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Behaviorism

Behaviorism is the study of observable behavior and emphasizes environmental influences. Classical conditioning involves associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response. Ivan Pavlov's dog experiments demonstrated classical conditioning. Operant conditioning, proposed by B.F. Skinner, involves reinforcing voluntary behaviors through consequences to increase or decrease those behaviors. Reinforcers strengthen behaviors while punishments weaken them. Behaviorists seek to understand and predict behavior through conditioning principles.

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28 views

Behaviorism

Behaviorism is the study of observable behavior and emphasizes environmental influences. Classical conditioning involves associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response. Ivan Pavlov's dog experiments demonstrated classical conditioning. Operant conditioning, proposed by B.F. Skinner, involves reinforcing voluntary behaviors through consequences to increase or decrease those behaviors. Reinforcers strengthen behaviors while punishments weaken them. Behaviorists seek to understand and predict behavior through conditioning principles.

Uploaded by

Hsu Sandi Aung
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Behaviorism

What is Behaviorism?

 Behavioral psychology is the study of external behavior


 Behavior is objective and observable, whereas what goes on in one’s mind can never
really be known or measured (the mind is a “black box”)
 Behavior is the response of an organism to stimuli.

Classical Conditioning
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849 – 1936)
 Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician who developed the idea of classical
conditioning (1927) using dogs.
 awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for research on the
digestive system.
Classical Conditioning
A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus begins to produce a
response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus.

 Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)


o stimulus that unconditionally--automatically and naturally--triggers a response
 Unconditioned Response (UCR)
o unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus
 Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
o originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned
stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response
 Conditioned Response (CR)
o learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus.

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Pavlov’s Findings

 Stimulus generalization: it happens when the organism that is being conditioned learns
to associate other similar stimulus.
 Extinction: it happens when operant behavior that has been previously reinforced no
longer produces reinforcing consequences, the behavior gradually stops occurring.
 Spontaneous Recovery: Sometimes a learned response can suddenly reemerge even
after a period of extinction.
 Stimulus Discrimination: the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and
other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
 Higher Order Conditioning: the use of a previously conditioned stimulus to condition
further responses, in much the same way unconditioned stimuli are used.

Edward Lee Thorndike


Connectionism Theory
Three Primary Laws
• Law of Effect
• Law of Exercise
• Law of Readiness
Law of Effect

 The connection between stimulus and response is strengthened when the consequence
is positive.
 The connection between stimulus and response is weakened the consequence is
negative.
Law of Exercise

 The more an S-R bond is practiced, the stronger it will become.


Law of Readiness

 The more readiness the learner has to respond to the stimulus, the stronger the bond
between them will be.
 When a person is ready to respond to a stimulus is not made to respond, it becomes
annoying to the person.
 When a person is not at all ready to respond to a stimulus and is asked to respond, it
also becomes annoying.

2
Principles Derived from Thorndike’s Connectionism

 Learning requires both practice and rewards.


 Learning is the result of association between stimulus(S) and response(R).
 A series of S-R connections can be chained together if they belong to the same action
sequence.
 The nature and frequency of S-R pairing strengthens or weaken the association.
 Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered situations.
 Intelligence is a function of the number of connections learned.
 Learning is incremental not insightful.
 Learning is not mediated by ideas.
John Watson
Keys Principles of John Watson’s Theory

 Behavior is observable and measureable.


 Environment shapes behavior.
 Learning is a process of conditioning.
 Behavior can be predicted and controlled.
John Watson’s Behaviorism
John B. Watson took a great interest in Ivan Pavlov’s experiment on dogs and conditioning,
and wanted to see if he could take behavioral conditioning one step further by classically
conditioning emotional reactions in people.
The participant of the experiment was a nearly nine-month-old, “Little Albert”. Watson and
his research assistant, Rosalie Raynor exposed the baby to a variety of stimuli and recorded
the baby’s reactions. The stimuli included a rabbit, a monkey, a white rat, burning
newspapers, and masks. At first, the child showed absolutely no fear to any of the stimuli.
The next time Watson exposed the child to the white rat, he simultaneously used a hammer
and hit a metal pipe, which created an extremely loud noise. The baby began to cry from the
noise. Watson then repeated the pairing of the loud noise with the white rat. Eventually, the
baby began crying just from seeing the white rat, without any noise being paired with it.
"Little Albert" experiment
He was judged to show fear whenever a long steel bar was unexpectedly struck with a
hammer just behind his back.

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B. F. Skinner
Operant Conditioning
 Operant conditioning can be described as a process that attempts to modify behavior
through the use of positive and negative reinforcement.
 Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a particular
behavior and a consequence.
 The term “operant conditioning” originated by the behaviorist B. F. Skinner, who
believed that one should focus on the external, observable causes of behavior (rather
than try to unpack the internal thoughts and motivations)
What is the difference between operant conditioning and classical conditioning?

 In operant conditioning, a voluntary response is then followed by a reinforcing stimulus.


In this way, the voluntary response (e.g. studying for an exam) is more likely to be done
by the individual.
 In contrast, classical conditioning is when a stimulus automatically triggers an
involuntary response.
REINFORCEMENT
Reinforcement is anything that strengthens the desired response.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENTS

 Positive Reinforcement are favorable events or outcomes that are given to the individual
after the desired behavior. This may come in the form of praise, rewards, etc.
 Negative Reinforcement typically are characterized by the removal of an undesired or
unpleasant outcome after the desired behavior. A response is strengthened as
something considered negative is removed.
 The goal in both of these cases of reinforcement is for the behavior to increase.
PUNISHMENT
Punishment is when the increase of something undesirable attempts to cause a decrease in
the behavior that follows.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT

 Positive punishment is when unfavorable events or outcomes are given in order to


weaken the response that follows.
 Negative punishment is characterized by when a favorable event or outcome is
removed after an undesired behavior occurs.
 The goal in both of these cases of punishment is for a behavior to decrease.

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SHAPING OF BEHAVIOR
The process of guiding an organism’s behavior to the desired outcome through the use of
successive approximation to a final desired behavior.
CHAINS OF BEHAVIORS
That is reinforced when they are a series of steps are needed to be learnt.
REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES
1. Continuous reinforcement schedule
The desired response is reinforced every time it occurs. The problem is that because the
organism is used to receiving the reinforcement after every behavior, the responder may
give up quickly when it doesn’t appear.
2. Partial reinforcement schedule
The responses are sometimes reinforced, and sometimes not. In comparison to continuous
reinforcement, partial reinforcement schedules lead to slower initial learning, but they also
lead to greater resistance to extinction.
3. Fixed-interval schedule
Behavior is reinforced for the first response after a specific amount of time has passed.
4. Variable-interval schedule
Behavior is reinforced for the first response after an average, but unpredictable, amount of
time has passed.
5. Fixed-ratio schedule
Behavior is reinforced after a specific number of responses.
6. Variable-ratio schedule
Behavior is reinforced after an average, but unpredictable, number of responses.

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