Learning Theories Bf Skinner PDF

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- - - - - - merged files: Learning Theories BF Skinner.docx - Learning Theories SR.docx - PHENOMENOLOGICAL AND HUMANISTIC THEORIES.docx - POWER OF SITUATION.docx - Rotter.docx - Social Cognitive Bandura and michell.docx - COMMONALTIES.docx...

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Learning Theories: B.F. Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism Theories we've learned till now : 1. Age of great theories produce theories of everything- try to explain all aspects of human beh. 2. most theories have central concepts (explanation ) VS. Behaviour theories -> theories of a rhythm/ one set of explanations of how we acquire our beh and produce our beh ; organized in a pattern - no central concept of personality -> but they explain how/why things are the way they are

TYPES OF BEHAVIORISM CLASSICAL BEHAVIORISM (JOHN B. WATSON): -specialist of animal beh  ONLY OVERT BEHAVIOR AND EXTERNAL STIMULI SHOULD BE STUDIED -eliminated any notion of thought/brain  DIRECT OBSERVATION, PRECISE DEFINITIONS, AND CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTATION SHOULD BE THE ONLY METHODS USED TO STUDY BEHAVIOR  MENTAL LIFE IS IGNORED  THOUGHT IS COVERT SPEECH -Thoughts could be observed by micro-movements of the larynx Diff btw Classical and Radical -> Radical behaviorism follows a number of precepts of classical beh. with the exception internal states are acknowledged RADICAL BEHAVIORISM (B.F. SKINNER) ● EMPHASIS ON CONTROL AND PREDICTION OF BEHAVIOR -if u can do these 2 -> you’ve explained beh ● EXPANDED TO PROCESSES WITHIN THE ORGANISM SUCH AS LANGUAGE - building and production of language ● PHENOMENA MUST BE OBSERVABLE TO THE INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCING THEM ● INTERNAL STATES SUCH AS THOUGHTS OR EMOTIONS ARE ACKNOWLEDGED, BUT CONSIDERED NON-EXPLANATORY - they were static ; can't observe them or couldn’t explain a way to use them to explain beh ->external stimuli explains beh

KEY CONCEPTS 1. THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING TWO TYPES OF LEARNING  RESPONDENT (CLASSICAL) CONDITIONING: STIMULUS IS ASSOCIATED TO A RESPONSE (CONDITIONING OF INVOLUNTARY BEHAVIOR, AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM) i.e. Pavlov -Skinner ignored the conditioning of emotion  OPERANT CONDITIONING: HOW BEHAVIOR IS ACQUIRED AND MODIFIED IN RESPONSE TO CONSEQUENCES (VOLUNTARY BEHAVIOR, SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM)

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)  B.F. Skinner was born in Pennsylvania. His father was a lawyer. Skinner was the oldest of two sons; his younger brother died in his teenage years  Skinner was a creative, imaginative, practical youngster who liked to build things. These characteristics remained typical of him throughout his life  He majored in English with the intention of becoming a writer, but he failed at this. After experiencing a personal crisis, he had to admit that “(he) could not write because he had nothing to say”  After reading about psychologists like Watson and Pavlov, Skinner decided to study psychology at Harvard. He received his Ph.D. in 1931 and remained there as a researcher working under his Ph.D. adviser  He taught at the University of Minnesota, headed the department of psychology at Indiana University, and then returned to Harvard in 1948 where he pursued the rest of his career  Skinner produced numerous landmark experiments, he was an inventor and an innovator, and he wrote profusely. He did write a work of fiction, Walden Two (1948), and some poetry. In some ways, he was also a social activist. Always controversial, he still received numerous scientific honors. He was still writing at the time of his death

KEY CONCEPTS 2. EXTERNAL FORCES SHAPE BEHAVIOR AND INTERACTIONAL STYLE 3. BEHAVIOR IS SITUATION SPECIFIC THE APPARENT CONSISTENCY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IS THE RESULT OF SITUATIONAL CUES. WHEN SITUATIONS ARE CLEARLY DIFFERENT, BEHAVIOR IS EXPECTED TO BE DIFFERENT

-result of generalization to cues  RESEARCH IS BASED ON SYSTEMATIC, CONTROLLED OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENTATION (ANIMAL MODELS), AND IS PRIMARILY NOMOTHETIC -Nomothetic - ie. run larger number of animals through experiments; would observe the beh of an animal in great detail  RADICAL BEHAVIORISM IS PARSIMONIOUS (BASED ON FEW CONSTRUCTS, ASSUMPTIONS). IT IS BASED ON DIRECT DESCRIPTION OF BEHAVIORAL CONTINGENCIES, WITH AS LITTLE INFERENCE AS POSSIBLE - Parsimonious -> few constructs to explain as much as possible -stay away from thoughts -> b/c they have little to do with voluntary responses we produce  IT IS ALSO A FUNCTIONALIST, ENVIRONMENTALISTIC, PRAGMATIC, MATERIALISTIC, AND EXPERIMENTALISTIC APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR -Functionalist = adaptation ; what we do is important - Environmentalist = beh. being governed by environment; no idea of self-agency, humans respond to external contingencies - change environment -> change beh - Pragmatic = essentially based on whats useful ie. what produces maximal results - Materialistic = mind is viewed as a straight forward mechanic ; certain way in which the mind functions/respond; viewed as a machine - Experimentalist = only laboratory experiments will lead to the truth (ie. rats and pigeons -> look for reactions as he modified their environment); apply what you find in lab to real world

THE BEHAVIORAL APPROACH: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING EARLY MODELS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING IVAN PAVLOV (LATE 19TH CENTURY)  CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS) (EX: LIGHT)  UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS) (EX: FOOD)  UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UCR) (SALIVATION)  CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR) (SALIVATION AT THE SIGHT OF THE LIGHT)  CR EMERGES BY A PROCESS OF ACQUISITION AND IS LOST BY A PROCESS OF EXTINCTION  AS THE ORGANISM IS EXPOSED TO A VARIETY OF STIMULI, DISCRIMINATION AND GENERALIZATION OCCUR -discriminate btw stimuli and generalize same stimuli

THE BEHAVIORAL APPROACH: OPERANT CONDITIONING OPERANT CONDITIONING  RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ACTION AND CONSEQUENCES

 BF SKINNER EMPHASIZED 2 GOALS IN PSYCHOLOGY: PREDICTION AND CONTROL  HE FOCUSED ON DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF BEHAVIOR - FUNCTIONAL ANALYSES -i.e. modified the animals beh by modifying stimulus

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IMPORTANT CONCEPTS OPERANT BEHAVIOR: EMITTED BY THE ORGANISM (ex they peck) RESPONDENT BEHAVIOR: ELICITED BY A STIMULUS (ex they peck & get food( DISCRIMINATIVE STIMULI: CUE THE ORGANISM THAT SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN (ex. light -> food; beh will only occur when stimuli occurs) STIMULUS CONTROL: BEHAVIOR OCCURS ONLY WHEN CERTAIN STIMULI ARE PRESENT

 MEASUREMENT OF OPERANT BEHAVIOR IS USUALLY BASED ON THE RATE OF OCCURRENCE (FREQUENCY PER TIME UNIT)  CUMULATIVE RECORDS GRAPHICALLY DISPLAY RATES OF OCCURRENCE AND CHANGES IN THESE RATES  LEARNING CURVES (ACQUISITION CURVES) AND EXTINCTION CURVES REFLECT LEARNING PATTERNS REINFORCEMENT INCREASES THE PROBABILITY OF A BEHAVIOR -frequency of beh, or likelihood it is going to occur again (i.e. social reinforcement ex. praise) , any event that takes place before beh = cue 1. NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT IS THE WITHDRAWAL OF A NOXIOUS STIMULUS AFTER A BEHAVIOUR -ex. Tylenol - takes away headache 2. POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT IS ADDED AFTER A BEHAVIOR ELICITING A BEHAVIOR  PROMPTING: REMINDING SOMEONE TO PERFORM A BEHAVIOR -get a cue that prompts you to perform a beh. (Ex. driving)  FADING: PROGRESSIVELY WITHDRAWING THE PROMPTING AND INCREASING REINFORCEMENT -fade prompts/ reinforcement and incr. other prompts/reinforcement SHAPING BEHAVIOR: REINFORCING CLOSER APPROXIMATIONS OF THE BEHAVIOR -according to skinner, all complex beh is shaped (ex. toilet training) -always pair pratical reinforcement with social reinforcement

SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT CONTINUOUS: ALL INSTANCES OF A BEHAVIOR ARE REINFORCED - usually how shaping of beh starts INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT: SOME INSTANCES BEHAVIORS ARE REINFORCED  RATIO SCHEDULES: ORGANISM IS REINFORCED AFTER A CERTAIN NUMBER OF RESPONSES ARE MADE (1) FIXED RATIO (2) VARIABLE RATIO -1) Reinforced for producing certain behs in a certain ratio (ex. Piece work; for each 10 you get x) - provides more control -2) Reinforced randomly (i.e Gambling => slot machine) -they are the hardest to extinguish** ; a lot of our habits are formed this way  INTERVAL SCHEDULE: BEHAVIOR IS REINFORCED AFTER IT HAS BEEN EMITTED OVER A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME (1) FIXED INTERVAL (2) VARIABLE INTERVAL -1) Ex. Eating -2) i.e. 5 minutes than reinforcement, then 10 mins than reinforcement -> interval changes ex. Fishing -Difficult to extinguish but less than Variable ratio MATCHING THEORY  WHEN MANY BEHAVIORS ARE POSSIBLE, PEOPLE WILL EMIT THE BEHAVIORS WHICH LEAD TO THE HIGHEST RATE OF REIFORCEMENT - match behaviour to get the reinforcement that you want ; learning pattern STIMULUS CONTROL  SETTING EVENTS: INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF A BEHAVIOR -2:04-05  DISCRIMINATIVE STIMULI: INCREASE THE POSSIBILITY OF A BEHAVIOR  BEHAVIORS CUED BY STIMULI ARE SAID TO BE UNDER STIMULUS CONTROL Issues: 1) Doesn't work well in real life (i.e. works with children and animals.. )

Learning Theories: The S-R Theory of Dollard and Miller Basic Assumptions and Early Ideas: S-R theory  Learning theories of personality are process theories. - how do we acquire various behs/patterns that become personality -process of personality and how personality develops overt the time  The assumption is that behavior that becomes personality is learned mostly in early childhood, and further learning occurs throughout life. ‘Cognitive content’ is largely disregarded -Cognitive content is acknowledged but too a large extent disregarded (Esp. in Skinner's theory)  Dollard and Miller’s S-R theory of personality arose from a combination of ideas coming from sociology, psychoanalysis, and Hullian learning theory  Seminal work included the work on frustration and aggression conducted largely by Dollard.  These early ideas were applied to ‘neurotic behavior’ (anxiety and depression), with the support of animal models. -notion of neuroticism/repression came from Dollard & animal experiments designed by Miller John Dollard (1900 – 1980)  John Dollard was born in Wisconsin, the oldest son of a railroad engineer and a school teacher  His father died in a railroad accident when he was a teenager. His mother moved the family to Madison, where her children could attend university

 He obtained a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago and he was awarded a scholarship to study psychoanalysis in Europe in the 1930s  Dollard’s life work consisted in trying to explain human motives from a variety of perspectives. He brought together contributions from psychology, anthropology, psychology, and psychoanalysis (psychotherapy) -for a long time he was a"researcher" b/c of his wide variety of fields  He is particularly well known for his pioneering work on racial relations and for the ‘frustration-aggression’ hypothesis, which he developed by observing interactions between blacks and whites in the American South. -Book = caste and class; when cotton price was high, it was peaceful, but when it was low, there was higher hostility = Frustration -> aggression Neal Miller (1909 – 2002)  Neal Miller was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The family moved to Washington state where his father took a position as a professor of educational psychology  He obtained a Ph.D. from Yale in 1935. In 1936 he received a grant to study psychoanalysis in Vienna for one year. His analyst was Heinz Hartmann, who was supervised by Anna Freud  Miller accepted a position with the Institute of Human Relations at Yale University where he worked with John Dollard  In 1966 he went to Rockefeller University where he conducted extensive studies of the physiological bases of drives  He returned to Yale in 1985 where he continued a vigorous program of animal research. He was active as a scientist into the 1990s  In addition to his early work in personality with John Dollard and his studies of motivation, learning, and reward, Miller is particularly well known for his research on the brain and behavior and his pioneering work on

biofeedback. His work is often seen as foundational to modern health psychology Basic concepts of the S-R theory -try to understand psychoanalytic concepts in SR terms (learning theory terms); experimental confirmation of these concepts  Primary drives vs. secondary (acquired) drives -humans have fundamental drives (Freudian idea); ie. we are born with drives that need to be satisfied/needs that have to be fulfilled -dollar & frustration -> aggression -miller -> hunger/pain/sex fundamental in physiology of humans -Primary drives ex. hunger, sex, pain etc; basic and unavoidable -secondary drives ex. need for nutrition, affection, approval, fear (something you learn after pain) etc  Habit -pattern of response to a certain cue/stimuli  drive(s), cues, responses (behaviors), and rewards - Have a drive -> cues in environment in how they can be met (Cues vary in intensity and pattern) -> generate responses (Hiearachy of responses; follows an order until you fulfil that drive / Learning alters the hierarchy-> as long as the beh is rewareded) -> rewards retain our hierarchies  The conditioning of emotional responses, especially fear and anxiety -anxiety conditions very well and fast -people will keep behaving in ways that are self-defeating in order to stop fear  Neurosis and the ‘neurotic paradox’ -neurosis = self-defeating behs that rewarded by fear reduction

-neurotic paradox = why do ppl continue to perform problematic/unrewarding beh even though the know that they are unrewarding & are unhappy Explaining Neurosis in S-R Theory Terms  Anxiety and fear can generalize to a wide range of primary and secondary stimuli -fear & anxiety condition very quickly  Even certain thoughts may serve as secondary stimuli for anxiety and fear -not just the beh and impulse in itself, but the thought becomes scary -avoidance beh  Avoidance behaviors (including avoidance of fear-inducing thoughts) lead to anxiety or fear reduction, which is intrinsically reinforcing  Active avoidance consists in physically escaping fear- or anxiety-provoking situations. Passive avoidance consists in avoiding anxiety-provoking situations and/or thoughts, or preventing them, sometimes at great cost  A few repetitions of this pattern will lead to anxiety or fear that is very resistant to extinction  As fear is stimulated by certain cues, and eventually by thoughts that serve as cues, fear becomes ‘portable’. Fear will transfer to a wider range of situations via stimulus generalization. -fear can occur anytime/anywhere the drive is provoked; person loses track of why theyre afraid, b/c they keep avoiding the thoughts and behs  Eventually the individual might stop himself from thinking to avoid fear. This is the S-R version of ‘repression’. Once the cognitive links are lost, the individual no longer knows why he/she is anxious, and the anxiety comes to be viewed as irrational. Now, we have a neurosis

-personality is a complex chain of SR learning; -irrational anxiety- they cant explain/know why -for Dollard and Miller - psychopathology is something learned Conflicts and S-R theory  Two main conflicts: approach-avoidance, and avoidance-avoidance -Get closer to the goal and pull away  Dollard an Miller emphasized approach-avoidance conflicts. Those occur when a certain response or goal is attractive (approach), but the fear (avoidance) gradient is too strong  As the individual gets closer to a certain desired goal, there comes a point where the fear is stronger than the motivation. At that point the individual hesitates and vacillates into ‘misery’. -at the point they meet, individual pulls away  In some cases, the conflict may be between two feared situations. When this happens, the individual retreats to a point where he/she will vacillate. The individual may stay there, unable to decide, move towards the less frightening option, or leave the field entirely. -find some kind of compromise  It is usually unwise to push beyond the conflicted person beyond the point where the avoidance takes over. It is better to reduce the fear until the person is able to express and consolidate the desired response -teach individual to manage the fear; if you push them -> panic

Personality Development  Learning conditions in childhood are very important

No stages, but four critical child training situations:  The feeding situation -don’t disregard their hunger & allow the child them to cry; hunger is an essential drive, should feed them on demand  Cleanliness training -teach the child w/o creating anxiety/shame  Early sex training -recognize sexuality is a fundamental drive (emotional applications)  Anger management training -deal w anger in constructive manner Mislabeling of feelings and cognitive distortions of major classes of situations (such as romantic encounters) can be quite damaging Strengths and limitations of the S-R Theory Strengths:  Based on experimentation (animal models) -experimental support for Freudian theory -still used today (ie. animal models)  Attempts to integrate a considerable breadth of knowledge -ie. sociology, etcc  Sophisticated conceptualizations of the process of personality, which led to enduring contributions to psychotherapy Weaknesses:

 Probably oversimplifies the development of personality and the acquisition of core behaviors  Excessively dependent on linking discrete responses into complex chains of behavior  Completely disregards cognitive variables such as perception, memory, concept learning, and problem solving  Completely disregards social learning -Bandura - learned by watching how ppl perform them; whether they get rewarded/punished

PHENOMENOLOGICAL AND HUMANISTIC THEORIES -late 1940s/60s BASIC CONCEPTS CENTRAL QUESTIONS WHAT MOTIVATES PEOPLE TO DO WHAT THEY DO? WHAT CONSTITUTES THE SELF? CENTRAL IDEAS  PEOPLE’S MOTIVATIONS ARISE FROM WITHIN -Similar to psychodynamic ; push toward that behaviour occurs from within inside rather than the environment  PEOPLE CAN BE BEST UNDERSTOOD IN TERMS OF THEIR OWN INTERNAL FRAMES OF REFERENCE (THE PHENOMENAL FIELD) -The Phenomenal Field - idea that we have an internal world that is made of the perceptions of the understandings, beliefs, and values that we derive from our experience of our social world; what matters is how people represent the world to themselves & how accurately they're able to represent that world ^- shares ideas from Sullivan & Object Relations -idea of goodness of fit w/ the environment ; representing it in an accurate manner  SUBJECTIVE INTERPRETATION GOVERN BEHAVIOR - Behaviour governed by our subjective interpretation s & subjection representations of our world HUMANISTIC THEORIES: C.ROGERS, A. MASLOW PHENOMENOLOGICAL THEORIES: G. KELLY -ideas in N.A. that are "simplistic"

EARLY IDEAS  MODERN HUMANISTIC THEORIES HAVE THEIR MORE RECENT ROOTS IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT (LATE 1600’S TO EARLY 1800’S)  ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744) AND JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU (1712-1778): HUMANS AS FUNDAMENTALLY GOOD, PROSOCIAL, RATIONAL -people have great potential for growth and understanding of their world -if we create an environment that allows people to grow and allow them to think,etc (give ppla chance and good conditions of growth) -> people will become the best people they can be and the best understanding of the world that they can accomplish; very optimistic  HUMANS ARE SEEN AS HAVING THE INTELLECTUAL POWER TO LEARN AND DISCOVER (ALMOST) EVERYTHING  THEY CAN USE THIS POWER AND KNOWLEDGE TO MANAGE THEMSELVES, ADAPT TO MOST CIRCUMSTANCES, MAKE RATIONAL CHOICES -Ideas are a north American product

THEORETICAL EMPHASES  EMPHASIS ON “HIGHER FUNCTIONS” SUCH AS THE SELF AND SELF-CONCEPT, SELF-ACTUALIZATION -Self -Actualization = to be the best one can possibly be

 CONCERNED WITH THE PRESENT AND THE RECENT PAST - Not so much w/ early childhood development on personality - see it's influence on education

 RESEARCH IS IDIOGRAPHIC AND NOMOTHETIC -see case studies (ie. questionnaires) and group studies

 EMPHASIS IS ON THE INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE OF PEOPLE’S EXPERIENCES, AS OPPOSED TO KNOWLEDGE OF GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS -not much research esp. w/ Kelly ; most research w/ Rogers  FREE WILL AND FREE CHOICE ARE DETERMINANTS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

-^** Rogers, Maslow, etc wanted to wedge into psychodynamic and behavioural theories (major psychological areas at the time; they wanted a "Third way", they saw that psychodynamic and behavioural theories as highly deterministic (i.e things that highly predicted what pe...