment: the presentation of a stimulus following a response, which

leads to a decrease in the strength of that response in the future - ex: receiving a
speeding ticket- the occurrence of this should decrease

Negative punishment: the removal of a stimulus following a response, which leads

to a decrease in the strength of that response in the future -ex: parents taking a toy
from a kid for misbehaving - decrease the likelihood of the bad behaviour occur
again

Positive reinforcement

Immediacy of reinforcer: the more immediate the reinforcer, the stronger the effect
on behaviour

Primary reinforcer: an event that is innately reinforcing - unconditioned to function

as reinforcers

Secondary reinforcer: an event that is reinforcing because it has been associated

with some other reinforcer - example-praise with food - praise functions as a
reinforcer
Intrinsic reinforcement: reinforcement provided by the mere act of performing the
behaviour - going for a walk - good feeling when you do it - you will then keep
going for a walk

Extrinsic reinforcement: reinforcement provided by some consequence that is

external to, or additional to, the behaviour - going to work and getting paid

Natural reinforcers: reinforcers that are typically provided for a certain behaviour -
a hug from a friend when you help them

Contrived reinforcers: reinforcers that have been deliberately arranged to modify a

behaviour - giving a kid a candy every time they do their homework - trying to
increase the behaviour - homework

Shaping

The gradual creation of a new behaviour through reinforcement of successively

closer approximations to that behaviour - working on getting a baby to walk - now
on their feet - that successful so you praise them