{ BEHAVIORISM

 Behaviorism, also known as behavioral

psychology, is a theory of learning based upon
the idea that all behaviors are acquired through
conditioning.

 Conditioning occurs through interaction with

the environment. Behaviorists believe that our
responses to environmental stimuli shape our
behaviors.
There are two major types of
conditioning:

 Classical Conditioning is a technique used in

behavioral training in which a naturally occurring
stimulus is paired with a response.
Next, a previously neutral stimulus is paired with
the naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the
previously neutral stimulus comes to evoke the
response without the presence of the naturally
occurring stimulus. The two elements are then known
as the conditioned stimulus and conditioned
response.
 Operant Conditioning (sometimes referred to
as instrumental conditioning) is a method of
learning that occurs through rewards and
punishments for behavior.
Through operant conditioning, an association
is made between a behavior and a consequence
for that behavior.
Major Thinkers in Behaviorism

 Ivan Pavlov

 John B. Watson

 B.F Skinner
Ivan Pavlov
 born on September 14, 1849
died on February 27, 1936

Ivan Pavlov was born in a small village in Ryazan, Russia,

where his father was the village priest. His earliest studies
were focused on theology, but reading Charles
Darwin's On the Origin of the Species had a powerful
influence on his future interests.
He soon abandoned his religious studies and devoted
himself to the study of science. In 1870, he began studying
the natural sciences at the University of Saint Petersberg.
 Pavlov's primary interests were the study of
physiology and natural sciences. He helped
found the Department of Physiology at the
Institute of Experimental Medicine and
continued to oversee the program for the next
45 years.

 Pavlov received considerable acclaim for his

work, including a 1901 appointment to the
Russian Academy of Sciences and the 1904
Nobel Prize in Physiology.
The Classical Conditioning
Process
Phase 1: Before Conditioning

The first part of this process requires a naturally occurring

stimulus that will automatically elicit a response.
Salivating in response to the smell of food is a good
example of a naturally occurring stimulus. During this
phase of the processes, the unconditioned stimulus (USC)
results in an unconditioned response (UCR). At this point
there is also a neutral stimulus that produces no effect -
yet. It isn't until this neutral stimulus is paired with the
UCS that it will come to evoke a response.
 The Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
The unconditioned stimulus is one that unconditionally,
naturally, and automatically triggers a response. For
example, when you smell one of your favorite foods,
you may immediately feel very hungry. In this example,
the smell of the food is the unconditioned stimulus.

 The Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The unconditioned response is the unlearned response
that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned
stimulus. In our example, the feeling of hunger in
response to the smell of food is the unconditioned
response.
 Ivan Pavlov's Classical Conditioning

Before Conditioning

Unconditioned Unconditioned Response

Stimulus

Neutral Stimulus No Response

Phase 2: During Conditioning

During the second phase of the classical conditioning

process, the previously neutral stimulus is
repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
As a result of this pairing, an association between the
previously neutral stimulus and the UCS is formed.
At this point the neutral stimulus become known as
the conditioned stimulus (CS).
 The Conditioned Stimulus

The conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus

that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned
stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned
response. In our earlier example, suppose that when you
smelled your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a
whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of the
food, if the sound of the whistle was paired multiple
times with the smell, the sound would eventually trigger
the conditioned response. In this case, the sound of the
whistle is the conditioned stimulus.
Phase 3: After Conditioning
 Once the association has been made between the UCS

and the CS, presenting the conditioned stimulus alone

will come to evoke a response even in the absence of
the unconditioned stimulus. The resulting response is
known as the conditioned response (CR).

 The Conditioned Response

The conditioned response is the learned response to the

previously neutral stimulus. In our example, the
conditioned response would be feeling hungry when you
heard the sound of the whistle.
These elements are important in
understanding the classical conditioning
process.

 Acquisition is the initial stage of learning when a

response is first established and gradually strengthened.
For example, imagine that you are conditioning a dog to
salivate in response to the sound of a bell. You repeatedly
pair the presentation of food with the sound of the bell.
You can say the response has been acquired as soon as
the dog begins to salivate in response to the bell tone.
Once the response has been acquired, you can gradually
reinforce the salivation response to make sure the
behavior is well learned.
 Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned
response decrease or disappear. In classical
conditioning, this happens when a conditioned stimulus
is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus. For
example, if the smell of food (the unconditioned
stimulus) had been paired with the sound of a whistle
(the conditioned stimulus), it would eventually come to
evoke the conditioned response of hunger. However, if
the unconditioned stimulus (the smell of food) were no
longer paired with the conditioned stimulus (the
whistle), eventually the conditioned response (hunger)
would disappear.
 Spontaneous Recovery is the reappearance of the
conditioned response after a rest period or period of
lessened response. If the conditioned stimulus and
unconditioned stimulus are no longer associated,
extinction will occur very rapidly after a spontaneous
recovery.

 Stimulus Generalization is the tendency for the

conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after
the response has been conditioned. For example, if a
child has been conditioned to fear a stuffed white
rabbit, the child will exhibit fear of objects similar to
the conditioned stimulus.
 Discrimination is the ability to differentiate
between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli
that have not been paired with an unconditioned
stimulus. For example, if a bell tone were the
conditioned stimulus, discrimination would
involve being able to tell the difference between
the bell tone and other similar sounds.
Pavlov showed the existence of the unconditioned
response by presenting a dog with a bowl of food and
the measuring its salivary secretions
 However, when Pavlov discovered that any object or event
which the dogs learnt to associate with food (such as the
lab assistant) would trigger the same response, he realized
that he had made an important scientific discovery.
Accordingly, he devoted the rest of his career to studying
this type of learning.

 In behaviorist terms, the lab assistant was originally a

neutral stimulus. It is called neutral because it produces no
response. What had happened was that the
neutral stimulus (the lab assistant) had become associated
with an unconditioned stimulus (food).
 In his experiment, Pavlov used a bell as his neutral
stimulus. Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also
rang a bell. After a number of repeats of this
procedure, he tried the bell on its own. As you might
expect, the bell on its own now caused an increase in
salivation.

 So the dog had learned an association between the bell

and the food and a new behavior had been learnt.
Because this response was learned (or conditioned), it
is called a conditioned response. The neutral stimulus
has become a conditioned stimulus.
 "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." 
--John Watson, Behaviorism, 1930
 The "Little Albert" experiment was a famous psychology
experiment conducted by behaviorist John B. Watson and
graduate student Rosalie Rayner. Previously, Russian
physiologist Ivan Pavlov had conducted experiments
demonstrating the conditioning process in dogs. Watson
was interested in taking Pavlov's research further to show
that emotional reactions could be classically conditioned in
people.
 The participant in the experiment was a child that Watson
and Rayner called "Albert B.", but is known popularly
today as Little Albert. Around the age of nine months,
Watson and Rayner exposed the child to a series of stimuli
including a white rat, a rabbit, a monkey, masks and
burning newspapers and observed the boy's reactions. The
boy initially showed no fear of any of the objects he was
shown.
 The next time Albert was exposed the rat, Watson made a
loud noise by hitting a metal pipe with a hammer.
Naturally, the child began to cry after hearing the loud
noise. After repeatedly pairing the white rat with the
loud noise, Albert began to cry simply after seeing the
rat.
 In addition to demonstrating that emotional responses
could be conditioned in humans, Watson and Rayner
also observed that stimulus generalization had occurred.
After conditioning, Albert feared not just the white rat,
but a wide variety of similar white objects as well. His
fear included other furry objects including Rayner's fur
coat and Watson wearing a Santa Claus beard.