Please read sections 3.3 and 3.4.
Please respond to the following questions and try to use the terms and concepts from the current sections as well as the terms and concepts you have learned so far as you respond to the following questions.
Which section did you like the most? Why? Which section did you like the least? Why? What do you think is the most useful piece of information from section 2.5? Why? Most useful from the handout? Why?
Prior to reading these sections, what did you think about behavior modification? Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the sections? Why? How has reading the sections changed what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Finally indicate two topics or concepts that you would like me to cover in more depth in class.
Include a list of the terms and concepts you used in your post. (example - Terms: positive reinforcer, extinction, reinforcer, discriminative stimulus...)
I found the section 3.4 to be more interesting the section 3.3. I found 3.4 to be interesting in that it talked about how Watson conditioned little Albert to not liking white rabbits and mice. It is very interesting to me how we can condition and somewhat control someone into liking or disliking certain things. I disliked section 3.3 due to that there was a lot of information to take in form it and some of it was confusing to me. The concepts of the contingencies were a bit confusing to me at first. Like how positive contingencies are also excitatory conditioning and that negative contingencies are referred to as inhibitory conditioning.
The most useful information I will take from section 3.3 is the order in which the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus is presented. Most conditioning involves trace conditioning where the conditioned stimulus is presented slightly before the unconditioned stimulus. The most important information I will take from section 3.4 is the concept of systematic desensitization. Systematic desensitization is a behavioral method used today in helping people overcome phobias. Three things that I’ll remember from these sections are conditioned emotional response, conditioned taste aversion, trace conditioning. In conditioned emotional response, is an emotion that usually follows the presentation of a stimulus. Conditioned taste aversion is when a taste is associated with something toxic enough to make us sick to the extent that we become nauseated and vomit. The thing I will remember most with trace conditioning is that the conditioned stimulus is usually presented before the unconditioned stimulus.
Two concepts I would like to go over more are exhibitory conditioning and inhibitory conditioning.
Terms: Excitatory conditioning, inhibitory conditioning, systematic desensitization, conditioned emotional response, conditioned taste aversion, trace conditioning
The section that I enjoyed the most was section 3.3 because I felt that it provided the most information. However, I found section 3.3 somewhat confusing so it is also the section that I liked the least. The most useful piece of information from section 3.3 was the idea that contingencies can be either positive or negative. Positive contingencies (Excitatory conditioning) signal an increased likelihood that the US will occur. Negative conditionings (Inhibitory conditioning) signal that the UR will not be present or delivered. The reading provided the example of Pavlov who used discrimination training, which is a procedure that uses two different stimuli to signal different contingencies. Pavlov would eventually make the task of discriminating between the circle and eclipse more difficult, and as a result some of the dogs became agitated or salivated (excitatory), and the other dogs would become helpless (inhibitory). Pavlov believed that a conflict would arise between the inhibitory and the excitatory reflexes when the discrimination task became impossible. I also thought the information on conditioned emotional response, temporal relationship, simultaneous conditioning, and conditioned taste aversion were important. Conditioned emotional response involves a presentation of a stimulus followed by a shock. When dealing with CER, a neutral stimulus is followed by the US which elicits the UR. Temporal relationship states that it matters when the neutral stimulus in presented with the US and in what order. For example, you could use trace conditioning which is when the CS is presented slightly before the US. Trace conditioning is used most often because it is the most effective. You could also use simultaneous conditioning which is when the onset and offset of both the CS and the US occur at the same times. The reading then introduced the topic of conditioned taste aversion which refers to the idea of a taste being associated with something toxic enough to make us sick. The reading used the example of having too much liquor. For example, if I drink too much Black Velvet one night and become sick, from that point on the smell of Black Velvet/liquor may cause me to feel ill.
The information that I thought was the most important from section from 3.4 would be the information about the different views of psychology. The reading mentioned that structualists believed that if you understand the basic elements, then the elements could be used as basic building blocks to construct the complex nature of humans. Functionalists believed that if an ability or trait existed then it must be related to enhancing our survival rate. However, Watson disagreed with both the structuralist and functionalist views and instead believed that psychology was the study of behavior and that humans and animals learned to adjust to the environment through habit and reflex.
Prior to the readings I believed that behavior modification involved only reinforcement and punishment. Three things that I will remember after doing the readings are the different views of psychology: Structuralist, Functionalist, and Watsonian. My viewpoint has changed on behavior modification after reading the sections; I know understand that conditioning is an effective tool when modifying a behavior. Two concepts I would like further discussed in class are the various types of conditioning and introspection.
Terms: positive contingencies, excitatory conditioning, negative contingencies, inhibitory conditioning, discrimination training, CEM, UR, US, CS, trace conditioning, simultaneous conditioning, conditioned taste aversion, temporal relationship, Structuralist, and Functionalist.
I also found section 3.4 regarding Watson interesting. Watson was very well known for his behavior manifesto,which stated that the goal of behaviorist's was to predict and control behavior. Watson also mentioned in his manifesto that humans and animals were on the same continuum. Watson believed that humans and animals learned to adjust to the environment through habits and reflexes. According to Watson what we learned from animals could be applied to humans. Watson came up with three basic reflex emotions: fear, rage, and love. He was also well know for his Little Albert Study. Watson wanted to demonstrate that the reflex of fear could be conditioned. Little Albert, was not really afraid of anything other than loud noises. So, in the experiment the loud noise (US) was paired with the white rat (US)and Albert became afraid of the rat because he paired the two stimuli, associating the rat with the loud noise. Little Albert then generalized his fear to all furry things. Watson believed that his experiment demonstrated that nearly all behaviors are learned and that parents could shape the behaviors of their children.
Section 3.3 struck my attention because of my interest in the concept of conditioned taste aversion. I learned a lot from section 3.4 but my attention veered towards 3.3 because I felt that I could relate more to the concepts in it. I had never realized that there is an actual name for this horrible feeling called conditioned taste aversion that most people have experienced. A personal example that I can think of is that as a child I was conditioned by my parents to always get yummy foods like ice cream and yogurt when I was sick. Every single time I was sick that is what I got to eat. When I had knee surgery in the 7th grade I lived off of Gogurt (the yogurt in the tube) and I barely ate anything else. Because I felt so sick while on my pain killers and other meds after my surgery, I can’t even think about the gogurt that I ate. I thought I would give it a try one time but even looking at the package gave me a bad taste in my mouth and made me feel nauseous. The taste is so aversive to me now that I can’t go near gogurt like I used to. It is funny to look back and think that by being sick, my parents were reinforcing me with yummy foods and staying home from school. (I may or may not have faked some illness once or twice as a child to receive some good ol fashioned positive reinforcement)
As well as the concept of conditioned taste aversion, I am interested in the excitatory and inhibitory contingencies. Excitatory contingencies are positive and excitatory contingencies are negative. The example used in the text is lightening and thunder but I think it would be interesting to come up with more examples because although I find it interesting, it is a bit difficult to take in all at one time.
Some things I would like to go over more in class are structuralism and functionalism because I have only learned about them from a historical perspective.
Terms I used: conditioned taste aversion, aversive, excitatory contingency, inhibitory contingency, positive reinforcement.
The topic I enjoyed most from reading section 3.3 was learning the difference between positive contingencies or excitatory conditioning and negative contingencies or inhibitory conditioning. I wondered about this before because there are things you associate with a stimulus, and because of this there is a positive or added reaction, but there are also times when a stimulus is present, the response is to stop doing something. For example, when I hear the theme song to E! News at 6:00, I go to the tv & turn up the volume so I can hear the Hollywood buzz of the day;) It’s the theme song that is the excitatory conditioning to me turning up the volume. I am confused about specific examples though of inhibitory conditioning, or resisting a response so I would like to talk more about this in class. Trace conditioning is the importance of when the stimulus is presented and in what order, but I would also like some more examples of this in class. I know that smell is a strong association for me to a lot of things. I used to wash my hair with peach conditioner all thru highschool, so when I smell anything peach flavored, it makes me think of a specific time period and even triggers specific memories. In section 3.4, I enjoyed learning about Watson’s study on Baby Albert, but it is difficult to believe that any infant can be shaped into a specific person. I do see how a specific behavior can be learned though, especially in infancy. Just watching my daughter when she was younger, when I would get out the bowl that I made her baby cereal in she would start scooting around, clapping, smiling. Whether or not she was hungry, she eventually associated the bowl with eating, which as an infant, is something they look forward to each time;) I love this class, I get to reminisce on my daughters entire life and all her behaviors;) In learning about systematic desensitization, I tried to think of how to do it for me fear of birds and or heights. I may have to start with some pictures of both, and slowly move to the real thing. My fear of birds may be more difficult though because my fear is that they will get too close to my head, and get their claws stuck in my hair and flap around. I have this dream and visual a lot, and when I think a bird is somewhat close, I duck! I steer clear of the bird exhibit at the zoo, pelicans on the beach, etc, but sometime I may have to face this fear….AAAHHH! It would be a very slow process of systematic desensitization.
Terms used: Positive contigiences, excitatory conditioning, neg. contingencies, inhibitory conditioning, systematic desensitization, conditioned response.
Section 3.3 provided me with more useful information for behavior modification than did section 3.4, therefore I enjoyed it more. While section 3.4 was interesting didn't feel it provided useful information and the information it did provide seemed to be reviewing information from other courses I have taken.
The there were quite a few useful parts to section 3.3. The ideas of contingencies helped me understand a bit better how stimuli and response may interact. It is important to understand that postive contingencies or excitatory condtioning occurs when an NS(neutral stimulus) an a US(unconditioned stimulus) become correlated and the NS becomes the CS(controled stimulus) because it elicites a UR(unconditioned response). positive and excitatory are paired together because it signals that US is more likly to occur, unlike a negative contingency which will singal that the US occuring is less likely. Also, KNowing that temporal relationship between the CS and US in important because when they are presented and in what order will determine how effective the conditioning is.
The most useful part of section 3.4 would be the review that Watson did not believe in structuralism(basic elements/introspective) or functionalism(trait exists for survival purposes/darwin) but that all beings human or animal are born with fear, rage, and love and that we all can learn to apply these emotions to our environment through conditioning.
Once again, prior to this I was very limited in my understanding of changing behavior. I have learned that S-->responses but the idea which order the CS and the US occur in determines how effective learning will be is new and interesting. I think what I will remember most about these sections is that one trial learning is associated with taste aversion, something that many of us can realate to. Conditioning occurs after one time so that a response doesn't need to occur when the stimuli is presented because the association between the stimuli and what the response will be is strong. That trace conditioning is when the CS is presented slightly before the US and is the most effective way of conditioning. Also, that CER or conditioned emotional response will have the NS take on the US's function becuase the CS elicits a CR. So the US will have positive contingencies with the CS.
Terms: Positive contingencies, Negative contingencies, Excitatory contingencies, NS, US, CS, CR, Conditioned emotional response, Terperal realtionsihp, trace conditioning, one trial learning/taste aversion, Stimulus, response, structuralist, functionalist, watson, 3 basic emotions, elicites, darwin.
The section I liked better was probably 3.4, because it was a little easier to understand, and explained a little better than 3.3 was. Mostly it was about how Watson and others apply classical conditioning to real situations, as well as other experiments. However, there was a lot of stuff in 3.3 that was important to know, and I feel much more knowlegable about classical conditioning than I thought I would—it turns out there Is a lot more to it than just US, UR, CS, and CR. For an example there are many different ways in which classical conditioning can be exhibited. There can be trace conditioning, simultaneous conditioning, short-delayed conditioning, long-delayed conditioning, and backward conditioning.
Conditioned taste aversion is when a taste is associated with something toxic enough to make us nauseous and vomit. The best example of this is when someone drinks too much liquor that they are ill and throw up, and then the next day or afterwards they find even the smell or sight of alcohol to be very aversive.
Trace conditioning is the most commonly used form of classical conditioning. IT is when the controlled stimulus is presented just before the uncontrolled stimulus is. (the section explains it in better depth with the controlled stimulus being presented, and then terminated, then the uncontrolled stimulus is presented and then terminated).
Systematic desensitization is a method of therapy to help patients overcome things like phobias. They typically involve teaching the patient relaxation or meditation techniques, followed by visualizing the scenario where they would encounter the phobia is very small steps while applying the relaxation techniques.
I would probably like to know more about conditioned emotional responses (which are when a stimulus is presented followed by a shock) and positive contingencies.
terms: US, UR, CS, CR, Conditioned taste aversion, conditioned emotional responses, systematic desensitization, positive contingencies, simultaneous conditioning, short delayed conditioning, trace conditioning, long delayed conditioning and backward conditioing
I felt that Section 3.3 was more helpful in understanding Behavior Modification than Section 3.4 was. I enjoyed 3.3 more because it helped me further understand classical conditioning in the view that there are positive and negative contingencies. Furthermore, Rescorla developed the Contingency Theory which explains that instead of focusing on the pairings of the CS and US, we should focus more on if the CS is a good predictor of the US. To build upon contingencies on a more advanced level, Section 3.3 explained further the differences between excitatory and inhibitory contingencies. In the section it explains that excitatory contingencies are positive contingencies and that inhibitory contingencies are negative contingencies, thus, excitatory and positive can be interchanged. Same goes for inhibitory and negative. Positive/Excitatory contingencies signal an increased likelihood that the US will occur, but a negative/inhibitory contingency signals that the likelihood that the US will occur is decreased. Both are based on the occurrence of the Uncontrolled stimulus.
I felt as though Section 3.4 was just a review of Watson's contributions to the discipline of psychology. He is best known for his view that structuralist and functionalist psychologists were not accurate portrayals of psychology as a whole. He is also known for his work on his "Little Albert" study where he studied the effects of basic reflexes with the complexity of emotions. Furthermore, he wanted to understand the basic reflex of fear and how it could be conditioned into something more complex. Thirdly, he contributed using psychology in advertising.
To build upon the importance of Section 3.3, it explained different types of conditioning. These included simultaneous, short-delayed, and backward conditioning. I found the theory of taste aversion really interesting. I have experienced this many times in my life so far. For example, after a long night of drinking a certain type of liquor, I drank too much and vomited towards the end of the night and now every time I smell that liquor I have a flashback of me vomiting because of my over consumption. This has not deterred me away totally from that type of liquor, I just drinking it more conservatively now.
I feel as though Section 3.3 has furthered my understanding of Behavior Modification in a more advanced understanding of classical conditioning. Section 3.4 introduced me to the concept of systematic desensitization and how it can be effectively used in Behavior Modification.
TERMS: systematic desensitization, classical conditioning,positive and negative contingencies,CS, US, excitatory and inhibitory contingencies,structural and functional psychology, simultaneous, short-delayed, and backward conditioning, taste aversion
I liked section 3.5 about Skinner the most; I liked his research methods and his experiments. I found it interesting about his book called Walden Two, about raising children away from their parents (which would be a hard way to grow up, but if that is how they were raised from day one it would be normal for them, but I would agree to be upset like students were who read the book about that aspect of the study as well), having been giving jobs according to a plan or special purpose, their behaviors were directed to benefit the community first and not the individuals, seems very weird, so his social engineering goal here would be to better the community by raising the children in a controlled setting vs. when they are raised at home and could be conditioned to behavior in a undesirable manner or be raised to be a respectful member of society. I didn’t like the part in 3.5 about the babies being raised in the “air bed,” I found it to be just plain out weird, I understand that it helped to learn about temperature control for the child, what he or she found comfortable, but people have their babies sleep in clothes, with blankets, and in cribs and have been for many years and nothing bad has come of it, but I understand they learned about the child’s temperature preference and how to go about being able to lower the temp as they got older. In section 3.4 I found his “Little Albert” study to be interesting how he was able get him to fear furry animals with association to a loud bang.
Prior to reading I really wasn’t familiar a lot with specifics on Skinner’s or Watson’s work and experiments in psychology, I now understand Skinner’s social engineering and Watson’s systematic desensitization. I will remember most about the rats fixed ratio(FR) with reinforcement to get the food pellets with 25 lever presses, his book Walden two and the children raised without their parents, and Watson’s “Little Albert” study, where he demonstrated that “fear could be conditioned in something more.”
I also wonder where my fear of the dark and spiders come from, I know why I am afriad of hights, but don't understand my other "phobias."
I would like to talk about more about the abbreviations used (examples: US,CS,UR,FR ).
TERMS: conditioned behavior, reinforcement, fixed ratio, undesirable behavior
I loved section 3.4, mostly because I really enjoy debating the pros and cons of different camps of psychology. I typically find myself pulling parts of each theory into an operant definition of sorts. The structuralist approach is incredibly logical to me. Almost everything can be broken down into subparts, behavior included. People are rarely motivated by just one thing, there are usually several things working to elicit a behavior, even if those things are incredibly minor. On the other hand, those things could arguable be traced back to evolutionary survival tactics that have stuck with us for all these years. It's like the good old nature versus nurture argument. Neither one is 100% accurate in every single situation. It takes a delicate marriage of both to produce the complex set of behaviors we display.
Section 3.3 was informative, but a huge information dump. I liked getting more ways to describe behavior, but it was a lot to take in. I found it to be somewhat confusing at times. It's definitely going to take a few slow read-throughs to get all of it processed. So I liked the section a lot for it's usefulness, I just really enjoy behaviorist debates more.
The most useful thing from 3.3 would definitely be the different types of conditioning. I didn't know that backward conditioning works, and I'm not sure I can think of a situation involving it. I also thought that any delay between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus would affect how well the conditioning works. Perhaps I just don't fully understand the diagrams and wording.
One thing I wasn't aware of was the broad range of possibilities for systematic desensitization. The fact that people don't feel as much fear while eating seems so incredibly bizarre to me. I don't really see where there would be any connection, but it's neat. I kinda want to try this on myself and see if I can get over my ridiculous fear of spiders.
I've definitely experienced the conditioned taste aversion thing, but not with toxic chemicals or liquor or anything. We had some of that deliciously disgusting popcorn that's covered in brightly-covered sugar glaze at my house when Iw as little and I picked out all the red ones and ate all of it. Needless to say, I got horribly sick from all the sugar. For the next few weeks, looking at the color red was enough to make me feel nauseous all over again. Eating the sugary junk made the reaction even stronger. To this day I still haven't eaten more than a piece or two at a time. And now I know the name for it!
If we could discuss the positive and negative contingencies is class a little that would be great.
Terms: conditioned taste aversion, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, backward conditioning, structuralist, functionalist, systematic desensitization, elicit
The section that I liked the most was 3.3 because I learned a lot from this section. I felt it had a lot of good information in it that helped me understand classical conditioning. There was a lot of information from this section that I thought was interesting. I actually really like section 3.4 as well because again there was some information in the section that I didn’t know, and there was some that I did know. So, out of the sections this was my least favorite but I still liked it!
The most useful information from section 3.3 was about the other types of conditioning, in example the trace conditioning, Simultaneous conditioning, and Backwards conditioning. It was useful in the sense that I really never heard of those types of conditioning and they explain the order of the CS and US. I thought this is very useful information to know while learning more about behavior modification. The most useful information that was from section 3.4 was about the Little Albert Study. I thought it was useful because it open up the thought of desensitizing after what he did in the study. It branched off into a study entitled the Mary Cover Jones Study who was a pioneered in Behavior Therapy. So I thought it was very useful information.
Prior to reading sections 3.3 and 3.4 I didn’t realize there was so much more that went into classical conditioning!
There are several things that I will remember from the reading but these are three things. One is from 3.4 about systematic desensitization. I thought it was so interesting how it is a behavioral method used today in helping people overcome phobias! I thought I was interesting the example is the fear of flying and how a trained individual will help another in the steps to help them overcome their phobia! Another thing that I will remember is about excitatory and inhibitory contingencies. First it explains about positive and negative contingencies. Positive contingency is an increased likelihood that the US will occur and a negative contingency is the decreased likelihood the US will occur. With that Positive contingencies are also referred to as Excitatory Conditioning and Negative Contingencies are Inhibitory conditioning. The last thing that I will remember from the sections (and what I thought was really interesting) is the One trial learning about taste aversion. I thought it was so interesting! I also believed that you had to do something over and over again for it to be learned and after reading this I thought it made so much sense! It is called conditioned taste aversion which happens when a taste is associated with something toxic enough to make one sick to the extent that we become nauseated and vomit. I know that I have personally experienced it! I was younger and I drank some hot chocolate and the next morning I throw it up. To this day I can’t really drink or smell hot chocolate (with is sad).
There is a lot of information that goes with behavior modification and a lot of background information to get to where we are today with it. There is so much more to it!
I would like to go over the different types of conditioning.
Terms: classical conditioning/ trace conditioning/Simultaneous conditioning/Backwards conditioning/ Little Albert Study/ desensitizing/ Mary Cover Jones Study/ Behavior Therapy/ systematic desensitization/ excitatory and inhibitory contingencies/ positive and negative contingencies/ conditioned taste aversion
I thought I would add alittle more about Watson because there was a lot more about him that I didn't know. I know that he is known for the Little Albert Study but I didn't know about his Behaviorist Manifesto. This pretty much states that some areas of psychological were very subject during his time. Especially in areas that studied methods of introspection. Introspection is when participant documenting his/her subject experience of a perception or a behavior. During this time psychology was divided in to two differnt types: structuralists and functionalist. Both of which Watson disagreed with or rejected. Structuralist are interested in breaking psychology into basic element. IF you understood these element you understood the basic building blocks to the nature of humans. Functionalist believe that for a trait to exist it must have something to do with our survival rate. They basically beleive in Darwinism. Watson's psychology was the study of behavior and tat humans and animals learned to adjust to the envioronment through habit and reflex. He believe that what we learned from animals could be applied to humans.He was an interesting man!
I enjoyed reading section 3.4 the most because I found it more interesting overall. I found myself reading section 3.3 multiple times just to get into the reading. It made my brain hurt slightly. Althought, the information within the section (3.3) is all very important and I was glad I got to learn some new and valuable information. So there really wasn't any section that I liked the least, all the information was good to go over whether it was a review of Watson and his works with little Albert, the behaviorist manifesto, and his later career in advertising where he tried to apply psychology to everyday work.
I found much of the information from section 3.3 very
useful, the most useful piece to me was probabley the information on postive and negative contegencies. This is relatively new information so I found it most useful. Postive contingencies are sometimes refered to as excitatory conditions because this occurs when the CS signals the arrival of the US such as the relationship between lightening and thunder. The lightening precedes the thunder therefore cueing or signaling the arrival of the thunder blast, it is a positive contingency. The contingency is negative when the relationship signals that the UR will not be delivered. These are also known as inhibitory conditions. When the likelihood that the US will occur is increased the condition is excitatory. When the likelihood of the US to occur is decreased the condition is inhibitory. My favorite information from section 3.4 was the information on systematic desensitization a method for desensitizing things such as fears or phobias. This method was developed by Mary Cover Jones. This method use a combination of different methods to reach the final goal of no more fear associated with the object that elicits the fears in the person. She developed this method on a child named peter who had irrational fears of some things or objects, through her process of systematic desensitization she eventually rid peter of most of his biologically developed irrational fears. This process uses methods such as visualization and relaxation to systematically extinguish the fear by taking small steps toward the final goal.
Prior to reading these sections I feel like I had a basic understanding of behavior modification, we have learned a lot of fundamental ideas of bmod. These sections have taught me a lot more information that I will use in the future and it was important to touch on the ideas of Watson as a review and the method of systematic desensitization. I will remember a lot of the information i learned from the readings but i think I will remember the following three topics the most: 1)The process of systematic desensitization and how it relates to getting over phobias by taking small systematic steps until the final goal is accomplished. 2)The 5 varieties of conditioning: simultaneous, trace, short-delayed, long-delayed, and backward conditioning. 3)positive contingencies are also known as excitatory conditions, and negative contingencies are also known as inhibitory conditions.
Two topics for review in class: Rescorla's Theory and The Little Albert Study!
Terms: Positive and Negative Contingencies, Excitatory Conditions, Conditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Response, Inhibitory Conditions, Systematic Desensitization, Elicit, Extinguish, 5 Varieties of Conditioning: Simultaneous, Trace, Short-Delayed, Long-Delayed, and Backward Conditioning.
I found section 3.3 to be more interesting because it had several different concepts that helped me better understand behavior, more specifically classical conditioning.
The thing I found most interesting about this section was the introduction of contingencies. A postitive contingencey occurs when the CS predicts or signals the arrival of the US. A positive contingency (excitatory conditioning) signals and increased likelihood hat the US will occur. Much like there are positive contingencies, there are also negative contingencies. Negative contingencies signal that the UR will not be present/delivered, they also signal the likihood that the US will decrease. An example that you said in the book for positive contingencies would be lighting and thunder because lightning travels faster than sound thus resulting in the thunder to follow after. Negative contingencies can also be called Inhibitory conditioning.
Another thing I found interesting in this section is discriminating training. This is the procedure of using two different stimuli to signal different contingencies. Although I find this rather interesting, I still do not fully understand the circle idea that Pavlov introduced.
Section 3.4 was also rather interesting in discussing the two different studies. The Little Albert study is a classic and has been brought up in several of my psychology classes, nonetheless I always find it to be interesting. It's amazing that we can condition not only animals, but humans, to fear things. I'm assuming that the target behavior in this would be instiling fear into little albert by clacking two rods together (US), thus resuliting in fear (UR). Then when the rat was placed infront of Albert(US) he became afraid of rats (CR)! Impeccable.
Things for class: contingencies.
Three things I'll remember: Little Albert Study, Contingencies (to some extent), and the Jones study.
Terms: US, UR, CS, CR, postive and negative contingengies, excitatory conditions, inhibitory conditioning.
More to add about the man of the hour, Watson! Watson believed that psych was the study of behavior and that humans learned to adjust to the environment through habit and reflex. Watson also believed that whatever we learned from animals could be directly applied to humans (ie little albert)
Which section did you like the most? Why? Which section did you like the least? Why? What do you think is the most useful piece of information from section 2.5? Why? Most useful from the handout? Why?
The most interesting chapter for me had to be 3.4. This is due to the fact that I was informed of new material and it was not something that was stated over and over again. I was able to understand this section and understand what experiments were being done. I found my emitting the behavior of reading very pleasurable. Expecially when it talked about systematic desensitization. I liked reading about Mary Cover Jone’s because she was a new Psychologist that we have not talked about yet. What she did was great and is something that needs to continue because many people are very fear full. Systematic desensitization is a behavioral method used today in helping people overcome phobias. So many of us have phobia’s while others phobia’s are stronger then others. This section was very pleasurable while I was very interested on how one can get people to not be afraid of anything even when they were afraid before.
I did not like 3.3 because it was full of things that I have already read about. I was not interested in Pavlov or Skinner anymore because I already know about the unconditioned stimilus and conditioned stimulus. Along with what the both did. I feel that I have a great grib on the classical conditioning and how it is done. I feel that this chapter was not new to me and was very aversive. I feel that this chapter did a good job of explaining the US,UR,CS,CR but that is only thing that I got out of this chapter!
The most useful thing that I got out of the reading was how one can be trained or conditioned to not be afraid of something that they were before. Their phobia just goes away after awhile of being conditioned. What Mary did was just amazing and very smart. She used her gift to help others and have phobia’s removed. I would of loved to actually see that actual process be done and see the final product. I also liked reading about this because in my abnormal child psychology class we are talking about phobias and how parents can sometimes form phobia’s among their children.
The most useless information was the information that I had already known. This is because I felt like it was pointless for me to read information that I already knew. So while reading this I found this very aversive. I however did read it and was able to learn some new information for the reading!
Three things= little albert, mary jones case, and classical conditioning.
For class. I want to know more about Mary Jones Case
I liked section 3.4 a little better than 3.3. For me, this section was a little easier to follow and understand. There was a lot of new information in section 3.4, as I have not heard too much about Watson in my past psychology classes. I enjoyed reading about the case with Little Albert. That technique would certainly not be allowed today because of all the ethical problems in it. Watson chose Little Albert to participate because he wasn't "afraid" of anything. They found out, however, that he was afraid of loud noises. So, throughout the study, Little Albert was presented a loud noise with an animal. At the end of the study Little Albert was fearful of any furry animals and found them aversive because there was an association of loud noises and furry animals. Watson believed that this was able to occur because all behaviors are learned. Little Albert was classically conditioned to fear furry animals.
The most interesting part of section 3.3 to me was conditioned taste aversion. This is when a taste is associated with something horrible enough to make us sick to the point of nausea. I liked the example used in the section to describe this: drinking an excessive amount of alcohol. The individual can be so sick the morning after that even the smell of alcohol can elicit vomiting. The taste aversion does not have to cause any illness or vomiting, it just has to be associated with the illness to cause taste aversion.
I thought the most interesting part of section 3.4 was systematic desensitization. This is used to help people overcome their phobias: it is a behavioral method. It is interesting how this can be applied. Teaching the individuals some relaxing techniques and using visualization techniques can help to reach the goal. It is very interesting that people are not as afraid when their eating. Mary Cover Jones found this out. She used this idea on Peter (a little boy who was afraid of a lot of things.) The food was the US, presenting it with an animal was the CS (animal because he was fearful of animals), and the fear was the UR (seeing the animals made him emit a fearful behavior.)
Three things that I will remember from these sections are 1. systematic desensitization is commonly used to eliminate phobias, 2. taste aversion occurs when a food is associated with the effects of something toxic, and 3. Watson believed that behaviors can be learned by classical conditioning.
I would like to go over contingencies in class and the different types of conditioning.
terms: classical conditioning, aversive, conditioned taste aversion, elicit, systematic desensitization, US, CS, UR, emit
The section I enjoyed the most was section 3.4 about the controversial John Watson. I liked this section more than section 3.3 because it reminded me of history of psychology which has been one of my favorite classes. John Watson was a very interesting guy and perhaps the most attractive guy compared to Skinner and Wundt. John Watson is the founder of the behavioral school of psychology and he is probably most well-known for his controversial Little Albert Study. A little 9 month old nicknamed Little Albert was used to demonstrate how humans learn to generalize the basic reflexes they are born with into a wide range of objects and with a complexity of emotions. Watson wanted to show how he could condition a simple reflex such as fear into something more. Little Albert was chosen because he was not afraid of much. The only thing that would startle him was loud noises. An assistant of Watson’s would emit a loud noise (US) which would elicit a fear response (UR). Watson would put a rat (US) in front of Little Albert while the loud noise (US) occurred. Little Albert soon became afraid of the rat (now CS). Watson was never able to desensitize the fear because he was fired due to a scandal. Mary Cover Jones later demonstrated that it was possible to desensitize a fear when she removed a fear of rabbits a boy named Peter. Mary Cover Jones discovered that people were not afraid when they were eating so she would give Peter food to eat and present the rabbit to him while he was eating. Soon food and rabbits were associated and Peter was no longer afraid of rabbits. Her method for desensitizing Peter’s irrational fear of rabbits went on to be termed systematic desensitization. Systematic desensitization is a behavior method used to help people overcome their phobias. Everyone is afraid of something but when it’s a phobia went in interferes in your daily life. Systematic desensitization uses a variety of techniques like relaxation, visualization, and taking small steps towards the object that the person fears. The most useful information from this section is the Little Albert study and Mary Cover Jones study.
Section 3.3 was about classical conditioning. I thought this section was rather dull, but it had a lot of information that I need to know like the contingency theory. Resorla believed it was not the number of pairings between the US and the CS, but how good the predictor of the CS was of the US. Positive contingencies are also known as excitatory conditioning and negative contingences are also known as inhibitory conditioning. It is very important what order it happens and when it is presented which is referred to as temporal relationship. Most conditioning is trace conditioning in which the CS is shown before the US, but only slightly before. It is used the most because it is the most effective. Simultaneous conditioning is another type where the CS and the US occur at the exact same time. Backwards conditioning is when the US is present before the CS. I would think this would be very ineffective and in what circumstances is this ever used? Conditioned tasted aversion (CAS) was a very interesting concept as well that I believe most college students have become familiar with because of drinking too much, but most overcome this after a while. Conditioned taste aversion is when a taste is associated with something toxic enough to make you sick. Conditioning can occur at one time when it is CAS. I would like to discuss contingencies and the different types of conditioning more in class. I will remember the little albert study, Mary Cover Jones study and conditioned taste aversion (CAS).
Terms: US, UR, CS, CR, Conditioned taste aversion, systematic desensitization, positive contingencies, simultaneous conditioning, trace conditioning, backward conditioning
As I have said so far, I like all the sections that have been assigned. In chapter 3.3 I liked talking about contingency because I have heard the term before I never truly understood it. After reading about it, contingency reminds me of synergistic interaction, which simply refers to the combination of two or more things. Positive contingency refers to the combination of the neutral stimulus that becomes the "conditioned stimulus" (tone) and the unconditioned stimulus (air puff). The CS predicts the US. Another great example of positive contingency in the text was lightning and thunder, light precedes thunder, letting us know what is coming.
After reading the first two pages I thought there were 4 different contingencies but there are actually two. Excitatory contingencies are positive whereas inhibitory contingencies are negative. Conditioned emotional responses are typically a positive contingency. My personal example of a positive contingency is when a dog has been abused, and someone raises there hand aversively, the dog flinches. Or perhaps when a child is afraid of the dark, sometimes when my niece was younger I would sneak in her room to scare her. When I jumped out unexpectedly she would scream every time. On the other hand, a personal example of a negative (inhibitory) contingency is that my ex boyfriend was terrible at keeping his word. Every time he would promise me something he would rarely follow through. So the term promise had no value, hence EX boyfriend. I was very intrigued by discrimination training (telling the difference); however I don’t understand how he used the circle and the ellipse with food. Did he show them a picture of the shape? I know that the ellipse inhibits the salivation because the dogs didn’t think food would arrive and when he slowly changed the shapes to be more like one another the dogs couldn’t tell if food would arrive or not. In this case the CS (food) controlled the reflex UR and CR (salivation). I just don’t know where the shapes came into play, were they on the door, floor? Also, there is more to contingencies than I thought. They are somewhat associated with extinction bursts. Some dogs became agitated and berserk, these behaviors are excitatory, whereas some dogs would become helpless and cower, and these behaviors were inhibitory. Conditioning methods were used on animals, mostly for ethical issues and because animals have more simplistic brains. Such as, eye blinking conditioning, and electrical shock using operant chambers for rats. Some of these aversive methods were used on humans as low intensity. In a positive contingency the neutral stimulus (tone) elicits a startle, the US (shock) elicits UR (rat freezes). It is not effective if the tone were presented at the same time as the shock, timing matters (temporal relationship), trace conditioning is most common, in which the CS is presented slightly before the US.
I liked the examples given for taste aversion, because most of us can all relate to the alcohol getting you sick. Conditioned taste aversion can happen from one time, not a reoccurring method. When I was in elementary school I got really sick from a peanut butter sandwich and still to this day can’t eat peanut butter.
Section 3.4 started talking about neural impulse right away and luckily I have studied it in my biological psychology course. I really like the every chapter either relates to my daily activities or to my current classes. When I was reading about the method of introspection it reminded me of a simpler term “self report”. Also relating to another class I am currently taking. Watson believed that all behaviors are learned not innate… I agree with him. Unfortunately, now I can see why my nieces are such brats. I thought section 3.4 was very interesting but rather short. It makes me wonder why Albert mother pulled him out of the experiment before Watson could desensitize him. Who knows, that kid could still be afraid a little furry animals (CER).
I would like to review structuralists and functionalists.
Terms; positive and negative contingency, inhibitory and excitatory, neutral stimulus, US, CR, CS, UR, extinction bursts, aversive, temporal relationship, trace conditioning, conditioned taste aversion, method of introspection, desensitize, conditioned emotional response.
I found that both sections were very informative, and I really didn’t have one that I favored over the other. In section 3.3, I found the parts about positive contingencies and negative contingencies to be interesting, especially when coming pairing them to real world events like the weather forecast. Also learning about the different types of conditioning like trace conditioning- which is before the uncontrolled stimulus, simultaneous conditioning which is at the same time as the US, short delayed conditioning which is right before the US and continues a little bit during it, long delayed which occurs way before the US and continues into it, and Backwards conditioning which occurs after the US.
In section 3.4 thought the part about Little Albert was very interesting even though it seemed a little inhuman. Also, Mary Cover Jones systematic desensitization was cool because it helps a person get over their phobias though a step by step process of getting a person used to the elements of the phobia until they can actually take on the phobia itself. Learning about structuralism-which breaks down the psychological experience into smalls units and Functionalism which believed we posses traits and abilities for survival.
Prior to reading these sections I really didn’t know anything about the different conditions (trace, simultaneous, etc) we used to match up the Controlled stimulus to the uncontrolled stimulus. Before reading this I had just thought that behavior modification was used on animals mostly but I know now that humans are used as well. The Little Albert study, electric shock, eye blink conditioning were all done on humans using Conditioned Emotional Response.
Three things that I will remember from these sections are systematic desensitization, positive and negative contingencies, and the different conditioning delays when pairing the controlled stimulus with the uncontrolled stimulus. Systematic desensitization I will remember, because it could be useful to know how to go through a step by step process in training someone to overcome their phobias. Positive contingencies which is when the CS predicts the arrival of the US Ex( thunder and lighting, light warns us of the sound of the thunder to come.)
Two topics I would like to have covered more in class would be Positive contingencies and introspection.
Positive and negative contingencies, introspection, CER, US, CS, systematic desensitization, phobia, (trace, long delayed, simultaneous, short delayed, backwards conditioning) little Albert, functionalism, structuralism.
I liked section 3.4 the most. I thought the conditioning done on little Albert was fascinating. They were able to take a once neutral stimulus, a rabbit, and elict a conditioned fear in Albert. The bang they used to scare him was the US and his UR was fear. Every time they brought the rabbit around him, they would make the clanging noise and Albert would associate the noise with the rabbit and that elicted a CR of fear every time the rabbit came around.
I liked section 3.3 the least because a lot of it was just confusing to me. I have a hard time grasping these concepts, but I believe that positive contingency means that if one thing happens, another is guaranteed to happen (like lightening and thunder) and negative contingency is the opposite (if the weather forecast says it's going to rain and then it doesn't.) This section confuses me a lot.
A useful part of section 3.3 would be Rescorla’s theory stating that the US should not occur if the CS is not present.
A useful part in section 3.4 would be Watson’s manifesto that psychology should be objective and not subjective. It also states that there is no dividing line between human and non-human animals.
Prior to reading these sections I didn't know anything at all about these topics.
Three things that I will remember are:
1.Systematic desensitization is used in the treatment of
phobias.
2.Positive contingencies are also called excitatory conditioning.
3. Negative contingencies are also called inhibitory conditioning.
Reading these sections has taught me more about how emitting one behavior leads to another behavior and more about US,UR,CR,UR.
Terms: elict, emit, elicted, emitted, positive/negative contingencies,Little Albert, excitatory conditioning, inhibitory conditioning, manifesto
Watson is best known for his behaviorist manifesto and his Little Albert study. Watson’s manifesto stated that psychology should be objective and not subjective and that there is no dividing line between human and non human
-the method of introspection (involves the participant documenting his or her subject experience) was found to be subjective
Psychology was divided into two camps:
-Structuralists- breaks down psychology into basic units
-functionalists- we possess traits and ability for their survival valve
For Watson, psychology was the study of behavior and that humans and animals learned to adjust to the environment through habit reflex
Used the Little Albert Study to demonstrate that the three basic emotions fear, rage, and love could be conditioned into something much more.
-experiment on a 9yr old child
-created a conditioned emotional response in little Albert by making a loud noise(us) to make him afraid(ur) when a small furry animal was presented (cs)
-eventually learned to fear all furry things
-Albert was never desensitized (reduce the fear of loud noises)
Please read sections 3.3 and 3.4.
I liked the section on classical conditioning the most, because I think our brains are really hard-wired for classical conditioning: using it for behavior modification takes advantage of our tendency to make mental associations and connections between events that occur near each other chronologically. This mental process of association is responsible for both kinds of conditioning. It's the same mental process that, when overplayed, leads us to mistake correlation for causation, or make type 1 errors. Our brains are really good at this; it only takes a couple of toilet flushes while we're in the shower for us to put two and two together (classical conditioning), and it only takes one strike while bowling to form a superstition (operant conditioning). The propensity for our brains to do this has some obvious evolutionary advantages; the association between killing a gazelle and seeing a lion show up is one grim way in which this feature could have been selected via predation: those who learn to associate the two events will be less likely to be eaten.
I enjoyed the section on Watson slightly less, but I did find his Little Albert study to be very fascinating. I think the most useful information in these sections is the explanation of classical conditioning and which conditioning types work the best, because this information can be used for actually applying classical conditioning.
Three things I will remember are the process of classical conditioning, Watson's application, and the most effective types of classical conditioning.
I would like to discuss the processes involved in classical conditioning (although I realize this might be a little too technical for our class's purposes), and the evolutionary roots of classical conditioning.
Terms: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, conditioning types
Which section did you like the most? Why? Which section did you like the least? Why? What do you think is the most useful piece of information from section 2.5? Why? Most useful from the handout? Why?
3.4, was the more interesting section. Watson’s belief that we learn to adjust to the environment due to reflex and habit, which I would agree with, we all adapt to the environment we’re presently in and act accordingly.
I didn’t dislike 3.3, it’s good information, but just didn’t quite understand most of it, some clarification would be needed for me, for instance, the concept of positive contingency and negative contingencies.
As far as 2.5, the need for continuous reinforcement in order to develop the stimulus control. Because it just says that you can’t expect a person to behave one way without constant reinforcement, not going to happen in one attempt. The handout introducing the different types of intermittent reinforcement, such as, fixed, variable, ratio, and interval.
Prior to reading these sections, what did you think about behavior modification? Why?
I am starting to like b-mod, but am interested in learning more an trying to mentally tie it all together. Prior to this section it was a repetitive, but understand the purpose, trying to emit vast amounts of information.
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the sections? Why?
Excitatory, and Inhibitory behavior as presented by Pavlov. It helps understand some behaviors that were elicited by his dogs and possibly why a person may exhibit the same type behavior. Learning the fundamental differences between the structuralism and functionalist views in psychology during Watson’s era.
How has reading the sections changed what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
It helps to solidify the importance and the history that is behavioral psychology. Pavlov, Watson, and Thorndike all helped pave the way for people like me to now learn the importance and validity of the discipline. I wouldn’t say it changed my thoughts, just clarified the history and its importance.
Finally indicate two topics or concepts that you would like me to cover in more depth in class.
3.3 as a whole. There was so much information I’m not sure if I understand most of it, or any of it for that matter.
Positive Contingencies, Negative Contingencies, Continuous Reinforcement, Intermittent Reinforcement, and types, fixed, variable, ratio, and interval, Excitatory, and Inhibitory behavior, elicited, structuralism, functionalist.