Solution Manual for Learning and Behavior 7th
Edition Chance 1111832773 9781111832773
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Download full test bank at: https://testbankpack.com/p/test-bank-for-learning-and-behavior-7th-editionchance-1111832773-9781111832773/
Pavlovian Applications
Chapter Outline
Preview Fear
Fear of Public Speaking
Prejudice
The Paraphilias
The Boy Next Door
Who Are the Victims?
Taste Aversion
Nature’s Weedeaters
Advertising
Drug Addiction
Health Care
A Final Word
Recommended Reading
Review Questions
Practice Quiz
Query Answers
Main Points
Pavlovian conditioning is important to survival and has many practical applications in modern society. It helps account for phobias, prejudice, advertising effects, some paraphilias, taste aversions, and the functioning of the immune system. Through counterconditioning, Pavlovian conditioning can often undo the damage of natural learning experiences.
The text tries to convey the notion that Pavlovian conditioning is not only a vibrant research area, but a topic of considerable practical importance. The popular view that all Pavlov did was train dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell is unfortunately perpetuated in the press and in some psychology texts. Some instructors are reluctant to give attention to applications in what they consider a course on basic research, but I believe that helping students see how Pavlovian conditioning affects their lives will give them an appreciation for the laboratory research from which those benefits stem.
Exercise: Pavlov in the Papers
Ask students to scan a newspaper for items that in one way or another reflect the importance of Pavlovian conditioning, and share those items with the class. Selected items might include articles about racists, “crimes of passion,” display and classified ads that use Pavlovian principles to sell products and services, certain medical treatments, and the arrangement of article topics (e.g., the fact that violent crimes are not covered in the cooking section).
Class Notes
Fear The Little Albert study offends some students today. It may be worth discussing the fact that standards of treatment of children were very different in Watson’s day. It should also be noted that Watson planned to eliminate Albert’s fear, but the child and his mother, who worked at the hospital, left before he could do this.
A video that includes actual film clips of the Little Albert experiment is available at www.YouTube.com/watch?v=KxKfpKQzow8. (Sound effects, including the loud noise and Albert’s cries, have apparently been added, but otherwise the film clip appears to be authentic.) The narration exaggerates, in my opinion, Watson’s environmentalism; his book, Behaviorism, devotes a good deal of space to biological influences.
Exercise: Watson on Trial
It might be fun to have a mock trial of John Watson on charges of child abuse for the experiment with Little Albert. Some students would serve as prosecuting attorneys, others as defense attorneys, one or two as judges, and the remaining students would serve as the jury. If you are willing to get into the act, you might make yourself available as an expert
witness. One class period might be devoted to the trial, or you might set aside 15 minutes at the end of each of three or four class periods for it. Today’s students really enjoy this kind of activity. In the course of the trial, all students will become acquainted with the original research and the ethical dilemmas that are almost intrinsic to behavioral research.
Prejudice. Students often implicitly acknowledge the role of learning in prejudice when they suggest that people are prejudiced “because that’s how they were brought up.” They seldom consider precisely what “how they were brought up” means. What sorts of experiences do families provide that convey prejudice? Can these experiences be described in terms of Pavlovian procedures? Are there any that cannot be described in terms of Pavlovian procedures? The text gives considerable space to the work of Staats and Staats. Some texts never even mention this work, but in my opinion it is every bit as important as that of Garcia on taste aversion, which is routinely covered.
Exercise: Word Judging
Announce that you will read several words aloud, and ask the students to rate each word on a 1 to 4 scale from positive to negative. The words should include some that are likely to have emotional significance, such as baby or failure. It will be important to provide sheets with the scales, to insist that students circle only one number, and to emphasize that they should answer quickly. Two students might then tabulate the scores to determine each word’s “affective value.” It might also be interesting to look for differences in the ratings of men and women. (They might rate the words man and woman differently, for example.)
The Paraphilias. The role of learning in sexual behavior tends to be neglected in learning courses, possibly because sex is a controversial topic, and possibly because the role of learning is so subtle. It might be interesting to ask students when they first became aware that they were male or female. Other questions to ask: What sorts of experiences do parents provide that convey gender identity? How might sexual orientation be influenced by learning experiences? What is a sexual aberration? How can “normal” sexual behavior be distinguished from “abnormal” sexual behavior? Who decides when someone needs treatment? Does society have the right to prescribe treatment for pedophilia? For rapists? What about cross-dressing, exhibitionism, masturbation, and homosexuality?
Taste aversion. Research on the role of Pavlovian conditioning in taste preferences has focused on taste aversions. Yet it is clear that people come to like certain foods just as they come to dislike others. It might be interesting to ask students to identify the CS and US that might be involved in a person’s preference for, say, chocolate. Preference for sweets is certainly influenced by evolution (see Chapter 1), but there are cultural differences as well, which means learning is involved. Foods that many in the U. S. consider spicy might be considered bland in India and Korea.
Advertising. Some instructors may want to take up the topic of “product placement,” the practice of providing exposure to brand name products in media, particularly films. For example, a popular actor portraying a protagonist in a film might drink a brand name soft drink during a
scene; there may or may not be any mention of the product, which is typically unimportant to the story line. Do such ads utilize Pavlovian principles? Are they likely to be more or less effective than traditional ads? Do they raise any special ethical questions?
Dave Barry (1992), the humorist, poked fun at the ads for Timex watches in which people who have survived terrible accidents endorse the watches. He writes that the message he gets from these ads is that if you wear a Timex watch, something bad will happen to you. He adds that he finds himself edging away from Timex display cases for fear that a great white shark may come around the corner. Barry’s spoof makes a good point: Ads can backfire if the product is paired with stimuli that have unintended negative effects, such as eliciting fear. Along these lines, it might be noted that O. J. Simpson, who had been a frequent figure in television commercials, apparently lost much of his appeal to advertisers after his arrest for murder.
Drug Addiction. Some of your students, or their friends, are very likely to have tried or thought about trying psychoactive drugs, including addictive drugs such as heroin. A class discussion of the role of conditioning in drug effects may literally be life-saving. It is important to avoid giving the impression that if people always use a drug in the same way and under the same circumstances, their use is safe. But if students understand how minor changes in the use of an addictive drug can alter their effects, they may appreciate the dangers of using them.
Health Care. Note that to say that an illness is partly the product of experience does not mean that it is not real. Too many physicians (and future physicians taking learning courses) are unsympathetic toward people whose illnesses are primarily the products of learning. This may have to do with the word psychosomatic, which laymen take to mean “in the mind.” The implication is that psychosomatic illnesses are somehow less real than those caused by disease or injury. This is not always the case.
A Final Word Again I make the point that Pavlovian conditioning plays an important part in our everyday experience and in who we are. I urge instructors to make this point as well since this makes your learning course far more important and memorable than a focus on salivating dogs and jumping rats.
Key to Review Questions
1. Define the following terms and provide an example of each:
Aversion therapy: A form of counterconditioning in which a CS is paired with an aversive US, often a nausea-inducing drug.
Conditioned emotional response: An emotional response to a stimulus that is acquired through Pavlovian conditioning.
Conditioned taste aversion: An aversion, acquired through Pavlovian conditioning, to foods with a particular flavor.
Counterconditioning: The use of Pavlovian conditioning to reverse the unwanted effects of prior conditioning.
Exposure therapy: A form of therapy based on conditioning in which the client is gradually exposed to a feared stimulus.
Systematic desensitization: A conditioning-based therapy in which a client imagines a very weak form of a frightening stimulus while relaxed. Gradually the strength of the frightening stimulus is strengthened. Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET): A form of exposure therapy in which the client is exposed to a very realistic electronic simulation of a troubling situation.
2. Suppose your doctor advises you to eat liver, which you despise. How might you overcome your aversion to liver?
Students should be able to recognize that this problem involves a stimulus (liver) producing an undesired response (aversion). If so, they should be able to devise a way of altering the response by pairing consumption of liver with some desirable stimulus, such as some enjoyable food. The student might, for instance, take a bite of mashed potatoes and gravy (a favored food) immediately after eating a bite of liver. Increasing the level of food deprivation might also be helpful.
3. Pavlovian learning usually requires CS-US intervals of no more than a few seconds. Taste aversion conditioning is an exception. Why does this exception exist?
This question is meant to remind the student that learning is a biological mechanism that evolved because it contributed to survival. Food-induced illness typically follows eating after several minutes or hours. Presumably long CS-US intervals work in taste aversion learning because individuals capable of learning under such circumstances were more likely to survive and reproduce.
4. How can you increase the likelihood that your child will share your devotion to jazz music?
Many people seem to think of tastes in music as innate. While there may be innate predispositions to like certain kinds of music, learning is almost certainly involved. Answers should suggest pairing jazz music with pleasant experiences at an early age. Students might suggest, for example, playing a jazz tape while nursing the infant.
5. You are in charge of rehabilitating criminals convicted of various hate crimes. Can Pavlovian conditioning help?
The key word here is hate. Emotional reactions to certain groups (Whites, African-Americans, homosexuals, etc.) are learned. Emotional learning is probably largely a matter of Pavlovian conditioning. A rehabilitation program for those guilty of hate crimes might include Pavlovian procedures meant to help inmates unlearn their hatred. Some students may want to read Hate Crime: The Story of a Dragging in Jasper, Texas by journalist Joyce King. It not only examines the crime itself, but reveals how prisons contribute to race hatred.
6. What does the work of Staats and Staats lead you to predict about the backgrounds of Ku Klux Klan members?
The work of Staats and Staats suggests that Ku Klux Klan members have a history of exposure to racial and ethnic slurs. For example, their parents may routinely have
complained about how a given group “is ruining the country,” have “stolen” the good jobs, etc.
7. Invent a better term for the disorders known as psychosomatic illnesses.
Psychosomatic suggests that the disorders are “in the mind,” or the result of mental processes. The evidence indicates that they are due largely to experience. Proposed terms should reflect this fact. Perhaps ecogenic or envirogenic would be appropriate.
8. Why are people more likely to develop aversions to foods they have not often eaten?
Students might be encouraged to apply the concept of latent inhibition. In any case, their answers should make note of the fact that familiar foods are eaten many times without being paired with illness and this history makes the food resistant to conditioning.
9. Many people hate groups of people with whom they have had no direct experience. How can Pavlovian conditioning account for these emotions?
Here again the work of Staats and Staats is important. We can learn to hate people we’ve never met if the words that name those people are regularly paired with unpleasant words or images.
10. How has reading this chapter altered your view of Pavlovian conditioning?
I hope that students will feel more positive about Pavlovian conditioning and will see it as a richer, more complex phenomenon than they had previously.
Key to Practice Quiz
1. The phenomenon of latent inhibition suggests that we are more likely to develop aversions to novel foods than to familiar ones.
2. People used to believe that children were instinctively afraid of fire, animals, and many other things. John Watson and Rosalie Rayner found that many such fears were acquired through conditioning.
3. The first person to use counterconditioning to treat a phobia was probably Mary Cover Jones.
4. The work of Staats and Staats suggests that prejudice may be partly the result of higher-order conditioning.
5. Dana Bovbjerg and her colleagues found that women receiving chemotherapy in a hospital later showed decreased functioning of their immune systems when they returned to the hospital.
6. Gorn influenced product choice by pairing pens of a certain color with certain kinds of music.
7. In aversion therapy, a stimulus that elicits an inappropriate response is paired with an aversive stimulus such as shock or an emetic drug.
8. The pairing of a particular food with nausea-inducing stimuli often results in a conditioned taste aversion
9. Morgan Doran used conditioning to train sheep not to eat grapes.
10. Masochism may be the result of pairing stimuli that cause pain or humiliation with those that cause pleasure/sexual arousal