Psychology 1General Psychology

Christopher Gade, PhDOffice: 3412 Tolman HallOffice Hours: MW 3:10-4:10 Email: gadecj@berkeley.edu

Class MW 2:00-3:00155 Dwinelle

ReviewingIn our last class, we learned about:

What behaviorism is all about

Where the field came from, and what its goals were

How we tend to pair information

Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)Originated the idea of instrumentallearning

Studied learningby examining thetrial and errorbehavior of cats intheir attempts toescape from puzzleboxes

Instrumental learning: the study of how our behavior came out of nothingness.

Some of the Thorndike LawsLaw of Recency: the most recent response is likely to reoccurRestaurant choice example

Law of Use: Connections become strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is discontinuedExercise at the gym example

Law of Effect: Behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely; behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Law of Recency: You choose a restaurant for lunch. The next day, if you were thinking whats for lunch, then the restaurant that you went yesterday is more likely to show up in your head. We have a quick path to a behavior because we did it recently. Also, if there is something that prevents you from going to that restaurant, then the law of recency effect diminished.Law of Use: If a situation is repeated, then a particular behavior becomes more regular. For example, if you go to the gym regularly, then you usually adapt a routine. If you stopped going on a regular basis, then your routine slowly fades away. When routines are being formed, you usually start with random activities.

Law of Effect: When the routines are being formed, the routine that is the most favorable is best retained.

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)Skinner attempted to expand onThorndikes original theories ofinstrumental learning. He proposedthat the learning process has a very predictable response to rewards and punishments. His work set out to show how those responses to behavior influenced future behaviors (e.g. operant conditioning).The majority of Skinners work was done on rats and pigeons in elaborate boxes that he designed. These boxes were called Skinner Boxes.Skinner tries to expand Thorndikes theories of instrumental learning by going into the realm of operant conditioning. Responses to behavior influence future behaviors.

15:40

Operant ConditioningThe process of learning to associate a behavior with a consequence. This typically results in behavior that maximizes reinforcing and minimizes punishing events.Reinforcement: any outcome/response that increases the future probability of the most recent behaviorPunishment: any outcome/response that decreases the frequency of the preceding behaviorWhat makes something reinforcing or punishing?Biologically usefulIntrinsically satisfyingRestores equilibrium

But theres moreThe 2x2 Matrix of Operant Conditioning:

Positive reinforcement: an introduction of a pleasurable stimulus after a behavior, which will increase the likelihood of the future occurrence of the behavior (e.g. chocolate cake).Negative reinforcement: a removal of (or the avoidance of) an aversive stimulus after a behavior, which will increase the likelihood of the future occurrence of the behavior (e.g. spanking).Positive punishment: an introduction of an aversive stimulus after a behavior, which will decrease the likelihood of the future occurrence of the behavior (e.g. bark collar shock).Negative punishment: a removal of (or a threatening to remove) a pleasurable stimulus after a behavior, which will decrease the likelihood of the future occurrence of a behavior (e.g. taking away your allowance).Not only are there reinforcements and punishments in operant conditioning, but these responses are either positive (adding something), or negative (taking something away).Positive reinforcement: you give yourself ice cream to encourage studying

Negative reinforcement: You remove something so that a behavior is occurring more frequently. In this case, you threaten with a punishment. It is not the same as administering the actual threat, but just letting the subject know of the threat.

Positive punishment: You give something in hopes of reducing the behavior frequency. The bark collar will GIVE shock to reduce barking rateNegative punishment: You remove something in hopes of reducing the frequency of a behavior. You get your allowance taken away if you stay out late.

What type of conditioning is this?Positive punishment. The dad hopes to reduce the frequency of crying and is doing so by giving fear to the kid.

What about this one?The father hopes to reduce the frequency of his son asking question. It is negative punishment.

A review of other related behavioral conceptsExtinction: a return of a behavior to baseline when reinforcement/punishment stops

Generalization: increasing or decreasing similar responses due to punishment or reinforcement

Discrimination: only increasing or decreasing the specific response that was reinforced or punishedExtinction: In this scenario, it is the process of dissociation of a behavior and the consequences. Itll revert back to baseline.

Generalization: You perform similar actions in expectation that you will receive the same punishment or reinforcement. IE: You now that when you smile, you receive chocolate. Now you might start raising your hand in hopes of receiving chocolate.

Discrimination: Exact opposite of generalization.

Important Terms Found Only in Operant ConditioningPrimary reinforcers: a reinforcer that automatically increases the likelihood of a responseA treat or pettingSecondary reinforcers: a reinforcer that has been learned through classical conditioning to increase the likelihood of a responseA clicker

First, you can use primary reinforce to get a dog to elicit a particular response. This is operant conditioning. Now, if you use classical conditioning and pair it with a secondary reinforce such as clicker, you can get conditional stimulus eliciting a conditional response.

Other Concepts in Operant ConditioningShaping: rewarding successive approximations of a behavior thats being reinforcesChaining: reinforcing combinations of learned behaviors that are the paired togetherForward chainingBackward chaining

Shaping: You reward someone as he performs actions that brings him closer to performing the target behavior. Pidgeon example.

Chaining: You shape all sort of the behaviors, and then train the animal to perform the behaviors in a particular order. Forward chaining is making the animal learn the order from first to end. Backward chaining is making the animal learn the order from last to first.c

Different Schedules of ReinforcementContinuous reinforcement: reinforcement for every correct response

Partial/intermittent reinforcement: occasional reinforcement for a correct responsea. Fixed ratio: Reward for a behavior after X responses. Causes faster responders to get more rewards. Produces high rates of responding, but quick extinction when the reinforcement is removed.b. Variable ratio: Reward for a behavior after a variable and unpredictable numbers of responses. Gambling is a great example of this reward system. It is very hard to extinguish after the connection is made.c. Fixed interval: Reward for a behavior after X amount of time has passed. The responses are rather sparse in down time, but get more vigorous right before time X.d. Variable interval: Reward for a behavior after a variable and unpredictable amount of time. This causes slow, steady responding.Variable schedule refers to how a reward is given at a random frequency.

Variable ratio: For example, you may be reward for an occurrence of a behavior for this time, but not be rewarded until after several attempts later.

Variable interval: You may be reward for this TIME, but need a random amount of time to pass again in order to be rewarded, no matter how many attempts are made.Fixed ratio: Reward is given after a set amount of attempts. Quick extinction when reinforcement is removed

Fixed interval: Reward is given after a certain amount of time passed, no matter how many attempts were made. Because of this, attempts may be rare in the beginning, only to increase in frequency as the appointed time approaches.

Responses x Time DiagramVR = Variable RatioFR = Fixed RatioVI = Variable IntervalFI = Fixed Interval

As you can see, Variable Ratio produces the most response.

Both Variable Ratio and Variable Interval have a straight slope. Variable interval has a slower schedule.

Fixed Ratio has periodical pauses.

Also, it is noted that if you reward people less as time passes on a Variable Ratio schedule, people tends to increase response even more.Most students attendance behavior are on a Fixed Interval schedule.

For some reasons, animal tends to like the Fixed Interval schedule, even though it isnt exactly beneficial for them.

Effectiveness of ReinforcementAll things being equal, most people learn fastest with immediate reinforcement or immediate punishment

Punishment tends to be less effective than reinforcement, except when temporarily suppressing undesirablebehavior

Vicarious conditioning canalso be effective

Vicarious conditioning is learning a behavior by watching the result of someone else. Basically, if someone observes a subject getting a speeding ticket as punishment, then the observer will have a reduced frequency of eliciting the behavior that results in the speeding ticket.

The Next Few WeeksPaper 2 will be covered in sections this week and is due in next weeks sections

Well also be moving from behaviorism to the world of social psychologythe last topic before exam 2

If you have any questions about this topic, dont hesitate to ask me them

Have a good day!

**