Content Category 7C Attitude and Behavior Change

Content Category 7C: Attitude and Behavior Change Habituation and Dishabituation (PSY) Nonassociative – occurs when an organism is repeatedly exposed to one type of stimulus • Habituation – forming a habit—an action that is performed repeatedly until it becomes automatic; you “tune out” the stimulus Note that this really isn’t forming a habit, it’s more of not doing something o Dishabituation – occurs when the previously habituated stimulus is removed. After a person has been habituated to a given stimulus, and the stimulus is removed, this leads to dishabituation: the person is no longer accustomed to the stimulus. If the stimulus is presented again, the person will react to it as if it was a new stimulus • Sensitization – the opposite of habituation; there is an increase in the responsiveness due to either a repeated application of a stimulus or a particularly aversive or noxious stimulus—the stimulus actually produces a more exaggerated response. o Desensitization – occurs when a stimulus that previously evoked an exaggerated response no longer evokes an exaggerated response. o Ex: going to a rock concert may make you more sensitive to loud noises, even right after a concert, but gradually regular loud noises won’t bother you as much (desensitization) Associative Learning (PSY) – describes the process of learning which one event, object, or action is directly connected with another Classical conditioning (PSY, BIO) • Neutral, conditioned, and unconditioned stimuli • Conditioned and unconditioned response • Processes: acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination • Classical conditioning – two stimuli are paired in such a way that the response to one of the stimuli changes o Pavlov’s dogs – trained to salivate at the sound of a ringing bell o Neutral stimulus – stimulus that initially does not elicit any intrinsic response (sound of the bell) o Unconditioned Stimulus (US) – stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response (UR). Presentation of food is the US and salivation is the UR. o Conditioned Stimulus (CS) – an originally neutral stimulus (bell) that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food) until it can produce the conditioned response without the unconditioned stimulus o Conditioned Response (CR) the learned response to the conditioned stimulus. The same as the unconditioned response o Acquisition – process of learning the conditioned response. The time during experiment when the bell and food are always paired o Extinction – occurs when conditioned and unconditioned stimuli are no longer paired, so the conditioned response eventually stops occurring o Spontaneous Recovery – when an extinct conditioned response occurs again when the conditioned stimulus is presented after some period of time (without the pairing of the unconditioned stimuli) o Generalization – process by which stimuli other than the original conditioned stimulus elicit the conditioned response (dog’s salivating to the sound of a chime or doorbell) o Discrimination – opposite of generalization, occurs when the conditioned stimulus is differentiated from other stimuli (dogs do not salivate at the sound of a buzzer or horn) o Taste-aversion – powerful and very long-lasting association in most animals, caused by nausea. Quick acquisition phase, indefinite extinction phase Operant conditioning (PSY, BIO) uses reinforcement and punishment to mold behavior • • • Processes of shaping and extinction • Operant Conditioning – uses reinforcement and punishment to mold behavior o B.F. Skinner – rats and lever—food or stopping shock uses reinforcement and punishment to mold behavior Types of reinforcement: positive, negative, primary, conditional o o o • Reinforcement schedules: fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval o o o • Reinforcement schedule ▪ continuous – every occurrence of the behavior is reinforced • results in rapid acquisition, but also rapid extinction ▪ intermittent – occurrences are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not • results in slower acquisition, but greater persistence (resistance to acquisition) ▪ It is possible to initially condition a behavior using continuous schedule, maintain with intermittent reinforcement Intermittent schedules ▪ fixed-ratio – provides the reinforcement after a set number of instances of the behavior (rats receiving a food pellet every 10 times it pushes the lever). After being conditioned, the rat will demonstrate a high rate of response, pushing the lever rapidly, many times to get the food ▪ variable-ratio– provides the reinforcement after an unpredictable number of occurrences (gambling). Produces high response rates like fixed-ratio ▪ Fixed-interval – provides the reinforcement after a set period of time that is constant. Behavior will increase as the reinforcement interval comes to an end ▪ variable-interval schedule – provides the reinforcement after an inconsistent amount of time. Produces a slow, steady behavior response rate Overall, a continuous schedule produces slow response rates and fast extinction rates. It is the most efficient way to learn a behavior. Fixed schedules produce medium extinction rates, while variable schedules produce the slowest rates of extinction Punishment o o • Reinforcement – anything that will increase the likelihood that a preceding behavior will be repeated ▪ positive reinforcement – a desirable stimulus that occurs immediately following a behavior (food pellet) ▪ Negative Reinforcement – removing an undesirable stimulus (shock) ▪ The amygdala is important in negative reinforcement, the hippocampus is important in positive conditioning Primary reinforcers – innately satisfying or desirable (food, avoiding pain/danger) Secondary reinforcers – those that are learned to be reinforcers; neutral stimuli paired with primary reinforcers to make them conditioned (receiving stamps for reading, exchanging those stamps for pizza) Punishment – opposite effect as reinforcing ▪ positive – involves the pairing of an undesirable stimulus with the behavior ▪ negative– removal of a desirable stimulus after the behavior has occurred Reinforcement is more effective than punishment because it tells what to do, while punishment just tells you what not to do Escape and avoidance learning o • • Escape – individual learns how to get away form an aversive stimulus by engaging in a particular behavior (child does not want to eat her vegetables, so she throws a temper tantrum) o Avoidance – person performs a behavior to ensure an aversive stimulus is not presented in the first place Escape: you touch a caterpillar, it stings you, you jerk away Avoidance: you learn to not touch a caterpillar o The role of cognitive processes in associative learning Cognitive Processes that affect Associative Learning Behaviorism – all psychological phenomena are explained by describing the observable antecedents of behaviors and its consequences (conditioning). Views the brain as a “black box” which does not need to be incorporated into the discussion Cognitive psychology – formed in response to behaviorism, researchers began to focus on the brain, cognitions, and their effects on how people navigate the world • Insight learning – previously learned behaviors are suddenly combined in unique ways • latent learning – something is learned but not expressed as an observable behavior until it is required Biological processes that affect associative learning (e.g., biological predispositions, instinctive drift) (PSY, BIO) Biological Factors that Affect Nonassociative and Associative Learning Biology serves as a constraint for learning—we can not learn to do simply anything/everything. Learning occurs more quickly if it is biologically relevant, i.e., essential to survival. The process of learning results in physical changes to the central nervous system. Certain synaptic connections develop in the brain when a memory is formed. Short-term memory lasts for seconds to hours, and can potentially be converted into long-term memory through a process called consolidation. Long-Term Potentiation – occurs when, following brief periods of stimulation, and increase in the synaptic strength between two neurons leads to stronger electrochemical responses to a given stimuli. The sending neuron needs less prompting to fire its impulse and release its neurotransmitter, and the receiving neurons have more receptors for the neurotransmitter (increased sensitivity means either of these two possibilities occurring). Can last for hours or even weeks. After long-term potentiation occurs, passing an electric current through the brain doesn’t disrupt the memory associations between the neurons involved, although other memories will be wiped out (like in a concussion). Long-term memory storage involves more permanent changes to the brain, including structural and functional connections between neurons. Visual imaging studies suggest that there is greater branching of dendrites in regions of the brain thought to be involved with memory storage. Instincts: mother goose will protect her eggs. If you try to teach a goose to abandon eggs, it won't work because it goes against their instinct, this process is called instinctive drift Observational Learning (PSY) Observational learning (social or vicarious learning) – learning through watching and imitating others Modeling Modeling – observer sees the behavior being performed by another person. Later, the observer imitates the behavior. • Albert Bandura – experiment with Bobo doll showed that individuals may choose to imitate behaviors even if they do not observe the consequences of the model’s behavior Biological processes that affect observational learning • Mirror neurons • Mirror Neurons – fire when we perform a task, as well as when we observe another performing the task. Believed to be activated by connecting the sight and action of a movement. • Role of the brain in experiencing vicarious emotions • Feeling what other feel. Empathy = feeling an emotion that you share. Vicarious = feeling an emotion even if you don't share it. Eg: seeing someone skateboard, you're like wow that must be so fun, even though you never skateboarded before. Applications of observational learning to explain individual behavior Loving family makes someone a loving person. Abusive family makes someone an abusive person. Theories of Attitude and Behavior Change (PSY) Elaboration likelihood model Elaboration likelihood model – explain when people will be influenced by the content of the speech, and when people will be influenced by other, more superficial characteristics like the appearance of the orator, or length of the speech Three key elements of persuasion • Message characteristics – logic, number of key points, length of speech, grammatical complexity • Source characteristics – of the person or venue delivering the message, like expertise, trustworthiness, importance • Target characteristics – of the person receiving the message, such as self-esteem, intelligence, mood Two cognitive routes that persuasion follows • Central route – people are persuaded by the content of the argument • Peripheral route – people focus on superficial or secondary characteristics of the speech or orator Elaboration likelihood model argues that people will choose the central route only when they are interested in the topic and are not distracted. If not, they will choose the peripheral route. Social cognitive theory Social Cognitive Theory – theory of behavior change that emphasizes the interactions between people and their environment. Focuses on how we interpret and respond to external events, and how our past experiences, memories, and expectations influence our behavior. Unlike behaviorism, where the environment controls us, cognition (how we process our environment) is also important in determining our behavior. Reciprocal determinism – interaction between a person’s behaviors (conscious actions), personal factors (individual motivational forces or cognitions), and the environment (situational factors). Three different ways that individuals interact with their environment: • People choose their environments, which in turn shape them (choose which college you go to) • Personality shapes how people interpret and respond to their environment (people with depression view their jobs as pointless) • Personality influences the situation to which he then reacts (how you treat someone else influences how they treat you) o In these three ways, people both shape and are shaped by their environments Factors that affect attitude change (e.g., changing behavior, characteristics of the message and target, social factors) o o o Changes in your behavior -> observed by others -> Changes attitude Message -> influences target -> affects attitude Social = environment -> influences individual attitudes