Foundations of Psychology:

Part 2Intro to Psych

Class #42/6/14

Behaviorism• Made famous by BF Skinner• In the 60s and 70s, his books were

bestsellers • He could often be found on talk shows

Behaviorism• The Core Beliefs of Behaviorism

o Strong view on learning• Everything you know/are is the result of

experience• There is no human nature• What matters to what you are is what you learn

& how you’re treated

Behaviorism• The Core Beliefs of Behaviorism

o Anti-mentalism• Behaviorists are obsessed with science

o Stimulus, response, reinforcement, punishment, environment

• The internal mental states were considered unscientific

Behaviorism• The Core Beliefs of Behaviorism

o Species differences• No differences across species• Might admit a human can do things a rat or

pigeon can’t, but will say it’s because a human lives in a richer environment

• Studied animals to research their theories

Behaviorism & Learning

• 3 Learning Principleso Habituationo Classical Conditioningo Operant/Instrumental Conditioning

Were thought to explain all of human behavior

Habituation• Definition: decline in the tendency to

respond to stimuli that are familiar due to repeated exposure

• Simplest form of learning• Important: noticing something new and

deciding if it’s safe or not• You’ll stop noticing once it’s been around

for a while• Important for studying those that can’t talk

(animals and babies)

Classical Conditioning• Definition: Learning of an association

between one stimulus and another stimulus• 2 types of conditioning:

o Unconditionedo Conditioned

• Made famous by Ivan Pavlov & his dogs

Pavlov & Classical Conditioning

• Pavlov studied saliva in dogso Would put food powder in the dogs’ mouth to get them to drool

• Noticed dogs would start drooling when the person who fed them came in to the room

• Added the ringing of a bell when the food person arrived

• Noticed that only the ringing of the bell would make the dogs start to drool

Pavlov & Classical Conditioning

• Questions! o What is the stimulus that caused the dogs to

drool?• The food

o What type of response is it when the dogs drool for food at the beginning of the experiment? • Unconditioned. The dogs already knew by

instinct to drool at the sight of foodo What type of response is it when the dogs drool at

the sound of the bell?• Conditioned. They learned that the bell meant

food, and food makes them drool

Pavlov & Classical Conditioning

Pavlov in Real Life

Classical Conditioning as depicted on “The Office”

Want an Altoid?

Little Albert• Little Albert was a baby who was classically

conditioned to fear white lab rats

http://youtu.be/FMnhyGozLyE

Classical Conditioning & the Human

Response• Behaviorists argued that classical conditioning underlies

certain aspects of human responses• Fear

o Like Little Alberto Behaviorists believe this is how phobias are developedo Also forms the basis of the theory on how to make phobias go

away• Unlearn the conditioned response

• Hungero Created in response to cues in the environmento Smoking and/or drinking

• Fetisheso Associating objects or acts with the achievement of sexual

pleasure

Classical Conditioning can be used to shape the focus of our desires

Classical ConditioningWhere does classical conditioning show up?

• The clip from The Office• A Clockwork Orange

o Main theme is classical conditioningo Hyper violent charactero Forced to watched horrible imageso Fed meds to make him nauseous

• What is the intended result of the classical conditioning in A Clockwork Orange?

• What is the unconditioned stimulus?• What is the unconditioned response?• What is the conditioned stimulus?• What is the conditioned response?

Operant/Instrumental Conditioning

• Definition: Learn the relationships between what you do and the rewards or punishments of those actions

• Different from classical conditioning: you don’t do anything in classical conditioning to learn. Here, you CHOOSE to learn the conditioning

• The Law of Effect: The tendency to perform an action is increased when rewarded; tendency decreases if not rewarded

Operant/Instrumental Conditioning

• Reinforcemento Positive: give the subject something they want (treats, an

object, etc)o Negative: withhold treat, give back object not wanted, etc

• How often should reinforcement be used?o Ratio: a reward a certain number of times it’s done

(every 5th time)o Interval: reward given for a period of time o Variable: reward is given at different tines (every 8th

time, every 4th time)o Fixed: reward is given on a schedule (every 6th time)

Operant Conditioning in effect!http://youtu.be/Mt4N9GSBoMI

Behaviorism• 3 General Principles of

Behaviorismo Humans have no innate knowledge, all you need

is learningo Human psychology can be explained without

mental states like desires & goalso These ideas apply across all domains and species

Every one of these principles is mistaken

Behaviorism• Why are they mistaken?

o Lots of scientific evidence showing innate knowledge and desires in people

o Talking about mental states is not unscientific. Many sciences are all about the unobservable or unseen (like physics!)

o Animals don’t need reinforcement or punishment to learn. Reward helps, but isn’t necessary

• Not all stimuli & reinforcements are created equalo The Garcia Effect

• Food aversions: Believing a food has made you sick and you develop an aversion to it (when you know it hasn’t)

• The Garcia Effect is specific to food and nausea (another negative reaction like a shock won’t cause an aversion)

Phobias• Classical conditioning responsible for

phobias? NOT!

• Certain phobias are part of our evolutiono Humans & chimps are prone to being afraid of

snakes

• Phobias you’re likely to develop have less to do with your personal history and more to do with your evolutionary history

Legacy of Behaviorism• The dominance of Behaviorism in

psychology has faded, but it leaves an important legacy

• Mechanisms like habituation, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning are real and scientifically verifiable, but they don’t explain everything

• Behaviorists have provided powerful techniques for training, particularly for the nonverbal (animals, young children & babies, severely autistic or mentally retarded)