Homework 1

Behavioral School Homework

To be Typed

Just you name and period on top of the page.

Answer all of the following  questions using the information learned both in class and in the text to support your answers.  Try to think critically, use your imagination and if you get confused, take a break and try again.  Do not be afraid to ask me for help.  Good Luck!!!

If you get REALLY frustrated just click

Question 1

Psychologists believe that children learn to control their bladders during sleep through classical conditioning, a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate different events. Normally, a wet bed or diaper causes a child to awaken. Through repeated pairings, bladder tension becomes associated with the sensation of wetness and children wake up when they sense that the bladder is full.

Imagine that you are baby-sitting a 6-year-old bed wetter who has not yet learned the connection between bladder tension and wetness. In desperation, the child’s parents consult a behavioral psychologist who has developed a classical conditioning technique for controlling bed-wetting, using a special sheet containing fine electric wires. When a sleeping child wets the bed, the urine (which conducts electricity) immediately completes an electrical circuit and causes a loud bell to ring, awakening the child. Over time, bladder tension becomes associated with the bell and the child is conditioned to wake up before actually wetting the bed.

Although the parents have read a pamphlet that explains the basic principles underlying the conditioning technique, they are seeking your help in understanding exactly why it works.

1. Can you identify the components of classical conditioning for children who learn to wake up before they wet the bed without special training?

Unconditioned stimulus

Unconditioned response

Conditioned stimulus

Conditioned response

2. Can you identify the components of classical conditioning for children who are conditioned to wake up through use of the special sheet and bell?

Unconditioned stimulus

Unconditioned response

Conditioned stimulus

Conditioned response

3. Does the classical conditioning explanation of how children learn on their own to wake up before wetting the bed make sense? Can you explain this learning, using principles of operant conditioning?

Question 2

1. Most pets become classically conditioned to a variety of stimuli associated with their feeding. If you have a pet now, see if you can identify examples of its conditioned responding to food and other Pavlovian stimuli. Be specific in using the terminology of conditioning (conditioned stimuli, unconditioned and conditioned responses, et cetera).

2. The rate at which Congress passes bills varies with the length of time it has been in session. At the beginning of a congressional session, few bills are passed. As the session continues, the rate of passage increases gradually, peaking just prior to adjournment. What principles of conditioning and learning might explain this phenomenon? (Hint: A Congressional Skinner box?)

3. The processes of discrimination and generalization are at the very heart of many forms of learning. Give at least one example of each of these phenomena in your everyday experiences.

Question 3

Think of a family member or friend that exhibits a behavior that you enjoy.  Identify the behavior and tell me how you would use each of the three modes of learning (classical and operant conditioning and learning by observation) to assist in increasing the frequency of the behavior.