Behaviorism All that matters is 1) A persons behavior 2) A persons environment.

Behaviorism

• All that matters is

1) A persons behavior

2) A persons environment

Philosophical Roots

• 1) Empiricism

• 2) Associationism

• 3) Hedonism

Types of Learning

• 1) Habituation

• 2) Classical Conditioning

• 3) Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

• Edward Thorndike

Gradually it escapes quicker

A specific response become “strengthened” by being paired with a pleasant outcome

Law of Effect

• "Of several responses made to the same situation those which are accompanied or closely followed by satisfaction to the animal will, other things being equal, be more firmly connected with the situation, so that, when it recurs, they will be more likely to recur; those which are accompanied or closely followed by discomfort to the animal will, other things being equal, have their connections to the situation weakened, so that, when it recurs, they will be less likely to occur.

• Note: It is missing information about the internal state of the animal– Thorndike used hungry cats and rats!

Clark Hull

Needs

• Behavior is not just a function of the environment but also. . .

• Properties of the organism

All animals have certain needs (food)

Creates drives (drive for food)

Reducing drive (by eating) reinforces the behavior (eating)

Learning

• Both Hull and Thorndike felt their learning was the same as Pavlov’s classical conditioning

Hot and Cold Game

Skinner

B. F. Skinner

Noted differences between the types of learning.

How is classical conditioning different then either Thorndike’s or Hull’s theories?


• Classical = animal does nothing to its environment.

• Operant = The animal alters its environment.

Reinforcement Theory

• Operant Conditioning– Used to control behavior

• Behavior• Reward

• Behaviors that are rewarded are more likely to be performed in the future


• Operant Conditioning

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• Operant Conditioning

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Skinner Box

Skinner Box

• Sniffy Program


• Superstitious behavior– Baseball players

• Shaping behavior– Getting him to open the car door– Skinner legend

Group Activity

• Identify one behavior in yourself that you would like to change

• Determine a system of rewards and punishments that you could use to change this behavior

• Do you think this would work?

Did Skinner really raise his daughter in a Skinner Box?

Picture from Ladies' Home Journal: "Baby in a Box.”

Question

• Why are you going to college?

• What are you dating someone?

• Why are you listening to this lecture?

• You do all of these things because of a long history of rewards and punishments!

Classical vs. Operant Conditioning

• Classical– “Reactions” to the world– Emotions– Traits: anxiousness, neuroticism, depression

• Operant– “Actions” toward the world– Behaviors– Traits: Extraversion, argumentativeness, kindness

Behaviorism

• Pros– Controlling behavior– Focus on the observable

• Cons– Mental life

• Motivation• Thought• Cognition

Next theories• Keep the empirical rigor of behaviorism and add. . . .

• Cognition, thought, motivation, etc.

• Social learning– In Skinner box animals are alone

• We learn by watching others!

• Treat humans as active in selecting their environment– In Skinner box a rat is placed in there

• We select our environments and they will change because we are in them

– You at a party!

Theories

• Dollard and Miller’s Social Learning Theory

• Rotter’s Social Learning Theory

• Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

Dollard & Miller

Dollard and Miller

• Combines behaviorism and Freudian theory!

Habit Hierarchy

• All the behaviors a person might do

• From most likely to least likely

Habit Hierarchy

Flex muscles

Comb hair

Talk to a woman

Get a drink

Talk to Ponch

In a bar

But, this can change based on reinforcement or punishment

Activity

• Create your own habit hierarchy for being in the classroom

• List Top 5 habits

• Why do you think these are the top 5?

• How do you think we could change these?

• In order to learn -- John (an organism) must

• 1) Want something (a woman)

• 2) Notice something (perceive the woman)

• 3) Do something (talk to the woman)

• 4) Get something (a smile)

Note

• This is already different than behaviorism

• Dollard and Miller– Motivation (want something)

– Perception (notice something)

Note

• This is already different than behaviorism

• Behaviorism– Learning changes behavior

• Dollard and Miller– Learning changes the HH

• HH is a non-observable psychological entity

What do you want?

• Drives

• A psychological tension that feels good when it is reduced.

Need Drive

Drives

• Primary Drives

• Biologically built-in drives– Food, water, sex, avoid pain, etc.

• Secondary Drives

• Psychologically based– Love, prestige, money, power, etc.– Learned by being paired with primary drives

Imagine

John asks the Charlie's Angels out on a date

John gets rejected!

Is upset so he goes riding with Ponch

Arrests a person for no reason at all!

Why?

• Freud

• Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis– Natural reaction for any person (or animal) to

being blocked from a goal, will be the urge to lash out or injure.

– The more important the goal, the greater will be the aggressive impulse

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

• Different than Freud– No ID is needed (or ego)

• Same as Freud– Displacement

• e.g., riots

– Sublimation (can be constructive)

What is fun?

The story about me in the book

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

• Conflict between desire and fear

• Changes over time


• 1) An increase in drive strength will increase the tendency to approach or avoid a goal

VS.

If John wants to relieve a drive more than Ponch, John will also want the goal more!


• 2) Whenever there are two competing responses, the stronger one (the one with the greater drive) will win out.

Drive: Companionship Drive: Avoid rejection


• 3) The tendency to approach a positive goal increases the closer the one is to the goal

John sees the Angels across the roomJohn talks to them

John asks them back to his place


• 3) The tendency to approach a positive goal increases the closer the one is to the goal


• 4) The tendency to avoid a negative goal also increases the closer one is to the goal

John sees the Angels across the roomJohn talks to them

John asks them back to his place


• 5) Tendency 4 is stronger than tendency 3.

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Far from goal Near goal

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Avoidance

Approach

Group Activity

• Have you ever had something in the future that you were both looking forward to and dreading?

• Did your feelings about it change over time in the way Dollard and Miller describe?

Defense Mechanisms

• Freud’s explanation

• Dollard and Miller

• Negative Reinforcement– A reward that consists of the withdrawal of

aversive stimuli

Defense Mechanisms• Negative Reinforcement

• Any stopping of pain or anxiety is negatively reinforcing• The behavior that occurred before such cessation will

become more likely

Put your hand in the fire!

Defense Mechanisms

• Dollard and Miller

• DM are cognitive behaviors that are negatively reinforced because they remove anxiety

Defense Mechanism

• Denial

• Repression

• Reaction Formation

• Projection

• Rationalization

• Intellectualization

Defense Mechanisms

• Freud vs. Dollard and Miller

• Freud was right . . . . Perhaps too complicated

• Principle of Parsimony

Rotter’s Social Learning Theory

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Rotter

• Behaviorism would predict you would go for the biggest reward

• However, your beliefs (i.e., expectancies) are also important!

• Expectancy Value Theory

Elements

• Behavior Potential (BP)

• The probability that you will perform the behavior in question

• Higher the BP, more likely you will do it!

Elements

• Expectancy (E)

• A persons belief about how likely a behavior will bring about a goal

Expectancy

• If you think so:– “Asking out” has high expectancy

• If you do not think so:– “Asking out” has low expectancy

•If you ask a person out will they say yes?

Expectancy

• It is a belief

• Objective odds matter less then subjective odds

• Lottery!

Expectancy

• Specific (E’)

• Belief about a certain behavior at a certain time

• “If I ask Batman out today at lunch will he say yes?”

Questionnaire

• LC questionnaire

Expectancy

• Specific (E’)

• Belief about a certain behavior at a certain time• “If I ask Batman out today at lunch will he say

yes?”

• General (GE)• Belief if anything a person does is likely to make

a difference• “Nothing I do is going to matter anyway – why

bother asking Batman or anyone out!”

Expectancy

• General Expectancy

• Like a trait

• High GE (Internal locus of control)– Energetic, highly motivated

• Low GE (External locus of control)– Depressed, low motivation

Expectancy

• Both E’ and GE are important

E = Expectancy for a behavior to bring about a reward

GE = General expectancy

E’ = Specific expectancy for the behavior

N = number of times you have been in this situation

N

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Elements

• Reinforcement Value (RV)

• The subjective benefit of a reward

• How much do you really care about the outcome?

Reinforcement Value

• How much do you care about getting that date?

• How much do you care if you are rejected?

• How much do you care about doing school work instead?

• Note: RV is a relative term!

Putting it all together

• How do you predict BP?

)&( RVEfBP

Behaviorism All that matters is 1) A persons behavior 2) A persons environment.

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