PSYC 3610 Lecture 7 PDF

Psych 3610: Behaviour Modification Meeting # 7 – (6 was the midterm) Past Halfway!  Reminders  A PRINTED, HARD copy of your assignment is due 2 weeks from today (Nov. 1st).  The final exam will be FRIDAY the 13th of December at 8-10 AM in this room). DO NOT make tr...

Psych 3610: Behaviour Modification Meeting # 7 – (6 was the midterm) Past Halfway!  Reminders  A PRINTED, HARD copy of your assignment is due 2 weeks from today (Nov. 1st).  The final exam will be FRIDAY the 13th of December at 8-10 AM in this room). DO NOT make travel plans for that day (NOT MY PICK!).  Put 3610 in the subject heading of emails to me.  Chapters 13 & 15 for November 1 (2 weeks from now).  Our third In-Class graded activity for ALL and take up of the midterm will be November 1st.  November 8th class will be VIRTUAL via ZOOM!  Outline/Miscellaneous  Take Up Midterm  Chapter 12: Fading  Chapter 9: Shaping  Any Questions?  Midterm Test Results  N = 50  Total Test Mean = 45.77/80 = 57.21%.  Standard Deviation = 13.07/80 = 16.34%.  MC Mean = 22.72/40 or 56.8%.  Standard Deviation = 5.07/40 = 12.68%.  FIB Mean = 12.54/20 or 62.7%.  Standard Deviation = 4.15/20 = 20.75%.  LA Mean = 10.51/20 or 52.55%.  Standard Deviation = 5.46/20 = 27.3%.  Midterm Test Results  N = 50  Total Test Mean = 45.77/80 = 57.21%.  Standard Deviation = 13.07/80 = 16.34%.  MC Mean = 22.72/40 or 56.8%.  Standard Deviation = 5.07/40 = 12.68%.  FIB Mean = 12.54/20 or 62.7%.  Standard Deviation = 4.15/20 = 20.75%.  LA Mean = 10.51/20 or 52.55%.  Standard Deviation = 5.46/20 = 27.3%.  Add 8 to the score on your test = 53.77/80 (67%).  Midterm Test Results  Correlation MC to FIB = +0.669 (p<.00001)  Correlation FIB to LA = +0.6643 (p<.00001)  Correlation MC to LA = +0.721 (p<.00001)  Chapter 12: Changing the Stimulus of a Behaviour With Fading  Reviewing the case of Peter  REVIEWING THE CASE OF PETER So, what’s the deal with Peter?  What did they do?  What was the goal?  What happened? Do you think this was successful?  REVIEWING THE CASE OF PETER What’s the deal with Peter? Peter would mimic, not generate his name What did they do? Used fading to gradually get him to say his name, using a series of fading prompts What happened? Eventually, the prompts were removed, and he would answer his name  Chapter 12: Changing the Stimulus of a Behaviour With Fading  Reviewing the case of Peter  Peter would mimic, not generate correct answers to questions (e.g., “What’s your name?”).  Goal: Get Peter to say his name more spontaneously.  Chapter 12: Changing the Stimulus of a Behaviour With Fading  Defining Fading SO, WHAT IS FADING? To Put it simply: “it’s the gradual change of stimulus, while the response stays about the same” Example: Kid learning to ride their bike 1) Training wheels were one of the prompts 2) Using the training wheels to achieve goal  Chapter 12: Changing the Stimulus of a Behaviour With Fading  Defining Fading  “Fading is the gradual change over successive trials of an antecedent stimulus that controls a response so that the response eventually occurs to a partially changed or completely new antecedent stimulus.” (pg. 126) Start with training wheels, end with no training wheels  Chapter 12: Changing the Stimulus of a Behaviour With Fading  Defining Fading  “Fading is the gradual change over successive trials of an antecedent stimulus that controls a response so that the response eventually occurs to a partially changed or completely new antecedent stimulus.” (pg. 126)  Veronica gradually changed how she prompted Peter to say his name. At the beginning, she had to say his name. Eventually, she didn’t even mouth his name.  SUPER SIMPLIFIED, YET EFFECTIVE EXAMPLE Ex 1) Parent starts by holding the child on the bike and walking beside, as the child pedals 2) Parent still helps the child balance on the bike, but offers less support, and the child’s pedaling is propelling the bike 3) Boom, success! This child will now no longer be an outcast and can now join a [pedal] bike gang!  Fading The gradual change, over successive trials, of... an antecedent stimulus so that... the same response occurs... to a partially or completely new stimulus eg. a dance teacher, using hand pressure to guide the learning of a new dance step, uses less and less pressure until the student can do the step on his own (QL 1) Distinguishing Fading from Shaping  Mini Activity: Contrasting Fading vs. Shaping Fading: Outcome constant  How are they similar?  How are they different? Distinguishing Fading from Shaping  Mini Activity: Contrasting Fading vs. Shaping  How are they similar = both using behavioural techniques to develop an appropriate behaviour. Distinguishing Fading from Shaping  Mini Activity: Contrasting Fading vs. Shaping  How are they similar = both using behavioural techniques to develop an appropriate behaviour.  How are they different = one deals with changing the behaviour itself (shaping), and the other deals with changing the “cues” to the single, unchanged behaviour we’re shooting for (fading).  Distinguishing Between Fading and Shaping Fading: - stimulus gradually changes while response stays the same Shaping: - response gradually changes while stimulus stays the same (QL 20)  ERRORLESS TRANSFER Mini Activity: With a partner, try to answer the following (hint: read pg 127, 2nd new paragraph (“In any situation…”) 1) How is “learning from mistakes” shaping? Mistake = no reward Reward for correctly doing task 2) Come up with concrete examples of the 3 disadvantages associated with NOT using fading 1) Trial and error eats up time with errorless transfer.2) Wasting time for getting it wrong and not getting rewarded (fly into window example) 3) Emotional side effects (temper tantrums)  Stimulus Discrimination without Errors Three Advantages: 1. Errors consume valuable time 2. If an error occurs once, it tends to occur many times (even though it is being extinguished) 3. Risk of emotional side effects / attempts to escape from situation (QL 3)  Chapter 12: Changing the Stimulus of a Behaviour With Fading  Mini Activity: More Considerations & Questions re: Fading Again, consider the paragraph beginning “In any situation…” on pg. 127. 1) How is fading almost like controlled stimulus generalization? Please answer with a concrete example. 2) How might stimulus discrimination be adaptive, but how may fading also be adaptive. Again, try to come up with a concrete example to illustrate your case.  FADING STIMULI DIMENSIONS Measurable characteristics of the stimulus that vary along a continuum example from the text: ratio of students to teachers went from 1:1 to 7:1 (pg. 128) FACTORS INFLUENCING EFFECTIVENESS 3 things can make fading more or less successful: 1. Final Target Stimulus 2. The Starting Stimulus: A Prompt 3. The Fading Steps  1. FINAL TARGET STIMULUS Pick a desired outcome behaviour and ask yourself: 1. Will it be likely to be maintained in the natural environment? 2. Will the learner normally encounter it in their daily life? (e.g., Peter is unlikely to have people mouth his name after they ask him his name.)  Final Target Stimulus After fading, the stimulus that will eventually acquire stimulus control over the target behavior eg. Veronica quietly asking “What is your name?” with no additional prompting (shouting, saying, mouthing, etc.) (QL 10)  2. THE STARTING STIMULUS: PROMPTS A Stimulus that makes the “Final Target Stimulus” occur regularly (see previous slide if you were sleeping) It usually comes in the form of a prompt, which comes in 3 “flavours”: 1. Instructor-Behaviour Prompts 2. Environmental Prompts 3. Extra-Stiumlus/Within Stimulus Prompts  Starting Stimulus Before fading, the stimulus that reliably evokes the target behavior eg. Veronica quietly asking “What is your name?” and then shouting “Peter!” (QL 11)  Four Categories of Teacher-Behavior Prompts 1. Physical Guidance — physically assisting the learner 2. Gestures — pointing or motioning 3. Modeling — demonstrating the correct behavior 4. Verbal — using words as cues; giving instructions (QL 13)  3. THE FADING STEPS Once the “Final Target” behaviour is occurring reliably to the prompts being given, the prompts should gradually be removed over time.  If errors occur, then prompts were faded too quickly.  But, use too many prompts and the learner may become dependent on them.  Chapter 12: Changing the Stimulus of a Behaviour With Fading  Mini Activity: Reviewing the Pitfalls of Fading  With your partner, review the “Pitfalls of Fading” section on page 131.  Prepare a description of a couple of sentences summing up this section. Stimulus wasn't a person it was a changing hardness of the surface  Generate a novel example when possible.  REVIEWING THE CASE OF FRANK So, what’s the deal with Frank?  What did he do?  What was the goal?  What happened?  REVIEWING THE CASE OF FRANK What’s the deal with Frank? Wanted to transform from couch potato to regular exercise What did they do? Used shaping to gradually go from walking to jogging regularly What happened? Eventually, through the small steps, he was able to jog a quarter mile per day Basic Steps in a Shaping Procedure 1. Specify the final target behavior eg. Frank’s goal of jogging a ¼ mile each day 2. Identify a response that could be used as a starting behavior eg. Frank walked around his house once each day 3. Reinforce the starting behavior; then reinforce closer and closer approximations until arriving at the final target behavior eg. Frank reinforced the starting behavior (by having a beer), then walked / jogged further each day, reinforcing each approximation (with a beer) until his goal was reached (QL 1) SO, WHAT IS SHAPING? “Development of a new operant behaviour by the reinforcement of successive approximations of that behaviour, and extinction of earlier approximations of that behaviour until the new behaviour occurs” (pg. 96). SUPER SIMPLIFIED, YET EFFECTIVE EXAMPLE Ex 1) Child’s name is Steve and we want him to learn to write his name Attempt 1: yes, it’s backwards, but it’s basically an S = Reward! 2) Later in time, we no longer reward the backwards S, but instead only instances in which Steve gets it the right way. 3) This process continues until Boom! Success! He can now write his name; now he can do useful & important things like label his lunch!  Chapter 9: Getting a New Behaviour to Occur with Shaping Aspects of Behaviour which can be Shaped -Topography = “form” (physical movements involved) of the response.  Chapter 9: Getting a New Behaviour to Occur with Shaping Aspects of Behaviour which can be Shaped -Topography = “form” (physical movements involved) of the response. -Frequency = amount of behaviour (# of repetitions per unit time).  Chapter 9: Getting a New Behaviour to Occur with Shaping Aspects of Behaviour which can be Shaped -Topography = “form” (physical movements involved) of the response. -Frequency = amount of behaviour (# of repetitions per unit time). -Duration = time the behaviour lasts (amount of time behaviour persisted).  Chapter 9: Getting a New Behaviour to Occur with Shaping Aspects of Behaviour which can be Shaped -Topography = “form” (physical movements involved) of the response. -Frequency = amount of behaviour (# of repetitions per unit time). -Duration = time the behaviour lasts (amount of time behaviour persisted). -Latency = delay between controlling stimulus & behaviour/response  Chapter 9: Getting a New Behaviour to Occur with Shaping Aspects of Behaviour which can be Shaped -Topography = “form” (physical movements involved) of the response. -Frequency = amount of behaviour (# of repetitions per unit time). -Duration = time the behaviour lasts (amount of time behaviour persisted). -Latency = delay between controlling stimulus & behaviour/response -Intensity/Force = how forcefully behaviour is conducted Shaping Behavior: Five Dimensions 1. Topography (Form) eg. appropriate fingering for a passage of piano music 2. Amount: Frequency eg. the number of trees planted in an hour 3. Amount: Duration eg. the amount of time engaged in focused studying 4. Latency eg. after the alarm sounds, the time it takes to get out of bed 5. Intensity (Force) eg. the force with which one can strike a nail with a hammer (QL 7)  Chapter 9: Getting a New Behaviour to Occur with Shaping Activity: Generating Novel Examples of Each Aspect of Behaviour Which Can be Shaped With your partner, go back and come up with a new example of each aspect of a behaviour which can be shaped (topography; amount: frequency; amount: duration; latency; intensity). FACTORS INFLUENCING EFFECTIVENESS 4 things can make Shaping more or less successful: 1. Specifying the Final Target Behaviour 2. Choosing the Starting Behaviour 3. Choosing the Shaping Steps 4. The Pace of Movement Through Shaping Steps  1. SPECIFYING THE FINAL TARGET 1. Specific, precise definition of the final target behaviour 2. All relevant dimensions of the behaviour need to be stated (topography, duration, frequency, etc etc) 2. CHOOSING A STARTING BEHAVIOUR Because in shaping we don’t automatically exhibit the target behaviour, we have to pick an approximation to start with 1. Needs to occur frequently enough to be reinforced 2. Must be an approximation of the final behaviour  “Final Target Behavior” versus “Starting Behavior” Final Target Behavior — the final desired behavior eg. Frank’s goal of jogging a ¼ mile each day Starting Behavior — a behavior that occurs once in a while and approximates the final target behavior eg. for Frank, it was walking around the house once (QL 10, 11)  3. CHOOSING THE SHAPING STEPS Before starting the process, you should outline successive approximations through which you will take the learner  No real guidelines for how many or how big the steps should be  In some ways, an art form, unfortunately  Tips for Selecting the Successive Approximations (Steps) in a Shaping Program — there are no specific guidelines re: ideal step size 1. The teacher can imagine / visualize how they might progress from starting behavior to final target behavior 2. The teacher might observe / seek the advice of individuals who can already emit the target behavior (QL 12)  4. PACE AND MOVEMENT THROUGH STEPS How many times should you reinforce an approximation before moving on? Rough Guidelines: 1. Reinforce an approximation several times before moving to a new one 2. Of course the opposite is true too; don’t progress too slowly that new approximations will not occur 3. If you do go too fast, return to an earlier approximation  Why Avoid Under-Reinforcement and Over-Reinforcement of Shaping Steps? 1. Under-reinforcement of a step can weaken the behavior, thus making it prone to extinction before the next step can be achieved 2. Over-reinforcement of a step can strengthen the behavior to such a degree that achieving new steps becomes more difficult (QL 13, 14) POTENTIAL PITFALLS OF SHAPING  POTENTIAL PITFALLS OF SHAPING 1. Shaping a behaviour we didn't mean to.  POTENTIAL PITFALLS OF SHAPING 1. Shaping a behaviour we didn't mean to. 2. Failing to use shaping when we should.  POTENTIAL PITFALLS OF SHAPING 1. Shaping a behaviour we didn't mean to. 2. Failing to use shaping when we should. 3. Lack of contingency between successive approximations and reinforcement (often by rewarding too many behaviours). aka dog always looking at the door waiting for a reward Fin! – a puppy to make you smile Fin! – my late puppy to make you smile  Conclusion & Review of Homework Assignments 1. NO CLASS NEXT WEEK! 2. Chapters 13 & 15 for next time. 3. Assignment due next time. 4. Activity 3 for everyone next time. 5. Next time is November 1.