Download File

Psychology Chapter 8: Learning
1. a) I would classically condition a 2-year-old to be more fearful of running across a busy street
by associating the busy street with a loud, frightening sound like an air horn. When the child
begins to consider crossing the street, I can sound the air horn which would startle the child.
After constant repetitions, the child would associate the busy street with the frightening sound of
the air horn. By classical conditioning her to establish this relationship, the 2 year old would
most likely be discouraged to consider crossing the street. The unconditioned stimulus is the
sound of the air horn. The unconditioned response is the fearfulness of the loud, abrupt noise of
the air horn. The neutral stimulus is the busy street, which turns into the conditioned stimulus.
The conditioned response is the fearfulness of running across the busy street. If I were to use
operant conditioning, I would scold her when she attempts to run across the street. And when she
refrains from doing so, I can reward her with praise or a treat. If I were to take advantage of
observational learning, I would show her videos of accounts of car crashes or cases where
children like her were severely hurt when running carelessly across a busy street.
1b) To best condition her to play with the neighbor's dog, I would associate the dog with
something else that draws happy memories like a favorite song. If I were to play her favorite
song while I bring her and the dog together to play, she may associate the joyfulness and
positivity of the song with the neighbor's dog. After a series of repetition, she may find herself
more comfortable playing with the dog. The unconditioned stimulus is the playful music. The
unconditioned response would be the positive attitude toward the music. The neutral stimulus
would be the neighbor's dog, which turns into the conditioned stimulus. The conditioned
response is the positive attitude toward the dog. If I were to use operant conditioning to
overcome her fear of dogs, I would reward her with a snack or treat every time she played or
showed affection to the dog. Through successive approximations and repetition, she would be
able to be fully comfortable with the dog. If I were to use observational learning, I would show
her cartoons of dogs where they are seen as friendly and approachable; she can apply this
perspective to reality when she meets the neighbor's dog.
2. a) Smell plays a prominent role in tasting foods. Kendra developed a taste aversion to liquor
because it had made her ill. Because the liquor made her nauseous, it is important that she
becomes averted to the smell of it so that she does not consume what had initially made her sick.
This situation portrays the role taste aversion plays in survival: Taste aversion enables us to
avoid tainted food or other dangers to increase our chances of survival. Although this applies to
taste, there are certain limitations of associative learning which can explain why Kendra does not
develop an aversion to the sight of the liquor bottle. Aversion does not necessarily apply to all
the senses; it only applies to senses that are vital to our survival. Since we taste things to identify
whether or not it is tainted, it makes logical sense that we develop aversions in taste rather than
sight or sound. Other animals, however, hunt by sight, meaning they can develop aversions to the
sight of tainted food. In that sense, organisms are biologically predisposed to learn certain
associations. This contradicts the behaviorists’ idea that any perceivable stimulus could serve as
a conditioned stimulus.
2 b) When George is spanked immediately after his baby sister cries, he is associating the crying
with the incoming punishment of being spanked. In this instance of classical conditioning, the
unconditioned stimulus is the spanking, the unconditioned response is the fear of the spanking,
the neutral and conditioned stimulus is his sister’s crying, and the conditioned response is the
fear of his baby sister’s crying. This association does not develop because predictability is
important in classical conditioning. This associative learning helps organisms anticipate or
prepare for upcoming good or bad events after many trials and repetition. The more predictable
the association, the stronger the conditioned response. If the event had already occurred, the
conditioned stimulus would not be able to signal anything. The crying of the baby would not
offer any new information. With that, having the conditioned stimulus, the baby sister’s crying,
after the spanking, would be useless.
3. Mr. Byrne does not understand operant conditioning and its use in controlling unruly behavior.
While he views his scolding as a positive punishment which introduces something aversive, the
students may view the scolding as positive reinforcement because they may find his anger
entertaining. If this is the case, then Mr. Byrne’s scolding may actually encourage further
disruption. Another problem may be that the scolding is altering the behavior of the students.
Rather than completely stopping their disruptive behavior, students find a way to avoid continue
this behavior without getting caught and facing the consequence. Punishment combined with
reinforcement of a desirable behavior is usually the most effective technique in conditioning.
When students continue to disrupt her class, Mr. Byrne's may want to give out either positive or
negative punishment. In positive punishment, he could introduce something aversive like a pop
quiz if the students are being disruptive. With negative punishment, Mr. Byrne’s can take away
privileges like lunch time or recess as a consequence for undesirable behavior. This will
discourage further disruption in the classroom. Mr. Byrne can encourage positive behavior by
reinforcement. He can use positive reinforcement by giving students praise or a treat when they
are behaving well. He can also use negative reinforcement by taking away something aversive
like waiving homework or upcoming tests. This use of both reinforcement and punishment is
more effective than the use of punishment alone and helps promote cooperative behavior.
4. Smoking serves as negative reinforcement because it takes away the need for nicotine, since
the anxiety and tension that comes with it is an aversive stimulus. The bad morning cough and
breathing difficulties are positive punishment because it introduces aversive stimuli. Vina’s habit
is a primary reinforce because reducing her tension and anxiety is an innate need that is fulfilled.
However, the development of her smoking habit is conditioned because she learned to associate
smoking with the alleviation of stress. Her habit is immediate because she receives instantaneous
pleasure with every hit of a cigarette. It is also a continuous reinforcement because the desired
response, the pleasure she feels when she smokes, is reinforced every time she takes a hit. Her
habit can also be reinforced positively: She may enjoy the sense of belonging she feels when she
is in a community of smokers or she likes the reinforcement of looking cool.
5. Parents can serve as powerful models if they exemplify positive behavior. Their children’s
observational learning of morality begins early. Models are most effective when their actions and
words are consistent. Mr. Wright’s children are more likely to mimic Mr. Wright’s behavior
rather than what he says. Speaking of the importance of charity rather than actually donating
time and money to charitable causes, Mr. Wright is training his children to make excuses.
Exposed to a hypocrite, they tend to imitate the hypocrisy by doing what the model did and
saying what the model said. I would advise Mr. Wright to not only preach the importance of
charity but actually input effort into helping a charitable cause so that his children can observe
his actions and follow in his footsteps. He could use operant conditioning by giving them praise
they have given time and effort to a charitable cause. He can also give them treats afterward but
through partial reinforcement. With partial or intermittent reinforcement, the children would not
expect a reward every time they help a charitable cause, increasing their persistence to the cause.