RA7 -
Please go to the following blog page:
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/bmod/abcs.html
Please read sections 3.1 (Thorndike) and 3.2 (Pavlov)
After reading section 3.1, please respond to the following questions.
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the section? Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? Why?
After reading section 3.2, please respond to the following questions.
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the section? Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? Why?
How has reading these sections changed or built on what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Please fill out the boxes in the readings you may be quizzed on them in class.
Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
--Dr. M
Section 3.1
One thing that I really liked about this section was the fact that it focused around the findings and work of Edward Thorndike. Most of the other sections so far have been more focused around the concepts and what they mean, but not necessarily on who actually discovered them. It was really interesting to see the historical background on what I’m learning about. There wasn’t really anything that jumped out at me that I disliked from this section. All in all it was an enjoyable read.
Three things I will remember:
1. Law of Effect – “Trial and Error”; process to learn something effectively. Once a behavior is emitted that results in a positive consequence, that behavior is associated with reward.
2. Law of Recency – most recent response is most likely to reoccur, especially when it is a successful attempt
3. Trial and Error – the process of how to learn something effectively, used in the Law of Effect. I’ll remember this from reading about how successful attempts are stamped in, while unsuccessful attempts are stamped out.
Section 3.2
One thing that I liked about this section was learning about how a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus. Once you add a stimulus that is consistent and occurs regularly (such as playing a tone before a blast of air hits a bunny’s eye) it becomes a conditioned stimulus. If there is no consistency and it is a stimulus that may occur at random or without any warning, it is once again a neutral stimulus. I also enjoyed learning about something that is salient. This was a relatively easy concept to grasp onto and there are a lot of different examples that we see on a day-to-day basis that are salient. One thing that I didn’t like from this section was the Response-Stimulus and Stimulus-Response. I found the examples to be almost to close to call. This was sort of a tricky concept to grasp on to because it was kind of hard to correctly identify what is the stimulus and what is the response. I found that it seemed like every one could be flipped around either way.
Three Things I will remember:
1. Psychic Secretion – Pavlov noticed that dogs not only salivated from the sound of a bell but eventually would even salivate just from the footsteps of the researcher approaching; I will remember this because I found it really interesting that the dogs can salivating from these small details
2. Salient – a stimulus that has to be noticed by the environment, such as a loud TV or a bell ringing. If it is not noticed than it is not salient. One example I thought of that will help me remember is an airplane or jet flying over. These are stimuli that are usually noticed
3. Unconditioned Stimulus & Unconditioned Response – these are responses that are come naturally and cannot be taught; the example in the text will help me remember these concepts: blowing a puff of air into a bunny’s eye causes it to blink. Because the air and the blink can occur naturally, the air is the unconditioned stimulus and the blink is an unconditioned response
This section has helped change my view of behavior modification because it distinguished the difference between neutral and conditioned stimuli. I feel like these concepts learned in this section are ones that will stick with me more on a day-to-day basis and are things that I will notice regularly. I enjoy when the concepts that I read about are applicable to my daily life. It is rewarding when the things that I learn about are sticking with me outside of the classroom and in my daily life.
Terms Used: Law of Effect, Law of Recency, Trial and Error, Emit, Behavior, Consequence, Unconditioned Stimulus, Unconditioned Response, Salient, Psychic Secretion, Stimuli, Response-Stimulus, Stimulus-Response, Neutral Stimulus, Conditioned Stimulus
SECTION 3.1
1) I enjoyed reading the entire section as a short review on the history of psychology. It’s easy to get caught up studying present day psychology and misunderstanding the real history behind the science. It is said that to be an expert in a field you need to know the basics, thus as a psychologist an understanding of the history of behavioral science would be highly important. I needed the reminder of the significance of Thorndike and that behavioral research was in its in the 1900s.
2) It annoyed me that I had to come up with “some other ways to study animal intelligence.” I wasn’t sure whether this question was asking for specific laboratory procedures or environmental circumstances. To be honest, I over thought it and became frustrated. I couldn’t think of a good procedure without a good deal of thought and with the size of the activity box, it seemed better to leave it for class then to become angrier and unproductive.
3) Trial and error in shaping behavior was the main theme of this section thus it was easy to remember it as the seed of Thorndike’s Laws of Learning. It is also a simpler way to view behavior modification outside all the jargon we are currently learning. It is a reminder that behavior modification occurs subconsciously, without our control and all the time!
I have memorized the Law of Effect as a form of positive reinforcement. The procedure is the same, rewards/adds something to a situation following a desired behavior, however Thorndike makes another contribution separating his work from Skinners. Similarly to Skinner, Thorndike points out that reinforcement changes behavior, however, Thorndike also points out that positive reinforcement produces the best results compared to other forms of reinforcement.
I struggled coming up with examples to the Law of Recency thus I can recall it quite easily! The Law of Recency states that the most recent occurring response is likely to be the future response. To understand this tongue-twister, I have come to look at it from the primacy vs. recency effects. The most recent behavior will occur.
SECTION 3.2
1) I enjoyed reviewing the differences between the learning systems of Pavlov’s and Thorndike’s. To date I have ofter thought of classical conditioning and operant conditioning as so similar I often wonder how they are so different (as silly as that sounds!). After reviewing Pavlov’s work, which aims at pairing stimuli to create a response, it is clear to me how different it is to Thorndike’s operant conditioning and the rewarding system.
2) I disliked the fact I made some mistakes in the final exercises labeling the UC, CR, US and CS. I thought after 4 years of school I would have it down to a T! Turns out I don’t and made the mistake of only looking at two variables, the CS and UR/CR, in each example and missing the third, the US.
3) The importance of discriminating between functional and topographical stimuli was reviewed in this section. I recall the definitions of each and was able to discriminate between the two even more with its application to CR’s and US’. US’ can be topographically different but functionally similar with the CR.
Salience. I forgot that salience is the key to the learning theories. I often assumed that any stimuli in the environment can be paired with a response and a behavior can be modified. However, this is not the case and it was important to understand that stimuli in classical conditioning is reliant on salient stimuli.
Along with salience, the regularity of stimuli presentation and the number of times it must be presented to modify behavior is crucial to behavior modification thus I made a point to review this section and understand these are necessary conditions to make a neutral stimuli a conditioned stimuli.
These sections have reinterated the importance of discriminating between operant conditioning and classical conditioning. They were also important in reinterating the overall importance of behavior modification to psychology! These two systems are the basic structure to the science and reviewing them and understanding them without question is important.
TERMS: Thorndike, trail and error, Laws of Learning, behavior modification, Law of Effects, positive reinforcement, Skinner, desired, Law of Recency, primacy and recency effects, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, UC, CR, US, CS, discriminative, functional, topographical, salience, response, behavior modification, stimuli, neutral stimuli
3.1 Edward Thorndike
Over a period of time involving cats manipulating strings and levers in a puzzle box (maze-like contraption in which cats were “caged” in), Thorndike measured how quickly the cats repeated the learned behavior of escaping. The cats through trial and error emitted several different behaviors trying to get out of the puzzle box only getting reinforced with a positive consequence once and awhile. The positive consequence of a random behavior would lead to a changing of the cat’s behavior as a result of being reinforced. The cats were getting quicker and quicker at escaping thus leading Thorndike to develop the Law of Effect. The law of effect illustrates that associations with successful tries at escaping in the cats were remembered and the associations with unsuccessful tries at escaping were not. Taking this out of the context of the cats, when we emit the behavior of trial and error we remember the successful attempts in the task we are trying to accomplish versus the unsuccessful attempts. The reason for this being the behavior is followed by a positive response making the association between the trial and positive response stronger. This makes sense because let’s say for example I am using the trial and error method to fix my computer, I would probably go through multiple steps or methods to try and get the desired result of having my computer run again and any attempt that was unsuccessful I would dismiss because it wouldn’t be useful to me. The strengthening and remembering of associations between reinforced behaviors and processes to a desired outcome is the process of learning. All of this was very interesting to me because it really made me think differently about the process of learning and how we emit different behaviors to achieve desirable outcomes.
3.2 Ivan Pavlov
In the beginning Pavlov studied the digestive process in dogs and since salivating is part of the digestive system he went on and studied the salivary glands. Through a specific surgical technique Pavlov discovered that the dogs were salivating before the arrival of their food specifically when they heard the arrival of someone walking (conditioned reflex). After these findings, Pavlov decided to experiment with other sources of stimuli to elicit a conditioned reflex. He worked with different kinds of sounds at first and then worked into training the dogs to discriminate between circle shapes and square shapes. Since Pavlov knew the conditioned reflex worked and provoked different responses, Pavlov used this method to better understand the how the brain functioned; specifically the function of neurons. The process of having the dogs learn different shapes through classical conditioning (one shape meant the arrival of food, the other meant there was no food) led the dogs to be able to discriminate between the two. Eventually Pavlov made the circle look a square and the square like a circle to the point where the dogs couldn’t discriminate the stimuli any longer and didn’t know whether to anticipate food or not. There were two primary behaviors that the dog’s emitted; unresponsiveness and aggressiveness. Both behaviors were considered by Pavlov as “experimental neurosis” (temperament) or that the aggressive dogs were being controlled by excitatory neurons and the unresponsive dogs were being controlled by inhibitory neurons. This work was later to be summarized as classical conditioning and largely known in U.S as a stimulus/response relationship that we use today to associate with learning. Pavlov also worked with what is called an unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response; they are a stimulus and a response that are naturally occurring. A neutral stimulus is naturally occurring as well and is salient. In order to be considered a neutral stimulus there must be regularity in its presentation and presented enough to where a relationship can be determined between the stimulus and response.
Terms: manipulating, learning, trial and error, emitted, reinforce, positive consequence, law of effect, conditioned reflex, discriminate, classical conditioning, stimuli, temperament, stimulus/response relationship, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, neutral stimulus, salient.
Section 3.1 explained the different laws well and I particularly liked the graphs and imagery. Visuals such as the graphs are helpful in examining the cat’s learning over the amount of trials. The photos were also helpful in picturing what the puzzle boxes looked like. There was nothing I really disliked about the section I was however surprised that Thorndike didn’t use a variety of animal subjects (unless he did and it not mentioned). Three things I will remember from section 3.1 include the law of effect, the law of recency, and the law of exercise. According to our text, the law of effect basically states when behaviors or responses are followed by positive outcome that association is stamped in. I will remember this law by an example of attempting to start my car. If it is unresponsive and finally after many different behaviors I get it to start, I will remember what I did last that made it start and will emit the same behavior in the future. Starting my car is a positive outcome therefore the association to whatever my last behavior was will be stamped in. The law of recency states that the most recent response is the most likely to reoccur. My last behavior that I emit which resulted in my car starting will be the behavior most likely reoccur next time. Finally the law of exercise states that through repetition the associations are strengthened. The more I emit the behavior to start my car resulting in a positive consequence (it starts) the more I associate my behavior with starting my car.
One thing I really enjoyed about section 3.2 was the practice problems. I thought they were helpful in my understanding of the material, especially the ones that had answers. There again wasn’t really anything I disliked about the section. I thought the material was clearly discussed and explained. I also enjoyed learning more about Pavlov’s discoveries and experiments. Three things I will remember from this section are experimental neurosis, the similarities between the CR and the UR, and that an UC must be salient in order for it to become a CS. Experimental neurosis is Pavlov’s referral to unresponsiveness and aggressiveness. He believed that the aggressive dogs were under the control of excitatory neurons while the unresponsive dogs were under the control of inhibitory neurons. I will remember that UR and the CR are both topographically and functionally similar. To help me tell them apart I will ask myself what elicited the response? If the US elicited the response the blink is a UR. If a CS elicited the blink then the blink is a CR. Finally I will remember that an UC must be salient in order for it to become a CS. This means it has to be noticeable in the environment such as a loud bell.
These readings have built on my knowledge of behavior modification by expanding my understanding of how learning occurs and classical conditioning. I have learned about different laws including the salient law of effect, the law of recency, and the law of exercise along with many other terms. With more readings, I will continue to expand my knowledge and understanding of behavior modification and will be able to modify behavior.
Terms: experimental neurosis, CR, UR, UC, CS, emit, behavior, salient law of effect, the law of recency, the law of exercise, consequence, excitatory neurons, inhibitory neurons
Section 3.1
In this section, one thing I really liked was the concept of the puzzle box. I thought it was interesting and liked to see how the information on animals' learning behaviors was obtained. It reminded me a lot of the popular Skinner Box, and I can see how he may have been influenced by Thorndike. One thing that I disliked in this section was at the end where it was emphasized that we should focus on how to properly label graphs. I found it just kind of patronizing. Three things I will remember in this section are:
1. Thorndike developed the Law of Effect, the Law of Recency, and the Law of Exercise. These state that positive outcomes reinforce behaviors, negative outcomes punish behaviors, the most recent response is most likely to be repeated, and that repetition is necessary for the association between the stimulus and response.
2. Thorndike used peoples garbage to make his puzzle boxes. A prime example of recycling and resourcefulness in the pursuit of knowledge.
3. Trial and Error is a way of learning a causal relationship through experience, possibly strengthening the association.
Section 3.2
In this section I liked the extents gone to to fully explain the tenets of classical conditioning. I feel like with intro to psych, basic media influence, and earlier sections in this class we have gone over this a thousand times. However, it's nice to clarify exactly what is what and I would say that the differentiating between a stimulus and antecedent to determine whether or not it's classical conditioning was helpful. What I disliked in this section was exactly what I liked in this section. I feel like we've gone over this a hundred times and I want to learn more new things. Three things I will remember from this section are:
1. A neutral stimulus must be salient, it must have regularity in its presentation, and it must be presented a sufficient number of times. All of this are necessary so that an association is formed and the neutral stimulus can be conditioned into a stimulus for the conditioned response.
2. The fistula was a tube made from the small intestine that attached to the abdominal wall. This was created by Pavlov during his experimenting to help record salivation levels.
3. The initial correlation found by Pavlov between his footsteps and the salivation of dogs is what he referred to as "psychic secretion."
These sections have definitely clarified my knowledge of classical conditioning and expanded on it slightly with the rules of a neutral stimulus and various other terminology. I learned more about the backgrounds and origins of Thorndike and Pavlov. I also learned a lot more about Thorndike's experiments on animal intelligence.
Terms: behavior, antecedent, neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, salient, classical conditioning, law of effect, law of recency, law of exercise
Section 3.1 Edward Thorndike
I enjoyed reading these two chapters because they went more in depth in the scientist’s studies instead of giving straight forward information like the previous chapters we’ve read. I learned about both Thorndike and Pavlov in my Intro to Psych class and found both of them interesting, however we did not go too much in depth about them. Through “trial and error” the cat in the puzzle box was able to discriminate what worked and what didn’t. Once it figured this out, it was able to get out of the box quicker. Unsuccessful attempts were forgotten, whereas successful attempts were not. This is known as the Law of Effect. Like cats we emit this same behavior using trial and error. The most recently reinforced behavior is more likely to occur again and the behavior is learned through repetition. The only thing about this section I disliked about this section was the graph. I understood what it was showing, but I don’t really like graphs as a way to show information because I feel like they are confusing and that there are better ways to display or compare information.
Three things I will remember from this section will be:
1) “Trial and error” discriminates between what works and what doesn’t.
2) Unsuccessful attempts are forgotten, successful attempts are remembered.
3) Recently reinforced behaviors are more likely to occur and a behavior is learned through repetition.
Section 3.2 Ivan Pavlov
When reading about Pavlov in my Intro to Psych class, we did not learn about how he attached the “Pavlov Pouch” and rerouted the salivation duct of the dogs. This part was really interesting to me. When the dogs were unable to discriminate the shapes, they didn’t know how to react. Some became unresponsive and others became aggressive. You have an unconditioned stimulus, neutral, and then a unconditioned response. Once this situation continues to happen, the conditioned stimulus automatically triggers a conditioned response. This only works if the neutral stimulus is salient (noticed in the environment) and is regularly emitted. The only part I disliked from this section was the part about how the US and CS were topographically and functionally similar, because I found that kind of confusing.
Three things I will remember from this section will be:
1) If you are unable to discriminate- this can cause experimental neurosis.
2) You have an unconditioned stimulus, neutral stimulus, and then an unconditioned response. If these circumstances continue to occur- then the conditioned stimulus automatically triggers a conditioned response.
3) Neutral stimulus must be salient and regularly emitted.
Terms Used: “trial and error”, discrimination, Law of Effect, emit, behavior, reinforced, unconditioned stimulus, neutral stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, salient stimulus, experimental neurosis
Although I've learned about Thorndike in many other psychology classes I enjoyed reading this section. I found it interesting and I found that it was a good review. Something about this section that I liked was the explanation of Thorndikes puzzle box. The puzzle box was a wooden box with a series of strings/pullies that could be manipulated to open a door on the side of the box. He then placed a cat inside that box and eventually the cat would figure out how to manipulate the string to open the door. Thorndike believed that the cat would take less time to open the door every time it was placed in the box. The cat getting out faster each time it was put in the box was Thorndikes methodological construct for intellegence. Based on his finding over many years, Thorndike developed the law of effect. The law of effect stated that the behavior that the cat learned to emit to open the door was stamped in and the behaviors that the cat emitted that did not open the door were stamped out. Thorndike went on develop two additional laws of learning. In addition to the Law of Effect, The Law of Recency states that the most recent response is the most likely to reoccur, and the Law of Exercise states that through repetition the associations are strengthened.
There was nothing that I really didn't like about this section. I found that it was all pretty interesting. I also felt that it was a good review.
The three things that I will remember from this section are the description of the puzzle box, the law of effect and the law of recency. I will remember these things mostly because I found them to be the most interesting. I will also remember them because I felt that the text did a good job of discussing and describing them. I liked this section quite a bit.
The second section had a lot more information to try and keep straight. Although I have learned about this in other classes, I definitely needed the review. I have always found this hard to keep straight. Something tha I liked about this section was that it centered around Pavlov and his experiments. I found the information about his surgical experiments with the dogs interesting. I had never heard about that before. Something else that I appreciated about this section was the image. I found it quite helpful. It explained classical conditioning quite well. It showed that before conditioning the bell sound elicited no response, but the unconditioned stimulus of food elicite the unconditioned response of salivation. It then showed that durring conditioning the conditioned stimulus of the bell followed by the unconditioned stimulus of food, elicited an unconditioned response of salivation. Finally it showed that after conditioning the conditioned stimulus of the bell elicited the conditioned stimulus of salivation.
The only thing that I didn't like about this section was that it was a lot of imformation to try and keep straight compared to the other one. I think I will most likely have to reread this section to make sure that I know all of the information it is presenting.
The three things that I will remeber most from this section is the information about Pavlov's surgeries, the picture, and the example of the blinking rabbit. I will remember these things because they are what I found most interesing and because the text did a very good job of explaining them.
Terms: Conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned responese, unconditioned response, emit, emitted, elicit, elicitted, puzzle box, law of recency, law of effect, law of exercise, Thorndike, Pavlov.
3.1 Edward Thorndike
I remember learning about the puzzle box in History and Systems but to be perfectly honest all I remember is the word “puzzle box” and associating that with Thorndike. I love how these sections talk about things that I am already aware of but they give me actual terms for what the concepts are called and explains why?? Talking about the puzzle box will now make me associate the Law of Effect with a cat freaking out inside of a box and I don’t think I will ever forget that. There was nothing that I didn’t like about this section. I felt like it didn’t go over too much information that I will have trouble remembering it.
Three things I will remember:
1) The Law of Effect is a lot like trial and error learning.
2) The Law of Recency states that the most “recent” response is the one that is the most likely to occur again because it becomes associated with the positive outcome.
3) The Law of Exercises states that by repeating behaviors over and over, the associations that you make with that behavior become much stronger.
3.2 Ivan Pavlov
I like that we use examples of things that we already all know about and can relate too. The diagrams were a great visual tool to help watch what sequentially should happen. There were a lot of terms to relearn in this section because even though I had heard them all before, I never actually was able to understand them.
Three things I will remember:
1) The stimulus response relationship is different than the response stimulus relationship. It is easier to think of the response stimulus relationship like behavior/consequence. In the example in the book where it says Aili sees that the clock says 12:00pm and then starts to get hungry, it is describing a stimulus response relationship. In the example that says Aili puts money in the vending machine and then gets food, it is describing a response stimulus relationship because the behavior is putting money into the machine and the consequence is getting food out of it.
2) When the behavior can occur naturally (a reflex) then it is called an unconditioned response (UR). When the stimulus can occur naturally, it is called an unconditioned stimulus (US).
3) Something that is salient can be noticed over other background noise. (ex. doorbell) It is possible for a previously salient stimulus to become not salient any more.
Reading these sections has really broadened my idea of what it means to try to modify someone’s behavior. I knew that there was reinforcement and punishment but I have learned a lot more about these topics. I never realized that different schedules of reinforcement are actually very present in our everyday lives, and I didn’t realize the important role they play (FR,VR, FI, VI).
Terms: Law of Effect, Law of Recency, Law of Exercise, stimulus response relationship, response stimulus relationship, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, schedules of reinforcement, punishment, fixed ratio, variable, ratio, fixed interval, variable interval
One thing I liked from this section was learning how researchers experimented with their concepts that they created. Thorndike, like many other past psychologists, experimented with animals because they believed that animals behave in a similar manner as humans. I disliked having to read graphs because I am not a math person and tend to struggle with statistical concepts. I will first remember the Law of Effect and that by definition it is when behaviors are followed by positive outcomes, then the association is stamped in. I will also remember that Law of Recency which explains that the most recent response is the most likely to reoccur. The third thing I will remember is the Law of Exercise, which entails that through repetitions, associations are strengthened. I will remember these because they were all created by Thorndike and many examples of daily life activities can be explained through them.
One thing I enjoyed from this section was learning the details about the technique Pavlov used for isolating the saliva ducts of dogs by making an incision in the dog’s check and attaching a small test tube to the salivary ducts so that he could measure and collect data about the results of food stimuli under certain conditions. I enjoyed learning this because I’ve learned about Pavlov over and over but haven’t read about the process he went through to create the term of classical conditioning. I disliked and became confused reading about UR and CR because they just seem to mesh together. The first thing I will remember is that Pavlov’s work was shown to America as a way to show how conditioning relates with learning. I’ll remember this because the concept has been taught to me numerous times. I will also remember that in a stimulus/response relationship, the presence of a stimulus will create a response. The example that was given, about how when the hour of lunchtime was perceived, the girl became hungry. The third thing I will remember is that for a neutral stimulus, it needs to be salient. I will also remember this because of the many examples that were given, such as a doorbell, which elicits a person to emit the behavior of responding to the doorbell and answering it.
These sections have built upon the previous chapters in that it has incorporated past researchers and their techniques that created terms of behavior modification. Knowing the learning techniques that people use everyday and how behavior can be learned will better help me in the future to use behavior modification.
Terms: Law of Effect, Law of Receny, Law of Exercise, Classical Conditioning, Stimulus/Response Relationship, Neutral Stimulus, Salient, Elicits, Emit
Section 3.1 – Thorndike
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I fully enjoyed reading and relearning the story of Thorndike and his research with cats. Thorndike’s story led into the introduction of the Law of Effect and then the “trial and error” effect. I think I liked it because it was very simple to understand and then having to relate it by giving 3 examples of trial and error I then implemented into my understanding.
What was one thing that you disliked that was in the section? Why?
I really didn’t like having to come up with other ways to study animals because I really don’t like animals. I couldn’t really come up with any examples and I got frustrated after a while and started goggling stuff and then I got sidetracked; but that is pretty much my personal opinion.
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? Why?
1. I will remember that it was Thorndike that was interested in animal intelligence and his study with the cat because I heard the story before but this time I really read into it and saw the diagram putting much more information about the subject into what I knew previous which will only strengthen my memory through positive reinforcement.
2. I will remember the Law of Recency and mainly it would be because I had to think of some examples for the box.
3. Some important parts of a graph are the title, y-axis, x-axis and numbering because I remember that from math and graphing so it was a little familiar.
Section 3.2 – Pavlov
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I really enjoyed doing the small box examples of stimulus response, response stimulus and then finding out if I was right or wrong. I really enjoyed that as well as the part about descriptions for conditioned stimulus, stimulus salience, and the regularity of presentations and the number of presentations. Why? Because it announces the new term and then goes into detail each one and then there are the boxes to make sure you understand the concept.
What was one thing that you disliked that was in the section? Why?
Sometimes once again it gets the repetition begins with all the abbreviations and the length of the reading gets to be a bit confusing. I personally think it gets confusing and for me the letters start reversing in my head especially when I re-read it just to be sure I knew what it meant.
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? Why?
1. The neutral stimulus must have regularity in its presentation, why? Because then an association between the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned reflex (UR) will not occur and because I did not know it before and reread it several times.
2. That mushrooms are good example of a stimulus class that has a similar topography, but have different functions (go on a salad, get you high or kill you). And I just found that interesting & now I really understand what topography means because I associated with something that I like, another example of reinforcement.
3. If anything is to be salient then it must have to be noticed by the environment. And I didn’t know that so that’s why I’m going to remember it now. It was a new fact.
How has reading these sections changed or built on what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
My thoughts have definitely shifted from how our behavior really does affect the behaviors of others though the ABC’s and through learning the basic concepts of a stimulus, response, conditioned response, superstitious behavior, positive reinforcement – all of it, it’s all in one way or another linked to the other. It really has already changed how I react to things, how now I try to refrain for saying things or doing things without really thinking about the consequence because most of the time it can be identified or somewhat revealed. The reflections with the daily news and the relations to the commercials we see or ads we watch have definitely become easier to identify even when I am not looking studying or working for a class assignment. I may be just watching TV and relate it to something that I read in the ABC’s book.
Terms: Thorndike, Law of Effect, trial and error, understanding, positive reinforcement, law of Recency, y—axis, x-axis, numbering, title, Pavlov, stimulus response, stimulus salience, conditioned stimulus, neutral stimulus, regularity, unconditioned reflex, stimulus class, topography, salient, behavior, behavior modification, superstitious behavior, response and ABC’s.
Section 3.1
I really liked how this section talked about how things developed around Thorndike's research on animals. It was interesting to see where the things we have been learning about originated from. There wasn't anything that I didn't like in this section. It was pretty interesting.
Three things I will remember:
1. Law of effect is how behavior or responses are followed by positive outcomes that association is stamped in.
2. Law of recency- most recent response is most likely to reoccur.
3. Law of exercise- through repetition the associations are strengthened.
Section 3.2
I really liked how everything was so thorough in this section. It broke down the new information so it was easy to understand for me. It gave plenty of examples too. There was nothing that I disliked in this section because I thought everything was extremely easy to understand.
Three things I will remember:
1.How to tell the difference between response stimulus and stimulus response.
2. How things are salient (if they can be heard or noticed over the background noise)
3. How to determine if things are a conditioned or unconditioned response, conditioned or unconditioned stimulus.
These two sections have built on what we have been learning because it takes what we have learned and expanded on it. It shows us how to apply things to certain behaviors and how to manipulate things so we get the desired behaviors.
Terms: law of effect, law of recency, law of exercise, stimulus response, response stimulus, salient
I reading section 3.1 the thing I liked the most was the trial error learning and the Law of Effect for the fact that I was able to picture how they can be applied to real life situations and was able to come up with examples of the different concepts. One thing I disliked about this section was the discussion of the Law of Recency for the fact I found it somewhat confusing because there were no real examples given in how this concept can be seen in everyday life which made for a hard time coming up with examples on my own. I am sure after class discussion on Thursday, I will be able to get a better understanding of the concept.
Three things I will take away from this section include the following for the fact they not only add to my knowledge of behavior modification, they also gave me a better understanding of topics that were discussed in a previous History and Systems class I took last semester.
1. Trial and Error- In this section, Edward Thorndike’s puzzle box experiments were discussed and how the animals placed in the boxes used a trial and error method in order to figure out how to get out of the box. Trial and error refers to the fact multiple attempts at trying to solve a specific problem (like the cats trying to get out of the puzzle box) many behaviors are emitted until one behavior leads to the desired consequence (getting out of the puzzle box). With multiple attempts, we eventually find a desired outcome in which is then associated with a specific behavior in future encounters.
2. Law of Effect- The Law of Effect was developed by Edward Thorndike through his experimentation with animals in what he called puzzle boxes. In these boxes, cats and other animals were placed inside and had to figure out a way to get out of the box. In this case trial and error was used to find a behavior that emitted a desired outcome of getting out of the box. Law and Effect states that when a behavior is followed by a positive outcome, the association between that behavior and outcome is stamped in the memory of the individual. When behaviors are unsuccessful at finding a desirable consequence and are followed by aversive outcomes, the behavior is stamped out.
3. Graphs- This section had a nice refresher coarse on the proper way to use graphs when conducting research as well as the proper components to a graph that need to be included in order to make a graph correct, such as the y-axis which represents what the researcher is trying to measure, and the x-axis which represents the measurement periods. This was a nice refresher from research methods and as mentioned in the reading is sure to come up again later on in the book.
In section 3.2 on thing that I really liked was the discussion of Ivan Pavlov and his experimentation with dogs and conditioned reflex and classical conditioning because classical conditioning is talked about in almost every psych class taught here at UNI. I liked how this discussion actually related it to real life and went more in depth on the topic than just taking about the experiment itself. The thing I disliked the most in this section was the use of abbreviation of different terms such as stimulus response, response stimulus, ect. I understand the usefulness of the abbreviations but found myself flipping back to previous pages to look up what the abbreviations meant.
The three things I will take away from this section are listed below for the fact they helped me better understand one of the most famous psychological studies done in the world of psychology by Pavlov as well as the fact they have given me a better understanding of behavior modification.
1. Condition Reflex. In Pavlov’s experiment with salivating dogs, he found that the dogs would not only salivate to the presentation of the food, but to other stimulus such as a bell being rung prior to feeding, or the footsteps it the researcher bringing to food to the dogs. After a period of time, these other sources of stimuli would generate salivation within the dogs even with the absence of food. This is what Pavlov described as condition reflex.
2. Classical Conditioning. Along with his research on the salivating dogs, Pavlov used what is called classical conditioning which is when a stimulus is presented prior to a consequence, in this case, hearing a bell prior to being fed. With classical conditioning, whenever the dogs heard the bell, they automatically began to salivate, even if there was no food present. They were conditioned to the fact that the tone of the bell meant they would be fed soon after.
3. Stimulus Response/ Response Stimulus. Looking deeper at Pavlov’s research he discussed the relationship between classical conditioning between the stimulus and response, and response stimulus. What this means is simply determining whether in a situation if the stimulus leads to a response or if a response leads to a stimulus. Looking at Pavlov’s study with the dogs, the relationship would be a stimulus (hearing the bell) and response (being fed).
All in all, these two readings have built into my knowledge of behavior modification simply by adding to my library of information. The more I learn, the more I find myself relating behavior modification to my everyday life.
Terms: Trial and Error, Law of Effect, behavior, emit, consequence, desirable, stamped it, stamped out, x-axis, y-axis, classical condition, condition reflexes, stimuli, stimulus response, response stimulus.
Section 3.1
One thing that I really liked about this section was the way that Thorndike used graphs to illustrate somewhat of a learning curve. You can see that the first trial has a very high outcome in terms of seconds. As the trials add up, the times start to go down. I especially like the line he put in the graph that represented a twenty four hour gap. The next trial after that was a little bit higher than the last but you can see that the cat recalls it rather quickly and the times decrease. This definitely shows evidence towards the law of effect. Since the cats had previously been reinforce for the behavior of escaping, there were able to recall rather quickly the actions needed to obtain the food.
Honestly there really was not anything that I disliked. I thought Thorndike showed great initiative to study what he did. I really just found myself wondering why he did not label his graphs. Was this before the time where it was standard to label everything? I cannot see any other reason why he would not label the graphs.
The first thing I will take from this section is the creativity of Thorndike. I mean he used wood and made a somewhat simple puzzle box that taught us so much about behavior. It shows you do not always need fancy tools and funds in order to learn something about your world. He used inexpensive materials and discovered a great deal about animal behavior.
The next thing I will take from the chapter is the law of effect. I think it is important to remember this law because it is so important to behavior. It explains to us that when a behavior is reinforced, it is stamped into our brains. Just like the cats when they received food for escaping the box. This stamped in the behaviors required to open the box and receive the food.
The last thing I will take is that the law of effect also explains that behaviors that are followed by aversive stimuli are stamped out of the brain. Each time the aversive stimuli is administered, the reinforcement is weakened and that behavior is less likely to happen again. This is important when dealing with the modification of behaviors in our everyday lives.
Section 3.2
The one thing that I really liked about this chapter were all the examples and practice at the end. It is really easy to read these terms such as US, UR, etc and feel like you understand them. It is a lot different when you are given examples and are asked to organize the behaviors. The first example was somewhat difficult but they got me to actually learn the concepts. By the last example I felt like I really did have a good understanding. It is also easy to get confused reading because of all the terms and definitions. It is a lot easier to learn and understand when it applies to something that is real in our lives.
I really did not like the beginning segments on Pavlov. I have heard this so many times and I feel as though understanding what he was actually trying to do did not really aid me in understanding what he learned about behavior. I really think it just confused me cause all of the sudden it switches gears and starts talking about behavior. Maybe just a brief explanations of his actual goals would of sufficed.
The first thing I will take from this section is that the neutral stimuli must be paired with the unconditioned stimuli many times before the association is made. It is important to remember that he will not be associated right away. It takes a repeated number of trials in order to properly created a conditioned stimuli.
The second thing I will remember that the UR and CR may topographically appear the same. A response can be both a UR and a CR depending on context and what you are trying to do. I think it is important to remember this because it will prevent me from getting confused by this in the future.
The last thing I will take from this section and Pavlov is that you may not always find what you are looking for. It is important to keep your eyes open and not get locked completely into your goal. He made great contributions to this area without initially intending to do so. It goes to show that you never know what you might discover.
These sections introduce and reinforce several different things from behavior modification. It shows us a new type of learning where the stimulus comes first. It is important not to over think these concepts like you mentioned. It is also important to set the antecedent aside to correctly understand the concepts.
terms: law of effect, "stamped in", UR, CR, stimulus, Thorndike, learning curve, puzzle box, trial and error, Pavlov, topography, reinforced, consequence, concepts, context, neutral stimuli
Section 3.1
The thing I like most about section was is there were only two terms that we needed to remember. The stamping in and stamping out. These two terms were first used for research in animal intelligence. Stamping in is when you recall something and keep it because it had a positive result. Stamping out is the opposite. When there is failure at something it’s stamped out. I liked Thordike’s ideas on animal intelligence. It was 70 years ago and he was doing research to learn how they process things. It was a short section which made the details and info easy to remember.
The thing I didn’t like in the section was the example boxe’s. I felt that there was not enough information to fill in that many boxes. The terms were pretty broad so it was easy to remember.
Three things I will remember from this section will be stamping in. This is a term that’s important for positive results. 2. Stamping out will be another thing I remember because its term that’s used for failure or negative results. 3. The law of effect. This is important because it’s the law that included stamping in and stamping out.
3.2
The one thing I liked most in section 3.2 was all the easy examples. A lot of them were things that we already are familiar with which makes it easier to associate. Between the diagrams and examples it made it much easier to learn and remember. Some of the terms I was familiar with but it never hurts to be refreshed when there is a bunch of vocab. This helped me keep the terms straight. There wasn’t really anything I didn’t like in this section. A lot of the info was refreshed stuff but it never hurts to remind yourself of past terms just to make sure you know them well.
The three things I will remember from this chapter are:
1) If you are unable to discriminate it can cause experimental neurosis. 2) There is an unconditioned stimulus, neutral stimulus, and then an unconditioned response. If these circumstances continue to occur then the conditioned stimulus automatically triggers a conditioned response 3) something that is salient can be heard/noticed over other noises. Ex. Phone ringing. It is also possible for a previous salient stimulus to become not salient anymore.
The thing I learned from these chapters is that even 70 years ago psychologists were studying behavior modification. I wasn’t aware that Thorndike testing cats would be considered behavior modification until I read this section. It took me in depth a little more and made me aware that even early research could be considered behavior modification based. This also built on the topic because I learned new things. Stamping in/out was a new term and it applies to positive and negative results in memory. This was beneficial in adding more terms to my vocabulary.
Terms: stamping in, stamping out, law of effect, unconditioned stimulus, neutral stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned response, salient.
Section 3.1
I liked that the section was short! :D No, but seriously, it’s nice to be learning about the history of what we are studying. Obviously, Thorndike was important to the field of psychology. He studied learning by putting cats in “puzzle boxes,” and analyzing how they got out. He found that they used a trial and error system. They associated the most recent behavior emitted with getting out of the puzzle box. According to the Law of Recency, this makes that behavior the most likely to reoccur in the future.
I didn’t like reading about the graphs. For some reason I always forget which the x axis is and which the y axis is and which one goes with the dependent vs. independent variable. I will have to try to remember that the y-axis represents the dependent variable, or what we are measuring. The x-axis represents the independent variable, or how often we measured the dependent variable.
I will remember that Thorndike was concerned with animal intelligence. I will also remember to associate his name with the puzzle boxes used to study cats. It was assumed that we could generalize findings from how cats learn to how humans learn. I will also remember that “stamping in” behaviors allow the animal to learn. They will “stamp out” behaviors that lead to aversive consequences. This relates to our studies about reinforcement and punishment. “Stamping in” behaviors are comparable to reinforcement, whereas “stamping out” behaviors are comparable to punishment.
Section 3.2
I liked this section because it gave more of a complete background on Pavlov. All I have ever known him for is classical conditioning with the tone, dog, and salivation. It was cool to learn that he was a physiologist studying the digestive system in dogs when he started studying the conditioned reflex.
I didn’t like doing the examples. I thought that I understood classical conditional pretty well, but I still had a hard time filling them out correctly. I liked the bunny example the best because it was kept very close to the dog salivation model that I am used to. The neutral stimulus in the bunny example is the tone. The unconditioned stimulus is the air puff, and the unconditioned response is blinking. The conditioned stimulus is the tone, and the conditioned response is blinking.
I will remember that the CR and the UR are the same. I will also remember the three necessary conditions to make the neutral stimulus become the CS: stimulus salience, regularity of presentations, and the number of presentations. Stimulus salience basically means that the stimulus has to be noticeable in the environment. Regularity of presentations just means that the neutral stimulus should be paired with the unconditioned stimulus every time. The number of presentations means that the neutral stimulus and US need to be presented together enough times for the subject to form a strong association before the neutral stimulus becomes a CS and elicits the desired response.
These sections have built on my idea of behavior modification. I didn’t realize that we had been learning about the response stimulus relationship. I had never made the distinction in my head. Classical conditioning is a stimulus response relationship (the bell elicits salivation), whereas in behavior modification, a response (or behavior) elicits a consequence (stimulus).
TERMS:
Puzzle boxes, Thorndike, y-axis, x-axis, Law of Recency, classical conditioning, Pavlov, conditioned reflex, neutral stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, elicit, response, stimulus salience, regularity of presentations, number of presentations
Section 3.1
In this section I liked the video which showed how Thordike's puzzle box worked. It allowed a visual aid with narration which I think really helps my learning. There is nothing about this section that I didn't not like.
1) I will remember the puzzle box because of the video. I liked how the video allowed me to fully understand the concept of stamping in information and the reinforcement with trial an error when emiting a behavior. It gave a visual aid of the Law of Effect.
2) I will rememeber stamping in and out. I will remeber this because they are easy to rememebr and apply to extinction bursts. If you emit a behavior and you do not get the reinforcement that you usually recieve you try all sorts of different behaviors to recieve that reinforcement. When you finally get that reinforcement you remember the alternate action that got you that reinforcement.
3)I will remember using graphs to chart the progression of learning a behavior. This will stick with me because I have graphed so much in school that this will just come easy to me.
Section 3.2
One thing I liked about this section is the boxes with examples of the conditioning to see if you understood the information. I liked this because it allowed me the opportunity to see if I understood the information and express it. Then if I did not understand the information I could go back and reread it. This section had nothing about it that I didn't like.
1) I will rememebr the section where it talked about how Pavlov had great surgical skills. I was unaware of this about Pavlov so this added on to my previous knowledge of him which was just the salavating dog and the bell, not all the shapes and surgical modification he did with the dogs.
2) I will remember the graph with US,UR,CS,and CR. I will rememebr it because it summarized all the reading before it into a simple understandable chart. Instead of going back and reading all the information, I can just go to that chart and get a quick reminder.
3) I will remember the term salient because it is a new term that we will need to know when talking about conditioning.
This information added to my knowledege of behavior modification with the term salient and the usage of Thorndike's box to experiment with conditioning. The term salient added to my vocabulary to explain what the stimuli to create a conditioned response to a previously unconditioned stimulous. I have never heard of Thorndike's box and stamping in and out so that also added to my knowledge of types of conditioning.
Terms: salient,conditioning,stamping in,stamping out,conditioned response,stimuli,reinforcement, emitting,Law of Effect,extinction burst
Section 3.1
I really like how the Law of Effect is described and than discussed in great detail. There was such a clear communication of what the Law of Effect is and how it is implemented in the behavior modification process. The Law of Effect states that when an individual is positively reinforced for a certain behavior that is being emitted, that positive reinforcement is stamped in. This means that the target behavior is strengthen by the positive reinforcement of the behavior.
The one thing I didn’t like about this section was how little is mentioned about Thorndike himself. The whole section is named after him, I would have liked to learn a little more of the background that he came from and how he came to observe the behavior of cats and how he came to develop the Law of Effect, the Law of Recency and the Law of Exercise.
The three things I will remember from this section are,
1)The Law of Recency deals with time order of responses to a certain reinforcement. This simply stated is that the most recent response is going to be the most likely to reoccur.
2)The Law of Exercise deals with the repetition of the reinforcement of a behavior. It is through consistent reinforcement, both positive and negative that the association between behavior and reward is conditioned in an individual.
3)Trial and error is one of the leading ways in which a subject learns which behaviors to emit in the various situations that they encounter.
I will remember these three things because they continue to build on what we’ve learned and they are a major part of the behavior modification process. These laws that were developed by Thorndike are essential when discussing behavior modification to any great extent.
Section 3.2
I liked how this section really took a close look at Pavlov’s accomplishments in the Science realm. The Conditioned Reflex that Pavlov self titled, lies at the core of behavior modifications. Though he was not a psychologist, he developed the whole theory of behavior modification that deals with the unconditioned stimulus that cause an unconditioned response. Later as the stimulus continues to be emitted is evolves into a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response because of the schedule of reinforcement that has been made familiar with the subject.
I didn’t like how little attention was directed toward differentiating being the stimulus response relationship and the response stimulus relationship. If it a completely different formula than what we have been learning up until this point, it should have been talked about and clarified in a much more in-depth manner.
The three things I will remember from this class are,
1)Some of the most important conditions that are ideal for making a neutral stimulus become a conditioned stimulus according to the text are, stimulus salience, the regularity of presentations, and the number of presentations. I think we have already touch on a similar idea when we talked about the different schedules of reinforcement.
2)To be salient is to be noticed in the environment. The text says that almost anything can be used as a neutral stimulus but it must be salient in order to be able to become this way.
3)In order for the association to be made between the neutral stimulus and the response, it has to be presented a certain number of times. Familiarity must play a role in determining the relationship between stimulus and response.
I will remember these three things from the text because they also continue to expand the ideas of behavior modification that we have already been studying. They are important puzzle pieces and need to be remembered in order to have a well developed understanding of the behavior modification process.
Terms: Behavior modification, neutral stimulus, salient, schedules of reinforcement, regularity of presentations, number of presentations, stimulus response, response stimulus, UR, US, CR, CS, emit, elicit, Law of Effect, Law of Exercise, Law of Recency.
Section 3.1
I enjoyed this section because it discussed the previous psychologist Edward Thorndike. This was a good little review over how he contributed to behavioral psychology. I really enjoyed the video of what his puzzle box looked like and how it was used. I thought the video and photos really made a good visual aid. I can’t think of anything I disliked in this section because it was all very informative and a review. Three things that I will remember from this section are:
1)Thorndike developed the Law of Effect, Law of Regency and Law of Exercise. With these laws they demonstrate that associations between successful attempts are stamped in and associations with unsuccessful attempts were stamped out, the most recently response is most likely to occur and through repetition associations are strengthened.
2)Many researchers build their own equipment and it was very common.
3)Trial and Error has been around for a very long time and it continues to be used today. I believe it will always be around. This is a prime example of trial and error for the cats.
Section 3.2
This section was very interesting to me because I learned a lot of new information about Ivan Pavlov. This was the first time that I’ve heard of the “Pavlov Pouch” and how he rerouted the salivation ducts of dogs for his experiments. I liked how some of this material was review from previous sections. Also, I enjoy learning about the history of psychology and it’s important to remember how it was evolved over all the years. One thing I disliked was trying to figure out the UR, US, CS, CR stuff because I totally over think it. Three things I will remember from this section will be:
1)During classical conditioning the neutral stimulus must be presented a sufficient number of times in order for the associations between the two to be made. In general this just makes sense to me because there are many things around me that are conditioned but they have to happen multiple times in order for me to think they are associated together.
2)Also, in classical conditioning the neutral stimulus needs to be salient. I will remember this because of all the examples that were given in the text about the door bell and the examples we had to think of on our own.
3)I found the example about the topography of a stimulus class funny because the example was mushrooms and how they can fill you up, kill you or get your high or in your words put you on wonderland. I will always remember that example from now on.
Both of these sections have definitely built on what I know about behavior modification. I feel like after reading section 3.2 I am realizing that classical conditioning is everywhere in the world. The law of effect, law of regency and law of exercise are being so noticeable to me now. It’s great to be able to apply what I’m learning in class to real life situations.
Terms: UR, US, CR, CS, salient, Law of regency, Law of effect, Law of exercise, classical conditioning, trial and error, puzzle box, Thorndike, Pavlov, topography
Section 3.1
Thorndike’s study in this section is very interesting because he was amazed in the behavior the animals emitted. I liked how he was so persistent to continue to understand why the cat behaved in the pattern that it did. The cat used a “trial and error” to eventually determine the actions to help it escape to be reinforced with the food. He called this the Law of Effect. The cat would stamp out behaviors that would not work and stamp in behaviors that would. Eventually, the graph showed that the cat gradually made progress to open the door quicker.
There wasn’t anything in this section that I disliked. However, I think it would have been beneficial to see more examples of different experiments that Thorndike measured.
1. I will remember that behaviors that reinforce behavior will be stamped in while others will be stamped out from the cat example.
2. I will remember that a methodological construct can be an experiment that can be indirectly measured because the cats were indirectly studied.
3. I will remember that Thorndike was interested in animal intelligence because of his cat experiments.
Section 3.2
Pavlov was a researcher who went against what the majority believed to prove something he believed in. I liked this section because it expanded from what I already knew about Pavlov. It took the simple salivating example and went much deeper. It described UR, US, CR, and CS in ways that I had not thought about. One of Pavlov’s greatest contributions to behavior was his conditioned reflex. This helped mankind understand the human mind and why it functioned the way it did after a behavior had been conditioned such as the salivating. I also enjoyed the diagrams that explained how an unconditioned response was eventually reinforced to become a conditioned response. At times, the explanations were a bit confusing so this helped clear things up.
Something that still confused me was the SR and RS because I am over thinking it. I have the problem of thinking about the antecendent in the examples. I wish the answers were listed in the reading for these.
1. I will remember that psychic secretion was when the dogs would salivate because of Pavlov’s study of salivation and conditioned responses.
2. I will remember that a loud clicking noise is salient because it has to be something that can be heard over the background noise.
3. I will remember that a stimulus must have regularity in its presentation because there needs to be a rhyme and reason.
These readings have built upon my understanding of behavior modification because the examples from these behavior researchers have given me examples that help me understand why people emit the behaviors they do.
Terminology: behavior, emit, reinforcement, methodological construct, UR, US, CR, CS, SR, RS, antecendent, stimulus, regularity in presentation
I found the Law of Effect very interesting. This law states that behaviors or responses are followed by positive outcome, strengthening the association. This explains more specifically trial and error. Once a behavior leads to a positive consequence that particular behavior will result in the consequence being remembered in the future. This will stamp in the successful behavior. This is important to understand because it will help the observer know what specific behavior they will associate.
I was unable to think of any examples of the Law of Recency. The law states the most recent response is most likely to reoccur. The only example I could think of Stuie from Family Guy calling for his mom repeatedly. Once she responds he will put into effect this law, making him most likely to call for her using that specific name in the future. This is the only example I was able to think about.
I will remember Law of Recency, Law of Effect and Law of Exercise. These are important to know because they are the laws of learning that Thorndike developed. Law of Recency states the most recent response is likely to reoccur. Law of Effect states behavior responses associated with positive outcomes will strengthen association. Law of Exercise states that through repetition the associations are strengthened.
I really liked the section explaining saliency of a stimulus. For a stimulus to be effective it’s important that it can be noticed above background noises. A specific example of this is cymbals. They are very loud and can be heard in many different situations. There are certain circumstances though where it would not be heard, such as during a symphony where it is meant to blend in with the accompanying instruments.
I found CS, US, CR and UR very confusing. I know the definition for each specific response and stimulus, but I find it difficult to pick them out of a specific example. When I took psych of learning this also was a source of frustration for me. They all end up getting jumbled up once they’re put together.
First, I will remember that a neutral stimulus has to be salient. This means that the stimulus has be to notice in the environment by the subject. Secondly, the neutral stimulus must have regularity in its presentation, meaning there is no real reason for an association to occur. An example of what happens when this association is not made is in the fable the boy who cried wolf. He randomly presents the stimulus but when he did need reinforcement the town did not give it. Finally, I will remember that the stimulus must be presented a sufficient number of times. This is important because to make an association stronger it must be presented a specific number of times.
Both of these chapters have built on previous information from past chapters. We continue to learn more specific ways behaviors are modified and considerations to take into account when changing a behavior.
Terms: behavior modification, stimulus, association, reinforcement, salient, neutral stimulus, CS, US, CR, UR, response, Law of Effect, Law of Recency, Law of Exercise, positive outcome, Thorndike, repetition, trial and error, consequence, stamp in, and observer.
3.1
This kind of reading really gets me "geeked" because it reminds me of History Of Psychology. I really like learning about important figures in Psychology as well as learning about the shifts from philosophy to psychology and all of the different major theories of the time. One of my favorite sections to learn about was the switch from the German influence of introspection to functionalism which really sets the stage for behavioralism. Since introspection died out by the 1920s and really all Psychologists were behavioralists throughout most of the 1900's in left a huge impact on the major field today and I appreciate the background information of Thorndike's contributions to the subject matter we are learning.
With that being said here are 3 things I remembered:
1. According to Thorndike learning occurs by strengthening associations through trial and error
2. Trails that end in failure are aversive, will be stamped out, and the association is weak.
3.The Law of Recency says the most recent
response is the most likely to reoccur, and the Law of Exercises says that repeating something strengthens the associations.
I will remember these because I think that these were the major ideas from this section.
3.2
Well one thing I really liked about both of these sections, besides stating key figures Psychology, are that these were short sections. It was easier to motivate myself to read without skimming because it wasn't overly lengthy. Here are some of the thing's I will remember form this section on Pavlov
1. At the time he was starting these experiments with dogs science was begining to understand the function of neurons, so he described the cause of the dogs' behavior (agressive or unresponsive) as being under the influence of exitatory or inhibatory neurons, and both conditions were experimental neurosis.
2. necessary conditions make the neutral stimulus become the
conditioned stimulus (CS) and one of them is that in order for a it to be a neutral stimulus it has to be salient, or noticeable.
3. For a neutral simulus to becomes a conditioned stimulus it has to be presented a sufficient number of times or an association wont occur. For example if a pet owner only squirted their cat with water one time when it jumped on the table it might not know that jumping on the table would elicit its owner to emit a squirting behavior, and thus the cat would keep jumping on the table because water was not used a sufficient number of times to become a conditioned stimulus. In other words the cat won't associate jumping on the table with water.
This so far hasn't really built on anything because when asked about behavior modification I would have mentioned Thorndike or Pavlov to begin with, and I extensively went over their methodology in another course, however most of the other sections have had a much more unique impact on what behavior modification is. I think given the nature of the topic in these sections it couldn't really deviate too far from any other information a student might have learned previously. I don't really have anything I didn't like about these sections but if I had to find one it would just be that these sections were more predictable than the content in the previous sections.
Terms: Pavlov, Thorndike, Aversive, elicit, emit, neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus, salient, stamping out, trial and error, law of recency,law of exercises, experimental neurosis, sufficient nmber of times
Sectu=ion 3.1
One thing that I really liked about this section was seeing the history behind some of the ideas that we have and will be learning about. It was good to see how some of the early ideas provided information and a foundation for research and findings done later on. It shows that these complex ideas did not just pop out of thing air one day, it took a lot of time and the contributions of many different people and will continue to develop and change as we learn more.
One thing I did not like about this section was the explanation of the term stamping out. I understand that it is meant to be the opposite of the stamping in behavior but I feel as though the definition was far too broad to understand what all can be classified in this category. When trying to come up with examples of this term I had a hard time and was not sure if my examples worked because they to me resembled more or a punishment behavior. I am confused as to whether punishment can fall under this category or if there are permameters to the term that I do not understand.
Things to Remember:
1. One important thing to remember from this chapter is the Law of Effect. This states that a response is followed by a positive outcome, than that response will form or strenghten an association between the two. This will act as a guide for the response to take place again because it has created an association in the brain that there is a correlation between emitting that response and recieving the desired outcome. This is what is known as a behavior or response being stamped in. This Law of Effect also then states that if a response or behavior does not recieve postive outcomes than the behavior is stanped out so that the behavior is not emmited once again in order to solve the same problem which would only bring about failure once again. This is the basic foundation for operant conditioning which we learned about in previous chapters which is why it is important to understand so that the knowledge can go deeper than what we already understand about that area of behavior modification. Understanding why something happen is just as important as understanding that it happens at all.
2. Another important thing to remember is that there are two additional laws of learning, the Law of Recency and the Law of Excercise. The Law of Recency states that the most recent response given will be the one that is most likely to occur. This allows us to understand why people emit certain behaviors, no matter what the outcome or if they had used a better previous action. The Law of Recency states that when
response are emitted and repeatidly are given the same positive outcome they form and strengthen associations which leads the person to perform that response again because they have learned that there is a correlation between that response and the desirable outcome. These laws are important to understand when looking at learning and specifically behavior modification. Understanding these laws allows for someone to set up a procedure in which these laws are followed and will bring about the desired results
3. This chapter began to touch on the importance of accuratly presenting data. Showing how Thorndike should have constructed his graph and being able to compare the two showed the importance of accuratly and thoroughly presenting your data so that it can be easily understood. It also prevents confusion and controversy over the data and what it really is saying. This is an important thing to remember not only in behavior modification but in any situation in which you are presenting information and data that has been gathered.
Section 3.2
This has been one of my favorite sections thus far because of the organziation and focus along with all of the great examples and practices boxes. I also like the history section at the beginning. I found it interesting and fun to know that Pavlov's Psychological discoveries were not even his main attempt at the time but rather fell together as his other studies took place. One thing that I particularly liked about this seciton was how it explained the best way to determine what type of conditioning is being used, because it can be easy to confuse classical conditionin and operant conditioning which we have talked about up to this point. It layed out that classical conditioning has a stimulus/response relationship in which the stimulus is first presented and then the response is emmited whereas in operant conditioning there is a response stimulus relationship in which the response if first emitted and then the stimulus is presented. This is important in order to keep the to types of conditioning straight.
There really was not anything that I disliked about this section. One suggestion that I could make for this section would be to give more examples of conditioned stimulus in environments relative to those of use reading the section. When I came up with my examples I felt that I was on the right track but could not be completely sure because it was difficult to compare it to the conditioned stimulus of the rabbit.
Things to Remember
1. An important thing to remember from this section are the conditions that must be met in order for a neutral stimulus to become a conditioned stimulus. The first condition is that the stimulus
must be salient. To be salient a stimulus must be able to be noticied within its enviornment. If it can not it will not be able to capture the attention of the subject and thus can not be paired with an unconditioned stimulus. The next condition is that the neutral stimulus must be presented regularly with the unconditioned stimulus, if this does not happen the subject can not form an association between the two and can not form predictability. The third condition is that the pair must be presented a sufficient number of times before the association occurs because the subject has to believe that a correlation exists. These rules are important to know because they will be vital when attempting to put together a successful classical conditioning procedure. If you can not get the neutral stimulus conditioned than you can not be successful.
2. Another important thing to take from this section is the distinction between an unconditioned response and a conditioned response. It is also important to understand that they can be the same response. The difference is simply what elicited the emitted response. If the response was elicited by the unconditioned stimulus than it is an unconditioned response and if it is elicited by the conditioned stimulus than it is a conditioned response. The two response many times are similar both topographically and funsctionally which leads to much of the confusion. Knowing the difference allows for you to accurately set up a classical conditioning procedure so that it may be succesfful and you can understand what happened duirng the process.
3. The last thing to remember is tied into the second thing to remember which is that we have stimulus classes that are similar to the classes that we have looked at prior in this book. Stimuli can be topographically similar, look the same, as well as functunally similar. serve the same function or purpose, which can make it difficult to differentiate between two different stimuli. This is important to keep in mind when attempting to determine the labeling for stimuli in a procedure.
These reading sections have built on what we have discuess so far with operant conditiong by giving some of the history and background knowledge that set the foundation for what we have learned about behavior modification. The second section went into greater detail than what I had known previously about classical conditioning and also made parts of it that I had already been taught easier to undertand and allowed me to better comprehend them due to the explanations and exmmaples given.
Terms Used: stamping out, stamping in, punishment, law of effect. emit, correlation, desire, operant conditioning, Law of Recency, Law of Excercise, classical conditioning, operant conditioning,salient conditioned stimulus, neutral stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned response, unconditioned response, elicit
Section 3.1-
I liked the fact that this section was a sort of throw back to early behaviorist and gave the reader a sort of history of early developments that have sub sequentially shaped how we look at behaviorism. My second degree is going to be in history so anytime I can mix that aspect in with my other classes makes it easier for me to apply myself to the literature and remember facts. I also enjoyed the pictures and visual aides that helped to explain the concept that Thorndike was getting at with his puzzle boxes—I did think that they were rather small for a full grown cat to be put in and expected to escape.
I did think that there could have been much more explanation put forth on the other two concepts that Thorndike developed—Law of Recency and Law of Exercise. Other then that, I really liked this article with the historical references to operant conditioning and the concept of trial and error. The concept that learning is similar across animals and humans is a very interesting ideal that ties back into the articles we have already read.
One thing that I will remember that I found interesting was the fact that the behaviorist movement lasted for roughly 70 years however; there is still a lot of learning by emitted by those taking behavior modification classes and others researching the area. In order to measure how fast an animal learns, Thorndike used a methodological construct that measured the time difference between attempts. Lastly the notion of the stamping in and the stamping out of learned or ‘unlearned’ behavior due to successful attempts and unsuccessful attempts can be viewed when dealing with a small child that wants an M&M.
Section 3.2-
I like how this section depicted the differences in behaviorist. Thorndike was concerned more with learning based on trial and error and Pavlov was more concerned with the learned or conditioned response based off of a base need that must be salient. I was interested in the fact that Pavlov was originally concerned with the surgical and medical part of the learning—performed a medical procedure to separate the saliva glands of the digestive system from the other parts.
There really wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about this section. I actually enjoyed the graphs and pictures paired with the topics on hand. Pavlov did some very interesting work it was a shame that his work wasn’t translated into English until the 1920s. It would have been interesting to see how his research would have affected others during the same time.
One thing that I find interesting is that Pavlov’s work was used to study learning when he was mostly concerned with figuring out to initialize the salivary glands in response to a base need. Once a base is made, the time it takes for the organism to react is lessened. Lastly, if there are two learned stimuli used in concordance with a reinforcer, there must be a follow up that can distinguish between which caused the reaction.
I thought it was interesting to read about how there are so many different approaches used to look at how an animal/human learns to do something and how that learned behavior could be used to essentially alter the target behavior.
Terms: Learned Behavior, Target Behavior, Response, Base, Learned Stimuli, Reinforcer, Trial and Error, Conditioned Response, Salient, Emitted, Behavior Modification, Methodological Construct Stamping In, Stamping Out, Law of Recency, Law of Exercise, Operant Conditioning,
Section 3.1
One thing I liked about this section was learning about was the puzzle boxes. They weren't something I had heard of before. Many Psychology students have heard of Pavlov and his work with the drooling dogs. But I hadn't heard of the puzzle boxes before. It's an interesting way of studying how animals learn and adapt. I didn't really think there was anything I didn't like or understand, it was a fairly strait-forward and uncomplicated. I don't really have anything to complain about for this chapter. The three things I will remember are 1. Law of Effect- This means when a behavior is followed by a positive or reinforcing outcome then that will be associated and the organism will remember that association. It also states that behaviors that are met with negative outcomes will be forgotten. This makes sense because if we had to remember everything or every way we tried to do something our brains would be on overload. Instead our brain is able to store only the important things, like how we succeeded. 2. Law of Exercise- this states that the more times we do something the stronger our associations become. This also makes sense because repeating things helps us remember, so why wouldn't repeating things help our brains to make associations even stronger. 3. Law of Recency- This basically says that the most recent of response will be the most likely to happen again. Another law that makes sense because when we naturally remember the most recent things that have happened to us.
Section 3.2
One thing I liked about this section was learning more about Pavlov, like many other psych students I had heard of Pavlov before. However I didn't know many of the specific details of what his original research was about. I did not know that he was studying the digestive process of dogs, I just knew the part about the ringing bells which caused the dogs to drool. One thing I didn't really like about this chapter was that the UR and the CR are hard to understand. It was explained well in the text, it will just take me awhile to make sure I have the two strait and don't get them confused. The three things I will remember are 1. Conditioned stimulus- This is something that needs to be conditioned, If it was just by itself it wouldn't invoke a response. 2. Sufficient number of times- This is important because you want the organism to be able to be able to understand the stimulus and respond properly to it. If you do it too few time the organism won't be able to comprehend that the stimulus means anything. 3. Salient- This means it must be noticeable. If it just blends in with the surroundings we won't take any notice of it.
These readings have really built on what I knew about behavior modification. Like I said before I already knew of Pavlov's work however from this chapter I took a more in depth look at his actual studies and how he conditioned them. These chapters also continued to build on unconditioned, conditioned stimuli and responses.
terms: salient, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned response, law of recency, law of exercise, law of effect.
SECTION 3.1
In this section, I liked that a link to the video was given. The video was helpful to understand Thorndike’s experiments and what he was trying to research. The video also showed that the cat wasn’t harmed in Thorndike’s experiments. I appreciate that.
This section was very short. I understand how it is relevant to behavior modification and what Thorndike was testing but I would have liked more elaboration in the section. It just seem like the section was, this is what Thorndike did and how he did it. I would have liked more explanation.
After reading this section I will remember how Thorndike conducted his experiments with the cats, I will remember what Thorndike was researching when he was experimenting with the cats and I will remember that the more practiced the cat is in escaping the box, the shorter amount of time the cat takes to escape. Stamping out behavior is called the Law of Effect, The Law of Recency is when the most common behavior will reoccur and the Law of Exercise is repetition will strengthen a behavior.
SECTION 3.2
In this section, I really liked how it went into more detail on Pavlov’s research. Prior to reading this chapter, I knew about the bell experiment and classical conditioning and conditioned and unconditioned responses but I did not know that Pavlov did more research in to how the dog salivates. I found this section to be very interesting and easy to understand. There wasn’t anything that I disliked reading about this section.
From this section I will remember that stimulus response is when there is a stimulus a response occurs and response stimulus is what we have been learning. With a behavior, there is a response. I will also remember that an unconditioned is something that happens naturally.
After reading these sections, it has really built on what I knew or thought I knew about Pavlov. While reading this, I kept thinking how animals are often the subjects of research.
Terms: Thorndike, stamping out, low of effect, law or receny, law of exercise, Pavlov, classical conditioning, conditioned and unconditioned response, response stimulus, stimulus response.
Section 3.1:
From this section I really liked learning something new. I didn’t know about Thorndike and what he did until reading this section. He first began to study things like how cats could learn to escape from the confinement of a wooden cage, which was interesting to learn about. I didn’t really like that the section was so short because I feel like some of it could have been elaborated on. Something that I like was that Thorndike reasoned that as the cat learned how to manipulate the door release mechanism that it should get faster and faster at escaping. So Thorndike used the reduction in time to escape as a measure of how much the cat learned. I liked the explanation of The Law of Effect because it was explained differently than I have learned it before. In this section The Law of Effect states when behaviors or responses are followed by positive outcome and that association is stamped in meaning that the association is strengthened. Also two other laws of learning were developed by Thorndike, them being The Law of Regency and The Law of Exercise. The Law of Regency states that the most recent response is most likely to reoccur. The Law of Exercise states that through repetition the associations are strengthened.
Section 3.2:
From this section I really like it talking about Pavlov because his studies really allow me to understand things like classical conditioning. I will remember everything about the Pavlov Pouch which I don’t think I have learned about in other classes. By doing this Pavlov could attach small test tubes to the salivary ducts allowing him to collect, measure, and analyze the salivation resulting from different food stimuli and different conditions. The procedure that Pavlov used to create experimental neuroses was to classically condition dogs to discriminate different geometric shapes. The bell functioned as a stimulus to elicit salivation, other stimuli could also elicit salivation using classical conditioning. In this study Pavlov found that some dogs would become unresponsive ( learned helplessness) while other dogs would become aggressive and tear at their harnesses. Another thing I liked was that the stimulus response relationship is different from the response stimulus relationship. I liked that a good way to tell which kind of learning has gone on is to ask yourself, did the stimulus come first? Or did the behavior (response) come first? And I will remember this because it is a good way to understand which kind of learning went on because these are easy questions to ask myself.
From reading these sections I feel like I have a better understanding of some new topics that I haven’t previously learned about and then also a better understanding of things I have learned but they were explained in a different way than before.
Terms: Response, response stimulus relationship, stimulus response relationship, learned helplessness, unresponsive, classical conditioning, stimuli, elicit, discriminate, experimental neuroses, law of regency, law of exercise, law of effect, manipulate
3.1
I really liked that this section talked about the history of behavioral research and where it all came from. Even after taking several psychology courses I had never heard of Thorndike’s puzzle boxes before, and I found them fascinating to read about. I also liked that there was a video link, and pictures of some of the actual puzzle boxes. It helped me to get a better visual of how these puzzle boxes actually worked.
There really was not anything that I disliked about this section. It was short and to the point, and it covered new material that we haven’t yet learned about. I liked everything in the section.
I will remember that the law of effect states that when behaviors and responses are followed by positive outcomes, that association is “stamped in.” This will be remembered because it is basically the same concept of reinforcement. I will remember that the y-axis represents what we are trying to measure, and the x-axis represents the measurement period. I will remember this because we have to start making graphs in the upcoming sections. I will also remember that the law of recency states that the most recent response is the most likely to reoccur.
3.2
I liked that this section talked about the history of Pavlov. Everyone has heard of Pavlov’s dogs before, but I didn’t know there was so much more to it, like the Pavlov Pouch. I liked that there was a lot of detail about unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response. It’s always nice to have your memory refreshed on those because no matter how many times I read about them in a text book they confuse me.
I did not like the part about stimulus response and response stimulus. It is so confusing to me, and the more I tried to read it to understand, the more confused I got. The book did not really clarify the terms very well. I understand that you are supposed to ask if the stimulus came before or after the behavior, but I am still having a hard time wrapping my brain around the difference of the two. I wish there would have been more examples provided for these.
I will remember that the neutral stimulus has to be salient. Salient means it has to be noticed in the environment. I will remember that the neutral stimulus must have regularity in its presentation. Finally, I will remember that the neutral stimulus must be presented a sufficient number of times. I will remember these three items because if these conditions are not met, the neutral stimulus will not elicit a response
Reading these sections helped to build on what I already knew about behavior modification by explaining where it all originated. Learning about the puzzle boxes and Thornton’s ideas behind them, are very similar to reinforcement which only adds to my understanding of behavior modification.
Terms: law of effects, law of recency, stimulus response, response stimulus, Pavlov pouch, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned response,
Section 3.1
I liked reading about Thorndike’s Laws from this section. They are all easy to make sense of. For example, the Law of Effect states that the behaviors/responses are associated with positive outcome. In other words, if a behavior works, you tend to stick with it for the positive outcome. Also the Law of Exercise is pretty simple; it states that through repetition the stronger the association to the positive outcome there is. Hence, the more times you elicit the behavior, the more times the positive outcome is expected. With the Law of Recency, it states that the most recent response is the most likely to reoccur. Again, I find this simple to understand.
At the same time I found Thorndike’s puzzle boxes cruel and fascinating. I know experimenting on animals is a time old issue, and for the most part I don’t agree with it. I don’t like animal cruelty side of Thorndike’s experiments no matter if they served him well or not. I find it fascinating in the fact that relies on the research and the conclusions; I’m just not really gung ho on the trapping of animals to see if they can learn to get out.
Three things I will remember from this section are 1) prime of behavioral research was about 70 years ago. 2) Most researchers built their own equipment for their experiments. 3)’Stamping in’ strengthens an association and ‘stamping out’ will weaken an association.
Section 3.2
I like the further explanation of unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response. The charts, examples, and practices helped me distinguish one from the other. When US, UR, CS, and CR were first introduced for this class I had mentioned that these were the most difficult for me to keep straight from previous psychology classes. I also liked the section about the stimulus/response and response/stimulus relationship difference; for I do tend to overthink about ‘what comes first’.
There is not really anything I disliked in this section. However reading about Pavlov’s dogs was kind of tedious. No matter what psychology class you take, you always talk about Pavlov’s dogs. Which I understand; Pavlov’s discovery of conditioning and such is a major part of the study of psychology. Although I don’t recall ever hearing about his original intention was actually the study of digestive processes in my other classes. I found that to be interesting.
Three things I will remember from this section are 1) the Russian physiologist that discovered behavioral conditioning by initially studying digestive processes. 2) The unconditioned response and the conditioned response are topographically and functionally similar. 3) A neutral stimuli must be salient, regular in its presentation, and presented a sufficient amount of times for association to occur.
Terms: Law of Effect, Law of Exercise, Law of Recency, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, conditioning, topographically, functionally, neutral stimulus, salient
3.1
I really liked the fact that Thorndike built his own puzzle boxes out of recycled materials, because it shows that you don't need fancy equipment to be a psychological researcher.
I did not at all like the fact that Thorndike did not label his graph, because the graph is the visual representation of the statistics, which some might argue is the most important part. I was trained to go into great detail when naming and labeling graphs so the information does not get misunderstood. Although, perhaps we only have all of those rules now because of people like Thorndike.
I noticed that the heyday of behavioral research lasted for 70 years, but I would like to re-popularize behavioral research because I find it very interesting.
I would like to point out that this research is pretty similar to Skinner's, but perhaps the small differences (like using a cat instead of a pigeon or a rat, and making the target behavior escaping from the box instead of pressing levers to receive food) are important for the sake of generalization.
3.2
I feel like I have learned Pavlovian Conditioning over and over again. I kind of find that stuff boring. However, I focused on the things that I hadn't read before. I didn't know that he did research on excitatory and inhibitory neurons.
I also find it fascinating that he was able to somewhat teach dogs to recognize different geometric shapes. I think they should primarily teach that in school as opposed to his bell-ringing experiment!
Classical conditioning deals with the unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response. After conditioning, the conditioned response and unconditioned response refer to the same action, but for different reasons.
Terms:
Thorndike, Puzzle Box, Graph, Visual Representation, Statistics, Behavioral Research, Target Behavior, Pavlovian Conditioning, Excitatory, Inhibitory, Neurons, Classical Conditioning, Unconditioned, Stimulus, Response, Conditioned
I enjoyed reading this section, learning about another early behavioral researcher Edward Thorndike. His experiments with animal intelligence using the puzzle box was very interesting. It was nice to read about another great influence to psychology other than Pavlov and Skinner, which we have already covered. I also enjoyed the visual diagrams of the puzzle box, and their illustration of how they would have been used. Once again like many other sections I enjoyed the small interactions exercises on the section. Being able to give examples of law of recency, or stamp out behaviors. There was not anything in particular that I disliked about this section.
The three things I will remember from this section are as follows:
1. Law of Effect based on the idea of “trial and error”, this states that when an organism emits a behavior and the response or responses are followed by a positive outcome. The association is remembered and the association between the target behavior and positive outcome is strengthened. For example a cat pulling a lever to get a treat.
2.The Law of Recency states that the most recent response is most likely to reoccur, I wish this section could have went in more detail about this phenomena.
3. Lastly I will remember the introduction of the graph, the y- axis-what we are trying to measure and the x-axis represents the measurement periods(time, date)
3.2
In the beginning of this section I enjoyed the nice short history of Pavlov and how he begun his journey in studying biological behavior with dogs. While working on other research with the digestive system, pavlov noticed something interesting with the dogs salivate glads before they were presented with dog food. Soon he was able to make the dogs salivate when he rings a bell, turning a natural stimuli into a classical condition. Pavlov's studies did not end there, he then had the dogs learn to discriminate between different geometric shapes. He then would change the shape into a shape that the dogs could not discriminate and he noticed that the dogs would then become unresponsive or some would become aggressive. He later explained this as experimental neurosis, he believed that the dogs that were aggressive dogs were under a excitatory neurons and the dogs that had no response was under the control of inhibitory neurons. I found this interesting because after all the psychology classes I have taken including history and systems, not one do I remember mentioning this part of Pavlov's work. Lastly I will remember unconditioned stimulus (US) dust in your eyes, Unconditioned response (UR) rubs your eye, and conditioned stimulus (CS). I did have some trouble in understanding how stimulus salience is included in the conditioned stimulus. I hope to clear this up in class this Thursday.
Terms: Pavlov, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, Salience, discriminate, classical condition, experimental neuroses, Law Effect, Law of Recency, puzzle box, Thorndike, emits, x-axis, and y-axis, excitatory, inhibitory, conditioned, graph
3.1
One thing that I liked about this section was learning about Edward Thorndike and how he began studying things like cats and if they could escape from a box or not. He was interested in animal intelligence and that is what we will be seeing in this field is researchers will make their own invention and see how it will work on animals first before on humans.
Something that I disliked about this section was that while looking at the experiment of the cat trying to escape from the box and that the time elapsed before it escaped measured how much was learned. This was Thorndike’s methodological construct for intelligence. After hearing about all of that and then seeing the graphs that went along with his research, I didn’t like that anything was labeled. It was hard to follow until I got to the end to see what it would have looked like if it was labeled.
Three things that I will take from this is:
1. The Law of Effect basically states that when behaviors or responses are followed by positive outcome, that association is stamped in or what we would call strengthened. Which is something that we will see in everyday life. It will also have a great impact on Skinner’s ideas of operant behaviors.
2. The Law of Recency which states that the most recent response is the most likely to reoccur. I think that is huge with the learning process and what will be the outcome of experiments.
3. The Law of Exercise states that through repetition the association is strengthened. This also involves Trial and Error which suggests that over a period of attempts some attempts will lead to success. Those attempts will more likely be repeated
and therefore, learned.
3.2
One thing that I liked about this section is the example that was given on Ivan Pavlov and his experiment with dogs and all of his findings. I found it very interesting that there is that much depth in an experiment and he was so interested in his research on the dogs with the salivary glands. Something that was interesting to me was the circle and square and using that to distinguish between the delivery of food or not which would create salivation or inhibit the salivation. There was definitely a difference between the aggressive dogs and the unresponsive dogs. Aggressive dogs were under the control of excitatory neurons and the unresponsive dogs were under the control of inhibitory neurons. His work was known for as Pavlovian Conditioning, Classical conditioning, or Respontent conditioning.
There was not much that I disliked about this section. There was great detail on Pavlov’s research and many examples on classical conditioning. It is confusing at first but the more examples you do, the more you get the hang of it and it starts to make sense.
Three things that I will take from this:
1. In classical conditioning the stimulus and the response start off as biologically relevant. The example of the rabbit blink and the puff of air are perfect for this fact. The air puff is the unconditioned stimulus and the blink is the unconditioned response.
2. Anything can be used as the neutral stimulus (usually) and it has to be salient, which also means noticed in the environment. I think that is very important to keep into consideration while doing research because it is easy to think you are using something that is valid or you thin is salient but it may not be and then you will get all sorts of messed up when it comes down to it.
3. There are a few different questions you can ask yourself when deciding between the two ways of learning. Did the stimulus come first? And did the behavior response come first? Those two questions are very helpful when trying to differentiate between the two.
After reading these sections, I really enjoy that they keep building on each other and I can continue to practice my knowledge of previously learned facts and information as the chapters further.
Terminology: experiment, measured, law of effect, thorndike, Pavlov, classical conditioning, stimulus, respondent conditioning, pavlovian conditioning, neutral stimulus, salient, behavior, unconditioned stimulus, excitatory neurons, inhibitory neurons, trial and error, law of exercise, law of recency, methodological construct for intelligence
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the section? Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? Why?
I liked that this section has a video that showed the experiment because it was helpful to understand exactly what the cats needed to do in order to get out of the puzzle box. There was nothing that I disliked about this section this was one of the most interesting sections we have read about thus far in this book. I will remember that Thorndike was most interested in animal intelligence. Because sometimes I wonder how intelligent my cat is and this sparks my interest into if I were to do this experiment with my cat would he be able to fall into Thorndike’s methodological construct for intelligence. The second thing I will remember is that trial and error is an effective way to teach because there are positive and negative outcomes. The last thing I will remember is that Thorndike developed three ways of learning the law of effect, recency, and exercise. This was a really short section so there was not a lot of information to comprehend.
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why? What was one thing that you disliked that was in the section? Why? What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? Why? I liked that this section went more in depth about Pavlov because we have referenced Pavlov in other psych classes but it never seemed to go in depth about the history of why he started this dog experiment. I disliked how long this section was, and maybe I thought it was so long because some of this information was a repeat or information I have known from previous classes so I felt like I was rereading a lot. Three things I will remember is that the initial step of Pavlov’s experiment was called the “psychic secretion” when the dog would start to salivate from the sound of the person coming down the hall. Sometimes my cat will start to run to the kitchen when they hear us walking down the stairs in the morning. The second thing I will remember it that blinking is an unconditioned response, because blinking is a biological stimulus. The third thing I will remember is Pavlov’s experiment will be remembered for its stimulus/ response relationship. That with every stimulus there will be a response.
How has reading these sections changed or built on what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
This has made me think more about how behavior modification is a broad topic. Because not only can you use behavior modification to alter the behaviors of humans but through trial and error or reinforcement and punishment you can change the behavior of animals as well. It may take more time because you cannot communicate to animals in the same way so you won’t be able to use your words as reinforcers or punishers. Through reading about conditioned stimulus and responses it has made me think of time that I have just automatically done a behavior because I known that is coming after , such as when I see the crosswalk start to count down and the light switches to yellow I know that the man picture will flash on the crosswalk so I can cross. I just start to anticipate the cars slowing down and the pedestrians to begin walking.
terms: law effect, reinforcer, punishment, behavior, modification, conditioned stimulus, responses, Pavlov, Thorndike, experiment, psychic secretion, trial and error
3.1
I enjoyed learning about Thorndike and the experiments he did with cats. I liked how there were pictures of the the puzzle box and how through using the box he came up with the idea of the law of effect, law of regency, and law of exercise and learning what all the laws were. I was also interested in the trail and error effect.
Three things I'll remember from this section are:
1)The law of effect and that is how behavior is followed by a positive outcome then that association is stamped in.
2)Trial and Error and how you take many trys over and over to get the problem solved.
3)The graph and all the parts that have to be included with it for it to be understood completely.
3.2
I enjoyed the examples in this section because they were things that I could related to my own life. I also liked that for most of the examples there where also answers that with them so I could check my work. In this section there was a good amount of terms that I had to learn.
Three things I'll remember from this section are:
1)The difference between the response stimulus and stimulus response relationships.
2)For something to be salient it must be noticed in the environment.
3)How the neutral stimulus has to be presented multiple times for an association between the two can me made.
I enjoyed how the sections keep building on one another and how I'm learning new stuff each time I read a new section.
Terms: Law of effect, Law of regency, Law of exercise, trail and error effect, association, response stimulus, stimulus response, salient, neutral stimulus
Section 3.1
I liked watching the video with the cat experiments; I did not know that cats were that intelligent to be able to realize to use levers to escape. Thorndike did not believe that the cats actually knew what they were doing; i.e. aware of their behavior. As he was observing these cats, he saw no moments of insight as they were performing the behaviors to escape the puzzle boxes. He believed that the cats were learning the skills through trial and error, in order to get to the food. One thing that I remembered from the section was that I was fascinated by his method of measuring the data—which was to use reduction in escape time as a measure of their intelligence, as the cats were getting faster and faster each time they performed behaviors to escape. Later in his thesis, Thorndike explained his belief that “behavior changes because of consequences” (which is also his Law of Effect). I think should focus on animals who we believe to be unintelligent; maybe they’ll surprise us. Most animal studies I’ve read about use food as a reward, or positive consequence, for behavior. I think using other rewards, i.e. a new toy or love (hugs, petting, kisses) could be tried out. I think it would be interesting to study wild animals in their habitats and see how they adapt to the world around them. I feel like this would be the best way to study animal intelligence. I remembered the two additional laws that Thorndike added: The Law of Recency (most recent response) and Law of Exercise (repetition). I would like to learn more about what other kinds of reinforcers have been used in studies, as well as different types of studies that are less well-known. I disliked trying to come up with ways to study animal intelligence. The question was a little hard to answer, since I haven’t really studied up much on different animal studies.
Terms: experiment, Thorndike, behavior, observing, puzzle boxes, learning, trial and error, method, data, consequence, change, Law of Effect, positive consequence, reward, The Law of Recency, Law of Exercise, reinforcers, response, repetition, study
Section 3.2
I thought it was interesting that Ivan Pavlov was smart in that he rerouted the dog’s saliva ducts to the outside, so that he could more easily measure the timing and amount of salvation. Pavlov also noticed that dogs were salivating before the arrival of food, also at hearing footsteps of the researcher. He named this “psychic secretion,” which we now know as stimulus response. I thought it was interesting that he tried to change this by making the rooms sound proof and wearing lighter shoes. I wish the chapter said more about the results of his studies after making these changes, as I would like to learn more about it. He also contributed the addition of the fistula, which is a tube that was attached to the abdominal wall made from the small intestine. I will probably remember that it was not until 1927 that his studies were translated to English and became popular in America, because it interests me that lack of good timing in translation inhibits the publication of something great to the world. I disliked reading more about conditioned stimulus relationships. Furthermore, I honestly disliked the amount of activities in this section as well.
Terms: Ivan Pavlov, stimulus response, psychic secretion, researcher, results, study, fistula, stimulus relation
One thing I really liked about section 3.1 was how simple and short the section was. All section 3.1 discussed was trial and error and the different laws that it has. I liked this section because it’s easier to gather information when it comes in small amounts and when they’re all similar terms. I liked this section because it was easy to understand and comprehend.
One thing I disliked about section 3.1 was how little practice examples there were. I love having several practice examples in each section. This allows me to practice what I am learning the information and terminology. I love being able to read a paragraph and right after having examples and practice problems for me to do. I wish there would have been more opportunities for me to practice what I was learning.
The three things I will remember from this section is that 1) the law of effect is when behaviors are followed by outcomes that are positive, therefore strengthening the association made with the behavior, 2) the law of recency states that the most recent behavior is the most likely to reoccur in the future, and 3) the law of exercise states that with repetition comes associations being strengthened. I will remember that the law of effect is when behaviors are followed by outcomes that are positive, and therefore strengthening the association made with the behavior because the law of effect has to do with trial and error. Law of effect practices finding a way to do something through trial and error. I will remember that the law of recency states that the most recent behavior is the most likely to reoccur in the future because the behavior that occurs the most recent has the most effect on the person. Lastly, the law of exercise states that with repetition comes associations being strengthened because the more a person is associated with something the more strengthened their behavior will become.
One thing I really liked about section 3.2 is the background information that this section gave on Ivan Pavlov. I liked this because it allows me to have a better understanding of Pavlov and his history. I like knowing more about the man who is coming up with the terminology that we are using in this course.
One thing I dislike about section 3.2 is how long it was. There was a lot of behavioral terminology and information shoved into this section. I didn’t like this because it’s harder to understand and remember what is talked about when there is so much to be remembered. Although I took notes and did the practice examples it took me to the very end to fully grasp what was being explained.
Three things that I will remember from section 3.2 is that 1) Unconditioned responses and conditioned responses are topographically and functionally similar, and that it can be difficult to tell them apart, 2) salient is a neutral stimulus where you can hear or see the stimulus over another stimuli, and 3) Unconditioned stimuli and responses are when the first behaviors have occurred without it happening again, therefore before anything is conditioned yet. I will remember that unconditioned responses and conditioned responses are topographically and functionally similar because the response looks the same but the difference is with the conditioned response. The conditioned response is associated with the neutral stimulus. I will remember that salient is a neutral stimulus where you can hear or see the stimulus over another stimuli because this section gave several examples of what a salient was. For example, the section gave said a clap of the hands would be a salient if the TV was playing quietly in the background. I will remember unconditioned stimuli and responses are when the first behaviors have occurred without it happening again because when something if conditioned it means that this has been a repeated behavior and or situation that is occurring.
These sections have built on what I previously knew about behavior modification because it helped me better understand unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and responses. Before I read these sections these terms confused me. All of the practice problems in this section have helped me understand how to see what is conditioned and what is unconditioned. Also whether or not the response or stimulus comes first in the situation.
Terms: behavior modification, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned response, stimulus, stimuli, behavior, responses, salient, neutral stimulus, behavioral terminology, Ivan Pavlov, law of effect, law of recency, law of exercise, and trial and error.
Section 3.1
One thing I liked about this section was how short and to the point it was. I had learned about Thorndike in my other psychology classes before, so this section was a good review and supplement to what I had learned. So I understood the section quite well.
There wasn't a thing I didn't like. Like I said, I had learned about Thorndike before, so it was easy to understand his research. Also, it was an interesting topic to read about and how it relates to behavior. It was also a nice breather to get away from all of the "reinforcement" and "punishment".
The three things I will remember from this section are the three different laws that were discussed. They are the law of effect, law of exercise, and law of recency. In previous courses, I had learned about these subjects briefly or learned about a subject relating to these laws, therefore understanding and remembering these weren't so hard for me. The law of effect says that when behaviors or responses are followed by positive outcomes, the association gets stamped in. The association is strengthened. And the opposite is true also, meaning that behaviors followed by negative outcomes are stamped out. The law of recency says that most recent response if most likely to reoccur. The law of exercise states that with repetition, associations are strengthened.
Section 3.2
One thing I like about this section was the exercise examples that were given. It helps me to learn the topic better when practice examples are given. I also liked how the practice examples eased me into harder ones. It gave me the choices for the first ones, then the later ones I had to find them and put them where they belonged.
There wasn't really anything I didn't like. It was about Pavlov, who every psychology major should know. Maybe one thing that took me a bit was making sure I knew the differences between the unconditioned and conditioned stimulus and responses. I had learned these before, but not as detailed. Such as why the unconditioned response becomes the conditioned response.
Three things i will remember are Pavlov's dog studies, the neutral stimulus, and how to tell the difference between unconditioned response (UR) from the conditioned response (CR). Pavlov's dog studies actually started out as him studying saliva and digestion, not actually behavior. But Pavlov started taking notice when the dogs would start salivating. He noticed patterns of dogs begin to salivate before the food was presented and started experimenting with it. This eventually lead to what we know as classical conditioning. A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that must be noticed in the environment. It has to be noticeable over the noises (both audible and visual) of the environment for it to be a neutral stimulus. I will remember the differences between UR and CR because they are so similar to each other. They can even be the same thing, but just in different contexts. The unconditioned response is the response to the unconditioned stimulus. The unconditioned response becomes the conditioned response when the response is elicited from a conditioned stimulus. A conditioned stimulus.
These sections have helped me with my understanding of behavior modification. Instead of learning the different parts of behavior modification, these two sections kind of explained why it works. I see it as sort of the "science" of behavior modification. It helps explain the reasoning behind the techniques of reinforcement and punishment. Also, it gives a good history on the subject.
Terms: Pavlov, unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response, neutral stimulus, elicit, salient, law of recency, law of effect, law of exercise, behavior, responses, Thorndike
3.1
One thing that I really liked about this section was the video, I have always been able to retain information from a video so much better than by reading. To add, just going over the idea of Trial and Error, I have been curious to know when trial and error would pop up in learning about behaviorism. Nothing in the section stuck out to me as anything that I didn’t like. I thought it gave me a good sense of the beginning of behaviorism experiments that have taken place. Three things that I will remember from this chapter: That Thorndike pioneered the experimenting of animals in order to get a sense of natural animalistic behavior. Another thing I will remember is that the Law of Effect, while it seems so basic it is a huge part of behaviorism. Beings don’t continue to emit behaviors if they are not reinforced and whatever the behavior was that induced the desired response will most likely be repeated when placed in the same situation. And finally, the law of recency, it is instilled in my brain that it is only the last behavior emitted that is remembered by the subject when it is finally reinforced.
3.2
Although I feel like a have a solid understanding of Classical conditioning, I really liked how helpful the practice problems were in this chapter. Also I have never really learned about Pavlov’s real experiment involving saliva ducts, I thought that that was an interesting piece of information. What I will remember from this chapter is that: I was intrigued by how the dogs would experience experimental neurosis because they were unable to differentiate between the stimuli. I was also intrigued at how there were two types of behaviors that stemmed from this. That must have something to do with the temperament of the dog. Furthermore, I will not forget the importance of making sure the conditioned stimulus is salient (something easily noticeable in the environment).
To be honest the only things I have really learned from these two sections, that added to what I know about behavior modification, is the importance of a salient conditions stimulus. If the condition stimulus is not salient then the odds of it being paired with the Unconditioned stimulus are not very likely.
Terms: Trial and Error, Behaviorism, Thorndike, Naturalistic Animal Behavior, Law of Effect, Emit, Reinforced, Law of Recency, Emitted, Classical Conditioning, Pavlov, Experimental Neurosis, Differentiation between Stimuli, Conditioned Stimulus, Salient, Unconditioned Stimulus
One thing I liked about this section was that it was about research that has been done. It is nice to learn facts but I really enjoy learning about how we got those facts and ideas.
I did not dislike anything about this section
Three things i will remember are:
Thorndike was primarily interested in animals. He invented a box that had strings and levers that the cat would be put in. The cat would then have to learn how to escape the box. The cat might pull a string and something good would happen thus being positively reinforced to pull the same string when placed into the box again.
Thorndike learned that the cat would start to learn how to escape from the box. the cat might take 30 seconds the first time to get out and only 20 seconds the next time making it seem like the cat was learning how to escape by remembering exactly what it did the last time it was in the box. The cat might go in the box and go crazy and accidentally pull a string or lever and have the door open thus associating that behavior with the door opening so when the cat would be placed in the box again it would flail around and hope for the same consequence.
Trial and error. trying to figure something out through trail and error means if you try something and it fails you will try again until you find the right routine or actions to get the consequence that you want. For example, I am a golfer and i recently developed a slice with my driver that i had never had before. I tried so many different things to get rid of it but nothing was working(i was using trial and error) until I noticed i was swing out to in instead of in to out so I changed that and started hitting the ball straight again. Now i make sure I swing from in to out so that I wont have the negative consequence of a slice.
3.2
One thing i liked about this section again was that it was about research of how we have the information that we do. I also like the attention to detail that Pavlov had when doing his research. He had the walls sound proof and people wear slippers so they didn't make any noise to get the data as exact as he could.
I did not like the section on unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response. I'm still misunderstanding what those exactly mean and a little confused.
Three things i will remember are:
Pavlov used a surgical process to isolating the saliva glands in dogs so he could examine when and what would make them salivate
Conditioned reflex. An acquired reflex that is under the control of a stimulus. In this case the reflex was salivation of the dog and the stimulus was being fed. The dogs would hear footsteps and associate that with someone walking toward them to bring them food.
Pavlovs work was seen as stimulus-responce meaning in the presence of a stimulus a response occurs(Dog sees food, he starts to salivate). This is different than the response-stimulus that we have been learning about. The response stimulus means that if you have an action(behavior) a stimulus will occur whether it be positive or negative.
Terms: UR, stimulus, response, behavior, positive, negative, pavlov, thornidke, conditioned reflex,
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
I liked that you kept this section relatively simple, I feel as though the three main points in this section were the Laws as made by Thorndike. And the fact that you carried the same example through the section helped make sense of things.
What was one thing that you disliked that was in the section? Why?
Since there were only three main points of this section, I wish there would have been more examples given to really illustrate what they mean and how they are shown in real life. For me, just reading a definition doesn't usually give me the whole idea, so it was hard for me to come up with my own examples.
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? Why?
The three main points out of this section are defined, so I should probably remember them, but it will take some time for me to fully understand and retain them. The law of effect reminds me a lot of reinforcement, are these similar and/or the same concept? I feel like these are all simple concepts, but maybe I just need some clarification.
What was one thing that you really liked that was in the section? Why?
There was a lot more information in this section, but I feel that you explained it all in depth enough and gave an ample amount of examples, that it, for the most part, made sense. I feel like a really took an interest in this section, the UR, CR, US, and CS are very interesting to me. I do have a few questions about them, but they elicit a lot of interest for me.
What was one thing that you disliked that was in the section? Why?
There are a couple things that I am not clear on in this section. First, it seems that the only characteristic to make something salient is that it needs to be loud enough to be heard/catch someone's attention in order to elicit a response. So is the only thing that makes it not salient the fact that it is not heard (i.e. too quiet)? Also, is the UR and CR always topographically/functionally similar? Or does it just depend on the situation?
What are three things you will remember from what you read in the section? Why?
One thing that seems to be quite simple would be the difference between stimulus/response relationship versus response/stimulus relationship, I didn't really have any issues answering the questions in the example boxes.
The acronyms US, UR, CS, CR are easy to remember, and what they stand for is fairly easy as well. Understanding the difference isn't the problem, I feel the problem comes when I am given an example with similar context, for instance, I had some difficulty with example 2 and 3 in this section regarding the different conditions.
Also, the concept of stimulus classes is a relatively simple one. The fact that objects can have the same topography yet serve different functions, or have the same function and different topographies, happens all the time in life. You gave simple examples and I also was able to come up with numerous examples of my own.
How has reading these sections changed or built on what you originally thought about behavior modification? How so?
Behavior modification has changed in my mind. Coming into this class I was prepared to learn specific methods as to how we manipulate others into doing what we want, almost in a mad scientist kind of manor. Yet now, I understand behavior modification to be all around me, happening everyday, sometimes unknowingly.
Terms: Unconditioned response, conditioned response, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, elicit, salient, topography, function, response/stimulus relationship, stimulus class.