Animal studies in psychology U3A Psychology March 2019 Drive George , Drive! This one’s got a coat hanger! Animal studies

Can you think of any studies in psychology that have used animals ? If so, write them down. Some examples of animal studies Ivan Pavlov(1849-1936) Dogs Classical Conditioning

B.F.Skinner(1904-1990) Pigeons/ rats Operant conditioning

Austin H.Reisen(1913-1996) Cats Perception

Harry Harlow(1905-1981) Monkeys Attachment

Martin Seligman(1942- Dogs Learned helplessness

Animal studies

• Learning ; Conditioning • Perception • Learned helpless ness • Attachment The behaviourist approach

The behaviourist approach to psychology arose in the 1890’s as a reaction against the introspective, philosophical approach taken by William James. We know the meaning of “consciousness” so long as no one asks us to define it William James (1842-1910)

William James The behaviourist approach

The behaviourist psychologists felt that it was impossible to study mental processes objectively, but found it relatively easy to measure behaviour, the manifestation of these processes. Behaviourism

Early behavioural psychologists designed experiments to observe the behaviour of animals in carefully designed situations, and from these tests inferred theories about how humans interact with their environment, as well as about learning, memory and conditioning. Say “Baa.” Behaviourist Psychologists

These early “Behaviourists” included Edward Thorndike, Edward Tolman, and Edwin Guthrie amongst others. Thorndike’s law of effect The Law of effect proposed by Thorndike forms the foundation of all behaviourist psychology. He demonstrated that all animals learn by forging links between actions and results; remembering more positive outcomes and forgetting negative ones. He used cats in “puzzle boxes.” Thorndike’s puzzle box A hungry cat was locked inside a puzzle box, and by exploring it’s environment would come across various devices such as a loop of string, a ring, a button, or panel to be pressed, only one of which would open the box. The cat would discover the device which would allow it to escape and receive a reward of food. The process was repeated and the time taken for the cat to open the box was recorded.

A Thorndike puzzle box Thorndike’s law of effect Thorndike and learning in humans Interestingly, although Thorndike was studying animal behaviour using what were to become standard behaviourist methods, and authoring a book , Animal intelligence in 1911, he considered himself primarily an educational psychologist.

Adult learners were once thought to be less capable of retaining information than children. Thorndike showed that the only difference was in speed of learning, not memory. John B. Watson

“Anyone regardless of their nature can be trained to be anything” John B. Watson (1878-1958) John. B Watson

Through his work on the stimulus –response theory pioneered by Thorndike, he became regarded as the “founding father of behaviourism. He studied rats and cats , but was keen to conduct experiments using human subjects. He conducted the now famous “ Little Albert” experiment in 1920.

Conditioning

Do you have a dog or cat? If so, can you think of an example of conditioning with them? If not, can you think of an example in a wild animal that you have observed such as a bird / squirrel in your garden ,or an animal in a zoo. Classical conditioning

This aims to account for the way in which reflex , involuntary , behaviour may become associated with a new stimulus that does not naturally activate that behaviour.

An individual may learn to respond in a particular way to a given stimulus because of its association with something else. The process of classical conditioning Classical conditioning: Pavlov

In 1927, Ivan Pavlov a Russian physiologist, was studying the salivary reflexes in dogs when he observed that the dogs salivated not only at the sight and smell of food, but also at the sight of the food container on its own. Through a series of experiments, he demonstrated that dogs could be conditioned Pavlov’s laboratory to salivate to other “unnatural” stimuli such as a buzzer or bell. Classical conditioning: Pavlov (cont)

The stimulus of the bell or the buzzer had to be repeatedly presented at, or slightly before, the food. This pairing caused an association to be formed between the bell, buzzer and the food and subsequently between the bell and the salivation response. A conditioned reflex had been formed. Classical conditioning: Pavlov(cont)

He further demonstrated that the following processes could occur after conditioning. If the conditioned stimulus continued to be present , but without the food, the salivation response would stop. After stopping, the conditioned response, salivation, may reappear when the relevant stimulus is presented although it is much weaker. Discrimination and extinction

Pavlov demonstrated that animals could distinguish between different conditioned stimuli. For example , the dogs would respond to the sound of a handbell, but not for example, the sound of a large bell chiming.

Also, if the bell was repeatedly rung without the food being presented, then the salivation9 the conditioned reflex) would die away ( become extinct). Classical conditioning and Humans

Some behavioural therapies used to treat phobias are based on the principles of classical conditioning. They are based on the assumption that since maladaptive behaviour is the result of earlier conditioning, then it can be modified through re learning.

These include I’m using Flooding Therapy Systemic Desensitisation, for her spider phobia Aversion Therapy And Flooding. Classical conditioning: Behavioural therapies

These are used in the treatment of phobias and focus on providing exposure to the phobic object or situation and thus provide an environment in which extinction can occur. Systematic desensitisation does this gradually, whilst flooding and implosion therapy do it rather more abruptly. A problem with these therapies is that they can very traumatic, especially the Flooding and Implosion ones. This is pretty much all they do now! Operant Conditioning

He constructed a small box containing a lever, and a food dispenser. A rat placed in this box explores its surroundings and eventually touches the lever by accident. This activates the food dispenser and a pellet of food is dispensed.

B.F.Skinner and his box A Skinner box Operant conditioning: Behaviour shaping

Each time the rat moves towards the lever, it receives a pellet of food, until eventually the reward(reinforcement) is produced only when the rat presses the lever. This procedure is known as behaviour shaping. Operant conditioning

Skinner also often used pigeons in his experiments. He even claimed that he could teach pigeons to play table tennis. Skinner’s pigeons

Operant conditioning: Applications

The American coast guard has used pigeons to search for people lost at sea. They are trained to spot the colour orange, and if they see an orange object it pecks a key that buzzes the pilot. Project pigeon

During WW2, Skinner developed a programme to train pigeons to guide missiles. Despite some excellent results from the laboratory the project was cancelled. Operant conditioning: Applications

Pigeon sitting Pigeon pecking key Pigeon rewarded

Pigeons are better suited than humans for the task of spotting distant objects at sea. They can stare over the water for a long time without suffering eye fatigue, have excellent colour vision and can focus on a 60 – 80 degree area whereas a person can only focus on a 2-3 degree area