Jacob Johnston, Chapter 3

1. Behaviorists often share certain basic assumptions. The first of these

assumptions that I will discuss is that learning processes can be studied best
by focusing on stimuli and responses in the experiments. By focusing on the
stimuli and responses, aspects of learning that can be observed and
objectively described, behaviorists think that the study of learning can be
more scientific like the study of chemistry and other “hard” sciences.

In a similar vein, behaviorists often assume that it is best to leave internal

processes out of scientific studies of learning. Unlike stimuli and responses,
which are both easily observed from the outside, internal processes like the
subjects thoughts or emotions are not easily observed and are more difficult
to objectively describe. For example, a subject may actually be experiencing
anger, but if the subject tries refuses to admit to being angry, there’s no
objective way to show that anger is influencing the subject’s behavior.

Behaviorists also define learning as a change in behavior, or at least define

learning as involving a change in behavior. Some behaviorists go so far as to
say that if no behavior change is observable, then no learning has taken
place. This goes back to the assumption that learning should be studied by
focus on observable aspects of the process like stimuli and response. If there
is no observable change in behavior, even if it’s as simple as answering a
question correctly that could not be answered correctly before the learning
process, then there is no proof that any learning has occurred.

Another assumption is that organisms are born as blank slates. This is not to
say that organisms aren’t born with the instincts of their species, but that
organisms aren’t born predisposed to behave in a certain way. For example,
a cat may not be born with the knowledge to be afraid of dogs. The
behaviorist may say the reason that cats tend to be afraid of dogs is that
they learn from an early age that larger animals like dogs can be a source of
danger or discomfort. This would explain why cats that grew up at my house
as a child never showed fear around dogs. They grew up with dogs that were
used to cats and left them alone.

Finally, behaviorists often assume that learning is the result of environmental

events. In other words, learning is the process of responding to things that
happen to the organism. An organism that is injured by a car may learn to
avoid cars. A cat that walks too close to a mockingbird nest may learn to
 Jacob Johnston, Chapter 3

steer clear of the types of places where mockingbirds tend to build their
nests and then dive bomb cats who wander to close. Under this assumption,
behaviorists may use the term conditioning instead of learning as the
organism is conditioned by its environment to behave in a certain way. A
behaviorist could use the example of the students at my first job at an
alternative school compared to some of my current college prep students. My
alternative school students would often take months to warm up to me
because their environment at home taught them not to trust people too
quickly. My middle class college prep students often come to class the first
day expecting to be liked by the teacher and expecting to like the teacher
because their environment has been a much more positive place to live.

2. In the case of Edward and his alcoholic father, fear is the unconditioned
response (UCR) of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) of the violence of his
father. Fear is the natural response to violence from a larger animal. The
neutral stimulus (NS) is his father approaching. It doesn’t seem that Edward’s
father is violent when sober. Because of the horrible experience with his
father when drunk, the NS of his father’s approaching turns into the
conditioned stimulus (CS) that leads to the trembling, the conditioned
response (CR). As Edward begins to fear other men in addition to his father,
he is experience generalization of the conditioning. Perhaps if Edward had
experienced positive events involving men other than his father, Edward’s
conditioned response would have remained only in response to being near his
father. It is possible that Edward had little exposure to other men during the
conditioning process and that is why his fear response became generalized to
all men. Knowing that having positive experiences with other men could
reduce his fear, a therapist may use counter-conditioning to reduce Edward’s
fear of men who aren’t his father. Perhaps he could have a friendly man bring
Edward ice cream, or if the fear is too bad, simply give Edward something
that brings him joy (perhaps the ice cream) and then bring a man into the
room. Like the experiment with the fear of rabbits mentioned in the book, the
interaction and proximity with the man could be gradually increased until
Edward associated the positive feelings of the ice cream with men who aren’t
his father. It may be best that Edward not lose his fear of his abusive father
until the father quits drinking for good.

3. For Gretel, the neutral stimulus is physical education class. Normally this
would create no negative feelings for her. The unconditioned stimulus is
being knocked down by the larger student. This naturally leads to the
unconditioned response of fear. Because Gretel associated the bad event of
 Jacob Johnston, Chapter 3

being knocked down with P.E., going to that class becomes the conditioned
stimulus and her conditioned response is to be afraid of that class.

4. Guthrie proposed three methods of breaking bad habits: the exhaustion

method, the threshold method, and the incompatibility method. The
exhaustion method is basically to overwhelm the subject with the stimulus
that causes the habit to the point that the subject just gets tired of
responding. The book’s example of counter conditioning the boy afraid of
rabbits could have been changed to be an example of exhaustion method
simply by putting the boy in a room full of rabbits. The boy would be terrified
to begin with, but he would eventually, under the assumption of this method,
get so tired of fearing these rabbits that he would eventually accept that they
weren’t going to hurt him. However, there is the chance that when the
subject has time to get over their exhaustion treatment that the fear returns
when they are faced with the stimulus again in a more energized state. The
threshold method is a much more subtle method of breaking the bad habit.
Instead of overwhelming the child with bunnies, a therapist using the
threshold method may start off with a cartoonish toy of a bunny that the child
barely associates with the animal. Gradually, the child would be presented
with a slightly more lifelike version of a bunny until the child is finally
presented with a real rabbit. Finally, the incompatibility method is simply
present the stimulus in a setting where the normal response is not possible.
This seems to me to be like the old-fashioned football coach puts the timid
football player into the middle of a hitting drill. The player normally is afraid
of hurting the other player and therefore doesn’t hit hard enough. By putting
the player in the center of the drill, the player has to hit back or risk being
hurt or knocked to the ground. The player has to hit harder simply to defend
himself and is therefore unable to present his normal timid hitting response.

Chapter 3 Activity Name ________________________________________________

B________ 1. A small child touches an oven burner to see if it is hot. The child
quickly

withdraws his hand from the hot burner. Next time, the child notes that a red light
is on, and he avoids the oven burner altogether. The UCS is: (A) the red light, (B)
the burn, (C) the withdrawal, (D) the avoidance of the burner.
 Jacob Johnston, Chapter 3

C________ 2. The UCR in #1 is: (A) the red light, (B) the burn, (C) the withdrawal of
the hand, (D) the avoidance of the burner.

D________ 3. The CS in #1 is: (A) the red light, (B) the burn, (C) the withdrawal of
the hand, (D) the avoidance of the burner.

C________ 4. When the sound of your electric can opener makes your cat come
running into the kitchen, the sound of the can opener is the: (A) UCS, (B) UCR, (C)
CS, (D) CR.

C________ 5. A child is frightened by a loud noise while playing with your cat. If the
child learns to fear the cat, the cat was the: (A) UCS, (B) UCR, (C) CS, (D) CR.

C________ 6. At a party, a friend of yours keeps popping balloons with a lighted

cigarette. After 4 pops, you squint and tense your muscles each time the cigarette
nears the balloon. The: (A) cigarette is an UCS, (B) squinting is a reinforcer, (C) the
initial pops are UCSs, (D) none of the above.

C________ 7. Several years ago, Grace was seriously injured when her ferry rammed
the ferry terminal. To this day, she becomes anxious whenever she sees the large
green and white ferry boats. The UCR is: (A) her fear at the sight of ferry boats, (B)
the accident itself, (C) the fear she had at the time of the accident, (D) the original
ferry boat.

A________ 8. Grace's continuing fear at the sight of green and white ferry boats is
the: (A) CR, (B) UCR, (C) CS, (D) UCS.

C________ 9. A small child who is frightened by thunder covers her ears at the first
sight of lightning. The lightning has become a(n): (A) UCR, (B) UCS, (C) CS, (D) CR.

B_______ 10. Martin hates red-haired women because his red-haired first-grade
teacher slapped his knuckles with a ruler. When he initially started first grade, the
red-haired teacher was a(n): (A) CS, (B) NS, (C) UCS, (D) UCR.
 Jacob Johnston, Chapter 3

A_______ 11. You get a shock from static electricity each time you kiss your
significant other (SO) in the winter. You have a twinge of fear before kissing your
SO as a result. Your SO is now a(n): (A) CS, (B) UCS, (C) CR, (D) UCR.