BEHAVIORISM

WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM

•Is a theory of learning based on the idea

that all behaviors are acquired through
conditioning.
• Conditioning occurs through interaction
with the environment. Behaviorists believe
that our responses to environmental stimuli
shape our actions.
A Brief History
• 1913- John B. Watson's classic paper, "Psychology as the
Behaviorist Views It."
• It is best summed up by the following quote from Watson,
who is often considered the "father" of behaviorism.
• "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, artist, merchant-
chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his
talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race
of his ancestors."
Classical Conditioning
• Ivan Pavlov- Russian physiologist which is a bit ironic due to
the fact that he was a major influence in the field of
psychology specifically in Behaviorism. Pavlov discovered the
concept of classical conditioning while studying the digestion
in dogs.
• In classical conditioning, a neutral (conditioned) stimulus is
paired with—that is, immediately precedes—an
unconditioned stimulus a number of times until it is capable
of bringing about a previously unconditioned response, now
called the conditioned response.
•
Little Albert Experiment
• Albert was a normal, healthy child who, at 9 months of age,
showed no fear of such objects as a white rat, a rabbit, a
dog, a monkey with masks, and so forth. When Albert was 11
months old, the experimenters presented him with a white
rat. Just as Albert was beginning to touch the rat, one of the
experimenters struck a bar behind Albert’s head. The little
boy immediately showed signs of fear, although he did not
cry. Then, just as he touched the rat with his other hand, an
experimenter struck the bar again. Once more Albert
showed fear and began to whimper. A week later, Watson
and Rayner repeated the procedure several times and finally
presented the white rat without the loud, sudden sound.
• By this time, Albert had learned to fear the rat by itself and quickly began to
crawl away from it. A few days later, the experimenters presented Albert with
some blocks. He showed no fear. Next, they showed him the rat by itself.
Albert showed fear. Then, they offered him the blocks again. No fear. They
followed this part of the experiment by showing Albert a rabbit by itself. Albert
immediately began to cry and crawl away from the rabbit. Watson and Rayner
then showed Albert the blocks again, then a dog, then blocks again, then a fur
coat, and then a package of wool. For all objects except the blocks, Albert
showed some fear. Finally, Watson brought in a Santa Claus mask, to which
Albert showed signs of fear.
• This experiment, which was never completed because
Albert’s mother intervened, demonstrated at least four
points. First, infants have few, if any, innate fears of animals;
second, they can learn to fear an animal if it is presented in
association with an aversive stimulus; third, infants can
discriminate between a furry white rat and a hard wooden
block, so that fear of a rat does not generalize to fear of a
block; and fourth, fear of a furry white rat can generalize to
other animals as well as to other white hairy or furry objects.
Operant Conditioning
• B.F. Skinner believed that most human behaviors are
learned through operant conditioning. The key to
operant conditioning is the immediate reinforcement
of a response.
• The organism first does something and then is
reinforced by the environment. Reinforcement, in
turn, increases the probability that the same behavior
will occur again.
Reinforcement
• Positive Reinforcement- : It strengthens the behavior
and it rewards the person. Reinforcement and reward,
therefore, are not synonymous.
• Any stimulus that, when added to a situation,
increases the probability that a given behavior will
occur is termed a positive reinforcer
• Ex. Food, water, sex, money, social approval, and
physical comfort usually are examples of positive
reinforces.
Negative Reinforcement
• The removal of an aversive stimulus from a situation also increases
the probability that the preceding behavior will occur. This removal
results in negative reinforcement
Punishment
• Punishment is the presentation of an aversive
stimulus, such as an electric shock, or the removal of a
positive one, such as disconnecting an adolescent’s
telephone.
• A negative reinforcer strengthens a response;
punishment does not. Although punishment does not
strengthen a response, neither does it inevitably
weaken it.
Schedules of Reinforcement
• Continuous schedule- organism is reinforced for every
response. This type of schedule increases the
frequency of a response but is an inefficient use of the
reinforcer.
• Fixed Ratio- Behavior is reinforced only after the
behavior occurs a specified number of times.
• a child receives a star for every five words spelled correctly.
• Fixed Interval- One reinforcement is given after a fixed
time interval providing at least one correct response
has been made.
• is being paid by the hour.
• Variable Ratio- Behavior is reinforced after an
unpredictable number of times.
• For examples gambling or fishing.
• Variable Interval Reinforcement- Providing one correct
response has been made, reinforcement is given after
an unpredictable amount of time has passed
• An example is a self-employed person being paid at
unpredictable times.