Conditioning Learning Final Exam Avoidance a response which delays blocks the onset of some undesireable outcome Ex Avoid running out of gas by putting gas in your car Very prevalent but not often considered because we re very good at effective avoidance responding Avoidance behavior is very common but we don t think about it much Avoidance behavior is very persistent when was the last time you ran out of gas Chances are it was a while ago Once you have a response down you engage in it forever Ex Prof is no longer scared of the zoo b c he knows to avoid tigers he shouldn t go in their cage Avoidance is a form of aversive control Avoidance has a long history of being described with inadequate theories until about 1973 Classical Pavlovian Theory 1927 Earliest lab experiment on avoidance Pavlov Active avoidance response Finger on a metal plate Tone comes on for 10sec and shock comes after Subject lifts finger after shock escape from shock After a few 2 3 trials subject begins to lift finger before the shock when the tone comes on Pavlov believed avoidance responding is no more than reflex transfer Components of theory Shock elicits response which terminates shock CS through classical conditioning elicits same response shock elicits CS produces an avoidance response Active vs Passive Avoidance Response Active you have to do something to avoid an outcome Passive you have to not do something to avoid an outcome Avoidance responding is persistent tends to never go away So what s the issue with the classical Pavlovian theory Because classical conditioning predicts that the subject learns this response and would eventually press the metal plate again cyclic behavior Pavlov predicts that occasionally you should run out of gas buy gas for a while without consequences stop buying gas again etc However the subjects never stopped lifting their fingers Example Box with 2 sides If animal stays on the left side when the tone comes on he will be shocked If the animal goes through the door he won t be shocked Naturally the rat walks to the right side when the tone comes on every time What can I do to get the animal to stop running to the other side 1 Shock the other side of the box too 2 If you close the door the animal elicits a fear response What if you close the door and don t deliver a shock Goes against the animal s expectations Why would you move if nothing happens You wouldn t Example set out to test the idea of extinction Brogden 33 Two running wheels First wheel the animal can escape from the shock if he runs to turn the wheel Second wheel the animal can escape shock if he runs to turn the wheel but he also can avoid the shock if he runs during the tone The rat in the second wheel will quickly learn to avoid the shock and run while the tone is playing The rat in the first wheel will always get the shock If Pavlov is correct there should be huge reflex transfer in wheel 1 rats since the tone is always followed by a shock and there should be no reflex transfer in the wheel 2 rats since there is never a shock once they avoid it However wheel 2 rats run more of the time and wheel 1 rats almost never run during the tone PROBLEMS w Classical conditioning theory He predicts extinction but extinction never happens Classical conditioning theory demands the UR should transfer to the CS so the avoidance response should be running New Parameters for same experiment Wheel 2 rats can avoid shock by remaining still so by full learning the animal will freeze during the tone making the CR the exact opposite of the UR No reflex transfer The classical conditioning theory can be rejected because it does not pass the common sense test and is inconsistent with data Two factor Theory Mower 47 1 CS Shock 2 Animals fear shock 3 CS elicits fear through this process of classical conditioning Animal is really just escaping from fear during avoidance behavior Makes no assumption of the animal s behavior form Does what it needs to do to get away from the fear evoking There is some truth about the animals trying to escape the fear stimulus evoking stimulus Problems 1 Predicts that the response should extinguish but it doesn t 2 Presumes that fear motivates the animal s behavior but the rat doesn t exhibit any obvious fear If he s not afraid then what s he trying to escape from THEORY FAILS Any good theory of avoidance should account for the fact that the response isn t persistent doesn t extinguish the response is flexible a well trained animal is not afraid anymore if escape is blocked the response ceases and if the animal is shocked anyway it will stop responding Let s Revisit the example of the box w 2 sides Shuttle box Pavlov thought the animal was just learning a conditioned response Tone Running BUT the animal continues to run forever even when it doesn t receive a shock 2 factor theory of avoidance Mowrer CS is paired w shock Pavlovian Animal fears shock thus fears the CS Animals respond to escape fear operant 2 factor b c it consists of a Pavlovian an operant factor Mowrer argues that the animals are trying to escape from fear BUT the well trained animals don t exhibit fear The animal s expectancy is violated We must account for response blocking if response if blocked if door is closed the animal exhibits panic and eventually stops responding If the animal is shocked regardless it will stop making the response We must accept the fact that animals have an expectancy expectancies determine the choices we make Problems w 2 factor method predicts extinction and assumes the animal is motivated by fear Cognitive Expectancy Theory Seligman and Johnson 73 1 Animals prefer no shock to shock 2 Animals EXPECT that if they respond go to the other side then no shock will occur 3 Animal EXPECTS that if it doesn t respond then shock will occur 4 Expectancies are strengthened when they re confirmed and are weakened when they aren t confirmed 5 Avoidance increases as expectancies are confirmed Pavlovian Components 6 Fear is conditioned to a CS paired w a shock 7 Fear extinguishes when the CS is no longer paired w shock Animal is motivated by the expectancy that if it is responding then it will no longer be shocked DSM 1 APA Nomenclature for diagnoses In use well into the 1980s Depression was classified as relative or endogenous Reactive 50 occurs when a bunch of bad things keep happening to you has some environmental experiential component Endogenous 50 originates from within Depression arises from how you perceive your