Transcript Aversive Control of Behavior

Aversive Control
of Behavior:
Punishment &
Avoidance
Lesson 16
Life: The School of Hard Knocks
Learning with aversive stimuli
 pain
 sickness
 Positive Punishment
 B  aversive outcome
 Negative RFT
 escape & avoidance
 Classical conditioning
 pair neutral stimulus w/ shock ~
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B  aversive SR
What type of punishment?
 Positive punishment
 Difficult to do human, ethics
 but some human evidence
 Mostly animal research ~
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Factors that influence efficacy
Punishment is associative process
 Trials effect
R
 punished B  aversive S
 greater suppression
 Intensity (magnitude)
 greater intensity  greater efficacy
 Delay of punishment
 longer delay  less effective ~
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Factors that influence efficacy
History of punishment
 start w/ weak ineffective punishment
 more intense punishment less effective
 Habituation occurs
 Alternate routes of reinforcement
 Provide alternate responses to gain
reward after punishment
 increases effectiveness ~
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Human Case Study
NOT an experiment
 9 month old boy w/ chronic vomiting
 near death before treatment
 Recorded precise muscle activity
 identified muscle activity that
preceded vomiting ~
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Procedure
Vomiting muscle activity observed
 Punished w/ shock
 produced startle response
 but not crying
 Results
 Vomiting eliminated after 5 trials
over 3 days
 BUT… ~
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Potential Side Effects
Unintended & undesirable
 Response generalization
 other responses to aversive stimuli
 anger/fear/aggression
 avoidance
 Global effects
 can be worse than behavior punished ~
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Monkey Study
Learn to push button to get food
 opens a door
 Put toy snake in food dish
 quit pushing button after a few trials
 Side effects
 lost interest in eating
 lost social status

lower in hierarchy ~
Painful Stimuli & Aggression
College women
 1 teaches another words
 1 group of teachers hand in warm water
 Other while hand in ice water
 Results
 Ice water group  verbally aggressive ~
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Alternatives to Positive Punishment
Time-out
 Remove opportunities for RFT
 Response cost
 Fines, loss of privileges
 Differential RFT of …
 Other Behaviors (DRO)
 Incompatible Behaviors (DRI) ~
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Escape & Avoidance:
Negative Reinforcement
Escape / Avoidance
Shuttle Box
 2 compartments
 Can jump over
barrier
 Electrified grid
 Speaker/light
 emits signal ~
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Shuttlebox
speaker
Tone on
Shuttlebox
speaker
Shock on
Shuttlebox
speaker
Jumps barrier
Shuttlebox
speaker
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What is outcome?
Shuttlebox

Jumping over barrier terminates shock
 More trials  responds more quickly
 learns to avoid shock ~
Shuttlebox
speaker
Tone on
Shuttlebox
speaker
Jumps barrier before shock on
Shuttlebox
speaker

What is outcome?
Shuttlebox Results
Early trials: escapes shock
 After may trials: avoidance
 Shift from
 escape  avoidance
 Why? ~
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Mowerer’s 2 Process Theory (1947)
2 processes involved in escape/avoidance
 Operant & Classical Conditioning
 Early trials  escape (operant)
shock (SD)  jumping (B)  escape (SR)
 Later trials  avoidance (CC involved)
Tone (CS) evokes fear (CER)
 B  reduces fear drive
 strengthens response ~
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So...
Avoidance = escape from fear
 fear is classically conditioned
D & CS
 Tone = S
 Avoidance  no shock?
 Does extinction occur?
 2 process view suggest cyclical
performance ~
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Observed performance
Hi
avoidance continues
Avoidance
Escape
Lo
# of trials
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But extinction does NOT occur ~
Avoidance & Extinction
Avoidance behavior
 Persists
 Resistant to extinction
 Explanation?
 failure to avoid is punished
 Cognitive Theory
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(Annau & Kamin, 1961)
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Conservation of Anxiety Theory
(Solomon & Wynne, 1954) ~
Expectancy Theory
Cognitive theory
 Early trials consistent w/ 2 process
 tone  Fear  avoidance
 More experience  expectancy
 expectancy = no shock
 Avoidance (B)  satisfying outcome
 Avoidance response strengthened
 Difficult to extinguish ~
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Conservation of Anxiety Theory
Fear of CS doesn’t fully extinguish
 Immediate avoidance  short latency
 Delayed avoidance
 Exposed CS longer
 No extinction for later portion CS
 Strengthens fear of early CS
 Behavior Therapy
 Exposure to sequential CSs
 Exposure therapy - fear hierarchy ~
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