Behaviour Modification - Part A Flashcards

1
Q

What does behaviour modification imply?

A

Implies the intentional or structured use of conditioning or learning procedures to modify behaviour

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2
Q

What animals habituate more readily than adult animals?

A

young animals

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3
Q

Why is habituation necessary?

A

Saves an animal from being continuously and needlessly startled or frightened by chronic harmless stimuli

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4
Q

What is the paradigm for habituation?

A

US (bang) —> emotional activation

US (bang) - repetitive presentations —> weak emotional activation

US (bang) - repetitive presentations —> no emotional activation

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5
Q

Will an animal habituate if the US is loud and frequent?

A

The louder and more frequent it is, the harder it will be to habituate however, animals will STILL habituate it will just take longer

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6
Q

What is desensitization?

A

An intentional or structured habituation program; desensitization is a type of intentional habituation

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7
Q

What is flooding?

A

When the stimulus is presented repetitively at full strength the desensitization process is referred to as flooding

*flooding is a type of desensitization

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8
Q

What is learned helplessness?

A

Can happen if you flood an animal; animal is so overwhelmed that they shut down and that is why they have stopped reacting

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9
Q

What has to happen for an animal to continue to be habituated?

A

Habituation is an active process, the animal must continue to be periodically exposed to the stimuli
- behaviours that are learned have to be maintained
- habituation is a learning process that requires maintenance

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10
Q

What is gradual habituation referred to as?

A

Systematic desensitization

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11
Q

How does systematic desensitization work?

A

over a series of systematic stages the stimulus intensity is gradually increased until the animal is habituated to the stimulus at full strength or near full strength

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12
Q

When is systematic desensitization used?

A

Used with unhabituated fears with fears or phobias that may be acquired by virtue of classical conditioning

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13
Q

What are unconditioned reflexes?

A

At birth, an animal is born with a set of reflex behaviours that do not depend upon the conditions of our experiences

ex. salivation

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14
Q

Define unconditioned stimulus (US)

A

Naturally and involuntarily causes a response

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15
Q

Define unconditioned response

A

Unlearned response to an unconditioned stimulus

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16
Q

Define conditioned stimulus

A

Previously neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually triggers a conditional response

ex. a clicker

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17
Q

Define conditioned response

A

Learned response to the previously neutral stimulus

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18
Q

How do we get from a UR to a CR?

A
  • repeated pairings of the CS with the US
  • once the CS alone is able to produce the UR, we can now consider the UR a CR

*the CR begins to look exactly like the UR

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19
Q

What is classical conditioning also known as?

A

= associative learning or respondent conditioning

*if you say “associated with” it is implying that you mean classical conditioning

20
Q

Why can we not account for all of our behaviour and experiences as the accumulation of conditioned reflexes?

A

Something has to be LEARNED to evoke a UR and reflexes are not learned

21
Q

What temporal paradigm is best for classical conditioning?

A

Pavlov suggested that the trace paradigm is best; the CR develops faster if the CS slightly precedes the US (by a second or two), but that the CR will still occur if far longer delays are used.

22
Q

What is the paradigm for classical conditioning of an internal appetitive (positive) response to a clicker (neutral stimulus)?

A
  1. US (food) —> UR (internal appetitive emotion)
  2. CS (clicker) —> US (food) —> internal appetitive emotion
  3. CS (clicker) —> internal appetitive emotion
23
Q

What is the paradigm for classical conditioning of unpleasant, AVERSIVE emotional reactions?

A
  1. US (pain) —> Aversive emotional rxn
  2. CS (sight of syringe) —> US (pain) —> Aversive emotional rxn
  3. CS (sight of syringe) —> Aversive emotional rxn
24
Q

With repeated pairing of the CS with the US, what happens to the CR?

A

The CR becomes more reliable and grows in magnitude (acquisition)
- aka the response grows

25
Q

If after acquisition, the CS is repeatedly presented without the US, what happens to the CR?

A

The CR becomes weaker in magnitude and occurs less reliably (extinction)

26
Q

What is acquisition?

A

Refers to the CR; with repeated pairings of the CS + US, the CR will become more reliable and grow in magnitude
- ex. a dog is shown meat (CS), and gets to eat it (US), so it salivates (CR)

27
Q

What is extinction?

A

Refers to the CR; if after acquisition, the CS is repeatedly presented without the US, the CR becomes weaker in magnitude and occurs less reliably
- ex. a dog is shown meat (CS), but never gets to eat it (no US), so stops salivating (no CR)

28
Q

What do acquisition and extinction refer to?

A

The magnitude of the CR
- acquisition = growing in magnitude
- extinction = weaker in magnitude

29
Q

What is conditioned suppression?

A

When a CS is paired with an aversive US the CR that appears may be indicated by the flinching or “freezing” of the subject
- whenever you see a “non-response’ by an animal be careful of how you interpret it

30
Q

What is excitatory and inhibitory referring to?

A

The CS!
- refer to the predictive character of the CS, not to whether what is predicted is good or bad

31
Q

What is an excitatory CS?

A

A CS that more or less reliably predicts a US
- it is effective in producing a CR
- ex. an excitatory CS may predict food OR strong shock

32
Q

What is an inhibitory CS?

A

A CS that more or less reliably predicts no US
- it does not produce a CR

33
Q

What is the spread of excitation or inhibition called?

A

Irradiation

34
Q

What is irradiation?

A

Once a CS (Bell A) has been established, similar stimuli (Bell B) may also produce a CR, with the magnitude of the CR depending on the similarity of the new stimulus to the CS

35
Q

What do we term the effect stimulus of irradiation?

A

Generalization

36
Q

What is discrimination learning?

A

Formation of differentiation between stimuli. If a new stimulus (Bell B) is presented occasionally with no US, AND our CS (Bell A) is presented at other times with a US, the generalized responding to the new stimulus gradually fades.

37
Q

What might a US be?

A

Ex. food, electric shock, puff of air to eye, brain stimulation, loud noise, caffeine

38
Q

When is a US effective?

A

If it evokes a reasonably strong bodily response.

39
Q

How is a US classifed?

A

As APPETITIVE or AVERSIVE, roughly corresponding to whether we view them as pleasant or as unpleasant
- the more intense the US, the easier it is to produce a CR (there are limits to this however)

40
Q

Does habituation need to be maintained? If so, how is this accomplished?

A

Habituation is an active process, and for animals to continue to be habituated they must be periodically exposed to the stimuli.

41
Q

What aspect is important when establishing a CS?

A

The salience of the CS!

42
Q

What are control procedures used for in classical conditioning?

A

Used to ensure that any CRs that occur are due to the pairing of some CS with some US and not to other factors.

43
Q

Pseudoconditioning?

A
  • non-associative learning
  • occurs when a CS produces a response that looks like a CR without any pairing with a US
44
Q

What is S-S association?

A

An association has been learned between 2 stimuli

45
Q

Does the US work like a reward?

A

NO! If it did, it would mean classical conditioning would simply be a case of instrumental conditioning or learning that depends on the consequences of responses.