Behaviorism and Behavior Therapy Dr AKSHAY KUMAR y
Behaviorism and Behavior Therapy Dr. AKSHAY KUMAR y Kumar Positive Psychology
Behaviorism Championed by a Psychologist: John B Watson l Basis of everything is Behavior l
Principles of Behaviorism 1 st: Learning: Everything you are is a result of experience. - There is nothing as a human nature. Its is infinitely malleable. - “Give me a child untill an age of 7 and I will show you a man. ” -Jesuits l
l “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed in my own specified world to bring them up and Il guarantee to take any one at random and train them to any type of specialist I might select- Doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, chief, and yes even a beggar and thief regardless of his talents, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors. ” Watson
l No group of man is better than the other: What matters is what and how you learn l Watson claimed he could make anything out of anybody.
2 nd principle Anti- Mentalism l Behaviorism is Scientific l Scientifically prove by experiments l
3 rd principle l No interesting differences across species. l If we are the same then we could study human behaviors and human learnings by studying non-human organisms
Habituation Described as a decline in the tendency to respond to stimuli, that are familiar due to repeated exposure……. . l Eg. Ticking of a clock or noise of traffic. l Imagine a life in which you are unable to get used to things. l Its adaptive mechanism to be aware of new things. l Learning through stimuli and its useful l
Cognitive function of mind l Mediate Adaptive Behavior: Interaction between person and world: Acquire knowledge Form Internal representations of the world. Perception, Memory (Store these representation for later use) Reflect on this knowledge: Reasoning, problem solving, decision making, choices Use knowledge to guide behavior: Action l Communicate knowledge to others l l l
Traditional association views of learning The mind forms associations between stimuli and response l Stimuli - Events in the environment - Their correlates and consequences l Responses - Organism’s actions - Their correlates and consequences
Innate responses Reflexes -Involves individual muscles Eg. Eye, Patella. Simple Stimulus Response - Involves One muscles l Taxes - Involves entire body - Positive Taxes: Moves towards a stimulus: Eg. Mothes - Negative Taxes: Move away from a stimulus Eg Cockroaches l Instincts - Fixed action patterns built in with EVOLUTION - Helps to adapt - Are complex: If you are starved for 15 days, you will beg for food - - Herring Gulls, Sea Turtles l
l Evolution not only shapes the physical body but also learnt behavior patterns to survive and adapt in a particular species. l Limitations of evolutionary learning: Its fixed and cannot be changed. No scope for trial and error - Only if the environment has the stimulus -
Learning Relatively permanent l Change in behavioor l That’s resulting from experience. - Not drugs - Not injury l l Helps individual acquire new behaviors in new circumstances: Behaviors are added or modified to previous set.
Ivan Pavlov’s Learning Russian physiologist l Won Nobel prize for physiologist l Accidently discovered mechanisms of learning while studying the physiology of digestive system of dogs: Serendipity l Won Nobel prize l
Classical conditioning Pavlov’s Apparatus
Salivation started even to stimulus associated to the delivery of food. l Reflexes took place simply to the idea of the stimulus. l This is called Classical conditioning l
l Phase 1: Bell and food Phase 2: Bell immediately followed by the food l Phase 3: Bell Alone l
Basics of CC Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Food l Unconditioned Response (UR): Salivation (Food) l Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Bell l Conditioned Response (CR): Salivation l
C. C
Major phenomena of Classical Conditioned l - Acquisition: The process by which a conditioned stimulus acquires the power to evoke a conditioned response Reinforce of CS by US: Pairing again and again Response gains strength slowly Eg. Raising hand by a father, child flinches
Acquisition of CR
Phenomenon cont. l - - Extinction: The condition stimulus looses the power to evoke a conditioned response No reinforcement: Disconnect the link between the CS and the US, the link between the bell and the food. i. e Bell but no food. Response looses strength
Spontaneous recovery l - Spontaneous recovery Rest after extinction Retest of CS alone: Without new acquisition trials, you would see some conditioned response.
Reacquisition - CS enforced by US i. e again food after bell l This time it learns fasters with fewer trials: Savings in relearning l That means during extinction the animal does not forget it, only learns not to respond. l
Generalization Once the conditioned response is established: You can transfer that response to other stimulus l It has to be a similar stimulus l
Discrimination CS + (Reinforced) l CS – (Not reinforced) l
Significance All forms of learning is CC (? ) l All laws of CC are laws of emotional life. ( Why we become happy, sad, excited, fears etc). Because we have learnt to respond in that manner. l Phobias treatment l Smoking l
Example l A criminal is given an injection which causes nausea and headache and made to open eyes to watch a scene of violence.
l What is the unconditioned stimulus?
l The drug
l Unconditioned response?
l Nausea
l Conditioned stimulus?
l Violence
Conditions response l Nausea
Stimulus generalization l Violent situations
C. C beyond labs Fears: Eg. Afraid of dogs l Smoking: cues and activities that make you want to smoke l
Cats don’t solve the problem through insight
Thorndike On successive trials, the latency reduced l The form of learning motivated by rewards (an outcome) l
Thorndike’s Laws of learning Law of readinness ( Learning is motivated by the organisms internal state to achieve something. l Law of effect: Responses that lead to reward are strengthened and responses that don’t lead to reward are weakened. l Law of exercise: Connection between stimuli and responses are strengthen by practice and weakened by disuse. l
Operent/Instrumental Conditioning Operant Conditioning by BF Skinner l Learn adaptive behavior: through experience of success, failure l The organism operates on environment: Behavior changes the environment l Behavior instrumental: Obtains desired state of affairs. l Associations between behaviors and outcome
Significance of IC Under voluntary control: In contrast to reflex responses in CC l Law of instrumental conditioning are laws of adaptive behavior - Habits - Incentives l
Learning the relationships between what you do and how successful and unsuccessful they are l What works and what doesn’t l Vuluntary l You choose to do things and some choices become stronger than others l
l Analogy between natural selection of species to natural selection of behavior
Eg. l Train a horse: reward him to walk forward and punish him to walk backwards
Positive reinforcement: Reward l Negative reinforcement: Withdrawing something aversive. Eg. Removing a heavy collar for doing good l Punishment: Aversive stimulus to stop a behavior l Shaping: Approximations in steps gradually leading towards a positive behavior. Eg. Making the horse to dance l
Shaping cont. l l l Rewarding to behaviors close to the final, gradually leading to the final desired behavior Primary reinforce Good dog: Positive through classical conditioning The word good dog eventually gains reinforcing quality as it became associated with the buiscuit initially Then just saying good dog as a reinforcement.
Ratio Schedule: Reinforce given after particular response l Interval schedule: Reinforce after a particular time l
Partial reinforcement effect Do not give reinforcement every time. Give it after some responses but not specific ones. l Evolution of nagging: Keep asking and then after some response you would get. l
Prison system l According to Skinner: Reward good behaviors and punish negative ones.
Comparison b/w CC & IC CC IC • Reinforcement not contingent on behavior • Reinforcement contingent on behavior • Behavior elicited by US • Behavior emitted by organism • Involuntary response (Reflexes) • Voluntary responses • Few conditionable behaviors • Many conditionable behaviors
Avoidance learning Solomon and Wyne l Shuttle Box experiments l Learning the association between the light and shock: CC l How he can escape the shock: IC l Initial award: escape the shock, learns and later reward avoid the shock. l
ABA l Application of principles of behavior and learning for bringing positive change in human behavior
Applied Behavior Analysis l - Behavior Analysis When and where the behavior occurs To what extent the behaviors occurs Does it happen with some, few or all Is it a specified behavior or generalized bahavior
Situational Analysis of a situation in which a particular behavior occurs
Assumptions of Behavior Analysis l B. T. is a here and now approach Is based on principles of learning l Ahistorical l Does not rely on subconscious determinants l Focus on observable behaviors l
Developmental analysis l Development of human life in a life span
Motivational Analysis Motive behind a behavior l What propels the behavior l By observing the consequences we can find out what motivates the behavior l Eg. A child slapping himself l
Determinants of good reinforcer Schedule l Novelty (Unique/valued) l Immediacy l Contingency l Economical l Gradually tangible reinforcements should be replaced by verbal reinforcements l
Side effects of Positive Reinforcers l Dependence/Satiation. Follows a bell curve l Keep changing the reinforcer. l Reinforcer menu
Side effects of Punishment May lead to undesirable behavior Eg. Frustration, aggression l Tolerance threshold keeps increasing l Imitation l
Techniques of BT Contingency management: Token economy. l Punishments l Aversive therapy: Exposed to some noxious stimulus: Eg, alcoholism l Exposure and response prevention l Observational learning Eg. Bandura theory l Social modification l
Systematic desensitization Developed by Joseph Wolpe (1942) l Method of counter conditioning l
Reciprocal Conditioning l If a response antagonistic to anxiety can be made to occurs in the presence of of anxiety evoking stimulus (Reciprocal Conditioning) by Calvin Hall
Systematic desensitization l Reciprocal conditioning in a systematic graded manner
Steps Training of deep relaxation l Construction of anxiety hierarchy l Countering the anxious stimulus l Eg. Afraid of dogs : Size and distance can be graded Afraid of heights: Floors can be graded
- Slides: 72