Human Behavior And The Social Environment506/PDFs/SOWK+506...Human Behavior And The Social Environment ... •Behaviorism is a learning theory ... Classical Conditioning •Ivan Pavlov

Human Behavior And The Social EnvironmentClassical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning

Behaviorism• Behaviorismisalearningtheory• Primaryfocusisonbehavior

Classical Conditioning• IvanPavlov• RussianPhysiologist•NobelLaureate• ClassicalConditioning(RespondentConditioning)

Definitions in Classical Conditioning• Unconditionedstimulus(UCS):Thestimulusthatprovokestheresponsetooccurnaturally.

• Unconditionedresponse(UCR):Areactionwhichoccursnaturally.

• Conditionedstimulus(CS):Involvesaneutralstimulusthatdoesnotresultinanovertbehavioralresponse.

• Conditionedresponse(CR):Aresponsetotherepeatedlypairedconditionedstimulus(CS)withtheunconditionedresponse(UCR).

• Note:Theconditionalresponse(CR)isthesameastheunconditionedresponse(UCR).Theonlydifferenceisthattheconditionedresponseisevokedbyadifferentstimulus.

Classical Conditioning• Foodisanunconditionedstimulus(UCS).Salivationisanunlearnedorunconditionedresponse(UCR) tofood.

•Afterthebellandfoodwerepairedseveraltimes,Pavlovsoundedthebellandwithheldthefood.

• Pavlovobservedthatthedogsnowsalivatedtothesoundofthebellalone.

• Theirbehaviorhadbeenconditioned

Basic Principles• Stimulus-Response• Acquisition—pairingtheconditionedresponse

• Establishandstrengthenpairing• Stimulusmustbenoticeable• Stimulusmustbetimely

• Extinction-occurswhenpairingofstimulusandresponsestops• SpontaneousRecoveryoccurswhenbehaviorpreviouslythoughtextinctreappears

• StimulusGeneralization-similarstimuliinvokeresponses• Discriminationiswhenastimulimustbediscretetoinvokeresponses

Poor Little Albert-Creating Phobias

John Watson’s Theory of Behaviorism

•Developmentdoesnotoccurinsequentialstages•Developmentisacontinuousprocessofacquiringnewandmoresophisticatedbehavioralpatternsorhabits

•Onlyhumanreflexessuchasbreathing,sucking,kicking,graspingandhead-turningareinborn.

•Allimportantbehavioraltendencies,e.g.,traits,talents,valuesandaspirations,arelearned

How does Classical Conditioning Explain Human Behavior?

•Anxiety/PTSD• Phobias

• Flooding• SystematicDesensitization

• SubstanceAbuseTreatment• LearningEnvironments

Applying Classical Conditioning

Applying Classical Conditioning

Advertising•Associatingpositiveimageswithaproduct

• Celebritiessellingproducts• Familiesenjoyingmeals• Popularmusicplayingwithproducts

Substance Abuse• RecognizingTriggers• Beingwithcertainfriends•Watchingsports•Goingouttoeat•Usingsubstancesasstressresponses

Studying• Studyingatthesametime• Studyinginthesameplace•Usingthesamepen

Strengths• Explainssomelearningbehaviors•Helpscontrolundesirablebehaviors•Hassomeempiricalbasis

Limitations• Failstoconsidertheindividual• Requiresanumberofconditionsto“work”