Thinking and Language

PROBLEM SOLVING
Cognition defines the process of acquiring, maintaining and using information.
Problem solving represents one aspect of cognition.

All of us are faced with a variety of problems that need to be solved each day.

1. Most problems are mundane and simple: what to wear, to make for
supper, etc.
2. Others are more far-reaching, such as what college to attend, how to
sustain or improve a relationship, what career to choose.
3. We experience other problems in our school or work. We must think
through these problems using problem solving techniques.

Steps of problem solving:

1. Define the problem - the problem should be clearly and precisely

defined. Many people will skip this step, resulting in faulty problem solving. For
example a person is always late to class. Showing up late appears to be the
problem, but in reality showing up late may be the result. The problem may be
that the person gets out of work late, sleeps in late, is disorganized, etc. Be
specific and precise when defining the problem.

2. Develop strategies and solutions - find a method that will help solve the
problem (talk to the boss to get out a few minutes early, schedule later classes,
talk to the professor about making up missed material, etc.). Some general
strategies for problem solving are listed below.

3. Try a solution and evaluate the effectiveness - After you have listed a few
strategies that may work, pick the one that sounds the most effective and
implement it. Once it has been tried, determine whether or not the strategy
solved the problem. If the problem is solved, you have completed the steps. If
the problem still exists, go to step 4.

4. Reevaluate the problem and solutions- If the initial strategy did not work, you
need to determine if the problem was defined accurately or if another solution
would be more effective. Repeat step three.
Problem solving strategies can be formal or informal (or a combination of both).
Formal problem solving strategies incorporate a series of defined steps or
structure needed to accurately solve the problem (ie., algorithm, hypothesis
testing). Informal strategies (trial and error and use of heuristics) do not use
structure or steps but may be used to save mental engergy and time.

STRATEGIES

1. Trial and error

This approach to problem solving involves trying one solution after another
in no particular order until a workable solution is found. Even lower animals use
this approach. Trial and error can be very time consuming and even dangerous
(would you feel comfortable with a surgeon who operated on you using the trial
and error approach?) Of course most of our problems are not life or death
situations, and if all else fails in our efforts to solve a problem, we may be
reduced to trial and error. Less mental energy is required to use this
strategy. However, other techniques are far more effective and less time
consuming. Trial and error does not guarantee a solution to the problem.

2. Use of prior knowledge

Rather than beginning with a haphazard, trial-and-error approach, it is
best to reflect on a problem and see if you already have any knowledge that
might help in finding a solution. Some problems can be solved with only a little
stored knowledge.
a. Hypothesis testing - making tentative assumptions and then test these
predictions/assumptions - experimenter forms a hypothesis and then tests this
hypothesis with experimentation, observation, etc. If my soup tastes bland, I
could hypothesize that salt will improve the taste. I then add salt and taste the
soup to determine if the soup’s taste improved. This strategy is not full-proof;
again we may not solve the problem.

b. algorithms – This strategy is a systematic, step-by-step procedure that

guarantees a solution to a problem of a certain type as long as the algorithm is
appropriate and executed properly.
ie., formulas used in math and other sciences
Computers are often programmed in this fashion

3. Heuristic: fast but not infallible

This problem solving technique does not guarantee success but offers a
promising way to attack a problem and arrive at a solution. These simple, rule-
of-thumb strategies come from previous experience, knowledge, etc. Chess
players must use heuristics because there is not enough time to consider all of
the moves and countermoves that would be possible in a single game of
chess. Heuristics are used to eliminate useless steps and to take the shortest
probable path toward a solution. We may also use heuristics when we are lost.
We have become accustomed to using a particular strategy (ie., use of maps,
asking for directions, use of GPS) when trying to find our location. Again, this
strategy does not guarantee a solution.

4. Subgoaling - break the problem into many littler steps or goals; focus on the
littler steps until you finally reach your goal

5. Inductive reasoning -taking information from a small sample and applying

it to the larger problem or issue - applying known information to other situations
(I know that if I eat a whole bag of Oreos, I will gain weight. Will I also gain
weight if I eat a whole carton of ice cream?)

OBSTACLES IN PROBLEM SOLVING

Some times things get in our way or cloud our judgment so that it is difficult to
create an accurate solution. Below are a few examples of problems that may
block successful reasoning:

1. misusing heuristics
A. representative heuristic - to judge the likelihood of something, we
intuitively compare it to our mental prototype (best example) of the category.
Linda is 31, single, outspoken and very bright. She majored in philosophy
in college. As a student she was deeply concerned with discrimination and other
social issues, and she participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations. Which
statement is correct?

a. Linda is a bank teller.

b. Linda is a bank teller and active in the feminist movement.

Most people will say b because the feminist-like activity she displayed. However,
when looking at probabilites, Linda is more likely to be a bank teller than a bank
teller AND feminist. Statistically more people exhibit one but not both traits. We
may erroneously select b because we activated a stereotype/representative
heuristic.
 B. availability heuristic - we base judgments on the availability of the
information in our memories
Some people are afraid to fly, yet a person is more likely to die in a car
accident than in a plane wreck. People fear the plane wreck because we have
more visual memories of plane wrecks from the media. Plane crashes are likely
to be televised, on the front page of a newspaper, and splattered across local and
evening news stations. However, if I am in a car accident, you are not likely to
find out about the accident from reporting on the television. The newspaper is
likely to place the story on page 2, 3, or even later in the paper.

Think about the following:

# deaths per 100 million Americans:
all accidents (55,000) vs strokes (102,000)
all cancers (160,000) vs heart disease (360,000)
motor vehicle accidents (27,000) vs digestive system cancer (46,400)

What do people fear the most? Fewer people, for example, fear dying from
digestive system cancer because they do not hear about these reports as often as
they hear about motor vehicle accidents.

2. functional fixedness - the tendency to think of things only in terms of their

usual functions - tend to perceive the function of an object as fixed and
unchanging. For example, the function of a wrench is to grasp on to the item so
you can turn it, pull it out, etc.; however, when a nail needs to be pounded into a
wall, a wrench can also be used as a hammer. If we do not use the wrench
because we don’t see the use of the wrench in this fashion, we are experiencing
functional fixedness. Functional fixedness is also an inability to take a new
perspective on a problem.

3. mental set means that we get into a mental rut in our approach to solving
problems, continuing to use the same old method even though another approach
might be better. We are much more susceptible to a mental set when we fail to
consider the special requirements of a problem. People who have problems with
mental sets are also likely to have problems with functional fixedness. Do you
remember in first grade when our teachers asked us to answer a question in
class. If we were working on a math assignment and believed the answer to be
7, we would raise our hands and say "7." If the teacher tells us that we were
wrong, we may use trial and error and keep guessing the answer until we are
correct. However, a better strategy to use would be an algorithm.

4. confirmation bias - we seek out only that information which will confirm
our hypotheses, even though the information that disconfirms our hypothesis or
belief is just as informative. For example, OJ Simpson reported that the
detectives investigating his wife's death ignored evidence that suggested that
someone besides himself murdered his wife. He believed that the detectives
engaged in confirmation bias because they only pursued evidence to support his
guilt and ignored all other evidence.

5. Hindsight bias - claiming, after the fact, that one knew what was going to
happen before it happened (on the Monday after the Supper Bowl, I tell you that
I knew team A was going to win all along; I do not make this claim until after the
fact).

6. Belief perseverance - continuing to hold a belief even though you have been
presented with information that disconfirms the belief (doctor says that smoking
has contributed to the development of your lung cancer; you still believe that
smoking is harmless so you continue smoking; a wife believes that her husband
will no longer beat her even though this is her third visit to the emergency room)

DECISION MAKING
When forming judgments, we usually do not reason systematically --> we
are more likely to use heuristics than algorithmic thinking

CRITICAL THINKING

When thinking critically, you are thinking like a scientist. You should keep the
following guidelines in mind.

Be objective- remove all opinion and emotion; look at the facts or the information

Be open-minded- consider all possibilities; do not limit yourself to your biases or

beliefs - look at all angles of the situation

Consider multiple causes or possibilities- Do not limit your thinking by believing

the simplistic - some problems or situations have multiple explanations.

Be critical- evaluate the evidence and do not simply accept all information as fact
- look for the support for the information, belief, or theory
Language development
Humans use language in order to communicate. Language begins to develop in
infancy; communication with an infant begins at birth. Crying, grunting, etc. are
used to express wants and needs. These primitive noises are soon replaced with
other structured sounds to produce more constructive interaction.
Definitions:
phonemes - smallest unit of sound (English language has 45 phonemes)
morpheme - smallest unit of meaning (the, ball, ship)
semantics - word meanings (a ball is an object that we can roll, throw,
etc.)
grammar - rules for combining words to create meaningful, coherent
interactions

Major Language Milestones experienced in infancy

At 2 months, babies coo, using a string of vowels sounds to communicate. This
communication usually indicates pleasure or contentment.
At 4 to 18 months babbling (vowel-consonant combinations) occurs. Examples of
babbling are dada, baba, mama.
During first 6 months, all infants, regardless of culture, sound alike

At this age infants will also use gestures and nonverbal communication. For
example, they may point at the cupboard with cups to indicate that they want
something to drink.
10 -13 mos. - first words used to communicate; one word may be used to
represent many different meanings
Toddlers can understand more words that what they can say. For example, if
you say “truck,” they can pick out the truck from other toys but they may not be
able to say the word “truck.”
During 12-24 months infants/toddlers are in the language holophrasic period
(single words that represent phrases). For example, “Drink” could mean “I want
a drink” or “I am done with my drink.”
At 18 - 36 months infants use telegraphic speech. Necessary words are included
in a sentence, while unnecessary words (a, an, the, with) are omitted. “Go
home.” “Doggy play.”

Language errors
As infants, toddlers and children are learning to use language, they will
inevitably make errors. Some of these errors include:
OVEREXTENSION - Using a word to refer to a wider variety of objects or events
(use dogs to refer to all animals)
UNDEREXTENSION - use a general word to refer to a smaller range of objects
(ie., cookie refers only to sugar cookie)
WORD COINING - making up words (decreases as vocabulary increases)
OVERREGULARIZATION - applying a newly acquired rule to all verbs or nouns
(over applying "ed" or "s")

Theories of Language Development

Nativist Theories - suggest that we learn language because we possess an inborn

language acquisition device (LAD) (Chomsky) - This LAD causes language to
develop naturally and biologically. Environmental stimulation is not needed in
order to learn how to talk.
Behavioral Theories - suggest that we learn language through interactions in
our environment - others talk to us (model), praise us for correct language skills
(reinforcement), shape our skills by teaching small steps (cooing/ vowels ->
babbling/vowels and consonants -> first words, etc.). The use of motherese
(infant directed communication, which is high pitched and exaggerated speech
containing much fluctuation) promotes language development.
We also imitate what we hear. Most of us can remember an example of a young
child repeating something that was said by an older child or adult.
Interactionist Theories - Biology and environment are both necessary to produce
language.
To date, the research is inconclusive. Evidence exists to support both the
nativist (nature) and behavioral (nurture) theories. The interactionist theory
might better account for the wealth of the language research.
Chapter 6
MEMORY
INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL (Atkinson and Shiffron)
In the 1950's, information theorists Newell and Simon began to compare the human mind to the
"electric brain (computer)". Both mind and computer have a finite capacity for storing, retrieving, and
analyzing information. Each system also consists of HARDWARE & SOFTWARE. Computer's
hardware includes keyboard, monitor, mother board, etc. The computer's software includes programs
(whether on cd or hard drive) that tell the machine how to organize, retrieve, and operate on the
information it receives.
The mind's physical machinery or hardware consists of brain, CNS, and sensory receptors. For
software, the mind relies on rules, plans, motives, and intentions that affect the ways information is
registered, interpreted, stored, retrieved, and analyzed. Information theorists suggest that as the brain
and nervous system mature (hardware) and children adopt new strategies for attending to stimuli,
interpret the new stimuli and remember what they have experienced (software), they should become
much more proficient at acting on information to solve important problems.
Model
According to Atkinson and Shiffron, information can pass through three stores or types of memory.
1. Information from the environment is detected and first passes through the sensory store. This
memory represents the system log on unit; it simply holds raw sensory input for a very brief period of
time (perhaps less than 1 - 3 seconds) as a kind of after image of what has been sensed. Inoformation
entered into the sensory store will soon disappear if we do nothing with it.
2. If we attend to the information, it will pass into short term memory (STM). STM is a processing unit
that can store a limited amount of information (5 - 9 units or 7+/-2 units) for several seconds (up to 30
seconds). The short term memory capacity is sufficient to let you remember a phone number long
enough to dial it. If you do nothing with this information, again it will be lost shortly. STM is
sometimes called working memory because all conscious intellectual activity is thought to take place
here. STM has two functions:
a. store information temporarily
b. work with or manipulate the information
3.Finally new information that is operated on while in STM can pass into long term memory (LTM): a
vast and relatively permanent storehouse of information that includes our knowledge of the
world. Examplesof LTMs include the first President of the US and the capitol of Ohio
(semantic memory), our impressions of past experiences and personal events, such as a first kiss,
getting our driver's license, our wedding day (episodic memories ), skills, such as riding a bike or
brushing one's teeth (procedural memories), and the strategies that we use to process information and
solve problems.
Information does not simply "flow" on its own through the various stores, or processing units, of the
system; instead we actively channel this input and make it flow. This channeling of information is
influenced by executive control processes (processes involved in planning and monitoring what we
attend to and what we do with our knowledge). The executive processes by which we gather, store,
retrieve, and operate on information are thought to be largely under voluntary control and are what
most clearly distinguish the brain from the computer.
Humans must initialize, organize, and monitor their own cognitive processes. We decide what to attend
to, we select our own strategies for retaining and retrieving information, we chose the problems to
solve.
One important implication of this information-processing model is that many factors other than a lack
of the necessary logic (cognitive structures) might account for a person’s failure to solve a problem.
1. The person may not be attending to the information,
2. The person may lack the strategies to transfer information from store to store,
3. The person may not have retained the critical rules for solving the problem,
4. The person may lack the executive control processes that would enable successful conclusions.
MEMORY PROCESSES: Once we have attended to information of some kind, we must find a way to
remember it if we are to learn from our experiences or use this input to solve a problem.
MEMORY is a term used to describe the processes by which people retain information and then
retrieve it for use at at later time. Investigators who study memory distinguish between RECALL &
RECOGNITION.
RECOGNITION MEMORY occurs when we encounter some information and realize that we have
seen or experienced it before.
RECALL MEMORY requires us to retrieve a piece of information that is not currently being
presented.
RECOGNITION is much easier than RECALL; RECOGNITION is present at birth and steadily
improves during the first year of life.
Two types of memory strategies exist: ENCODING AND RETRIEVAL
Encoding strategies involve identifying the most important features of the environment and then
forming an internal representation of them. These encoding strategies would be the strategies that we
use to store information in memory.
Retrieval strategies help pull information out of LTM for the task at hand.
ENCODING STRATEGIES:
1. REHEARSAL is a basic strategy that is used commonly by children and adults. Rehearsal
involves repeating the information over and over again.
2. SEMANTIC ORGANIZATION: strategy for remembering that involves grouping or classifying
stimuli into meaningful clusters that are easier to retain for future recall:
List 1: boat, match, hammer, coat, grass, sentence, pencil, dog, cup, picture
List 2: knife, shirt, car, fork, boat, pants, sock, truck, spoon, plate
Both lists would be difficult to store but LIST 2 would be EASIER because it can be grouped into three
semantic categories (eating utensils, clothes, vehicles) that can serve as cues for storage and retrieval.
3. ELABORATION involves adding something to or creating meaningful links between two bits of
information that one is trying to remember. This strategy is rarely seen before adolescence. This time
period corresponds to a time when students are trying to learn a foreign language. For example, when
trying to remember the Spanish word for duck (PATO <pot-o>) you can create an elaborative image of
a duck in a pot for dinner. Why does this strategy develop later in adolescence:
1. When we are younger, we have limited STM capacity, so we can't bring all of the appropriate
information for the elaboration from LTM to STM;
2. Adolescents may know more about the world, so they are able to imagine how two stimuli can be
connected.
The above strategies have been described in terms of storage processes (encoding), but at the same time
they can be used for retrieval. To use the strategies for retrieval, one must use CUES in order to
retrieve the information from LTM.
Other retrieval cues:
1. priming - You can think of a memory held in storage by a web of associations. To retrieve a specific
memory, you first need to identify one of the strands that leads to it, a process called priming. Often
our brains prime (activate) associations without our awareness. For example, hearing or seeing the
word rabbit can unconsciously prime people to spell the spoken word hair as h-a-r-e. The word rabbit
primes associations with hare even though we may not recall having heard rabbit.
2. context effects - Encoding specificity principle, which outlines that retrieval of information is best if
we encode/store the information in the same environment in which we retrieve it, can help us with
retrieval. Test scores would be slightly higher if one studied in the classroom in which the test was
going to be taken; a person's memory of an accident would be better if that person was taken back to
the scene of the accident.
3. moods - Mood-congruent memories help understand retrieval effects. We are likely to recall
memories that are similar to our current mood (ie., if I am happy and you ask me about my childhood, I
will recall more pleasant memories; if I am depressed and in therapy and my therapist asks me about
my childhood, I am likely to recall sad or unpleasant memories).
Depth (level) of processing
Depth of processingcan also add to our knowledge of memory. According to this theory, we are more
likely to remember information that was processed at a deeper level. If we make the information
meaningful or connect it to our own lives, we are more likely to recall the information at a later date.
This strategy promotes effective retrieval of terms and theories in psychology. If you make the
information that you are studying more meaningful or tie to your real life events (deep processing), you
are more likely to remember these terms than if you are just memorizing definitions of terms (shallow
processing).
FORGETTING
... AS A RETRIEVAL FAILURE
1. Interference
a. proactive interference - the disruptive effect of prior learning on the recall of new information. For
example, in January many of us dated material with last year's date/year rather than the current
date/year (old information impaired memory for new information). We have difficulty retrieving the
new information if experiencing this type of interference.
b. retroactive interference - disruptive effect of new learning on the recall of old information. For
example, you have moved and you no longer remember your old address because your new address
interferes with that information (new information impairs memory for the old information). We have
difficulty retrieving the old information if experiencing this type of interference.

2. Amnesia
a. motivated forgetting -repression (Freud's terminology) - burying information in our unconscious
minds; we have been traumatized in some way and cannot currently cope with the situation or memory,
so the memories become buried in our unconscious minds
b. Retrograde amnesia - loss of old information (ie., a person was in a car accident and no longer
remember where he/she lived; forgetting the first 13 years of one's life)
c. Anterograde amnesia - no longer able to store new information (ie., one was in a car accident, and
while in the hospital the same nurse entered the person's room every hour. Each hour the person
thought that it was the first time that he/she had seen the nurse)
d. Infantile amnesia - not being able to remember anything prior to age 4 years. Most people do not
have vivid memories of times when they were real young (ie., taking a first step, saying "Mom" for the
first time). Different theories hypothesize this early memory loss: the storage strategies are not
sophisticated enough to store the memories in a way tha they can effectively be retrieved (cognitive
approach), the neural networks that contained such memories were not strongly connected, the neural
networks representing these memories were pruned.

Chapter 5
Learning
Behaviorism/Learning
• founded by Watson
• influenced by the works of Skinner, Pavlov and Bandura
• focuses on observable behavior
• focuses on how and what we learn
• learning is defined as a change in behavior (do not confuse this with
acquiring new information - REMEMBER, behaviorists are only interested in
behaviors that can be seen)
• behavior is influenced by the environment (situations or people around us)
and past experiences
Learning is explained by the use of three theories: classical conditioning, operant
conditioning, and observational learning

Classical conditioning- Pavlov's work with animals

According to Pavlov and Watson, humans and animals learn or change behavior
through the use of the same principles. According to this theory, we learn through
creating associations.

Basic terms:

stimulus - something that produces a reaction or change

response - a reaction
conditioned- learned
unconditioned- no learning needed, natural

Pavlov then combined the four terms:

conditioned stimulus(CS) - something that produces a reaction or change that we

learn to respond to (before conditioning this is called the neutral stimulus)
conditioned response(CR) - learned reaction
unconditioned stimulus(UCS) - something that produces a reaction or change that
we naturally respond to (no learning is necessary)
unconditioned response(UCR) - a natural response

For example, if someone came up behind you and dropped a stack of books,
making a loud noise, you would naturally jump. If the person first started to
whistle, then dropped the stack of books, you would still jump. If the person
continues to whistle and then drop books, eventually you will jump when you hear
someone whistle. An association has been created between whistling and loud
noise. You know respond to the whistling like you would respond to the loud noise.

In this example, the loud noise is the UCS (something that you naturally respond
to). The whistling is the CS (something that you learned to respond to). Jumping
when you hear the loud noise is the UCR (natural reaction - startle response) and
jumping when you hear whistling is the CR (learned reaction - you did not jump
when you heard whistling until the whistling was associated with the loud noise).

Remember that the responses are always emotional reactions or behaviors.

Stimuli are likely to be objects, situations, events, or other "things" in the
environment. These definitions provide a very basic understanding of classical
conditioning. Classical conditioning can be much more difficult, and associations
can be made with other learned associations. We will not discuss this higher
order conditioning in this course.

When using classical conditioning during the training phase, the soon to be CS
must be presented before the UCS. This principle is called contingency, which
means that the CS will predict the UCS. The person or animal will respond to this
once neutral stimulus because it now predicts the UCS. In the example above, you
jump when you hear someone whistle because it predicted the dropping of the
books or the loud noise. If the person had whistled after dropping the books (the
UCS came first and the CS was presented), no conditioning would take place.

Another important principle in classical conditioning is contiguity. Contiguity

indicates the degree of the association. To ensure contiguity, the UCS is presented
immediately after the CS. If someone whistles and then five minutes later drops
books, you will not associate the whistle with the loud noise. At least one
exception to this principle exists: taste aversion. Lets say that we ate at Taco Bell
tonight. Five hours later, you get sick because of some bacteria in your system.
Regardless of the source of the bacteria, you are likely to become nauseated in
the future when you eat Taco Bell food or even pass the restaurant. When we
become ill, we are biologically prepared (preparedness), to associate the
illness with something that has been ingested. Contiguity, in this case, becomes
irrelevant.

In the Taco Bell example, the food is the CS and becoming nauseated when eating
the food or passing the restaurant is the CR. The UCS is the bacteria and the UCR
is becoming ill in response to the bacteria.
Do the practice exercises listed on the web site to test your
understanding of these terms.

Additional terms:

generalization - responding to stimuli that are similar to the CS (jumping when

you hear a high-pitched voice, becoming nauseated when you smell tacos made
by your mother)

discrimination - learning to respond to only the CS (As a young child, a little girl
had a bee put into her pants by a mean babysitter. The child learned to fear bees,
as well as all flying insects (generalization). Eventually the little girl learns through
experience that gnats and flies do not bite her. She no longer fears these flying
insects. She learns to fear only bees (discrimination)).

Extinction - no longer responding to the CS - Eventually the human or animal will

learn that the CS no longer predicts the UCS. Once this lakc of prediction is
understood, the individual stops responding to the CS. (A person hears a librarian
whistling, but she does not make any other noise; A nurse walks into the room
whistling and does not make any other noise. Soon the individual will stop
jumping when hearing people whistle). To produce extinction, present the CS
without the UCS.

Spontaneous recovery - relearning the association and CR at a faster rate than

the original learning (ie., To condition Tom to jump when he heard a whistle, I had
to whistle and drop books 10 different times. After Tom is conditioned, we
extinguish the behavior. How? We present the CS (whistle) without the UCS
(dropping the books). A little bit later I whistle and then drop the books. I do it
two more times. After three trials, Tom is reconditioned. The original learning took
10 trials. The relearning took 3 trials.

Operant conditioning

B.F. Skinner believed that learning occurred through consequences. We perform

a behavior, receive consequences, and reproduce or do not reproduce the
behavior based on the consequences. Skinner and his followers also discuss
shaping, which involves reinforcing small steps or goals to gradually reach the
desired behavior. In other words, if you want to reach a desired goal, you should
take small, gradual steps.

Basic terms:

reinforcement - increase or continue a behavior

punishment- decrease or discontinue a behavior
positive - to give or add
negative- to take away or subtract

Combine the terms:

positive reinforcement - continue a behavior by giving something pleasant (child

cleans room, is given $10 [consequence], child cleans his room again; giving a
sticker [consequence] for good effort on homework, child continues to give good
effort on homework; you wear a new perfume or cologne, a co-worker
compliments your choice of perfume/cologne [consequence], you continue to
wear that cologne)
negative reinforcement - continue a behavior by removing or taking away
something unpleasant
(I have a headache, I take an aspirin, headache goes away [consequence], I
continue to take aspirin to remove a headache; my child nags me to buy M&M's at
the store, I buy the M&M's to stop the nagging [consequence], every time my
child nags I buy M&M's {by the way, the child's behavior has been positively
reinforced - nag, receive M&M's [consequence], continue to nag -- not good :) };
my feet hurt, I take off my shoes, my feet no longer hurt [consequence], I
continue to take off my shoes when my feet hurt)

positive punishment - discontinue a behavior by giving something unpleasant (I

speed, receive a ticket [consequence] , I no longer speed; I wear a new shirt to
work, everyone laughs at me [consequence], I do not wear the shirt again)

negative punishment - discontinue a behavior by removing something unpleasant

(my son comes home late, I take away his car keys [consequence], he no longer
comes home late; my daughter receives a "D" on her grade card, I take away her
Wii [consequence], she no longer brings home "D's")

You can administer reinforcement using different schedules:

continuous reinforcement - reinforce after every desired behavior (every time the
dog goes to the bathroom outside, he receives a dog biscuit)

partial reinforcement - responses are sometimes reinforced - four partial

schedules of reinforcement are listed below:

fixed ratio - reinforce the behavior after a set number of responses (every fifth
time Joey cleans his room, I take him to McDonald's - cleaning the room is the
behavior, a trip to McDonald's is the consequence)

variable ratio - reinforce after an unpredictable number of responses (pulling the

level on a slot machine (behavior) and receiving a pay off (consequence) - you do
not know how many times you must pull the lever before you actually win)

fixed interval - reinforce the behavior after a set time (receiving a paycheck
every 7 days (consequence) for working (behavior))

variable interval - reinforce the behavior after an unpredictable amount of time

(pop quizzes - you study before every class (behavior) because you are unsure
when the next quiz (consequence) will be given)

Reinforcers can be considered primary (meeting a biological need)

or secondary (learned appreciation for the consequence). An example of a
primary reinforcer would be giving water when a person is thirsty or removing
something painful. An example of a secondary reinforcer is money or praise.

Whenever possible, it is best to use reinforcement rather than punishment. You

should emphasize the desired behavior rather than continuously pointing out the
undesired behavior. If you must use punishment a few guidelines should be
followed:

be swift (contiguity), consistent (continuous schedule), and explain the reasoning

behind the consequence

Problems with punishment can include:

- inappropriate behavior may be replaced by another inappropriate behavior

- may increase aggression
- does not provide guidance for desirable behaviors, rather it just tells us what not
to do
- association of the consequence with the punisher instead of the inappropriate
behavior (upset with mom for taking away the car keys)

Observational learning/social learning

According to Bandura, learning includes cognitive components (attention,

memory, and motivation). Watson and other behaviorists would strongly disagree
with Bandura.

Bandura believes that we learn through modeling. Modeling is observing

behavior + thinking about whether the behavior would work for you -> changed
behavior. For example if 5 children are growing up in an alcoholic family, two
children may observe the parents' drinking, think that the behavior suits them
(the children), and therefore imitates the drinking behavior. The other three
children, seeing the same behavior from the parents may decide that the behavior
is not appropriate for them (the children) and decide not to drink. All children
have to attend to the modeled behavior, remember the behavior that was
exhibited, and have the motivation to use the information, before they can imitate
the modeled behavior.

Bandura still strongly emphasizes the observed behavior and the imitation.

Summary

All three theories describe how we learn or change behavior. The theorists just
believe that we learn in different ways.
Classical conditioning - learn through association
Operant conditioning - learn through consequences
Observational learning - learn through modeling