Behaviorism WEEK 5 AGENDA
¡ Housekeeping (5 mins) ¡ Lecture (80 mins) § Who are the behaviorists? § What is behaviorism? § What are the forms of condi oning? ¡ Break (15 mins) ¡ Case study: CCTs (75 mins) HOUSEKEEPING HOUSEKEEPING
¡ Next week – 5 mins in beginning of class on: § MORE: What you want more of, What you like § LESS: What you want less of, What you want changed § WHAT??: Concepts that are confusing, Topics you want addi onal clarity on ¡ Reminder: You have 4 more weeks for Discussion Posts! ¡ PhD info session: Thurs, Oct 13 from 4-5PM ¡ Research project on neighborhoods, educa on, and early child development LECTURE TIMELINE
Skinner
Freud
Piaget
1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 THE BEHAVIORISTS
¡ Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) § Russian physiologist § Nobel prize on diges ve systems of animals § Eschewed psychological approaches, language ¡ John B. Watson (1878-1958) § American psychologist § Father of behaviorism § First to apply principles of learning to problems of development in humans ¡ B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) § American psychologist (and Harvard professor) § Started career as a writer, though found he had “nothing important to say” § Most influen al psychologist of the 20th century
BASIC ASSUMPTIONS OF BEHAVIORISM
¡ Psychology is a science that should be studied empirically ¡ Focus of psychology should accordingly be on observable behavior, not internal (unobservable) processes (e.g., a en on, thought, emo on, goals, desires) ¡ All behaviors result from s mulus-response pairing and environmental condi oning
“Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objec ve experimental branch of natural science. Its theore cal goal is the predic on and control of behavior. Introspec on forms no essen al part of its methods, nor is the scien fic value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpreta on in terms of consciousness. The behaviorist, in his efforts to get a unitary scheme of animal response, recognizes no dividing line between man and brute.” -- Watson, 1913 Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It LEARNING & THE TABULA RASA
¡ Learning as… § the process of acquiring, through experience, new and rela vely enduring informa on or behavior § what allows us to adapt our behaviors and survive (and get good grades!) § independent of development, age ¡ Behaviorism as environmental determinism? § Tabula rasa: Children as “blank slates” on which experiences write skills, behaviors, personali es, etc. “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, ar st, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abili es, voca ons, and race of his ancestors... I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.” (Watson, 1930) CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
¡ Learning a new behavior through associa on
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
¡ Pavlov’s dogs as first example of classical condi oning § Condi oning is strongest when CS is presented just (0.5 sec) before US ¡ Watson’s “Li le Albert experiment” as first example in humans ¡ Techniques can be applied to ex nguish fear responses through gradual exposure, called systema c desensi za on § Feelings of relaxa on replace fear § Never happened for poor Albert ¡ **Tends to work best on reflexes & innate responses, not complex skills (e.g., talking, reading, dancing) OPERANT CONDITIONING
¡ Learning through associa ng behaviors with specific (posi ve or nega ve) outcomes FEATURES OF CONDITIONING
¡ Types of reinforcements § Primary reinforcers: food, removal of pain § Condi oned reinforcers: adult praise, a en on ¡ Features of both classical and operant condi oning: § Ex nc on: when, a er purposeful withdraw of reinforcement, s mulus no longer evokes response § Spontaneous recovery can occur What would Freud say? Are desires/fears truly “gone?” § Generaliza on: when same response is evoked by different (though s ll similar) s mulus (e.g., rabbits, Santa Claus mask) ¡ Shaping occurs when specific behaviors are reinforced to produce more complex ac ons § E.g., pigeons playing ping pong! FEATURES ALTERING EFFECTIVENESS
¡ Condi oning strategies are more/less effec ve depending on: § appeal or salience of s mulus § s muli linked with strong emo ons (e.g., fear) faster to be learned § ming of s mulus rela ve to behavior § immediate is be er § schedules of reinforcement § fixed: faster learning, but less effort and faster ex nc on § ra o (number of a empts) be er than interval ( me) § variable: slower learning, but more effort and slower ex nc on § size of cost-benefit ra o THE TROUBLE WITH PUNISHMENT
¡ Punishment is effec ve as a temporary means to elicit compliance ¡ Poten al problems with punishment: § Only provides informa on on what not to do § Behaviors o en return when threat of punishment is removed § Physical punishment models aggression as a socially appropriate response to a problem § Nega ve emo ons evoked by punishment more easily generalize to broader situa ons (e.g., crea ng a fear of school) ¡ Skinner’s proposed alterna ve: ex nc on + pos reinfor THE TROUBLE WITH PUNISHMENT
(Gershoff, 2002) BUT WHAT ABOUT OWEN ET AL.??
Reprimands & neg nonverbal responses ! be er compliance Praise & pos nonverbal responses ! mixed results Wait… WHAT?? ¡ Did not include harsh, prolonged forms of punishment ¡ Focus on short-term compliance § Posi ve strategies à a achment rela onship, warmth, responsiveness, affect, and a en on à compliance over me § Nega ve strategies undermine these rela onships over me
“Using appropriate reprimands and nega ve nonverbal responses to increase compliance and using praise and posi ve non-verbal responses to maintain compliance by developing mutual responsiveness appear to be the way that these behaviors work to create a successful parent-child rela onship.” SKINNER’S THOUGHTS ON THOUGHTS
¡ Skinner believed that thoughts, emo ons were real, but had no place in science without making them “public” (observable) § Stemmed from goal of making psychology more like a natural science, rather than an unfalsifiable philosophy ¡ Dismissed the idea that thoughts/emo ons à behaviors § Rather, we act because previous reinforcements suggest that ac on will be frui ul ¡ To discuss intrapsychic “causes” of adap ve or maladap ve behavior (e.g., as Freud does) is therefore not produc ve § Should focus discussions on consequences of previous behavior § Bring on the black box! SKINNER’S THOUGHTS ON LANGUAGE
¡ Skinner believed that language is acquired just like other behaviors § Associa on words and ac ons/images § Imita on of others’ language § Reinforcement of correct language use ¡ Direct contrast to na vist views on language that language is naturally occurring ¡ Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (1957) faced much cri cism by Chomsky and other na vists BEHAVIORISM & EDUCATION
¡ Individually programmed instruc on § New informa on presented in self-paced, small steps easily mastered in the beginning (and therefore quickly reinforced)
§ Piage an in that it focuses on learner’s ac ve engagement with external environment § Non-Piage an in that it is inflexible, adult-directed How would this work in prac ce? What would it look like today? What might be missing? BEHAVIORISM & EDUCATION
¡ Contemporary applica ons tend to focus on behavior modifica on § Use of more posi ve reinforcements of adap ve behavior § Praise should be con nuous at first, intermi ent with me/age § Focus should specific (not general) and focused on effort (not outcome) § Ex nc on of maladap ve behavior, not punishment BEHAVIORISM & EDUCATION
¡ Behavioral approaches and student mo va on § Extrinsic: learning as instrumental, a means to an end § Associated with less sustained effort, fewer + outcomes over me § Intrinsic: learning as a way to sa sfy an inherent interest § Tends to diminish as children age and are faced with addi onal external demands § How do we enhance intrinsic mo va on for learning? § Use posi ve performance feedback to build students’ feelings of competence § Avoid use of punishment and rewards that reduce student autonomy/self-efficacy (see Deci, Vallerand, Pelle er, & Ryan, 1991; Deci & Ryan, 2000) ¡ Contrasts Piaget, who says that: Are Piaget’s and § Children are inherently intrinsically mo vated Skinner’s views § Learning must be ac ve, not passive reconcilable? CRITICISMS
¡ May be overly determinis c § Li le room for free will, biological, or cultural inputs ¡ Experiments lack ecological validity § Can results translate into different “real world” situa ons? ¡ Conducts a “cogni ve bypass opera on” by ignoring cogni ve and intrapsychic media ng mechanisms § Big problem with the “black box” ¡ Doesn’t explain why behavior (e.g., infants’ explora on) might persist despite no escala ng reinforcements ¡ Rela vely li le considera on of development (inten onal)
CASE STUDY: CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFERS (CCTS)