Operant conditioning in Humans

Accident or stroke victims can be encouraged to

regain physical functions by using reinforcement

schedules and the principle of behaviour shaping by

successive approximations.

Programmed learning

Programmed learning , pioneered by Skinner, breaks material to be learned into logical small steps, reinforcing the learner at each stage for correct responses before continuing. These principles can be applied to skill learning, especially where muscular coordination is required such as the mastery of skills such as tennis.

Types of reinforcement

Positive

Negative ( not the same as punishment)

Secondary Praise is an example of a positive reinforcer

Reinforcement

There are two main schedules of reinforcement: Continous : where a reward is given to every instance of the

required behaviour Partial :where an animal is reinforced only some of the time.

Schedules of reinforcement

Schedules of reinforcement(cont)

Insight learning

Everyone has experienced the situation where, after pondering a problem for several minutes , the answer has come in a flash.

Animal researchers have used the term insight learning when they have observed animals solving problems quickly without any obvious trial and error activities

Insight learning

In the 1920,s , Kohler demonstrated insight learning in chimps. Here, Sultan, a chimp, had to slot the sticks together in order to reach the piece of fruit.

Insight learning(cont)

Also Kohler claimed that the chimps could transfer what they had learned to a new situation. In this case Sultan had to pile up the boxes in order to reach the fruit.

Animals and tools

Orangutans using caladium leaves as umbrellas at Mount Leuser National park, Sumatra, Indonesia

Perception Several psychologists used animals in their studies of perception. in the 1940’s ,Reisen deprived animals such as chimps and kittens of all light for the first 16 months of life and found no visual perception because retinal cells failed to develop properly.

Perception

In 1970, Blakemore and Cooper exposed kittens to an environment consisting of either only vertical or horizontal lines and found that they would only respond to a pointer presented in the same orientation.

Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989

He was an Austrian zoologist and doctor, studying animal behaviour in the natural world(ethology). He noticed that young birds rapidly made a bond with their mother after hatching, but could also form the same attachment to a foster parent if the mother was absent. This phenomenon was called imprinting.

Konrad Lorenz Imprinting

Famously, he even persuaded young geese and ducks to accept him as a foster parent. He found that they become attached to the first object they encounter after emerging from their eggs – in this case his wellington boots.

Konrad Lorenz Imprinting

What distinguishes imprinting from learning, Lorenz discovered, is that it only happens at a specific stage in an animal’s development called the “critical period.” Unlike learning, it is rapid, operates independently of behaviour, and appears to be irreversible.

We’re still lost. I think we’ve been going round in circles.

Attachment Many psychologists have suggested that an infant becomes attached to its caregiver simply because that person fulfils it’s need for food. In 1959, Harry Harlow set out to prove this. He took infant macaque monkeys from their mothers, placing them in cages with “surrogate mothers”, one made of wire with a feeding bottle attached ; the other made of soft cuddly terrycloth but with no bottle. He found that the baby monkeys spent most of their time with the cloth mother , using her as a secure base and clinging to her for safety when frightening objects were placed in the cage.

Implications of Harlow’s work

Harlow’s work was tremendously important, because contemporary advice from psychologists and doctors had warned parents against rocking or picking up a crying child. The results of his experiments were so conclusive that they changed the approach to parenting in the Western world.

Later research into attachment

In 1964, UK psychologists Rudolf Schaffer and Peggy Emerson show that infants are attached to people who do not perform feeding and caretaking duties.

In 1978, Michael Rutter shows that children bond with a variety of attachment figures, including inanimate objects.

Learned helplessness The theory of “learned helplessness” arose from Martin Seligman’s work into depression in the 1970’s. The theory suggests that the experience of being forced into a role of passive victim in one situation can be generalised to other situations, such that the person, or animal makes no efforts to help themselves in unpleasant situations even if such effort would be effective. The “what’s the point?” way of thinking.

Learned helplessness

Seligman and a colleague investigated this theory in an experiment in 1967 by giving electric shocks to dogs.

Are there any issues with using animals in experiments?

Can you think of any issues with using animals in experiments ?

Hint : There are at least two

Issues with using animals in experiments: Ethics

This is one of the main issues with using animals in experiments. Many of the studies mentioned here were carried out up to the 1950’s, when there much less emphasis on the ethics of research. Nowadays rodents , fish and birds account for over 98% of all procedures.

Animals and experiments

In 2012, 4,800 (0.12%) of procedures involved dogs, mainly beagles, and 3,000(0.07%) involved non human primates. In both cases, the majority were used for safety testing of human medicines. A small number of procedures involving primates were to aid our understanding of brain function and disease in humans.

Issues with using animals in experiments: Generalisation

Another major issue with using animals in experiments is that of Generalisation; i.e. to what extent does animal behaviour reflect that of humans? Behavioural psychologists would argue that there is a great deal of similarity between animal and human behaviour and learning, whereas cognitive psychologists would disagree. What do you think?

Psychology: Next sessions

7th May: Consumer psychology

9th July: The psychology of the family