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General Psychology 1
Classical Conditioning – Module 20
Operant Conditioning – Module 21
Cognitive (Latent) Learning – Module 21
March 29, 2005
Class #17
A conditioned phobia…

Watson and Raynor (1920)

Behavioral psychologists John Watson and grad assistant
Rosalie Raynor taught an 11-month old infant to become
afraid of a gentle white laboratory rat





At the beginning of the study, “Little Albert” was unafraid of
the white rat and played freely with the animal
While he was playing with the rat, the experimenters
frightened the child by making a loud noise behind him
The baby was startled and began to cry
They repeated this several times
Thereafter, he avoided the rat and would cry whenever
it was brought close to him
“Little Albert”
In Pavlovian terms, a bond had been
established between the sight of the rat
(CS) and the arousal of Albert's
autonomic nervous system (CR)
 Once this S-R bond was fixed, fear could
also be elicited by showing Albert any
furry object…
 Little Albert became fearful of other
furry animals, Watson's hair, a sealskin
coat, even a bearded Santa Claus mask

Little Albert experiments…
Classical Conditioning
Explanation for PTSD…
 This
behavioral viewpoint helps to
explain why people posttraumatic
stress…

This mental disorder involves a variety of
anxiety-related symptoms that start
after a particularly traumatic event and
then continue for a long time
Behavioral Explanation
Classically conditioned fear response is
taking place (see below):

UCR
(fear, terror, etc)
NS + UCS

(setting) + (trauma)
* Only takes one pairing
UCR
(fear, terror, etc)

UCS
(traumatic event)


CS
(setting)

CR
(fear, terror, etc)
* Since it only takes one pairing it doesn’t fit
classical conditioning perfectly
Conditioned Taste Aversion

Also, doesn't fit exactly within all the rules
of classical conditioning…
 Occurs reliably after only a single trial
(one pairing)
 Timing doesn't seem to be much of a
factor – strong learning is taking place
despite delays of minutes or hours or
more
Garcia and Koelling (1966)

Rats drink flavored water from tubes that flashed
light and made noise when the tubes were
licked…

Group 1:
 Rats
were given electric shocks to their feet
two seconds after beginning to drink

Group 2:
 Rats
were exposed to X rays (which made
them sick) while they drank

Later, both groups were tested with a tube of
flavored water producing lights and noise and a
tube of unflavored water that was not producing
lights and noise… so rats are basically given a
choice between these two tubes to drink from
Garcia and Koelling (1966)


Group 1 (rats that had been shocked) avoided the
tube producing the lights and noise while Group 2
(rats that had been made sick) avoided only the
flavored water
Conclusion:


Evidently, rats (and other species) have a builtin predisposition to associate illness mostly with
what they have eaten or drunk (Group 2 rats)
and to associate skin pain mostly with what they
have seen or heard (Group 1 rats)
This is an example of biopreparedness –
organisms are "biologically prepared" or
"genetically tuned" to develop certain
conditioned associations
Timing Is Everything

The precise timing of the NS/UCS pairings
has a great influence on whether the NS
can be reliably conditioned into a CS and
thus reliably produce the CR…

Classical Conditioning works best when the NS
precedes the UCS…
 Forward-conditioning
 Example: Tone/Food
Timing Is Everything

If done opposite (backward conditioning)
then learning is very slow…


Example: Food/Tone
If done at the same time (simultaneous
conditioning) learning is even less likely to
occur.

Example: Tone and Food are presented at the
exact same time
Predictability

The higher the likelihood, the higher the
amount of conditioning
Signal Strength

A conditioned response will be stronger is
the UCS is strong

Example: MilkBone works better with my dog
than a pickle
Attention




The role of awareness often comes into play
concerning learning
In the natural environment sometimes more than
one NS precedes the UCS
Here, the role of attention can influence which CS
becomes associated with the UCS
Example: Before being struck by lightning a child
was taking a sip of a soft drink, was watching a
dog, and was listening to a song…what then
becomes the CS
Attention
Insofar as conditioning is concerned is
their thinking going on? Is there a
cognitive component or is more reactions?
Instincts?
 Classically conditioned taste aversions to
things that can cause an illness especially
seem to have an awareness component
involved

Systematic Desensitization

Wolpe (1958)



Attempted to counter-condition people
suffering from phobias
In counter-conditioning the stimulus is paired
with a new response which is incompatible
with the old one
Wolpe basically utilizes an anxiety hierarchy to
gradually but systematically desensitize the
patient over several therapy sessions
Systematic Desensitization of a
Spider Phobia

Show a picture of a spider to the
patient


Toy spider that looks fake


HR goes up – but talk to them – get them to relax – eventually they are
okay
A real dead spider


HR goes up – but talk to them – get them to relax – eventually they are
okay
Toy spider that looks real


HR goes up – but talk to them – get them to relax – eventually they are
okay
HR goes up – but talk to them – get them to relax – eventually they are
okay
A live spider

HR goes up – but talk to them – get them to relax – eventually they are
okay
Systematic Desensitization
The hypothesis here is that a relaxed state
cannot co-exist with a state of fear. Its
one or the other…cannot be
simultaneously anxious and relaxed
 Therefore, if you can repeatedly relax
someone (see spider example) when they
are faced with anxiety-producing stimuli –
you will gradually eliminate their anxiety
 The trick is to proceed gradually

Criticism of Systematic
Desensitization
Wolpe’s critics say there is no attempt to
achieve insight into the underlying cause
of the fear
 Wolpe says “so what”



He’s not really concerned about what caused it
as long as its alleviated
Only concern is that the maladaptive behavior
is cured and that patients feel better about
themselves and begin acting in ways that will
bring them greater life satisfaction
Implications for Advertising
Learning Theory in Action

Advertisers utilizes classical conditioning
for its persuasive abilities…
 Gorn (1982)
 Just like Pavlov's dogs learned to
connect the sound of a bell…food
consumers associate stimuli such as
advertising messages of status and
quality, with various products and
brands
 For some reason, these connections
do not occur as quickly in consumers
Implications for Advertising
Learning Theory in Action
Rescorla (1988)
 The stimuli must be paired with the
product several times
 This may be why there is a great deal of
importance regarding frequency levels
in media planning
 Sissors and Bumba (1996)
 A consumer must be exposed to an
advertising message several times
before it is effective

Conditioning Consumers
(Stimulus Generalization)
Remember, Pavlov's dogs would also
salivate when exposed to other noises
similar to bells…same idea with
advertising
 Consumers often respond to products
resembling another brand

Generalization

Kanner (1989)


Advertisers evidently understand the benefits of
association as "roughly 80% of new products
are actually extensions of existing brands or
product lines“
Solomon (1994)

For example, a store brand mouthwash may be
packaged to resemble a leading brand name in
hopes that the consumer will evoke a response
similar to the leading brand and believe that it
shares similar qualities
Conditioning Consumers
(Stimulus Discrimination)
 Solomon


(1994)
In a similar manner, brand names will often use
discrimination in which certain stimuli are
weakened, such as store brands, so that they
are not associated with the response
Manufacturers of well established brands will
urge consumers not to buy “cheap imitations”,
because the result will not be what they expect
A problem with conditioning
consumers…

McSweeney and Bierley (1984)


Reported that sometimes stimuli are
weakened because consumers are exposed to
them while the product is not present
Popular songs are often heard in
advertisements, but they are also often
heard in other situations
Instrumental Conditioning

E. L. Thorndike (1905)

Described the learning that
was governed by his "law of
effect" as instrumental
conditioning because
responses are strengthened
when they are instrumental
in producing rewards
 Law
of Effect
 Responses that are
rewarded are more
likely to be repeated
and responses that
are produce
discomfort are less
likely to be repeated
Thorndike's Puzzle Box

In his classic experiment, a cat was locked
in the box and enticed to escape by using
food that was placed out of the reach from
the box
 The box included ropes, levers, and
latches that the cat could use to escape
 Trial and error behavior would lead to
ultimate success (usually within three
minutes)
 Thorndike felt we learned things
through trial and error – awareness
Gestalt Viewpoint
 Wolfgang

Kohler
A Gestalt psychologist had an opposing
view is that we learn things implicitly –
unawareness – natural insight
 Example: gorilla in a cage – food out
of reach – but stick is not…
Operant Conditioning
 Operant

Conditioning
A type of learning in which voluntary
(controllable and non-reflexive)
behavior is strengthened if it is
reinforced and weakened if it is
punished (or not reinforced)
Skinner (1938)
 The
organism learns a response by
operating on the environment…

Note:


The terms instrumental conditioning and
operant conditioning describe essentially the
same learning process and are often used
interchangeably
Basically, Skinner extended and formalized
many of Thorndike's ideas
Operant Conditioning

Response comes first and is voluntary
unlike classical where stimulus comes first
and response is involuntary
 Classical: S  R
 Operant: S  R  S
that becomes
RS
The Skinner Box
Soundproof chamber with a bar or key
that could be manipulated to release a
food or water reward
 Specifically, the conditioning chamber was
a stable plexi-glass box with a response
lever, reinforcement delivery tube, and
various means for stimulus presentation
 In Skinner's early experiments, a rat was
placed in the conditioning chamber and
when it pressed the response lever, it
received a pellet of food

Shaping:
Reinforcing successive approximations

Responses that come successively closer
to the desired response were reinforced…



Skinner referred to this as his “Behavioral
Technology”
Taught pigeons “unpigeon-like” behaviors
Walking in Figure 8, playing ping-pong, and
keeping a “guided missile” on course by
pecking at a moving target displayed on a
screen…but most proud of getting them to
hoist an American flag and then to salute it
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
In the Lab…
Operant Conditioning

Important terms
 Primary Reinforcers
 Secondary Reinforcers
 Positive Reinforcement
 Punishment
 Negative Reinforcement
Reinforcers

Primary Reinforcers




Innately rewarding; no learning necessary
Stimulus that naturally strengthens any
response that precedes it without the need for
any learning on the part of the organism
Food, water, etc.
Secondary Reinforcers



A consequence that is learned by pairing with
a primary reinforcer
For people, money, good grades, and words of
praise, etc. are often linked to basic rewards
We need money to buy food, etc.
Positive Reinforcement

Behavior is strengthened when something
pleasant or desirable occurs following the
behavior

With the use of positive reinforcement chances
that the behavior will occur in the future is
increased
Punishment

Any stimulus presented immediately after a
behavior in order to decrease the future
probability of that behavior
 For example:
 If your kid runs into the middle of the street
and you flip out and “express to him how
bad he is” this (at least in psychological
terms) is only considered to be punishment
if it does in fact lead to a decrease in that
child’s behavior of running into the street
Negative Reinforcement


One of the most misunderstood terms in
psychology…
Definitely a problem with semantics here


The word reinforcement means that a response is
strengthened
The word negative seems to imply that the
response is somehow weakened




This is not the case here!
So how literally can a response be negatively
reinforced???
Often, this term is misapplied to term punishment
So lets try to proceed slowly in our
attempts to figure this out…
Negative Reinforcement



Positive Reinforcement is a reward
 That’s easy enough
Punishment is something that weakens a
response
 Again, this is pretty basic
In an attempt to increase the likelihood of a
behavior occurring in the future, an operant
response is followed by the removal of an aversive
stimulus. This is negative reinforcement…
 Example: When a child says "please" and
"thank you" to his/her mother, the child may
not have to engage in his/her dreaded chore of
setting the table
Negative Reinforcement
So we are learning to do something to
turn off a bad stimulus
 Example: We put on boots to prevent
sitting in class with wet socks on
 Increasing a behavior to stop a bad thing
from occurring
 Doing something to remove the reinforcer

Types of Negative Reinforcement

Escape Conditioning


This occurs when the behavior has led to a reduction of the
aversiveness of the environment
 Example: Rats moving away from the shock area after
feeling the pain
 This does involve an observable change in the
environment
Avoidance Conditioning

When a behavior has prevented the onset of an impending
increase in the aversiveness of the environment
 Example: Rats moving away from the shock area after
hearing a signal that the shock is about to be
administered
 A child apologizes upon seeing their parent frowning
thus avoiding being yelled at
 Involves no observable change in the environment
Schedules of Reinforcement

Continuous Reinforcement


Reinforcement delivered every time a
particular response occurs
Intermittent Reinforcement

Reinforcement is administered only some of
the time
Intermittent Schedules of
Reinforcement

Fixed-Ratio


Reinforcement provided after a fixed number
of responses
 Food every tenth bar press
Variable-Ratio

Reinforcement after a a variable number of
responses (works on a average)
 Unpredictable number of responses are
required (slot machines)
Intermittent Schedules of
Reinforcement

Fixed-Interval Schedules



Provides reinforcement for the first response that occurs
after some fixed time has passed since the last reward
Number of responses doesn’t matter only time
 Example: Food is given to rats every 20 min.
Variable-Interval Schedule



Reinforce the first responses after a certain amount of
time has past
Again number of responses doesn’t matter
But this time the amount of time changes
 Might be the first response after ten minutes then the
next time it is the first response after 20 minutes,
and then the next time it is the first response after
30 min…
Applications of Operant Conditioning: In the
Classroom




Skinner thought that our education system was
ineffective
He suggested that one teacher in a classroom
could not teach many students adequately when
each child learns at a different rate
He proposed using teaching machines (what we
now call computers) that would allow each
student to move at their own pace
The teaching machine would provide self-paced
learning that gave immediate feedback,
immediate reinforcement, identification of
problem areas, etc., that a teacher could not
possibly provide
Applications of Operant Conditioning: In the
Workplace
 Pedalino & Gamboa (1974)
 To help reduce the frequency of employee
tardiness, these researchers implemented a
game-like system for all employees that
arrived on time
 When an employee arrived on time, they were
allowed to draw a card
 Over the course of a 5-day workweek, the
employee would have a full hand for poker
 At the end of the week, the best hand won $20
 This simple method reduced employee
tardiness significantly and demonstrated the
effectiveness of operant conditioning on
humans
Criticisms Of The Use Of
Reinforcement

Criticism #1:
 Behavior should not have to rely on
persuasion…
 It
is manipulative and controlling
 Appropriate behavior should be the norm
 Skinner says we are always controlled by
rewards but often are unaware of these…
 Parents, peers, schools, employers, etc. all
use rewards to control our behavior

Skinner:

If its manipulative then everyone is to blame?
Criticisms Of The Use Of
Reinforcement
 Criticism

#2:
Reinforcement undermines Intrinsic
Motivation…
 Messes up our inner desire to do
something
 Now we need to do it for a tangible
reward
 Example: Child cleaning his/her room…
 Why do they do it?
 Be careful of overjustification…
Cognitive Learning
Focus on the role of thinking processes in
learning
 Theory based on unseen internal factors
rather than on external factors


Skinner was very much against these theories
but lets look at one…latent learning…
Latent Learning

Tolman and Honzik (1930)
 Took three groups of rats and had them run a
maze



Group 1
 Reinforced every time they found their way out of
the maze (food box) for ten days
Group 2
 Never reinforced (no food at the end)
Group 3
 Reinforced only after day 10 of the experiment (no
food for 10 days then food on day 11)
Latent Learning

On day 12, they timed the three groups to
see which group would make it through
the maze the quickest…

Which group do you think was the
fastest?