Chapter 2
Early Behaviorism: Pavlov, Watson, and Guthrie
Chapter Outline
Modified: 2016-05-24
- I. This Chapter
- Explains classical conditioning, how some emotional responses are learned, the differences between contiguity and reinforcement
- II. Scientific Psychology's Beginnings
- III. Ivan P. Pavlov (1849-1936): Physiologist studying digestion
Pavlov graphic
(hit browser Back button to return)
- A. Classical Conditioning
- Initial observations: salivating dogs
- UCS-->UCR (a.k.a. reflexes)
- Newborn human reflexes: sucking, rooting, swallowing, sneezing, Moro, Babinski, toe grasp, palmar grasp, swimming, stepping
- CS-->UCS (shorthand for classical conditioning)
- Few UCSs exist (pleasure, pain, mirth, food, drink, disgust...)
- Many, many CSs exist (metronomes, bells, lights, smells...)
- Apparatus (hit browser Back button to return)
- B. Explanations for Stimulus-Response Associations
- Contiguity
- Reinforcement
- (both are necessary, more later)
- C. Variations in Contiguity
- Delayed conditioning
- Trace conditioning (4 to 15 seconds)
- Backwards conditioning
- Simultaneous conditioning
- Graphic1 (hit browser Back button to return)
- Graphic2 (hit browser Back button to return)
- D. Phenomena in Classical Conditioning
- 1. Acquisition--more trials help, learning curve
- 2. Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
- Extinction--"unconditioning" a response, in classical, remove UCS
- Spontaneous recovery--return to conditioning situation following extinction and CR returns (weaker)
- 3. Generalization and Discrimination
- Generalization--similar CSs yield the CR
- Discrimination--different CS yield different responses (think of ring tones)
- Discrimination Gradient (hit browser Back button to return)
- 4. Higher Order Conditioning: adding extra CSs before CR (there's a limit)
- E. Educational Implications of Pavlov's Classical Conditioning
- Maximize pleasant UCSs in classroom
- Minimize unpleasant UCSs in classroom
- Know what classical conditioning is occuring in class
- F. Pavlov's Classical Conditioning: An Appraisal
- Extremely influential, both historically and currently
- IV. John B. Watson (1878-1958) Watson graphic
(hit browser Back button to return)
- A. Behaviorism
- Crisis in early psychology over introspection as a method
- "Psychology as the Behaviorist views it"
- rejected mentalism of early psychology
- substituted objective methods
- redefined psychology: the prediction and control of behavior
- B. Learning: A Classical Conditioning Explanation
- C. Emotional Learning
- Conditioned emotional response and Little Albert
- Watson and Rayner were able to cause Albert to fear the white rat
- D. Transfer: emotional responses can be conditioned, emotional responses can spread to similar stimuli
- 1. Positive Emotions
- Pair UCS with pleasant CS (health clinic)
- 2. The Controversy
- Single participant
- Thumb sucking
- E. Watson's Environmentalism
- Nature-Nurture controversy
- Where does behavior come from?
- Nature = from biology
- Nurture = from environment
- This dichotomy is too simple (e.g., culture and evolution also play roles)
- Interactionism--variables my work together too
- Eugenics
- Improvement via breeding (Breed the best to the best--Aristotle)
- Limit breeding by certain individuals
- Tabula Rasa John Locke (hit browser Back button to return)
- "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years."
- F. Higher Learning
- Explained complex behavior via habits
- G. Educational and Other Applications of Watson's Psychology
- 1. Attitudes and Emotions--main contribution of Watson's work
- 2. Behavior Modification--clinical application of conditioning principles (Mowrer's bedwetting)
- H. Watson's Behaviorism: An Appraisal
- More of a spokesperson than a researcher
- V. Edwin Guthrie (1886-1959)
- A. Guthrie's Law of One-Shot Learning: Organisms will repeat the same behavior in the same situation
- 1. What the Law Means
- Learning happens in one trial
- 2. One-Shot Learning
- Learning is a connection between a stimulus and a response (S-R learning, remember this!)
- B. Practice
- Practice makes it possible to make a response in different situations (think of hitting a golf ball)
- Classical conditioning takes many trials because the situation varies
- C. Movement Produced Stimuli (MPS)
- Learning involves associating a response to a combination of stimuli
- Responses are sequences of actions
- hearing a metronome involves a number of actions: the head turns, the eyes focus, the body re-orients
- In turn, each of those actions creates new stimuli constantly
- These new stimuli are movement produced stimuli (MPS)
- Think of athletic skills, they are learned, chained sequences of actions
- D. Habits
- Stereotyped, predictable response patterns
- Each component of the habit was learned in one trial
- Sometimes habits are replaced
- E. Forgetting
- New learning replaces old learning (Pastor story)
- Forgetting is not what happens
- F. Reward and Punishment
- Rewards do not change strength of connection between stimulus and response
- Instead, rewards and punishments change the stimulus
- G. Practical Applications of Guthrie's Theory: Forming and Breaking Habits
- Interested in practical applications
- Animals and people can only learn things they can already do (e.g., I can't teach to fly like a bird.)
- Old responses are not forgotten, they are replaced
- Think of smoking, many stimuli are associated with smoking: waking up, finishing a meal, waiting for a bus, hanging around with another smoker
- Guthrie describe three methods to break or alter habits, all are similar in that they inhibit the habit and substitute another response
- 1. The Fatigue Technique
- Also called flooding
- Keep presenting the stimulus until the organism is so tired that it no longer makes the old response.
- The new response replaces the old one
- Guthrie: breaking a horse by sitting on it until it quits bucking
- Fear of speaking in public?
- 2. The Threshold Technique
- Slowly build up to the critical stimulus
- Also used for breaking horses
- Good example of human tolerance for change: L.A. freeways
- 3. The Method of Incompatible Stimuli
- Present the stimulus under conditions where response is impossible
- Tying a horse to a post and mounting it (horse can't buck)
- 4. Human Illustrations
- Systematic desensitization or counterconditioning is similar to Guthrie's threshold technique
- Snake example of counterconditioning: Logoly Park, Playground, Path, Building, Lobby, Snake Room
- 5. Lefrancois' Uncle Renault
- Fatigue method--eat pastries
- 6. Match lighting
- Child lights matches in house, parents buy 750 matches and make child light each one and blow it out over a three-day period
- H. Guthrie's One-Shot Learning: An Appraisal
- No mental states
- Close examination of stimuli and responses
- Practical
- The two variables, stimulus and response, are only defined in terms of each other
- VI. Early Behavioristic Theories: Evaluation
- Good for their time
- Good for handling behavior
- All were clear, succinct, and internally consistent
- Pavlovian theory has been especially long lived
- The theories were NOT designed to explain all learning
- Theories were designed to cover specific details related to learning
Back to Main Learning Page
