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LECT 6

LEARNING
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Define learning (text p. 155).
Learning any relatively permanent change in behaviour brought about
by experience or practice, and is different from maturation that is
controlled by the genes.

Describe the elements of classical conditioning, distinguishing between unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned
response, conditioned stimulus and conditioned response. Describe the process of establishing a classically
conditioned response, including the effect of intermittent pairing (text pp. 156-157).

1. Educational Video: Classical Conditioning Experiment - YouTube

1:45 1:45
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhG9pAwpKgI
o Similar
Jan 13, 2013 - Uploaded by Isaiah Leone
Older brother conducts pavlov's famous experiment on his unfortunate sibling. will
it work?

Elements of Classical Conditioning


Unconditioned stimulus a stimulus that invariably causes an organism to respond in a specific way.

Unconditioned response reflex, response to unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned stimulus originally neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus, and
eventually produces the desired response in an organism when presented alone.

Conditioned response the response an organism produces after conditioned stimulus is presented

Establishing a Classically Conditioned Response

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Pavlov paired a sound with the presentation of food to dogs and discovered several principles for
classical conditioning: the neutral stimulus (CS) and (UCS) must be paired several times and the (CS)
must precede the UCS by only a few seconds.

Intermittent pairing pairing the CS and the UCS on only a portion of the learning trials reduces
the rate of learning and final strength of learned response

Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov - YouTube 3:55 3:55


www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pNzq9v8Pu0 Similar May 25, 2011 - Uploaded by scottwebb
Alert icon. You need Adobe Flash Player to watch this video. ... Classical Conditioning in High Schoolby ...

The difference between classical and operant conditioning - Peggy


...ed.ted.com/.../the-difference-between-classical-and-operant-conditioning...CachedSimilar
Create Lessons Worth Sharing around YouTube videos ... Classical and operant conditioning are
two important concepts central to behavioral psychology.

Classical Conditioning in Humans


Watson was able to demonstrate that an emotional disorder called a phobia could be learned through classical conditioning by
exposing a baby to a white rat and a loud noise, producing conditioned fear of the rat in the baby.

LEARNING any relatively permanent change in behaviour brought about by experience or practice, and is different from maturation that is
controlled by the genes.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Unconditioned stimulus a stimulus that invariably causes an organism to respond in a specific way.
Eg:
Establishing a Classically Conditioned Response
Pavlov paired a sound with the presentation of food to dogs and discovered several principles for classical conditioning: the neutral stimulus
or NS and UCS must be paired several times and the CS must precede the UCS by only a few seconds. UR = Unconditioned response results.
BELL (NS/CS) ALONE NO RESPONSE

FOOD ALONE (US) SALIVATION (UR)

BELL (NS/CS) THEN FOOD (UCS) SALIVATION (UR)

BELL ALONE (CS) SALIVATION (CR)

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(CAN YOU THINK OF ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE THAT IS CLASSICALLY CONDITIONED)?? (IN YOUR MIND)
Intermittent pairing pairing the CS and the UCS on only a portion of the learning trials reduces rate of
learning and final strength of learned response
Classical Conditioning in Humans
Watson was able to demonstrate that an emotional disorder called a phobia could be learned through
classical conditioning by exposing a baby to a white rat and a loud noise, producing conditioned fear of the
rat in the baby.

Desensitization therapy a conditioning technique designed to gradually reduce anxiety about a


particular object or situation. Break the phobia by getting people to face them and attack them with CS
and UCS.
1. How to Overcome a Phobia : Phobias & Desensitizing Therapy ... 2:52 2:52

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lZsvXb4q1g Similar Oct 3, 2008 - Uploaded by expertvillage


Medical professionals use desensitizing therapies to treat phobias in many instances. ... You need
Adobe ...

People who are afraid of heights are allowed to jump from increasingly higher places
to overcome the fear or allowed to handle creepy crawlers until the fear has been
overcome. (Parajumping for soldiers- holding the Boa at hope zoo
for people afraid of snakes)

Unconditioned response reflex, response to unconditioned stimulus.


Conditioned stimulus originally neutral stimulus that is paired with an
unconditioned stimulus, and eventually produces the desired response in an
organism when presented alone. BELL (CS)

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Conditioned response After conditioning, the response an organism
produces after conditioned stimulus is presented. CR- SALIVATION.

Classically taught behaviours are never totally extinguished because learning is never fully
erased.

Classical Conditioning is Selective


Phobias of potentially dangerous situations or items are likely
Conditioned taste aversions occur when an organism becomes nauseated some time after eating a
certain food, which then becomes aversive to the organism.

(What happened the first time u kissed a baby)

Some kinds of conditioned responses are more easily learned because of biological preparedness,
which may cause humans to associate certain stimuli with danger to survival.

MODERN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING


Classical conditioning is more prevalent than one normally appreciates. Seldom do people realize that the tasty
appearance of unnatural-looking and pretty odorless foods like Twizzlers, lollipops, candy canes, and plastic-
looking cakes (see photo at bottom) owe their attractive, incentivized properties to the process of classical
conditioning.

If one had never tasted these foods, or, better yet, where a baby that had never tasted anything like these foods,
the objects would probably not look tasty at all. The sight of a candy cane, for example, may just as well be that
of a plastic toy. The same holds true for other incentivized objects, such as the ashtray for the smoker, the
bottle for the drinker. Who likes cake or the sight of the cake dish???

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The concept of preparedness accounts for the fact that certain conditioned responses are acquired very
easily. The ease with which we develop conditioned taste aversions illustrates preparedness.

Because animals are biologically prepared to learn them, conditioned taste aversions can occur with only
one pairing of the taste of a tainted food and later illness, even when there is a lengthy interval between
eating the food and becoming ill.

A fear of snakes may also be something that humans are prepared to learn.

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THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
Researchers have been able to show that Classical Conditioning is susceptible to manipulation. 159
The Little Albert experiment is like the human equivalent of Pavlovs dogs. Probably one of the most
unethical psychological studies of all time, this experiment conducted in 1920 by John B. Watson and his
partner Rosalie Rayner at Johns Hopkins University conditioned a nine-month-old boy to develop
irrational fears. Watson began by placing a white rat in front of the infant, who showed no fear at first.

He then produced a loud sound by striking a steel bar with a hammer every time little Albert touched the
rat. After a while, the boy began to cry and exhibit signs of fear every time the rat appeared in the room.
Watson also created similar conditioned reflexes with other common animals and objects until Albert
feared them all, proving that classical conditioning works on humans.

Establishing a classically conditioned response usually is easier if the UCS and CS are paired with each
other repeatedly, rather than a single time or even once in a while (intermittent pairing).

That is why a single incidentfor example, burning your finger on a match while listening to a certain
songis not usually enough to produce a classically conditioned response. (Dislike for the song) It is also
important that the spacing of pairings be neither too far apart nor too close together.

FERAL CHILDREN The case of Anna provides a contrast to Kamala. Born in 1932, Anna was the second
illegitimate child of a rural woman. Unwanted by her parents (they tried unsuccessfully to place her for adoption) and
hated by her grandfather, Anna was kept locked from sight in the attic of the family home. For 6 years she lived with
minimal human contact and subsisted on a diet of cows milk. She could neither walk nor talk and was malnourished.
After a few years of institutional care Anna was able to speak in phrases and short sentences, although her abilities
remained in the retarded range. She died August 6, 1942, at the age of ten.

The challenge to learning is clear in these examples. In many cases feral children are quadruped and in most cases they
lack speech. Hence, the challenge of restoring some aspects of behaviour (e.g., walking upright, not eating from the
floor) compound the normal challenges of learning (e.g., speech training, interpersonal skills training). In some cases,
previous responses must be replaced by new ones, such as Kamalas learning to eat from a table, whereas in other
cases existing cognitive processes need to be modified, such as Kaspar Hausers rudimentary speech. In all cases feral
children provide food for thought about a variety of issues related to learning, development, and cognition.

IMPULSE BUYING is a joy to many retailers, but a scourge to many consumers. It is also a behavior of great interest to consumer
psychologists who want to know why people give in to their impulses. Are window displays especially important in catching the
shoppers attention and eliciting their spending behavior? Or, is it those clever commercials that reel in the customers? The field of

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consumer psychology addresses these questions and many others. As you might guess, researchers in this field are in demand by
advertisers, manufacturers, and retailers who want advice on how to capture the attention of potential customers and get people to
open their wallets.

Consumer psychologists have shown that many of Madison Avenues techniques are based on principles of conditioning, whether advertising executives realize it or
not. For example, Gerald Gorn (1982) showed that associating an item with pleasant stimuli induces people to like the item itself. Gorn had college students view
slides of either a beige or blue pen. During the presentation, half the students heard a song from a recent musical film and half heard a selection of classical Indian
music. (Gorn made the reasonable assumption that the show tune would be more appealing to most Americans.) Later, students were allowed to choose one of the
pens. Almost three-fourths of those who heard the popular music chose a pen that was the same color as the one they had seen in the slides. An equal number of those
who heard the Indian music chose a pen that differed in color from the one they had seen. This is an instance of classical conditioning: the music was an unconditioned
stimulus for internal responses associated with pleasure or displeasure, and pens became conditioned stimuli for similar responses. You can see why television
commercials often pair products with music, attractive people, or other appealing stimuli.

PHOBIA little Albert


As described by Watson and Rayner (1920), an experimental study was undertaken to answer three questions: (1) Can an infant be
conditioned to fear an animal that appears simultaneously with a loud, fear-arousing sound? (2) Would such fear transfer to other
animals or to inanimate objects? (3) How long would such fears persist?

VIDEOS TO WATCH
Classical Conditioning
Watch Video Classic footage of Pavlov
Listen to audio file on Pavlovs Classical Conditioning
Explore animation on the Three Stages of Classical Conditioning
Watch Video Classic footage of Little Albert
Simulation on Little Albert
Simulation on Classical Conditioning
Short animation on Process of Stimulus Generalization and Stimulus Discrimination in Classical
Conditioning

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TUTORIAL 6
OPERANT CONDITIONING- INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING

the type of learning in which behaviours are emitted (in the presence of specific stimuli) to
earn rewards or avoid punishments

Elements of Operant Conditioning

Thorndike developed the Law of Effect: a response followed by a pleasurable consequence will be
repeated, but a response followed by an unpleasant consequence will not be repeated.

Behaviour is encouraged or discouraged depending on reward/punishment not just pairing of events.


Reinforcers stimuli that follow behaviour and increases the likelihood that the behaviour will be
repeated. ONLY ALI BUTTON WUK FI NUTTN!!

Punishers stimuli that follow behaviour and decreases the likelihood that the behaviour will be
repeated. GET THE WORK DONE TO AVOID DETENTION!!

SUPERSTITIONS
Accidental or coincidental pairings of behaviours and reinforcers can create superstitious behaviours.
Once learned, these generally harmless superstitious behaviours are performed with the expectation
that a reward will follow (e.g., wearing ones lucky shirt while taking an exam with hopes that an A will
follow).

(WEARING A LUCKY PANTY TO A GAME- TALISMAN!)

Mongoose crossing the road; black cats; walking under the ladder; stubbing the left foot/right foot

Operant behaviours are different from the responses involved in classical behaviours
because they are voluntarily emitted, whereas those involved in classical conditioning are
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elicited by stimuli.

Here extinction occurs by withholding reinforcement!!


When the learner is placed in a new situation, the response is likely to be weaker and
soon extinguished.
ESTABLISHING AN OPERANTLY CONDITIONED RESPONSE
Animal trainers often increase motivation by offering food as a reward for completing a task.
Shaping reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behaviour.
Animals are reinforced for individual steps toward a goal. Then expected to complete entire task
successively.

A Closer Look at Reinforcement


Positive reinforcerevents whose presence increases the likelihood of behaviour recurring.

Negative reinforcer events whose reduction or termination increases the likelihood that ongoing
behaviour will recur.

Punishment any event whose presence decreases the likelihood of behaviour recurring.

Punishment is different from negative reinforcement. Reinforcement, of whatever kind, strengthens


(reinforces) behavior.

Negative reinforcement strengthens behavior by removing something unpleasant from the environment.

Punishment -something unpleasant to the environment and tends to weaken the behavior that preceded it.

There are, however, conditions under which punishment is effective and limits to its influence on behavior:
To be effective, punishment should be swift and sufficient, without being cruel.

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Punishment must be applied in a consistent manner; all infractions of a rule must be punished, not
just occasional infractions.

Drawbacks of punishment:
Cannot unteach unwanted behaviors behavior already learned cannot be unlearned it can only
be suppressed.
Can backfire punishment stirs up negative feelings that can interfere with the learning of more
desirable behaviors, and the negative feelings can provoke more undesirable behaviors.
Can teach aggression.

Avoidance training learning a desired behavior to prevent the occurrence of something unpleasant,
such as a punishment. GET THE PLATES WASHED AND THE YARD SWEPT BEFORE MOTHER GETS HOME

In some circumstances, after a few episodes involving punishment for a behavior, it may not need to
recur because the threat of punishment serves to deter the bad behavior.

Learned Helplessness
Learned helplessness failure to take steps to avoid or escape an unpleasant or aversive stimulus that
occurs as a result of previous exposure to unavoidable painful stimuli.
Failing to do what is necessary to avoid punishment
Shaping Behavioral Change Through Biofeedback
Bio-feedback use of feedback about biological conditions such as blood pressure, skin
temperature, or heart rate to bring involuntary responses such as blood pressure under control.

Neuro-feedback is a modified version of biofeedback in which the person is connected to an


electroencephalograph, a machine that records the brains electrical activity.

Biofeedback and neuro-feedback have been used to control migraine headaches, hypertension,
panic attacks, and anxiety that can interfere with athletic or musical performance.

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We have two separate branches in our nervous system. In general, one activates while the other deactivates.

Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)


Activation Relaxation
Preparedness Recovery
Energy expending Energy restoring

Anxiety and Stress-related Disorders

These disorders often involve an over-activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Because these disorders involve the activation of our most basic survival
responses, often called "fight or flight" response it will always remain difficult to dampen that response. Biofeedback works to decrease psycho-physiological reactivity
and to improve recovery (by teaching the patient to activate the opposing parasympathetic system).

High Blood Pressure


Asthma
Tinnitus
Test & Performance Anxiety

Chronic Pain Disorders

Chronic Pain Management is a comprehensive pain management program includes muscle relaxation, control of physiological hyper-arousal. Cognitive-behavioural
strategies aim at reducing pain triggers and assisting in life-style changes necessitated by pain.

Cognitive Difficulties

The cognitive rehabilitation program involves both cognitive skills training and biofeedback training.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): This treatment is designed for patients suffering from mild traumatic
brain injury. The treatment is offered as an adjunctive therapy while the patient is under the care of a
medical doctor.

Cognitive Slowing Due to Aging: A special Brain Brightening Program is designed for seniors who are
experiencing cognitive slowing.

Attention Deficit Disorders: There are many varieties of attentional problems which unfortunately get
lumped together under the heading of ADD/ADHD.

LEARNING IS FUN?????
Piano Stairs - web
A Volkswagen initiative called The Fun Theory is setting out to prove that peoples behavior can be changed for the better
by making mundane activities fun. (Taking medicines among children)
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In a recent experiment, they set up musical piano steps on the staircase of a Stockholm, Sweden subway station to see if
more people would be more willing to choose the healthier option and take the stairs instead of the escalator.

That day, 66 percent more people took the stairs than usual, proving that fun is the best way to get people to change
their ways.

The Milgram Experiment- web


Humans are trained to take direction from authority figures from very early in life. An experiment conducted in 1961 by
Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram measured this willingness to obey authority figures by instructing people to
perform acts that conflicted with their morals.

Participants were told to play the role of teacher and administer electric shocks to the learner, who was supposedly
in a different room, every time they answered a question incorrectly. In reality, no one was actually being shocked.
Instead, Milgram played recordings to make it sound like the learner was in a great deal of pain and wanted to end the
experiment.

Despite these protests, many participants continued the experiment when the authority figure urged them to, increasing
the voltage after each wrong answer until some eventually administered what would be lethal electric shocks. Similar
experiments conducted since the original have provided nearly identical results, indicating that people are willing to go
against their consciences if they are being told to do so by authority figures.
FACTORS SHARED BY CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING (TEXT PAGE 168)

The Importance of Contingencies


Contingency - a relationship in which one event depends on another; Contingency a reliable if-
then relationship between two events, such as a CS and a UR.
Contingencies in Classical Conditioning a contingency is perceived between the CS and the US.
The CS should occur in close proximity, either before or after, the US for true conditioning to occur.

If the CS occurs after the US, the process is called backward conditioning.

Blocking a process in which prior conditioning prevents conditioning to a second stimulus even when
the two stimuli are presented simultaneously.

Classical conditioning to a stimulus will only occur when the stimulus tells the learner something new or
additional about the likelihood that a US will occur.
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Contingencies in Operant Conditioning the connection between performing the action and
receiving the reward or punishment must be made for conditioning to occur.

The four schedules of reinforcement in operant conditioning and


their effect on learned behaviour
Continuous reinforcement occurs when each and every correct response is followed by a
reinforce

Partial or intermittent reinforcement, in which only some correct responses are followed by
reinforcement, is much more resistant to extinction.

This is called the partial reinforcement effect.


o Fixed ratio schedule a certain number of responses are required before reinforcement is
given. (Response pattern: brief pause after reinforcement, then steady increase until next
reinforcement)

o Variable ratio schedule a varying number of responses is required to obtain


reinforcement. (Response pattern: no pause after reinforcement, high rate of improvement
with reinforcement)

o Fixed interval schedule at least one correct response must be made within a set interval
of time to obtain reinforcement. (Response pattern: performance falls after reinforcement,
and picks up during reinforcement)

o Variable interval schedule reinforcement follows a varying interval of time.


(Response pattern: slow and steady pattern of responses)

In operant conditioning, contingencies exist between responses and consequences.


Contingencies between responses and rewards are called schedules of reinforcement.

Partial reinforcement, in which rewards are given only for some correct responses,

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generates behavior that persists longer than that learned by continuous reinforcement.
(CASH POT) Since you do not know when you will win, you play continuously.

A fixed-interval schedule, by which reinforcement is given for the first correct response
after a fixed time period, tends to result in a flurry of responding right before a reward is due.

WHY DO PARTIES LOSE ELECTIONS?

A variable-interval schedule, which reinforces the first correct response after an


unpredictable period of time, tends to result in a slow, but steady pattern of responding. In a
fixed-ratio schedule, behavior is rewarded after a fixed number of correct responses, so the
result is usually a high rate of responding.

Finally, a variable-ratio schedule provides reinforcement after a varying number of correct


responses. It encourages a high rate of response that is especially persistent and hard to
extinguish.

Extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization and discrimination in classical and


operant conditioning
Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
Extinction and spontaneous recovery occur in both classical conditioning and operant conditioning,
although the mechanisms for each phenomenon vary depending upon the conditioning paradigm.
Extinction a decrease in the strength or frequency, or stopping, of a learned response because of a
failure to continue pairing the US and CS (in classical conditioning) or withholding the reinforcement (in
operant conditioning).

Spontaneous recovery the reappearance of an extinguished response after the passage of time
without retraining (pairing of the UCS & CS in classical conditioning), or reinforcement (in operant
conditioning).

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Pavlov extinguished the behaviours of the dogs and recovered sometime later by sounding the bell.

A response that was operantly conditioned is especially difficult to extinguish if the original
learning:
o is strong or highly reinforced.
o occurred on a partial schedule of reinforcement instead of a continuous schedule.
o occurred in a variety of settings.
o is of a complex behavior.
o occurred through punishment instead of reinforcement.

Stimulus Control, Generalization, and Discrimination


Stimulus control control of conditioned responses by cues or stimuli in the environment.
Stimulus generalization the transfer of a learned response to different but similar stimuli.
Stimulus discrimination learning to respond to only one stimulus and to inhibit the response to
all other stimuli.
Response generalization giving a response that is somewhat different from the response
originally learned with that stimulus; occurs only in operant conditioning.

New Learning Based on Original Learning


Higher order conditioning conditioning based on previous learning. The CS serves as a US for
further training.
Primary reinforcers reinforcers that are rewarding in themselves, such as food, water, or sex.

Secondary reinforcers reinforcers whose value is acquired through association with other
primary or secondary reinforcers. Classical conditioning is involved in the creation of secondary
reinforcers.

There are two types of reinforcers:


positive reinforcers - Events which increase the likelihood that ongoing behaviour will recur
negative reinforcers - Events which reduces or terminates the likelihood that behaviour will recur
Not all learning is observable and measurable.
Mental processes are important in learning.

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COGNITIVE LEARNING
Learning that depends on mental processes that are not directly
observable, but can be inferred from behavior.
Latent Learning and Cognitive Maps
Latent learning learning that is not immediately reflected in behavior change.

Cognitive map a learned mental image of a spatial environment that may be called on to solve
problems when stimuli in the environment change.
Tolmans Maze-Running Rats: Latent Learning

Tolman found that rats which were allowed to wander in a maze but were not reinforced still showed
evidence of having learned the maze once reinforcement becomes possible. He termed this hidden
learning latent learning, a form of cognitive learning.

Two decades later (in the 1950s), other researchers conducted the study and found that, when they
carried rats over the route taken by free-running rats in a maze, the carried rats had learned the maze
just as well as the free-running rats, indicating that they had formed a cognitive map of the maze,
consistent with Tolmans notion of latent learning.

Insight and Learning Sets


Insight learning that occurs rapidly as a result of understanding all the elements of a problem.
Learning sets the ability to become increasingly more effective in solving problems as more
problems are solved.
Greater insight leads to greater ability to solve problems via learning sets.

Observational (vicarious) learning and the conditions under which it is most likely to be reflected in behaviour

Learning by Observing
Observational Learning (vicarious learning) learning by observing other peoples behavior and
experiences.
Social learning theorists psychologists whose view of learning emphasizes the ability to learn by
observing a model or receiving instructions, without firsthand experience by the learner.
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The Four Elements of Observational Learning
oAttention - learner must first pay attention to the model.
oMemory - learner must also be able to retain memory of what was done.
oImitation - learner must be capable of imitating the actions of the model.
oMotivation - the learner must have the desire to perform the action.
Motivation is greatly influenced by the kind of consequences associated with an observed
behaviour rewards or punishments. However, the observer need not receive the consequence directly.
The consequences may happen to the person whom the observer is watching, a phenomenon called
vicarious reinforcement or vicarious punishment. These vicarious consequences affect the
willingness of others to perform the behaviours they learned by observing those of models.

Bandura study (1965)


Children imitated aggressive behaviours they observed.
Significantly more boys and girls exhibited imitative aggressive behaviors when rewarded.
The study has important implications regarding how not to teach aggression unintentionally to
children.

Reinforcement vs. Punishment


Instructions. For each example presented below, identify whether positive reinforcement (PR), negative reinforcement
(NR), or punishment (PUN) is illustrated by placing the appropriate abbreviation in the blank next to the item.

_____ 1. Police pulling drivers over and giving prizes for buckling up

_____ 2. Suspending a basketball player for committing a flagrant foul

_____ 3. A soccer player rolls her eyes at a teammate who delivered a bad pass

_____ 4. A child snaps her fingers until her teacher calls on her

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_____ 5. A hospital patient is allowed extra visiting time after eating a complete meal

_____ 6. Receiving a city utility discount for participating in a recycling program

_____ 7. Grounding a teenager until his or her homework is finished

_____ 8. Scolding a child for playing in the street

_____ 9. A prisoner loses TV privileges for one week for a rule violation

_____ 10. A parent nagging a child to clean up her room

_____ 11. A rat presses a lever to terminate a shock or a loud tone

_____ 12. A professor gives extra credit to students with perfect attendance

_____ 13. A dog is banished to his doghouse after soiling the living room carpet

_____ 14. A defendant is harassed and tortured until he confesses

_____ 15. A young child receives $5 for earning good grades in school

_____ 16. A mother smiles when her child utters Mama

_____ 17. A child is put into time out for misbehaving

_____ 18. Employee of the month gets a reserved parking space

_____ 19. At a party, a husband becomes sullen when his wife flirts with a colleague

_____ 20. A woman watching a football game offers her child candy to play quietly

After having tricked your students into displaying evidence of operant conditioning in the previous exercise, reward
them with this simple (and tasty!) demonstration that uses a candy machine to illustrate operant conditioning
concepts. During your lecture on operant conditioning, place a filled candy machine (e.g., containing M&Ms or peanuts)
on a table at the front of the room. (A bubble gum machine can be substituted, but because it requires pennies it can
be a little more cumbersome to use). Invite any and all interested students to come inspect the machine and do
whatever they want to with it (most will, of course, pull the lever and be rewarded with candy). While students are
engaging in this activity, ask them to relate any behaviours they observe to material from the text. You can also prompt
them with questions to help them understand additional terms and concepts, such as:
(1) What would happen to your behaviour if all the candy were gone? (extinction)

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(2) What if the machine was refilled? (spontaneous recovery)
(3) What if there was an empty coffee jar next to the candy machine? (discrimination)
(4) What if there was a similar machine (such as a gumball machine), filled, but not exactly like the candy machine?
(generalization)
(5) What if you do not like candy or cannot eat it for health reasons? (effectiveness of a reinforcer, motivation)
(6) What if the machine were filled with money instead of candy? (secondary reinforcer)
(7) What if, like a slot machine, money only appeared after a random number of pulls of the lever? (variable ratio
schedule)
(8) What might happen to your behaviour if you are reinforced on a variable ratio schedule instead of a continuous
one? (superstitious behaviour, extinction would take longer)
(9) What would happen if very bad tasting candy came out of the machine? (punishment)

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