Module 2 - Behaviourist Approach PDF

Pack: A7 Major Approaches in Psychology Dr.Stephanie Borg Bugeja Dott. Mireille Vila Dr. Olivia Galea Seychell...

Pack: A7 Major Approaches in Psychology Dr.Stephanie Borg Bugeja Dott. Mireille Vila Dr. Olivia Galea Seychell Dr. Miriam Geraldi Gauci Ms.Chiara Borg 1 Introduction The Behaviourist approach is related to learning: 1.Believes that people and animals learn to behave in response to their environment; 2.This is done either by stimulus-response or reinforcement; 3.What is important to focus on behaviour not on what is happening in the mind; 4.The process of learning involves simple principles (Eysenck, 2013) 2 Cohort 2024-2025 1  Pack: A7 Behaviourism Confined to observable and measurable behaviour. §Classical Conditioning – Pavlov §Operant Conditioning - Skinner 3 Classical Conditioning 4 Cohort 2024-2025 2  Pack: A7 Ivan Pavlov, was a Russian Physiologist who was studying the secretion of stomach acids and salivation in dogs as a response to different types of food. In the He became aware that there are some things that dogs do not need to learn, e.g., dogs do not learn to salivate whenever they see food. beginning… This reflex is innate. 5 In the beginning… Pavlov also noticed that his dogs would begin to salivate whenever he entered the room, even when he was not bringing them food. He showed the existence of the unconditioned response by presenting a dog with a bowl of food and then measuring its salivary secretions. He realised that he had made an important scientific discovery, and he devoted the rest of his career to studying this type of learning. 6 Cohort 2024-2025 3  Pack: A7 The Basics… A stimulus is presented to get a response Learning through association 7 Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning 8 Cohort 2024-2025 4  Pack: A7 Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning The unconditioned stimulus (food) The neutral stimulus (bell) does automatically produces the not produce salivation unconditioned response (salivation). The unconditioned stimulus (food) is The neutral stimulus (bell) is now paired with the neutral stimulus the conditioned stimulus. (bell). This produces a conditioned Food and bell produce salivation response (salivation) 9 Salivation, before conditioning, is an unconditioned response (i.e. a stimulus-response association that does not require learning). In behaviourist terms: An Unconditioned Stimulus (Food) leads to and Unconditioned Response (Salivation) After conditioning, the dog had learned an association between the bell and the food and a new behaviour had been learnt. Because this response was learned (or conditioned), it is called a conditioned response. The neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus. In behaviourist terms, this is explained as follows: A Conditioned Stimulus (Bell) leads to and Conditioned Response (Salivation) 10 Cohort 2024-2025 5  Pack: A7 Classical Conditioning Stage 3 Stage 2: Now the Stage 1: conditioned a neutral stimulus (CS) has stimulus is been associated the associated with with the unconditioned an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to produces an stimulus. After create a new unconditioned conditioning conditioned response (UCR) the neutral response (CR). in an organism. stimulus will then become known as the conditioned stimulus (CS) 11 Another Example 12 Cohort 2024-2025 6  Pack: A7 What about sequence and timing? The unconditioned stimulus usually must be associated with the neutral stimulus on a number of occasions, or trials, for learning to take place. Studies have shown that conditioning is most efficient if the neutral stimulus is presented by between half a second and several seconds before the unconditioned stimulus - depending in the type of response being conditioned (Feldman, 1996). Occasionally, one trial learning can happen as well. This refers to instances when it is not necessary for an association to be strengthened over time (such as feeling unable to drive after a very serious traffic accident). 13 Question! 1. What do you think would have happened if Pavlov’s dog, who had become classically conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, stopped receiving food when the bell sounded? Extinction The weakening and eventual disappearance of a conditioned response Some fears however, are not extinguished easily (on their own). This is mostly due to the fact that organisms are unlikely to be in touch with the conditioned stimuli they have learnt to be afraid of. 14 Cohort 2024-2025 7  Pack: A7 Question! 2. And, once conditioning has been extinguished, has it vanished forever? Not necessarily…because of Spontaneous Recovery The reappearance of a previously extinguished response after time has elapsed without exposure to the conditioned stimulus. Usually these responses are weaker and more easily extinguished. 15 Question! 3. And what is the blocking effect? Blocking effect - ‘the lack of a conditioned response (fear and avoidance) to a conditioned stimulus (noise) if another conditioned stimulus (light) already predicts the onset of a response’ (adapted from Eysenck, 2013 p. 105) 16 Cohort 2024-2025 8  Pack: A7 Kamin’s Experiment (1969) Kamin was conducting an experiment with rats. Time 1: Two groups of rats Group 1 – received training: a shock every time a light came on. Reaction = fear and avoidance every time the light went on Group 2 – no training Time 2: Both groups received training with a combination of light and noise followed by a shock Time 3: Both groups received only the tone Group 2 responded with fear and avoidance to the tone but Group 1 did not 17 The Ecological Perspective Classical Conditioning 18 Cohort 2024-2025 9  Pack: A7 Role of Biology in Classical Conditioning § John Garcia (1966) and others found it was easier to learn associations that make sense for survival. § Food aversions can be acquired even if the UR (nausea) does NOT immediately follow the NS. (e.g., when acquiring food aversions during pregnancy or illness, the body associates nausea with whatever food was eaten). § Malesin one study were more likely to see a pictured woman as attractive if the picture had a red border. 19 John Watson The Little Albert Experiment Watson and Rayner (1920) conducted a famous study knows as the “Little Albert” experiment. Little Albert was 9 months old. He was described as a remarkably stable infant who rarely displayed fear of anything. Albert was not afraid of animals, including the white laboratory rat. He was, however, afraid of loud noises. 20 Cohort 2024-2025 10  Pack: A7 "The instant the rat was shown, the baby began to cry. Almost instantly he turned sharply to Aim of experiment: to test whether he could the left, fell over on [his] left side, raised himself on all cause a child with a neutral or positive response fours and began to crawl away so to a stimulus to fear it and related stimuli. rapidly that he was caught with difficulty before reaching the edge of the table.“ (Watson & Rayner, 1920; p.5) Before Conditioning During Conditioning After Conditioning Albert was Watson presented the Albert showed signs of presented with white mouse again distress every time he a white mouse: adding a loud noise as saw a fury object even no reaction soon as the child after the loud noise interacted with the stopped mouse. Albert became upset. 21 22 Cohort 2024-2025 11  Pack: A7 Elements of Little Albert’s Experiment Unconditioned Stimulus Loud Noise Unconditioned response Fear Neutral Stimulus White Rat Conditioned Stimulus White Rat Conditioned response Fear 23 Question! 4. Why did Albert show fear of other animals and fury objects even though he was not conditioned to fear them? The process of GENERALISATON is what led Albert to fear other objects sharing the same characteristics with the white fury rat. Generalisation involves the tendency to respond in a similar manner to stimuli with characteristics alike those of the conditioned stimulus. 24 Cohort 2024-2025 12  Pack: A7 Question! 5. Do we always generalise across stimuli? No. When we perceive enough difference between the conditioned stimulus and other similar stimuli, we do not generalise our response. This is called stimulus discrimination. In this process, an organism learns to differentiate between stimuli and responds with a conditioned response only to the conditioned stimulus. 25 Concepts Covered So far… Classical Conditioning Stimulus Unconditioned Stimulus Response Neutral Stimulus Extinction Conditioned Stimulus Stimulus Discrimination Unconditioned Response Generalisation Conditioned Response Blocking Spontaneous Recovery 26 Cohort 2024-2025 13  Pack: A7 Phobias 27 What are Phobias? ‘Phobias are intense, irrational fears of specific objects or situations’ (Feldman, 1998; p. 545) The 10 most commonly reported phobias in the UK, according to a survey by Anxiety UK, are: social phobia – fear of interacting with other people agoraphobia – fear of open public spaces emetophobia – fear of vomiting erythrophobia – fear of blushing driving phobia – fear of driving hypochondria – fear of illness aerophobia – fear of flying arachnophobia – fear of spiders zoophobia – fear of animals claustrophobia – fear of confined space Taken from: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/dealing-with-fears.aspx 28 Cohort 2024-2025 14  Pack: A7 Question! 6.How do we acquire a phobia? From a behaviourist perspective, ‘phobias develop when the conditioned or phobic stimulus (e.g., social situations) is associated with painful or aversive stimulus causing fear’ (Eysenck, 2013; p.106) As a result, exposure therapy was developed. The basic idea of this therapy is that people relearns how to respond when subjected to a dreaded stimulus or anything with similar characteristics (Richard, Lauterbach & Gloster, 2007) Research studies however, do not always support the behaviourist account of how phobias develop. 29 Operant Conditioning 30 Cohort 2024-2025 15  Pack: A7 Operant Conditioning – A definition ‘Operant conditioning [is] a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.’ (Myers, 2013; p.275) Law of Reinforcement/Effect 31 Operant Conditioning: What is it really related to? Operant conditioning is mostly related to the strengthening or weakening of voluntary responses (doing things deliberately) - instrumental conditioning It is believed that learning is easiest when the reward for behaviour is quick and significant for the organism. 32 Cohort 2024-2025 16  Pack: A7 Operant Conditioning: What is it really related to? Operant conditioning is also related to Edward L. Thorndike’s law of effect – behaviours that lead an individual/animal to feel satisfied are more likely to be repeated and behaviours which are less satisfying are less likely to be repeated 33 The work of B. F. Skinner Skinner is considered the father of Behaviourism He focused on how the consequences to our behaviours have an impact on whether those behaviours are repeated or not…on our learning Expanding on Thorndike’s Law of Effect, Skinner introduced the idea of reinforcement: What gets reinforced is repeated (therefore, behaviour strengthened) What is not reinforced is not repeated (therefore, behaviour weakened) 34 Cohort 2024-2025 17  Pack: A7 The work of B. F. Skinner Skinner studied operant conditioning by utilising a ‘new’ type of apparatus that remained very popular: the Skinner Box… The experiment conducted by Skinner: 1. Hungry rat in a small box (Skinner box) 2. Box contained a lever attached to a food pellet 3. When rat pressed lever, food would appear 4. Learning – pressing lever = food 5. Rat presses lever more 35 Types of Reinforcement Primary Reinforcer Stimuli related to survival (e.g., receiving food) Secondary Reinforcer Stimuli that are rewarding because we have learnt to associate them with primary reinforcers (e.g., receiving a pay rise if you do well at your job) Positive Reinforcer Adding something desirable (e.g., receiving a hug if I remember an anniversary) Negative Reinforcer Removing something unpleasant (e.g., stopping private lessons if doing well in exams) A reinforcer ALWAYS strengthens the behaviour! Adapted from Simply Psychology (3rd Ed), Eysenck (2013) 36 Cohort 2024-2025 18  Pack: A7 The Timing of Rewards 37 Schedules of Reinforcement Reinforcement does not need to be presented constantly in order for a behaviour to be learned or maintained. Schedules of reinforcement refer to the frequency and timing or reinforcement following the (desired) behaviour 38 Cohort 2024-2025 19  Pack: A7 Different Schedules of Reinforcement Continuous Reinforcement When a behaviour is reinforced every time it happens Imagine, for example, that you are trying to teach a dog to shake your hand. During the initial stages of learning, you would stick to a continuous reinforcement schedule to teach and establish the behavior. This might involve grabbing the dog's paw, shaking it, saying "shake," and then offering a reward each and every time you perform these steps. Eventually, the dog will start to perform the action on its own. 39 Different Schedules of Reinforcement Partial Reinforcement When a behaviour is reinforced some but not all the time Think of the earlier example in which you were training a dog to shake your hand. While you initially used continuous reinforcement, reinforcing the behavior every time is simply unrealistic. In time, you would switch to a partial schedule to provide additional reinforcement once the behavior has been established or after considerable time has passed. 40 Cohort 2024-2025 20  Pack: A7 There are four schedules of partial reinforcement: Fixed Ratio Schedule Variable Ratio Schedule Fixed Interval Schedule Variable Interval Schedule 41 Partial Reinforcement Schedules Fixed Ratio Schedule Reinforcement is given only after a certain number of responses Examples Collecting Tokens in a Video Game: In many video games, you have to collect so many tokens, object, or points in order to receive some type of reward. Sales Commissions: A worker earns a commission for every third sale that they make. Grades: A child is offered a reward after they earn five A’s on her homework assignments. After her fifth A on a homework assignment, she gets to pick out a new toy. Farm work: Farm workers are paid X amount of money for every basket of fruit that they pick. 42 Cohort 2024-2025 21  Pack: A7 Partial Reinforcement Schedules Variable Ratio Schedule Reinforcement is given after a variable number of responses Examples Slot machines: Players have no way of knowing how many times they have to play before they win. All they know is that eventually, a play will win. This is why slot machines are so effective, and players are often reluctant to quit. There is always the possibility that the next coin they put in will be the winning one. Sales bonuses: Call centers often offer random bonuses to employees. Workers never know how many calls they need to make to receive the bonus, but they know that they increase their chances the more calls or sales they make. 43 Partial Reinforcement Schedules Fixed Interval Schedule Reinforcement is given only after a certain time period. Response rates are low in between fixed intervals. An example of this in a lab setting would be reinforcing a rat with a lab pellet for the first bar press after a 30-second interval has elapsed. 44 Cohort 2024-2025 22  Pack: A7 Partial Reinforcement Schedules Variable Interval Schedule Reinforcement is given after a variable time of responses. An example of this would be delivering a food pellet to a rat after the first bar press following a one-minute interval; a second pellet for the first response following a five-minute interval; and a third pellet for the first response following a three-minute interval. 45 Question! 7. But how do organisms learn complex behaviour? In order to teach more complex behaviour we use SHAPING ‘Shaping is the process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior’ (Feldman, 1996; p.202) 46 Cohort 2024-2025 23  Pack: A7 Example of Shaping Behaviour A teacher is trying to teach John to speak in front of the whole classroom. Given that John is a shy kid, he wouldn’t be able to give a speech right away. So, instead of promising Johnny some reward for giving a speech, rewards should be given to behaviors that come close. Like, giving him a reward when he stands in front of the class. Next, when he goes in front of the class and say hello. Then, when he can read a passage from a book. And, finally when he can give a speech. The whole point is for rewards to be successive and it’s not possible to retain rewards with previous responses. In this way, shaping of behavior can be done. 47 Question! 8. What about superstitious behaviour? How do we learn that? Sometimes, the behaviour that appears before a reinforcer is totally coincidental. It is believed that superstitions help people to deal with anxiety by providing them with rituals/routines that help them gain a sense of control. Therefore, superstitious behaviour is reinforced if it happens before something good or it is linked to the removal of something we are scared of or worried about 48 Cohort 2024-2025 24  Pack: A7 Superstitious Behaviour Pepe Reina: When he was at Liverpool the Spaniard admitted to a whole range of pre-match rituals including having cheese and ham toasties and a glass of wine the night before a game; and making sure his car was full of petrol on match day. Jennifer Aniston revealed her superstitious flying routine. “If I walk onto an airplane, I always have to go in with foot first and tap the outside of the plane,” she said. “I have always done it. For luck.” 49 Punishment ‘Punishment often presents the quickest route to changing behaviour that, if allowed to continue, might be dangerous to that individual’ (Feldman, 1996; p.196) A ‘punisher is any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding behaviour’ (Myers. 2013; p.280) It is different from negative reinforcement because the latter increases behaviour whereas punishment reduces behaviour What seems to work best with punishments is when the punisher is immediate (close to the behaviour) and reliable (it happens all the time). This seems to be more important that the severity. 50 Cohort 2024-2025 25  Pack: A7 Types of Punishment - Negative + Positive Punishment Punishment You TAKE AWAY You ADD something something pleasant/ unpleasant/aversive desired (ex: no TV (ex: spank the child) time, no attention)-- MINUS is the “negative” here Positive does not mean “good” or “desirable” and negative does not mean “bad” or “undesirable.” Adapted from Myers (2013) 51 Examples of Negative Punishment After two children get into a fight over who gets to play with a new toy, the mother simply takes the toy away from both children. A teenage girl stays out for an hour past her curfew, so her parents ground her for a week. A boy yells at another student during class, so his teacher takes away his "good behavior" tokens that can be redeemed for prizes. Examples of Positive Punishment You wear your favorite baseball cap to class but are reprimanded by your instructor for violating your school's dress code. Because you're late to work one morning, you drive over the speed limit through a school zone. As a result, you get pulled over by a police officer and receive a ticket. 52 Cohort 2024-2025 26  Pack: A7 Applying Operant Conditioning: Problems with Physical Punishment § Punishment does not always guarantee long term change in behaviour. The problematic behaviour can restart once the punishment is over. § Instead of learning behaviors, the child may learn to discriminate among situations, and avoid those in which punishment might occur. § Physical punishment models aggression and control as a method of dealing with problems. § Punishment does not offer options about what to do instead. This may mean that instead of merely stopping a behaviour the person learns another wrong behaviour. Reinforcing good behaviour may be more productive. Adapted from Myers (2013) 53 Token Economy Token economy is ‘a type of therapy based on operant conditioning in which tokens are given to patients when they produce desirable behaviours; these tokens can then be exchanged for rewards’ (Eysenck, 2013; p. 112) Token economy applies the ideas of positive reinforcement in operant conditioning An example of token economy is a child’s star chart for good behaviour 54 Cohort 2024-2025 27  Pack: A7 Latent Learning 55 Latent learning refers to the type of learning that happens: in the absence of a reward, and when changes in behaviour are not obvious. Experiment with rats by Tolman & Honzik (1930)with 3 groups of rats in a maze: 1. Group 1 - moved around the maze without receiving rewards for 10 days – took long to find the end of the maze 2. Group 2 – moved around the maze and given food at the end of the maze – learnt quickly how to get to the end of the maze & made very few errors 3. Group 3 – allowed to move around the maze without rewards for the first 10 days. From day 11, they were given food when they completed the maze. Finding: Group 3 rats showed a fast reduction in errors – similar to that of Group 2 who had been constantly rewarded for reaching the end of the maze. Group 3 rats has built a cognitive map of the maze. 56 Cohort 2024-2025 28  Pack: A7 Observational Learning 57 Observational Learning Also known as Social Cognitive Theory or Vicarious Learning Observational learning involves observing other people’s behaviour and learning from their experience (Myers, 2013) Theories based on animal research cannot explain human behaviour The human being is active in development Emphasis on behaviour, environment and cognition Albert Bandura developed most of the principles of social learning theory. He conducted the famous ‘Bobo doll experiment’ Importance of reinforcement and modelling 58 Cohort 2024-2025 29  Pack: A7 Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment (1961) 59 Observational Learning Another study regarding observational learning was carried out by Rosenkrans and Hartup (1967). The study was similar to the Bobo doll experiment but with a few differences: A group of children were shown videos of someone behaving aggressively – this person was then rewarded for his behaviour They imitated this behaviour Then some of them were then shown a video of someone behaving aggressively – this person was then punished for his behaviour The latter group did not behave aggressively – they had learnt that aggressive behaviour was punishable 60 Cohort 2024-2025 30  Pack: A7 61 Comparing Classical & Operant Conditioning Classical Operant Conditioning Conditioning Type of response Involuntary, automatic, reflex Voluntary Occurs before response (the Occurs after response Time of learning association built between (response is followed by a the NS and US) reinforcing stimulus or event) Role of learner Passive Active Adapted from: Coon, D. & Mitterer, J. (2014). Psychology: A Journey (5th ed.). Belmont Wadsworth. 62 Cohort 2024-2025 31  Pack: A7 Behaviour Therapy Behaviour therapy utilises the principles of classical and operant conditioning with clients or patients. This type of therapy targets behaviour specifically. Three examples of behaviourist ideas in therapy: Token economy (already covered) Aversion therapy Programmed learning 63 AVERSION THERAPY Controversial therapy Works by ‘punishing unwanted behavior by associating it with an aversive stimulus’ (Eysenck, 2002; 106) Example: ‘Antabuse’ for alcoholics (severe vomiting if one drinks alcohol after taking the drug Usually, aversion therapy is mostly successful when used in conjunction with other types of therapy Can be less effective when the person is not being monitored. Therefore, limited use Ethical issue (pain for the patient) 64 Cohort 2024-2025 32  Pack: A7 PROGRAMMED LEARNING Developed by Skinner A system whereby the learner uses specially prepared books or equipment to learn without a teacher. Skinner based his ideas on the principle of operant conditioning, which theorized that learning takes place when a reinforcing stimulus is presented to reward a correct response. In early programmed instruction, students punched answers to simple math problems into a type of keyboard. If the answer was correct, the machine would advance to another problem. Incorrect answers would not advance. Skinner believed such learning could, in fact, be superior to traditional teacher- based instruction because children were rewarded immediately and individually for correct answers rather than waiting for a teacher to correct written answers or respond verbally. Adapted from: Eysenck, M. W. (2002). Simply Psychology (2nd ed.). East Sussex: Psychology Press. 65 Cohort 2024-2025 33