An Insight into Behavior
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Transcript of An Insight into Behavior
Behavior: An Insight
Behavior is something psychologists have been trying to define
for ages. Several theories have come up and each has been right in a
way. But we still don’t have an exact definition for human behavior.
We probably never will have one, because human beings change and
each individual is different from one another. It might be possible to
have a few generalizations but the truth is that each one of us does
things differently.
The operant conditioning model is one such model used to
explain human behavior. Conditioning is a “systematic procedure
through which associations and responses to specific stimuli are
learned” (Lefton 119). Operant conditioning is defined as “a type of
learning in which the desirable or undesirable consequences of a
behavior determine whether the behavior is repeated”(Uba 184). It is
also known as instrumental conditioning. The probability of an event
occurring depends on its consequences. Much of the research on the
operant model was done by B. F. Skinner and E.L. Thorndike (Jensen).
But the basic principle that governs operant conditioning is known as
the law of effect. The law states that behaviors followed by desirable
outcomes are more likely to recur than behaviors with unpleasant
outcomes and vice versa. Rewards and Punishments do affect our
behavior.
Before we enter the realms of operant conditioning, it is
necessary to know the basic concepts and terminology used in this
theory. Reinforcement is the “process by which a stimulus or event
strengthens or increases the probability of the response that it
follows”(Wade 273). Punishment, on the other hand, is “the process
by which a stimulus or event weakens or reduces the probability of
the response that it follows”(Wade 273). There are two types of
reinforcements and punishments. A positive reinforcement is the
“presentation of a stimulus after a particular response in order to
increase the likelihood that the response will recur”, while a negative
reinforcement is the “removal of a stimulus after a particular response
to increase the likelihood that the response will recur” (Lefton 128).
Positive punishment is the process in which a response is followed by
a negative stimulus. Negative punishment or omission training is the
process in which an “operant response removes a positive event and
thus becomes less probable” (Benjamin 228). What is important to
note is that both positive and negative reinforcements increase the
probability of a response, while both positive and negative
punishments decrease the probability of a response.
Operant conditioning is affected by many variables. The three
most important are strength, timing and frequency of consequences.
Studies have shown that the greater the reward, the harder, longer
and faster a person will work to complete a task (Lefton 132).
Similarly, the harsher the punishment the more quickly the behavior
can be suppressed and the longer it will remain suppressed. However,
this is does not mean that an extremely harsh and unjust punishment
will suppress behavior. Punishment is best delivered in moderation,
too much can be as ineffective as too little. In fact, too much of
punishment may result in a behavior contrary to the punisher’s goals.
Many events in history are witness to this fact. Events such as the
American and French revolutions started off because the rulers and
conditions of living were too unjust.
In addition to the strength, the timing is important too. The
shorter the interval, the greater the chances that the behavior will be
learned. The frequency of consequences is the third important factor.
The process of varying the frequency of reinforcements or
punishments is called manipulating the schedule of reinforcement.
There are four basic schedules of reinforcement:
Interval Schedule: Based on time. A minimum amount of time
must pass between reinforcements.
1. Fixed Interval: “A reinforcer is given only when a
correct response is made after a set amount of time has
passed since the last reinforced response. Responses
made during the time interval are not reinforced” (Coon
255). It produces a high rate of response just prior to
reinforcement
2. Variable Interval: “A reinforcer is given for the first
correct response made after a varied amount of time has
passed since the last reinforced response. Responses
made during the time interval are not reinforced” (Coon
255). It results in a steady rate of response
Ratio Schedule: Based on the number of responses.
1. Fixed Ratio: “A set number of correct responses must be
made to get a reinforcer”(Coon 255). High rate of
response until reinforcer is received after which is usually
a pause
2. Variable Ratio: “A varied number of correct responses
must be made to get a reinforcer”(Coon 255). Results in a
high and steady rate of response.
If we give reinforcement at the right time, as a part of an
organized learning then it promotes learning. Shaping is an operant
conditioning procedure in which “closer and closer approximations
of the desired behaviors are reinforced, as a way of eventually
producing the desired behavior”(Uba 189). Extinction is the process
in which reinforcement is discontinued as a result of which there is a
decline in the previously reinforced response. An interesting process
called spontaneous recovery is one in which there is an occasional
reappearance of an extinct behavior. Two other major concepts are
generalization and discrimination. Generalization is “behaving in a
particular way because the behavior has been reinforced in similar
situations or because similar behavior has been reinforced”(Uba
192). Discrimination is “distinguishing among, and responding
differently to stimuli that may be similar”(Uba 192).
The behaviorist model has tried to establish a cause and effect
relationship on our behavior and while this can be helpful to predict
human behavior, it is not always correct. We have gained the
behaviorist point of view; animals and humans are basically reactive
organisms whose actions are shaped in predictable ways by external
stimuli and reinforcers.
This is true to some extent. Besides the operant model discussed
above, the behaviorist model also believes in the theory of classical
or Pavlovian conditioning. It is defined as “a form of learning in
which a neutral stimulus that does not naturally cause an automatic
response becomes linked to another stimulus that does, resulting in
the neutral stimulus arousing the automatic response” (Uba 179).
There are two basic categories of stimuli and responses in this
model:
Unconditioned Stimulus(US): a stimulus that automatically
elicits a response. No learning involved.
Unconditioned Response(UR): a response that occurs due to
the unconditioned stimulus. No learning involved.
Conditioned Stimulus(CS): a neutral stimulus that is paired
with unconditioned stimulus. It is learned.
Conditioned Response(CR): a response that follows the
conditioned stimulus. It is learned.
Both classical and operant conditioning theories help explain
human behavior and give us a better understanding of it. We
probably learn to like or dislike many foods and odors through a
process of classical conditioning. If a person likes a particular kind
of food, then the chances are that the same person will be attracted
to other food that smells similar to the first kind of food. The second
food as a CS and elicits a CR. Many people begin to dislike a food, if
they fall ill after it, even if the two events are unrelated. It also
explains how we begin to fear objects. For example, “cancer patients
develop a fear of places and objects that have been associated with
their chemotherapy treatments – the sound of the nurse’s voice, the
smell of rubbing alcohol, the waiting room of a clinic”(Jacobsen). It
also helps us to explain the human addiction to drugs. The drug’s
effect is considered to be the US, which produces a UR in the form
of a compensatory physiological response in the body, such as an
increased resistance to the drug. Cues in the environment act as a
CS which induce an increased body resistance and therefore more of
the drug is required to produce the usual effects.
Operant conditioning helps us understand why people don’t
always behave as they would like. When a person goes to a
motivation workshop or personal growth group, then the person is
given a lot of reinforcements, which tend to make the person believe
that their way of interacting with others has changed. But when they
return home, since their environment has the same old punishers
and reinforcers and since everyone acts the same, they feel that
their new responses have failed to generalize. An important use of
the behaviorist theory is that it helps us understand infants better. It
gives parents a greater sense of control over their young infants. It
also helps mentally challenged people to control inappropriate
behavior and focus their attention on constructive tasks. The operant
model has helped explain how much of punishment and reward are
necessary and that finds use not only within households but also
within corporations when managers try to increase the productivity
of their employees.
The constant battle between nature and nurture often makes us
wonder about our behavior. Is it based on nurture or nature or both?
The behaviorist model makes us believe that our behavior is based
entirely on what we learn. But that is not the truth. I think that our
behavior is a conglomeration of instincts we’ve learned and instincts
we’ve got from our genes. If I were asked to give a statistic, I’d
probably say that the division of our behavior between nature and
nurture is about fifty-fifty. That’s just because there is no evidence to
prove that there should be more of nature or more of nurture.
The main reason why I think that our behavior is a combination
of both and not just learning is because the behaviorist theory
doesn’t explain insight, creative thinking and similar processes. It
also doesn’t explain why some people behave and think differently
from others while performing the same tasks. That probably
indicates that there’s more to behavior than just learning. With the
advances in technology and medicine, psychologists have gone
deeper into the biology of human beings and it has helped to explain
why we act the way we do. At the same time, our DNA and genes
don’t really determine everything we do because our environment
and the people around us play an equally important role in our lives
and our behavior.
Our behavior is determined by several factors. If we try and
trace our stages of growth from birth to death we can see how the
factors affecting our behavior come in and to what extent they affect
us. At birth, all we have is our genes. But the moment we enter this
world, our interactions with our parents and the environment in
general begin to affect us and what we do. In every stage, our
behavior is a combination of the two. Although it might seem that
learning is all that affects our behavior that is not the case. Our
behavior has a preprogrammed and a learned part.
Human beings go through the process of learning all throughout
their lives. Even though people might say that they stop learning
once they become adults, the process goes on. The fate of the
behavior that we have learned over time depends on other’s
response to it. If we get praise or are encouraged whenever we
behave in that particular manner, then the praise acts as
reinforcement and we continue acting the way we do. If however, we
get a negative response, we think twice about repeating the same
behavior. The greater the frequency of the negative response and
the stronger its impact, greater are the chances that we will change
our behavior. This is true for both the preprogrammed and learned
parts of our behavior.
Our behavior can also be affected by our needs. According to
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, human beings have several needs
ranging from hunger and thirst to aesthetic and self-actualization
needs. He formed a pyramid as below:
(Heffner)
According to Maslow, human beings needed to satisfy their lower
needs to get to their higher needs. These needs could motivate the
individual to modify his or her behavior. For example, the primitive
man used to go out hunting to satisfy the need for food. He used to
stay in his cave at night to sleep and to feel secure. Rewards,
punishments and needs affect our behavior.
The concepts of shaping can be used to produce a desired
behavior. The steps involved are often called successive
approximations because they successively approximate or get closer
and closer to the desired behavior. Research has found that this
technique works well for phobias and anxiety related disorders. Take
arachnophobia for instance, the fear of spiders. To be diagnosed with
a phobia you must have both an irrational fear that is not justified by
current outcome and significant distress or negative consequences
because of this irrational fear. To modify this fear or the behavior of
avoiding or running away from spiders, behaviorists would apply the
concept of shaping.
Another method used to modify behavior is systematic
desensitization. In systematic desensitization, a hierarchy is created,
typically by the client alone or with the assistance of the behavioral
therapist. Often the hierarchy includes imagination such as imaging a
spider crawling toward you or imaging a spider on your hand as
intermediate steps. The goal of this treatment is the same as shaping
and reinforcement; to eliminate the fear associated with the object or
situation. As you can see, changing behavior is not too difficult. It is
simpler with animals than humans, because all animals care about are
their psychological needs.
If we go down to the basics of behavior and try to measure how
much of it is a part of our personality, we stumble upon an interesting
dilemma. It is not true that our personality is solely controlled by our
behavior. But our behavior does play a role. Personality can be
defined as “the relatively stable combination of beliefs, attitudes,
values, motives, temperament, and behavior patterns, arising from
underlying, internal inclinations that an individual exhibits in many
situations” (Uba 479). Personality therefore is a mixture of several
ingredients.
There are several theories about personalities and though each
one of them is not completely true, they offer the partial truth. Some
of our personality depends on our past childhood experiences and
present, unconscious motives inside of us. Some of it comes from our
past experience and our cognitive structure and values. Another major
contributor are our genes and their interaction with the environment.
Our personality also depends on the present, on the choices in front of
us and on our decisions. Learning does play an important part, but I’d
have to say that it contributes for about 20-30% of our personality.
The behavior theory sheds light on a lot of aspects about human
behavior and even though it is not absolutely correct, it provides a
unique perspective on the why we behave the way we do.
WORKS CITED
Benjamin, L.T., J. Roy Hopkins and Jack R. Nation. Psychology : Third
Edition. New York: Macmillan College Publishing Company,
1994.
Coon, Dennis. Essentials of Psychology: Ninth Edition. Toronto:
Thomson-Wadsworth, 2003.
Heffner, Christopher L. “Personality Synopsis.” AllPsych Online: The
Virtual Psychology Classroom. 15 Aug 2003. 8 Dec. 2003
<http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/
behavior_modification.html>.
Jacobsen, Paul B., Dana H. Bovbjerg, Marc D. Schwartz and Clifford A.
Hudis. “Conditioned emotional distress in women receiving
chemotherapy for breast cancer.” Journal of Consulting &
Clinical Psychology 63 (1995): 108-114.
Jensen, A.R. “Psychometric g as a focus on concerted research effort.”
Intelligence 11(1987): 193-198.
Lefton, Lester A. Interactive Psychology Online. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon, 2001.
Uba, Laura and Karen Huang. Psychology. New York: Addison Wesley
Longman, 1999.
Wade, Carole and Carol Tavris. Invitation to Psychology. New York:
Addison Wesley Longman, 1999.