Unit Three: Behavior and Cognition. Marshall High School Mr. Cline Psychology Unit Three AD

Transcription

1 Unit Three: Behavior and Cognition Marshall High School Mr. Cline Psychology Unit Three AD

2 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule The schedule of reinforcement should be based on desired behaviors, associations between behaviors and rewards and length of time behaviors should be maintained. Let's try a few scenarios to test your knowledge. In the following scenarios identify which type of reinforcement schedule is being used:

3 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule Scenario 1: Starbucks wants to ensure a steady flow of customers. The company decides to provide reward cards to its customers - for every five lattes purchased the customer gets one free.

4 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule Scenario 1: Starbucks wants to ensure a steady flow of customers. The company decides to provide reward cards to its customers - for every five lattes purchased the customer gets one free. The correct response here is fixed ratio schedule.

5 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule Scenario 2: A teacher gives pop quizzes to ensure students are prepared for every class.

6 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule Scenario 2: A teacher gives pop quizzes to ensure students are prepared for every class. The correct response is variable interval schedule.

7 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule Scenario 3: A student receives a grade at the end of every semester, which counts towards credit for graduation.

8 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule Scenario 3: A student receives a grade at the end of every semester, which counts towards credit for graduation. The correct response here is fixed interval.

9 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule Scenario 4: A person buys scratch-off lottery tickets in hopes of winning millions. Correct response?

10 How to Condition Behavior Choosing A Schedule Scenario 4: A person buys scratch-off lottery tickets in hopes of winning millions. Correct response? Variable ratio schedule.

11 So do you learn through observation or through sudden understanding? Let s take a look at two different methods of learning, which can affect your behavior and problem-solving ability. Observational Learning Do answers suddenly come to you in a burst of clarity? Or do you learn by watching others? Most people experience both. One common type of learning involves observing and mimicking others. This social modeling is called observational learning. You may recall that Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura conducted a social experiment that illustrated how aggressive behavior can be learned by watching violence on TV and in real life.

12 Monkey see, monkey do! * Conditioning Observational Learning First, a group of children watched an adult hit, kick and sit on an inflatable boxing toy in the shape of a clown, called a Bobo doll. Next, the kids were allowed to play with toys for a short period, after which the toys were were taken away in order to build a feeling of frustration. Then the children were allowed to play with the Bobo doll. Not surprisingly, the majority of kids imitated the adult's behavior, hitting the Bobo doll, even using the toy hammers and guns provided. While this experiment may seem strange and even a little cruel, there is an important lesson to be learned. We take our cues for appropriate behavior from our parents, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends and other role models.

13 The chimp finally reached the food, not by gradually learning from its previous failed attempts, but by suddenly coming to the realization of a solution. * Conditioning Insight Now think about a time when you were puzzling over a problem and, all at once, a light bulb went on in your head. Suddenly, the solution was clear. Those 'Aha!' moments are called insights. Wolfgang Köhler, one of the founders of Gestalt psychology, contributed to our knowledge of insight learning. Although his research applies to humans, Köhler observed how a chimpanzee solved a problem. Bananas were placed high up in the top of a cage out of reach of the chimp. After its efforts were unsuccessful, the chimp stopped and thought over the situation.

14 Insight Using a stick, he could reach the bananas. So, what do chimps and Bobo dolls have in common? Well, besides the fact that both stories have to do with solving problems by hitting them, they both show ways in which humans can modify behavior. In one case, the method is modeling: after being shown a way to behave, we may employ that method as one that is clearly acceptable. In the other, you need to develop a new way of approaching a problem: there is no modeling to follow, and so a new solution arises and is attempted. In both cases, learning takes place and you have a new way to solve problems.

15 I loved it when I was real little. On a cold day there was nothing like a hot grilled cheese sandwich and a steaming bowl of tomato soup! * Conditioning Insight The two can work together as well. Once you have an insight into a solution, others will see it and model their own behavior on yours. So, how can biological influences affect conditioning? Have you ever had food poisoning? Now, we are going to see how natural responses can accelerate or hinder conditioning. Taste Aversion Is there a food that you won't eat anymore or a drink you can't stomach? For me, it is tomato soup.

16 Taste Aversion For years, it was what was for dinner and lunch when we were home from school, mostly because my mother was a lazy cook! Then one day, it just seemed to taste funny, and I ended up throwing up and being very sick for a couple of days after. Since that time, I have not been able to even stomach the idea of a creamy tomato liquid, and the thought of it makes me ill! Even with pastas, my sauce has to be somewhat chunky to avoid that smooth tomato texture and taste. You don't need to get sick from the same food more than once in order to develop disgust for it. There's an evolutionarily advantage to taste aversion, since it prevents us from eating something twice that might be toxic.

17 The Garcia Effect Taste aversion was first noticed by psychologist John Garcia in the 1950's. He was irradiating rats to see its effect on their behavior, and noticed that rats didn't want to eat the things they'd been fed shortly before being irradiated. Garcia theorized that this was because they were getting nauseous from the radiation. He conducted experiments to directly test this with sweetened vs. unsweetened water: he gave them sweetened water followed by no radiation, mild radiation, or strong radiation. After the experiment, the total sweetened water consumed by nonradiated rats was 80%, mildly radiated rats drank 40% and strongly radiated rats drank only 10% of the sugar water. These patterns were observed after only ONE trial.

18 The Garcia Effect The radiated rats were conditioned to link the taste of sweetened water with nausea and therefore avoided it. Since it accessed an evolutionarily-advantageous bodily defense mechanism, it was learned right away. Similarly, if you burn your finger on the stove, you don't have to do it more than once in order to learn not to. Instincts Being burned is a natural aversive stimulus, so conditioning is immediate. Natural instincts are another biological factor that can interfere with conditioning. Psychologists Keller and Marian Breland trained raccoons to put coins in a piggy bank.

19 Instincts Natural instincts are another biological factor that can interfere with conditioning. Psychologists Keller and Marian Breland trained raccoons to put coins in a piggy bank. They rewarded the raccoons with food for successful deposits. This worked with single coins, but when the researchers gave a raccoon more than one coin, the raccoon would sit and rub the coins together. By associating the coins with food, the raccoons' natural instinct to 'wash' food by rubbing it together was activated. Classical conditioning was inhibited by this natural response.