A few simple ways that you can classically condition yourself.
Pupil dilation response - You will need a bell, a hand-held mirror,
and a room that becomes completely dark when you turn off the lights. Stand
near the light switch and hold the mirror and the bell. Ring the bell,
turn off the light, wait 15 seconds, turn the light back on. Wait 15 seconds,
ring the bell, wait in the dark for 15 seconds, turn the light back on
(you get the idea). Do this about 20 times. Make sure you ring the bell
right before you turn off the light. Now, look in the mirror and ring the
bell. Do your pupils dilate? The light is the UCS, the bell the CS, the
pupils dilating to the light the UCS, and the pupils dilating to the bell
the CS.
Salivating response - Try the same thing except, instead of turning
a light off and on, use powdered lemonade. Get a cup of powdered lemonade.
Ring the bell, stick your finger into the lemonade and lick it off. Do
this 15 or 20 times. Now ring the bell. Did you salivate?
Operant Conditioning - You probably played this game when you were younger. Try this with a friend and you should get the idea of the basic operant principles. Write on some slips of paper simple behaviors (clap hands, stand on one foot, cover their eyes, say a word, take off a watch, go to a corner of a room, scratch head, etc.). Have one person pick out a behavior. The other person is to try to figure out the behavior. The person who picked out the behavior can only use the words cold, cool, warm, hot to reflect the closeness to the goal.
Violence - social learning theory - If you are interested in some of the environmental reasons for aggression, check out APA's site and the mental health site (The Mental Health Site has a lot of information, but this page describes the learning aspects of aggression. For information on controlling aggression, check out this site. And this page contains information on how to handle aggressive people.)
Chapter 5 exercises - Learning. NOTE: Make sure that you reword this information in YOUR words. If you just copy word for word from the book or links, the assignment will not count. In addition, if you can't find the material on the web site, try using your book.
EXERCISE 1 - classical and operant conditioning
This site explains how Classical
and Operant conditioning can be used to train animals.
1. What is classical conditioning? Give one example of classical conditioning
that an animal trainer can use (make sure it is classical conditioning).
2. Use this page
and the book/notes to answer this question. Pavlov stated that the three
types of pairing in classical conditioning are forward (CS and then UCS),
simultaneous (CS and UCS at the same time), and backwards (UCS and then
CS) pairing. Which one is the best? Why? BTW, forward pairing is a combination
of delay and trace conditioning.
3. Operant conditioning - What is the difference between positive and
negative reinforcement? Positive and negative punishment? Give an of how
you can use operant conditioning to train an animal (make sure it is operant
conditioning).
4. What are some of the problems with using punishment as a form of
training?
Interested in animal training at Sea
World? Some information on using operant conditioning which you can
use to answer some of the above questions.
EXERCISE 2 - Conditioned Taste Aversion
This site
is an overview of the Conditioned Taste Aversion.
1. What is taste aversion? What are the charactersitics of taste aversion?
Read through all of the sections. Also refer to your notes.
2. What might be the adaptive value of conditioned taste aversion?
In other words, WHY do you think this has evolved in animals?
3. Do you have a conditioned taste aversion? If not, ask a friend or
a family member what his or hers is. Nname the UCS, CS, UCR, and CR. If
you can't find someone, try the site given above or this
site (ducks and geese) showing how CTA can be used in the environment.
Here is a general database you
can search on CTA.
EXERCISE 3 - Using observational learning principles in advertising.
There are 4 stages of observational learning: Attention, Retention,
Reproduction, and Motivation. In the first stage, the person learning must
notice the model's behavior. In the second stage, the person must remember
what the model did. In the third stage, the person must have the ability
to try to do the model's behavior. In the last stage, the person must want
to copy the model's behavior. Typically, the person learns through vicarious
reinforcement. That is, the model is reinforced for doing a behavior and
the person watching the model wishes to do the behavior or not do the behavior
based on what happened to the model. (for more information on social learning,
see this site).
In this exercise, take 2 different ads from television and explain how
they use the 4 principles of observational learning. First of all, describe
the ad. Make sure that you break the ad into the 4 parts and explain thoroughly
enough that I see you understand the concept.
EXERCISE 4 -Behavior modification - these are the steps to behavior modification. You don't need to actually do the steps - what I want you to do is determine a behavior that you would like to change (1) and then describe how you would change the behavior (3).
Behavior modification is a technique that uses basic learning principle
theories to increase wanted behaviors and decrease unwanted behaviors.
Select a behavior that you wish to change and see what happens.
1. Identify target/goal behaviors - What do you wish to change?
The first thing you need to set is a goal, which must be stated in observable
terms. Then you need to set specific target behaviors that will help you
meet your goal. A goal might be "increase study time" while a target behavior
might be "study at least 2 hours every day." If you want to lose weight,
you might set a goal as "loose 15 pounds by summer" and the target behaviors
could be "reduce the amount of in-between meal snacking," "walk 20 minutes
every other day," and so on. This relates back to our operationalizing
our variable - that's what we are doing here.
2. Design a data-recording system and record preliminary data -
You need a baseline so you can determine if your behavior actually is changing.
For a set period of time (such as a week), you will record how often you
do the target behavior. So, if you are interested in increasing your studying,
you will record how often you actually do study every day. If you want
your family to cut back on television watching, you would record how often
they sit in front of the t.v. If you want to cut back on smoking, you would
record how often you do smoke and where smoking is most likely to occur.Be
honest - the only person you will be cheating is yourself.
3. Select a behavior change strategy - What reinforcers will
cause a change in behavior? Remember that certain stimuli are reinforcing
to some people but may not necessarily be as reinforcing to others. Reward
yourself for achieving your goal. If you are dieting, and you have kept
up your plan for the week, perhaps a good reward might be you allow yourself
dessert one night. Don't make threats because they are usually not very
effective. If you want your family to give up t.v. watching, nagging them
is probably not going to work. You might start "game night" to give them
something to do instead of watching tv - but make sure that the family
gets to pick the games.
4. Implement the program - Remember the record keeping you started
to get a baseline? You need to keep monitoring the target behaviors. If
you don't, there is no way of knowing whether the program has been successful.
As we will see in the next chapter, our memory system is not perfect. You
might think you studied two hours, but how much of that was spent doing
other things (chatting, daydreaming, organizing)?
5. Evaluate and alter the program - Check your results with
the baseline. Is it working? If it is, great! If not, then you need to
look at other approaches. Be realistic. The diet is not going to cause
10 pounds to fall right off, but, if you don't see any weight loss after
3 weeks, then perhaps you need to change your strategy.