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Assignment #2 Topics (Choose ONE): Different sports have different techniques for deterring unwanted behaviour (e.g. penalty box in hockey, yardage penalties in football). Discuss sports penalties in terms of the four operant contingencies. You can pick your favourite sport or compare across several. Discuss Gallup’s self recognition task. What are the procedures, who has been used as subjects and what does this say about self-awareness? Pick an event that often evokes superstitious behaviour (e.g. gambling, sports, exams). Explain where the behaviour comes from. 1 Operant Applications 2 Overview Animal Care & Training Self-Awareness Self-Control Verbal Behaviour Insight Creativity Superstition Delusions & Hallucinations 3 4 Veterinary Care Large animals, carnivores, stress-susceptible Shaping Change behaviour patterns Positive reinforcement rather than punishment 5 6 Observing the World Social animals Understanding another’s behaviour beneficial Reinforcement through watching others Observation of self; own behaviour 7 Gallup’s Mirror Self-Recognition Task Allow chimp time to learn about mirror Stages Tranquilize chimp and paint dot on head See if chimp notices changed appearance Mental self-image Used with children 8 Epstein’s pigeons Trained to peck a blue dot Experience with mirror Blue dot on pigeon under bib Peck at bib Other animals Elephants, dolphins, children 9 Shaping of Self-Observation? Skinner Kinds of questions we ask children reinforces self- observation e.g., “are you hungry?” “what are you doing?” Accurate response likely results in some form of desired outcome (i.e., reinforcement of behaviour) 10 11 Self-Control Choice Forgoing a small, immediate reinforcer for large, delayed reinforcer Humans, non-humans Circular explanation (will power) 12 Techniques Physical restraint Distancing Distraction Deprivation & Satiation Assistance Behaviour monitoring 13 Physical Restraint Physically prevent behaviour from occurring e.g., lock liquor cabinet e.g., cut up credit cards 14 Distancing Behaviour more likely to occur in specific environment Avoid environment to assist self-control e.g., smokers who want to quit should avoid places where smokers frequent 15 Distraction Engage in behaviour incompatible with undesired behaviour e.g., want a snack, go for a walk 16 Deprivation and Satiation To avoid excesses e.g., to avoid overeating at party, eat small meal earlier Partial satiation 17 Assistance Inform others of your goals Get help Changes the environment e.g., friends may be “enablers” 18 Behavioural Monitoring Keep track of your own behaviour Notebook, graphs, etc. Visible indicators Dieters in room with candy bowl; those who had to leave wrappers on table ate fewer pieces than those who could put wrappers in garbage 19 20 Skinner (1957) Verbal Behavior Suggests ideas not encoded into words by speaker and decoded by listener Words are behaviours Functional relationship between a word and an outcome (i.e., reinforcement or punishment) Social consequences provide shaping and maintenance of language 21 Early Shaping of Words Babies babble Parents reinforce certain sounds with attention, etc. Increases frequency of these sounds Gradually, reinforcement for more complex vocalizations only 22 Shaping Language? Greenspoon (1955) Reinforced or punished plural nouns in subjects’ lists of words problem Verplanck (1955) Reinforced or didn’t reinforce subjects’ use of opinion statements Quay (1959) Reinforced statements about family members Psycho-therapy? 23 Complex Life-long reinforcement (and punishment) history Much vocal reinforcement without conscious knowledge Reinforcing lies 24 25 Problem Solving Trial and error, accidental success Insight = Sudden solution “think things through” Skip intermediate steps 26 Suspended fruit task Kohler Sultan Pushed box under banana Epstein (1984) pigeons Suggested insight could be due to reinforcement history Can’t reach! 27 28 Can Creativity be Shaped? Novelty, original behaviour Provide reinforcement only for novel behaviour creativity Pryor’s (1969) work with porpoises and pigeons Various studies with children 29 Rewards and Creativity Some studies suggest rewards reduce creativity Reward for task or no reward for task Find more creative responses in non-rewarded group But, typically it is not creativity that is rewarded, but task completion Society and status quo Peer pressure; what is “normal”? Failure 30 31 Accidental Conditioning B.F. Skinner (1948) Pigeons Grain every 15 seconds Development of behaviours Accidental strengthening 32 Humans Bruner & Revusky (1961) Teenagers and 4 buttons; only button 3 gave reinforcement on FI schedule Wagner & Morris (1987) Children and clown doll giving marbles Ono (1987) University students and levers; told to gain as many points as possible, but points just given periodically 33 Timing? Staddon & Simmelhag (1971) Interim and terminal behaviours 34 35 Attention Seeking Not always a biological root Patients Delusions provide attention from staff Social reinforcement “Weird” behaviours might be shaped Stop reinforcement to reduce behaviour Maintenance of behaviour (“catch on”) 36 37 Self-Injuries Punishment often effective for suppression Lovaas & Simmons (1969) Boy making 30 hits per minute Four behaviour-contingent electric shocks to leg Self-injurious behaviour stopped 38 Escape Wolf (1967) Injurious behaviour increased when teacher asked boy questions Injurious behaviour dropped when teacher stopped asking questions Negative reinforcement Lack of demands Use of DRI to reduce SI behaviour 39