chapter 9: learning: principles and applications -...

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Chapter 9 Learning: Principles andApplications

Chapter 10 Memory and Thought

Chapter 11 Thinking and Language

Chapter 12 Motivation and Emotion

Contents

L earning is involved in almost every phenomenonpsychologists study and occurs in many different

ways. Every individual uses learning techniques andprocesses and summons unique thoughts and memoriesto perform day-to-day functions.

240

Psychology JournalRecall a situation in which

you taught another person askill or how to do a task. Writea brief account about it in yourjournal. Make sure to include adescription of how reinforce-ment, punishment, or modelingwere part of your teachingstrategy. �

Chapter OverviewVisit the Understanding PsychologyWeb site at psychology.glencoe.comand click on Chapter 9—ChapterOverviews to preview the chapter.

PSYCHOLOGY

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Why did the participants choose purple pens over green in theexperiment above? This experiment took place in 1982 andwas based on a principle that is widely used today in televi-

sion commercials. Pairing a product with pleasant sensations motivatesconsumers to make a choice without an awareness of why they madethat choice.

The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov called what was taking place insimilar situations conditioning. In classical conditioning, a person’s oranimal’s old response becomes attached to a new stimulus. This is oneexample of learning. What is learning? Learning is a relatively permanentchange in a behavioral tendency that results from experience.

Classical Conditioning

� Main IdeaPeople acquire certain behaviorsthrough classical conditioning, a learn-ing procedure in which associations aremade between an unconditioned stimu-lus and a neutral stimulus.

� Vocabulary• classical conditioning• neutral stimulus• unconditioned stimulus (UCS)• unconditioned response (UCR)• conditioned stimulus (CS)• conditioned response (CR)• generalization• discrimination• extinction

� Objectives• Describe the principles of classical

conditioning.• Outline the techniques of classical

conditioning.

Reader’s GuideExploring Psychology

Which Pen Would You Choose? The researchers placed the partici-

pants in a room. In this room the parti-cipants first viewed purple pens. As the participants sat staring at the purple pens,pleasant music played in the background.Then the music stopped, and the purplepens were taken away. Suddenly greenpens appeared. As the participants satstaring at the green pens, they heardunpleasant music in the background.Later, the researchers offered the pens to the participants. The participants could pick a purple or green pen. The participants overwhelmingly chose purple pens. Why?

—adapted from The Story of Psychology byMorton Hunt, 1993

Chapter 9 / Learning: Principles and Applications 241

classical conditioning: alearning procedure in whichassociations are made betweena natural stimulus and a neutralstimulus

neutral stimulus: a stimulusthat does not initially elicit anypart of the unconditionedresponse

unconditioned stimulus(UCS): an event that elicits acertain predictable responsetypically without previous training

unconditioned response(UCR): an organism’s auto-matic (or natural) reaction to a stimulus

conditioned stimulus(CS): a once-neutral event thatelicits a given response after a period of training in which it has been paired with anunconditioned stimulus

conditioned response(CR): the learned reaction to aconditioned stimulus

Pavlov’s discovery of this type of learning—the principle of classicalconditioning—was accidental. Around the turn of the century, Pavlovhad been studying the process of digestion. Pavlov wanted to understandhow a dog’s stomach prepares to digest food when something is placedin its mouth. Then he noticed that the mere sight or smell of food wasenough to start a hungry dog salivating. Pavlov became fascinated withhow the dog anticipated the food and how salivation occurred before thefood was presented, and he decided to investigate.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONINGPavlov began his experiments by ringing a tuning fork and then imme-

diately placing some meat powder on the dog’s tongue. He chose the tuningfork because it was a neutral stimulus—that is, one that had nothing to dowith the response to meat (salivation) prior to conditioning. After only a fewtimes, the dog started salivating as soon as it heard the sound, even if the foodwas not placed in its mouth (see Figure 9.1). Pavlov demonstrated that a neu-tral stimulus (here, tuning fork or bell’s ring) can cause a formerly unrelatedresponse. This occurs if it is presented regularly just before the stimulus (here,food) that normally brings about that response (here, salivation).

Pavlov used the term unconditioned to refer to stimuli and to the auto-matic, involuntary responses they caused. Such responses include blushing,shivering, being startled, or salivating. In the experiment, food was theunconditioned stimulus (UCS)—an event that leads to a certain, pre-dictable response usually without any previous training. Food normallycauses salivation. A dog does not have to be taught to salivate when it smellsmeat. The salivation is an unconditioned response (UCR)—a reactionthat occurs naturally and automatically when the unconditioned stimulus ispresented, in other words, a reflex.

Under normal conditions, the sound of a tuning fork would not causesalivation. The dog had to be taught, or conditioned, to associate this soundwith food. An ordinarily neutral event that, after training, leads to a responsesuch as salivation is termed a conditioned stimulus (CS). The salivationit causes is a conditioned response (CR). A conditioned response is learned. A wide variety of events may serve as conditioned stimuli for salivation—the sight of food, an experimenter entering the room, the soundof a tone, or a flash of light. A number of different reflex responses that occurautomatically following an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) can be condi-tioned to occur following the correct conditioned stimulus (CS).

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICALCONDITIONING

Classical conditioning helps animals and humans adapt to the environ-ment. It also helps humans and animals avoid danger. Psychologists haveinvestigated why and in what circumstances classical conditioning occurs,leading to a greater understanding of the principles of classical conditioning.

242 Chapter 9 / Learning: Principles and Applications

Classical Conditioning ExperimentFigure 9.1

Pavlov’s students used this apparatus. The tube leading from thedog’s mouth allowed saliva to be measured and recorded on thekymograph. What was the point of this experiment?

Kymograph records dog’sresponse to

stimulus.

Harness holds dog in place.

Stimulus (food)

Fistula (tube) is

implanted to collect saliva.

Some stimuli are already meaningful (unconditioned stimulus); for example,

food causes the dog to salivate.

Salivation (UCR)Food (UCS)

During Conditioning

Salivation (CR)

The bell was neutral before,but now can trigger salivation.

Bell (CS)

Some stimuli are neutral (neutral stimulus). The dog shows

no salivary response to the bell’s ring.

g

No salivationNeutral

stimulus

Before Conditioning

Salivation (UCR)

The bell (CS) and meat (UCS) are presented in close

sequence.

Bell (CS)

Food (UCS)

After Conditioning

Before Conditioning


generalization: respondingsimilarly to a range of similarstimuli

discrimination: the ability torespond differently to similarbut distinct stimuli

AcquisitionAcquisition of a classically conditioned response generally occurs

gradually. With each pairing of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and theunconditioned stimulus (UCS), the conditioned response (CR)— orlearned response—is strengthened. In Pavlov’s experiment, the more fre-quently the tuning fork was paired with the food, the more often the tonebrought about salivation—the conditioned response.

The timing of the association between the conditioned stimulus (thetone) and the unconditioned stimulus (food) also influences learning.Pavlov tried several different conditioning procedures in which he variedthe time between presenting the conditioned stimulus and the uncondi-tioned stimulus. He found that classical conditioning was most reliableand effective when the conditioned stimulus was presented just before theunconditioned stimulus. He found that presenting the conditioned stim-ulus (CS) about half a second before the unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

would yield the strongest associations betweenthe tuning fork and the meat.

Generalization and DiscriminationIn the same set of experiments, Pavlov also

explored the processes of generalization and dis-crimination. Generalization occurs when ananimal responds to a second stimulus similar tothe original CS without prior training with thesecond stimulus. When Pavlov conditioned adog to salivate at the sight of a circle (the CS),he found that the dog would salivate when itsaw an oval as well. The dog had generalized itsresponse to include a similar stimulus. Pavlovwas later able to do the opposite, teaching thedog to respond only to the circle by always pair-ing meat powder with the circle but never pair-ing it with the oval. He thus taught the dog dis-crimination—the ability to respond differentlyto different stimuli.

Generalization and discrimination are com-plementary processes and are part of your every-day life. Both may occur spontaneously in somesituations, and both can be taught in others. Forexample, assume a friend has come to associatethe sound of a dentist’s drill (CS) with a fearfulreaction (CR). After several exposures to a den-tist’s drill, your friend may find that he or she hasgeneralized this uncomfortable feeling to thesound of other, nondental drills. Later, yourfriend may learn to discriminate between thesound of a dentist’s drill and other drills.


Pavlov’s Research

The name of Pavlov is well-known in the field ofpsychology because of his pioneering research.In this cartoonist’s depiction, what is theneutral stimulus? The CR?

Figure 9.2

Extinction andSpontaneous Recovery

A classically conditionedresponse, like any other behav-ior, is subject to change. Pavlovdiscovered that if he stoppedpresenting food after thesound of the tuning fork, thesound gradually lost its effecton the dog. After he repeat-edly struck the tuning forkwithout giving food, the dogno longer associated thesound with the arrival offood—the sound of the tun-ing fork no longer causedthe salivation response.Pavlov called this effectextinction because the CRhad gradually died out.

Even though a classi-cally conditioned responsemay be extinguished, thisdoes not mean that the CRhas been completely un-learned. If a rest period isgiven following extinction,the CR may reappear whenthe CS is presented againbut not followed by a UCS.This spontaneous recoverydoes not bring the CR backto original strength, how-ever. Pavlov’s dogs produced much less saliva during spontaneous recoverythan they did at the end of their original conditioning. Alternating lengthyrest periods and the tone without food caused more rapid loss of salivationeach time and less recovery the next time the CS was presented.

A good example of extinction and spontaneous recovery can occur ifyou are involved in a car accident. Following the accident it may at firstbe difficult to drive again. You might even find it difficult to open the doorand get into the car. As you approach the car, your hands begin to shakeand your knees get shaky as well. Your heartbeat even increases as youget nearer. After a few days, opening the door and getting into the car do not bother you as much. Several months go by and the fears of the carand the accident have been extinguished. One day, several months later,as you begin to approach the car, your heart begins to race and yourknees and hands begin to shake. You have had a spontaneous recovery ofthe fear reaction.


B orn in central Russia,Pavlov abandoned his

family’s hopes that he wouldbecome a priest, and instead pursued science. After receiving hisdoctoral degree from the University of St. Petersburg in 1897, hebegan performing his own research into digestion and blood circu-lation. The work that made Pavlov famous actually began as astudy in digestion. Pavlov discovered that salivation and the actionof the stomach were closely linked to reflexes in the autonomic ner-vous system. By studying conditioned reflexes, it became possibleto examine human behavior objectively, instead of resorting to sub-jective methods.

Pavlov distrusted the new science of psychiatry. He did think,though, that conditioned reflexes could explain the behavior ofpsychotic people. He believed that those who withdrew from theworld may associate all stimuli with possible injury or threat.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov1849–1936

“While you are experi-menting, do not remain

content with the surfaceof things. Don’t become amere recorder of facts,but try to penetrate themystery of their origin.”

Profiles In Psychology

extinction: the gradual dis-appearance of a conditionedresponse when the conditionedstimulus is repeatedly pre-sented without the uncondi-tioned stimulus

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AND HUMAN BEHAVIORJohn B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920) used conditioning on a

human infant in the case of Little Albert (see Case Studies, page 249).Watson questioned the role that conditioning played in the developmentof emotional responses in children. He and Rayner attempted to condi-tion an 11-month-old infant named Albert to fear lab-oratory rats. At first Albert happily played with the rats. When Watsonstruck a steel bar with a hammer to produce a loud sound, Albert beganto display a fear response. Eventually Albert showed fear each time hesaw the rat even though the loud sound was not repeated. Although thisdemonstration is now viewed as unethical (because the researcherstaught Little Albert to fear things that he previously had no fear of ), itprovided evidence that emotional responses can be classically condi-tioned in humans. In this case the UCS is the loud noise, the UCR isfear, the CS is the rat, and the CR is fear.

Using the principle of classical conditioning, O.Hobart and Mollie Mowrer (1938) discovered a practi-cal solution to the problem of bed-wetting. One reasonbed-wetting occurs is that children do not wake up dur-ing the night to body signals that they have a full blad-der. The Mowrers developed a device known as the belland pad. It consists of two metallic sheets perforatedwith small holes and wired to a battery-run alarm. Thethin, metal sheets—wrapped in insulation or padding—are placed under the child’s bedsheets. When the sleep-ing child moistens the sheet with the first drops of urine,the circuit closes, causing the alarm to go off and wakethe child. The child can then use the bathroom.

The alarm is the unconditioned stimulus that pro-duces the unconditioned response of waking up. Thesensation of a full bladder is the conditioned stimulusthat, before conditioning, did not produce wakefulness.After several pairings of the full bladder (CS) and the

alarm (UCS), the child is able to awaken to the sensation of a full bladderwithout the help of the alarm. This technique has proven to be a very effec-tive way of treating bed-wetting problems.

Taste AversionsSuppose you go to a fancy restaurant. You decide to try an expensive

appetizer you have never eaten, for instance, snails. Then suppose that,after dinner, you go to a concert and become violently ill. You will prob-ably develop a taste aversion; you may never be able to look at anothersnail without becoming at least a little nauseated.

Your nausea reaction to snails is another example of classical condi-tioning. What makes this type of conditioning interesting to learning the-orists is that when people or other animals become ill, they seem todecide, “It must have been something I ate,” even if they have not eaten


Reading CheckHow do people develop

taste aversions?

?Did You Know?Did You Know?

Classical Conditioning Have you evernoticed how movie directors use music intheir movies? Did you ever hear a song andthen think about either the movie it wasfrom or the person you were with when yousaw the movie? If so, you experiencedclassical conditioning. The music hadbecome a “signal” that triggers memoriesand emotions. A conditioned emotion, suchas fear, is a very difficult response to extin-guish. It may trigger physical, cognitive,and emotional reactions.

for several hours. It is unlikely that the concert hall in which you weresick will become the conditioned stimulus, nor will other stimuli from therestaurant—the wallpaper pattern or the type of china used. What ismore, psychologists can even predict which part of your meal will be theCS—you will probably blame a new food. Thus, if you get sick after ameal of salad, steak, and snails, you will probably learn to hate snails, evenif they are really not the cause of your illness.

John Garcia and R.A. Koelling (1966) first demonstrated this phe-nomenon with rats. The animals were placed in a cage with a tube con-taining flavored water. Whenever a rat took a drink, lights flashed andclicks sounded. Then, some of the rats were given an electric shock afterthey drank. All these rats showed traditional classical conditioning—thelights and the sounds became conditioned stimuli, and the rats tried toavoid them in order to avoid a shock. The other rats were not shockedbut were injected with a drug that made them sick after they drank andthe lights and sounds occurred. These rats developed an aversion not tothe lights or the sounds but only to the taste of the flavored water.

This special relationship between food and illness was used in a studythat made coyotes avoid sheep by giving them a drug to make them sickwhen they ate sheep (Gustavson et al., 1974). This application is importantbecause sheep farmers in the western United States would like to eliminatethe coyotes that threaten their flocks, while naturalists are opposed tokilling the coyotes. The psychologists realized that coyotes could be trainedto eat other kinds of meat and thus learn to coexist peacefully with sheep.

In summary, classical conditioning helps animals and humans predictwhat is going to happen. It provides information that may be helpful totheir survival. Learning associated with classical conditioning may aid ani-mals in finding food or help humans avoid pain or injury. For example,parents may condition an infant to avoid a danger such as electrical out-lets by shouting “NO!” and startling the infant each time he approaches anoutlet. The infant fears the shouts of the parents, and eventually the infantmay fear the outlet even when the parents do not shout.


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Examples of Common Conditioned ResponsesFigure 9.3

If you have pets and feed them canned food, what happens when you use the can opener? The animals may come running even when you are opening a can of peas. Why do you feel distress at the mere sight of flashing police lights?

UCS CS UCR CR

Drill Dentist/ Tension Tensionsound of drill

Catchy jingle Product Favorable feeling Favorable feelingor slogan (soda pop)

Speeding ticket Flashing police Distress Distresscar lights

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Classical conditioning is an example of a behaviorist theory.Behaviorism is the attempt to understand behavior in terms of relationshipsbetween observable stimuli and observable responses. Behaviorists are psy-chologists who study only those behaviors that they can observe andmeasure. Behaviorists are not concerned with unobservable mentalprocesses. They emphasize actions instead of thoughts. We will discussanother behaviorist learning theory, operant conditioning, in the next sec-tion. Classical conditioning is a process by which a stimulus that previ-ously did not elicit a response comes to elicit a response after it is pairedwith a stimulus that naturally elicits a response. In contrast, operant con-ditioning is a process by which the consequences of a response affect thelikelihood that the response will occur again (see Figure 9.4).


1. Review the Vocabulary What is thedifference between a neutral stimulusand an unconditioned stimulus?

2. Visualize the Main Idea In a graphicorganizer similar to the one below,describe the process of classical conditioning.

3. Recall Information How are general-ization and discrimination related toclassical conditioning?

4. Think Critically Under what condi-tions might a conditioned responsebecome extinct?


Assessment

5. Application Activity You have a friend whoinhales noisily when standing next to you andthen puffs air into your eye. You find that younow blink when you hear your friend inhale.Identify and decribe the neutral stimulus, theUCS, UCR, CS, and CR in your behavior.

Classical Conditioning vs. Operant ConditioningFigure 9.4

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning both involve the establishmentof relationships between two events. Classical conditioning and operant condi-tioning, though, use very different procedures to reach their goals. What roledoes the learner’s environment play in each type of conditioning?

Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning

1. Always a specific stimulus (UCS) that elicits 1. No identifiable stimulus; learner must first the desired response respond, then behavior is reinforced

2. UCS does not depend upon learner’s 2. Reinforcement depends upon learner’s response behavior

3. Learner responds to its environment 3. Learner actively operates on its environment


was struck, Albert began to whimper. The noise,the unconditioned stimulus, brought about anaturally unconditioned response, fear. Afteronly a few such pairings, the rat became a con-ditioned stimulus that elicited a conditionedresponse, fear.

Five days after Watson and Rayner condi-tioned Albert to fear rats, they presented himwith blocks, a rabbit, a rat, and a dog, eachalone. They also showed him a number of other

stimuli, including a SantaClaus mask. Albert reactedfearfully to all but theblocks. His conditionedfear response generalizedto include the rabbit and allof the white furry objectshe was shown, but not toany dissimilar toys.

Results: One of the mostfrequent criticisms of theexperiment was thatWatson and Rayner taught

a well-adjusted child to be fearful. Apparently,the researchers knew at least one month aheadof time that Albert would be leaving the study,and yet they made no attempt to extinguish hisconditioned fears (Harris, 1979). Psychologiststoday are unable to repeat the Little Albert studybecause of the ethical standards of the APA (seeChapter 2).

One of Watson’s students, Mary Cover Jones(1924, 1974), developed an extinction procedurecalled counterconditioning to reduce people’sexisting fears. Peter was a boy who wasextremely fearful of rabbits. Jones helped Petereliminate his fear by pairing the feared object(the rabbit) with pleasant experiences, such aseating ice cream or receiving special attention.

The Case of Little AlbertPeriod of Study: Winter, 1919–1920

Introduction: John B. Watson and RosalieRayner showed how conditioning could be usedon a human infant. The study led to ethical ques-tions on research with humans. From suchresearch, Watson concluded that there are onlya few instinctive reflexes inhumans, among them, suck-ing, reaching, and grasping.In addition, infants havethree innate emotional re-sponses to stimuli: fear athearing a loud sound or atsuddenly being dropped;rage when arm or headmovements are forciblyrestrained; and love whenstroked, rocked, gently patted, and the like.

Hypothesis: Most human behaviors andemotional reactions are built up of conditionedresponses. (When an emotionally exciting objectstimulates the subject simultaneously with anobject not emotionally exciting, the latter objectmay in time arouse the same emotional reactionas the former object.)

Method: Watson and Rayner presentedAlbert (a well-adjusted 9-month-old) with manyobjects, including a rat, blocks, a rabbit, a dog, amonkey, masks with and without hair, cotton,wool, and burning newspapers. Albert showedno fear of any of these objects—they were allneutral stimuli for the fear response.

Watson and Rayner decided that, whenAlbert was 11 months old, they wouldattempt to condition him to fear rats. Theybegan by placing a furry white rat in frontof him. Albert would reach out to touch it,and each time he did, one of Watson’sassistants would strike a metal bar with ahammer behind Albert. The first time themetal bar was struck, Albert fell forwardand buried his head in a pillow. The nexttime he reached for the rat and the bar

Analyzing the Case Study 1. Did the results of Watson and Rayner’s experimentsupport their hypothesis? Explain.

2. How did Albert’s response become generalized?

3. Critical Thinking How were the principles of classicalconditioning used to reduce Peter’s fear of rabbits?

Suppose your dog is wandering around the neighborhood, sniffingtrees, checking garbage cans, looking for a squirrel to chase. A kindneighbor sees the dog and tosses a bone out the kitchen door to it.

The next day, the dog is likely to stop at the same door on its rounds, ifnot go to it directly. Your neighbor produces another bone, and anotherthe next day. Your dog becomes a regular visitor.

Both stories are examples of operant conditioning—that is, learn-ing from the consequences of behavior. The term operant is used because

Operant Conditioning

� Main IdeaOperant conditioning occurs when theconsequences that follow a behaviorincrease or decrease the likelihood ofthat behavior occurring again.

� Vocabulary• operant conditioning• reinforcement• primary reinforcer• secondary reinforcer• fixed-ratio schedule• variable-ratio schedule• fixed-interval schedule• variable-interval schedule• shaping• response chain• aversive control• negative reinforcement• escape conditioning• avoidance conditioning

� Objectives• Outline the principles of operant

conditioning.• Describe applications of operant

conditioning.


Saved by a TheoryThe therapists noted that the

depressed woman did not eat; she was in critical danger of dying of starvation.What should they do? The woman didseem to enjoy visitors at the hospital andthe TV set, radio, books and magazines,and flowers in her room. The therapistsmoved her into a room devoid of all thesecomforts, and put a light meal in front ofher; if she ate anything at all, one of thecomforts was temporarily restored. Thetherapists gradually withheld the rewardsunless she continued to eat more. Hereating improved, she gained weight.Within months she was released from thehospital. A follow-up consultation withher 18 months later found her leading anormal life.

—from The Story of Psychology by MortonHunt, 1993


operant conditioning:learning in which a certainaction is reinforced or pun-ished, resulting in correspond-ing increases or decreases inoccurrence

the subject (the depressed woman and the wandering dog in our exam-ples) operates on or causes some change in the environment. This pro-duces a result that influences whether the subject will operate or respondin the same way in the future. Depending on the effect of the operantbehaviors, the learner will repeat or eliminate these behaviors to getrewards or avoid punishment.

How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?One difference lies in how the experimenter conducts the experiment. In classical conditioning, the experimenter presents the CS and UCSindependent of the participant’s behavior. The UCR is elicited. Reactionsto the CS are then observed. In operant conditioning, the participantmust engage in a behavior in order for the programmed outcome tooccur. In other words, operant conditioning is the study of how voluntarybehavior is affected by its consequences (see Figure 9.5).

REINFORCEMENTBurrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner has been the psychologist most

closely associated with operant conditioning. He believed that mostbehavior is influenced by a person’s history of rewards and punishments.Skinner trained (or shaped) rats to respond to lights and sounds in a spe-cial enclosure called a Skinner box (see Figure 9.6). To conduct thisexperiment, a rat is placed inside the box. The rat must learn how to solvethe problem of how to get food to appear in the cup. (This can be doneby pressing a bar on the cage wall.) The rat first explores the box. Whenthe rat moves toward the bar, the experimenter drops food into the cup.The food is important to the hungry rat. After the rat begins to approachthe cup for food consistently, the experimenter begins to drop food intothe cup only if the rat presses the bar. Eventually, when the rat is hungryit will press the bar to get food.

The food that appears in the cup is a rein-forcer in this experiment. Reinforcement canbe defined as a stimulus or event that increasesthe likelihood that behavior will be repeated.Whether or not a particular stimulus is a rein-forcement depends on the effect the stimulushas on the learner. Examples of reinforcers thatpeople usually respond to are social approval,money, and extra privileges.

Suppose you want to teach a dog to shakehands. One way would be to give the animal atreat every time it lifts its paw up to you. Thetreat is called a positive reinforcer. In this example,the dog will eventually learn to shake hands toget a reward.

Your dog will stop shaking hands when youforget to reward it for the trick. Extinction willoccur because the reinforcement is withheld, but


Operant Conditioning

We do not just react to our environment, webehave in ways that seem designed to producecertain environmental changes. For example, Iflip the light switch to illuminate a room. I say,“Please, pass the salt,” to get the salt shaker.According to the diagram, what must hap-pen for behavior to change?

Figure 9.5

Positivereinforcer

Negativereinforcer

Behavior

Changedbehavior

Reading CheckHow is operant condi-

tioning different from classicalconditioning?

reinforcement: stimulus orevent that follows a responseand increases the likelihoodthat the response will berepeated

it will take a period of time. (Remember, inclassical conditioning, extinction is the disap-pearance of a conditioned response when anunconditioned stimulus no longer follows aconditioned stimulus.) In fact, for a while afteryou stop rewarding the dog, it will probablybecome impatient, bark, and paw even moreinsistently than it did before, until it gives upshaking hands. Eventually the dog will try toshake hands again, indicating that spontaneousrecovery has occurred.

Whereas positive reinforcement occurswhen something the animal wants (a treat forthe dog) is added after an action, negative rein-forcement occurs when something unpleasantis taken away if the animal performs an action.

Primary and Secondary ReinforcersReinforcers come in many varieties. Some

reinforcers are primary and some are sec-ondary. A primary reinforcer is one that sat-isfies a biological need such as hunger, thirst, orsleep. A secondary reinforcer is one that hasbeen paired with a primary reinforcer andthrough classical conditioning has acquiredvalue and reinforcement. With conditioning,almost any stimulus can acquire value andbecome a secondary reinforcer.

One experimenter (Wolfe, 1936) demon-strated this with chimpanzees. Poker chips haveno value for chimps—they are not edible andthey are not very much fun to play with. Thisexperimenter, however, used operant and clas-sical conditioning to teach chimps to valuepoker chips as much as humans value money.He provided the animals with a “Chimp-O-

Mat” that dispensed peanuts or bananas, which are primary reinforcers.To obtain food, the chimps had to pull down on a heavily weighted barto obtain poker chips, then insert the chips in a slot in the machine. Withrepetition, the poker chips became conditioned reinforcers. Their valuewas evident from the fact that the chimpanzees would work for them,save them, and sometimes try to steal them from one another.

Money is the best example of a secondary reinforcer in human soci-ety. You have learned that getting money is associated with buying foodor material things. Other examples of secondary reinforcers wouldinclude praise, status, and prestige. All of these items are associated witha primary reinforcer and have acquired value, so they reinforce certaintypes of behavior when used.


A Skinner BoxFigure 9.6

primary reinforcer: stimu-lus that is naturally rewarding,such as food or water

secondary reinforcer:stimulus such as money thatbecomes rewarding through itslink with a primary reinforcer

The Skinner box is a basic apparatus used totest theories of operant conditioning. When therat presses the bar located on the side of thebox, food is delivered to the cup. How does therat display that learning has occurred?

SCHEDULES OFREINFORCEMENT

One important factor in operant condi-tioning is the timing and frequency of rein-forcement. Behavior that is reinforced everytime it occurs is said to be on a continuousschedule of reinforcement. You might sup-pose that behavior would best be main-tained by reinforcing every response.However, when positive reinforcementoccurs only intermittently, or on a partialschedule, the responses are generally morestable and last longer once they are learned.A person or animal that is continuously rein-forced for a behavior tends to maintain thatbehavior only when the reinforcement isgiven. If the reinforcement stops, the behaviorquickly undergoes extinction. For example, a ratlearns to press a bar most rapidly when itreceives food each time it does so. When the ratstops receiving food each time it presses the bar,however, it quickly stops its bar-pressing. Behaviorsthat are acquired on partial schedules of reinforcementare established more slowly but are more persistent. Forexample, a rat that is only sometimes rewarded with foodfor pressing a bar will continue to press even though no foodappears. Rats and humans that are reinforced on partial sched-ules of reinforcement cannot always predict when the nextreinforcement will occur, so they learn to be persistent.

Skinner discovered the strength of partial reinforcement when hisapparatus kept breaking down. Skinner found that the rats kept re-sponding even though they were reinforced randomly. In fact, the ratsresponded with even greater endurance.

Although intermittent reinforcement may be arranged in a number ofways, four basic methods, or schedules, have been studied in the labora-tory (see Figure 9.7). Schedules of partial reinforcement may be basedeither on the number of correct responses that the animal makes betweenreinforcements (ratio schedule) or on the amount of time that elapsesbefore reinforcement is given (interval schedule). In either case, reinforce-ment may appear on a fixed, or predictable, schedule or on a variable, orunpredictable, schedule. The four basic schedules result from the combi-nation of these four possibilities. People and animals respond differentlyto each type.

• In a fixed-ratio schedule, reinforcement depends on a specifiedquantity of responses, such as rewarding every fourth response. Thestudent who receives a good grade after completing a specifiedamount of work and the typist who is paid by the number of pages


What reinforcement schedulesoperate in your classroom?Do you think that students would do school-work if there were no grading system? Whatreinforcements would operate if grades wereabolished?

Procedure1. Identify the types of reinforcers that oper-

ate in your classroom.

2. Make a chart that lists the type of reinforcer(primary, secondary, positive, negative) andthe classroom behavior it usually elicits.

3. Devise a system for your classroom thatcould replace the existing reinforcers withnew ones (and achieve the same results).

Analysis1. Describe how the new reinforcers

operate.

2. Indicate what responses the new reinforcers are supposed to elicit.

See the SkillsHandbook, page 622,

for an explanation of designingan experiment.

fixed-ratio schedule:a pattern of reinforcement inwhich a specific number of correct responses is requiredbefore reinforcement can beobtained

completed are on fixed-ratio schedules. People tend to work hard onfixed-ratio schedules. Another example would be dentists who getpaid $75 for each cavity repaired or filled.

• A variable-ratio schedule does not require that a fixed or set num-ber of responses be made for each reinforcement, as in the fixed-ratioschedule. Rather, the number of responses needed for a reinforcementchanges from one time to the next. Slot machines are a good exampleof a variable-ratio schedule. They are set to pay off after a varying num-ber of attempts at pulling the handle. Generally, animals on variable-ratio schedules of reinforcement tend to work or respond at a steady,high rate. Since the reinforcement is unpredictable, there is typically nopause after a reward because it is possible that a reward will occur onthe very next response. Door-to-door salespeople and individuals whodo telephone surveys are also operating on variable-ratio schedulessince they never know how many doorbells they will have to ring orhow many calls they will have to make before they make a sale or findsomeone who will answer the survey.

• On a fixed-interval schedule, the first correct response after a spec-ified amount of time is reinforced. The time interval is always thesame. Once animals gain experience with a fixed-interval reinforce-ment schedule, they adjust their response rates. Since no reinforce-ment occurs for a period of time no matter what their behavior, theylearn to stop responding immediately after reinforcement is given andthen begin to respond again toward the end of the interval. The resultis regular, recurring periods of inactivity followed by short bursts ofresponding. Your teachers, for example, often give quizzes or tests ona fixed-interval schedule. It is likely that you will study feverishly theday before a test but study much less immediately afterwards.


Ratio Interval

Vari

able

Fixe

dsc

hed

ules

sche

dul

es

variable-ratio schedule:a pattern of reinforcement inwhich an unpredictable numberof responses are requiredbefore reinforcement can beobtained

fixed-interval schedule: a pattern of reinforcement inwhich a specific amount of timemust elapse before a responsewill elicit reinforcement

Fixed Ratio (reinforcement after a fixed Fixed Interval (reinforcement of first response number of responses) after a fixed amount of time has passed)• being paid for every 10 pizzas made • cramming for an exam• being ejected from a basketball game • picking up your check from your part-time job

after five fouls

Variable Ratio (reinforcement after varying Variable Interval (reinforcement of first number of responses) response after varying amounts of time)• playing a slot machine • surprise (pop) quizzes in class• sales commissions • dialing a friend on the phone and getting a

busy signal

Partial Schedules of ReinforcementFigure 9.7

B.F. Skinner pointed out many examples of how schedules of reinforcement maintain andcontrol different behaviors. The different schedules produce different response rates. Howdoes a fixed-ratio schedule differ from a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement?

• On a variable-interval schedule, the time at which the reinforce-ment is given changes. If you are trying to call a friend, but the line isbusy, what do you do? You keep trying. The reinforcer will be gainedthe first time you dial after your friend has hung up, but you do not know when that is going to occur. The usual response rate on avariable-interval schedule is slow, but steady—slower than on anyother schedule of partial reinforcement. In fact, your eagerness toreach your friend probably will determine roughly how often youtry the phone again . . . and again.

In summary, ratio schedules are based on numbers ofresponses, while interval schedules are based on time.Responses are more resistant to extinction when reinforcedon a variable rather than on a fixed schedule. To be mosteffective, however, the reinforcement must be consistent forthe same type of behavior, although it may not occur eachtime the behavior does. The complexity of our behaviormeans that most reinforcers in human relationships are on a vari-able schedule. How people will react cannot always be predicted.

SHAPING AND CHAININGOperant conditioning is not limited to simple behav-

iors. When you acquire a skill such as knitting, photo-graphy, playing basketball, or talking persuasively, you learnmore than just a single new stimulus-response relationship.You learn a large number of them, and you learn how to putthem together into a large, smooth-flowing unit.

Shaping is a process in which reinforcement is used tosculpt new responses out of old ones. An experimenter canuse this method to teach a rat to do something it has neverdone before and would never do if left to itself. He or shecan shape it, for example, to raise a miniature flag. The rat is physicallycapable of standing on its hind legs and using its mouth to pull a miniature flag-raising cord, but at present it does not do so. The rat probably will not perform this unusual action by accident, so the experi-menter begins by rewarding the rat for any action similar to the wantedresponses, using reinforcement to produce closer and closer approxima-tions of the desired behavior.

Imagine the rat roaming around on a table with the flag apparatus inthe middle. The rat inspects everything and finally sniffs at the flagpole.The experimenter immediately reinforces this response by giving the rata food pellet. Now the rat frequently sniffs the flagpole, hoping to getanother pellet, but the experimenter waits until the rat lifts a paw beforehe gives it another reward. This process continues with the experimenterreinforcing close responses and then waiting for even closer ones.Eventually, the experimenter has the rat on its hind legs nibbling at thecord. Suddenly the rat seizes the cord in its teeth and yanks it.


shaping: technique in which the desired behavior is “molded” by first reward-ing any act similar to thatbehavior and then requiringever-closer approximations tothe desired behavior before giving the reward

Clicker Training

Clicker training is a form of shaping.The trainer waits for the dog to sit onits own. The instant its rear goesdown, the trainer hits the clicker (anaudio signal) and the dog gets thetreat. The clicker acts as an acousti-cal marker to tell the dog, “That’s whatI’m reinforcing.” How might you useshaping to teach a dog to shake?

Figure 9.8

variable-interval schedule: a pattern of rein-forcement in which changingamounts of time must elapsebefore a response will obtainreinforcement

Immediately the rat is rewarded, and it begins pulling rapidly on the cord.A new response has been shaped. Shaping has been used to teach animalstricks. For example, if a television character points her finger to theground and her dog immediately lies down, we need to remember thatshaping was involved in the dog’s behavior. If shaping is done properly,almost any animal can learn some unusual tricks.

Combining Responses: ChainingIn order to learn a skill, a person must be able to put various new

responses together. Responses that follow one another in a sequence arecombined into response chains. Each response produces the signal forthe next one.

In learning, chains of responses are organized into larger response pat-terns. For example, the complex skill of swimming has three major chainsthat are combined to make up the whole swimming pattern—an arm-stroking chain, a breathing chain, and a leg-kicking chain (see Figure 9.9).After much practice, you no longer have to think about the different stepsinvolved. The behavior takes on a rhythm of its own: the chains ofresponses flow naturally as soon as you dive into the water.

It is often necessary to learn simple responses before mastering the com-plex pattern. If you cannot hit a nail with a hammer, you certainly cannotbuild a house. Therefore, before a person can learn to perform a particular skill,he or she must learn all the lower skills that make the larger skill possible.

AVERSIVE CONTROLReinforcement refers to anything that increases the frequency of an

immediately preceding behavior. Aversive, or unpleasant, consequencesinfluence much of our everyday behavior. Aversive

control refers to this type of condition-ing or learning. There are twoways in which unpleasant eventscan affect our behavior—as neg-ative reinforcers or as punishers.

Negative Reinforcement In negative reinforce-

ment, a painful or unpleasantstimulus is removed. The re-moval of unpleasant conse-quences increases the frequencyof a behavior. It may help you tounderstand negative reinforce-ment if you remember that it fol-lows and negates, or takes away,an aversive stimulus. B.F.Skinner provided this example:


response chain: learnedreactions that follow one another in sequence, eachreaction producing the signalfor the next

aversive control: process ofinfluencing behavior by meansof unpleasant stimuli

negative reinforcement:increasing the strength of agiven response by removing orpreventing a painful stimuluswhen the response occurs

To learn to swim, you must first learnthe arm stroke, then how to breatheproperly, and finally how to kick yourlegs. What similar response chainscan you describe that you wouldhave to develop to learn otherskills?

Swimming—A Response ChainFigure 9.9

If walking with a stone in your shoe causes you to limp, removing thestone (negating it) allows you to walk without pain. Other examples ofnegative reinforcers are fear and experiencing disapproval of unwelcomebehavior.

Two uses of negative reinforcement that psychologists have studied in detail are escape conditioning and avoidance conditioning. In escape conditioning, a person’s behavior causes an unpleasant event to stop.Consider the case of a child who hates liver and is served it for dinner.She whines about the food and gags while eating it. At this point, herfather removes the liver. The whining and gagging behavior has beenthus negatively reinforced, and the child is likely to whine and gag in thefuture when given an unpleasant meal. This kind of learning is calledescape conditioning because the behavior of the child allowed her toescape the liver meal.

In avoidance conditioning, the person’s behavior has the effect ofpreventing an unpleasant situation from happening. In our example, if thechild starts whining and gagging when the father removes the liver fromthe refrigerator to cook it, we would identify the situation as avoidanceconditioning; the child avoided the unpleasant consequences by whiningearly enough. The reinforcer here is the reduction of the child’s disgust—not having to eat liver.

Punishment The most obvious form of aversive control is punishment. In punish-

ment, an unpleasant consequence occurs and decreases the frequency ofthe behavior that produced it. Negative reinforcement and punishmentoperate in opposite ways. In negative reinforcement, escape or avoidancebehavior is repeated and increases in frequency. In punishment, behaviorthat is punished decreases or is not repeated. If you want to stop a dog from pawing at you when it wants attention, you should loudly say, “NO!” and reprimand it when it paws at you. Such actions are calledpunishers (see Figure 9.10).

As with reinforcers, the events or actions that serve as punishersdepend on their effect on the learner. For example, if a young child in alarge family seeks extra attention from her parents, that child may misbehave. In response the parents punish the child by reprimanding her.The reprimands are meant to be punishers. The reprimands, however,may actually serve as reinforcers for a child who wants attention. Perhapssending her to her room every time she misbehaved would have been anappropriate punisher; this unpleasant stimulus would have discouragedher from repeating the behavior.

Disadvantages of Punishment Psychologists have found several disadvantages in using aversive stim-

uli (punishment) to change behavior. For one thing, aversive stimuli canproduce unwanted side effects such as rage, aggression, and fear. Then,instead of having to change only one problem behavior, there may be two


avoidance conditioning:training of an organism to withdraw from or prevent anunpleasant stimulus before it starts

escape conditioning: train-ing of an organism to remove or terminate an unpleasantstimulus

or more. For example, children whose parents rely on spanking to controldisobedience may also have to deal with the problem of their children’sincreased aggressiveness toward other children.

A second problem with punishment is that people learn to avoid theperson delivering the aversive consequences. Children learn to stay awayfrom parents or teachers who often punish them. One consequence of thisis that such parents and teachers have less opportunity to correct the children’s inappropriate behavior. Also, punishment is likely to merelysuppress, but not eliminate, such behavior. The punished behavior is like-ly to occur at some other time or in some other place.

Punishment alone does not teach appropriate and acceptable behav-ior. Without positive coaching and modeling, the child may never learnthe correct behavior or understand what the parents think is the accept-able behavior in a given situation.


Types of Reinforcers Example

Aversive Stimuli

Punishment occurs when an unpleasant consequence following a behavior decreases thechances that the behavior will recur. How might Calvin’s tumbles act as punishers?

Figure 9.10

1. Review the Vocabulary Explain howthe four schedules of partial reinforce-ment work.

2. Visualize the Main Idea In a chartsimilar to the one below, list four typesof reinforcers and give an example of each.

3. Recall Information What is the differ-ence between escape conditioning andavoidance conditioning?

4. Think Critically How do positive andnegative reinforcement affect a teenag-er’s choice and purchase of clothes?Provide examples in your answer.

Assessment

5. Application Activity Using principles of oper-ant conditioning, design a plan to teach a puppya new trick.

Why did the children display such aggressive behavior? AlbertBandura performed the study above in 1961 to demonstratethat the children learned aggressive behaviors simply by

watching a model perform these behaviors. The study illustrated the thirdtype of learning, called social learning. Social learning theorists viewlearning as purposeful—going beyond mechanical responses to stimuli or reinforcement. The two types of social learning are cognitive learning and modeling.

Social Learning

social learning: process ofaltering behavior by observingand imitating the behavior ofothers

� Main IdeaSocial learning, consisting of cognitivelearning and modeling, involves howpeople make decisions and act upon theinformation available to them.

� Vocabulary• social learning• cognitive learning• cognitive map• latent learning• learned helplessness• modeling• behavior modification• token economy

� Objectives• Cite the principles involved in cogni-

tive learning and modeling.• Identify the principles of learning used

in behavior modification.


Would You Treat Bobo This Way?Children were told to play while in

another part of the room an adult “model”aggressively “played” with a 5-foot inflatedBobo doll. The model laid the Bobo dollon its side, sat on it, and punched itrepeatedly in the nose. The model thenraised the Bobo doll, picked up a malletand struck the doll on the head, thenkicked the doll around the room. Fol-lowing this experience, the youngsterswere brought to a room that containedmany attractive toys and the Bobo doll.The children exhibited a good deal ofaggressive behavior toward the Bobodoll—behavior resembling that of the adult model.

—adapted from “Transmission of AggressionThrough Imitation of Aggressive Models” byAlbert Bandura, Dorothea Ross, and SheilaA. Ross, published in Journal of Abnormal andSocial Psychology, 1961



COGNITIVE LEARNINGCognitive learning focuses on how

information is obtained, processed, andorganized. Such learning is concernedwith the mental processes involved inlearning. Latent learning and learnedhelplessness are examples of cognitivelearning.

Latent Learning and Cognitive Maps

In the 1930s, Edward Tolman arguedthat learning involved more thanmechanical responses to stimuli; itinvolved mental processes. Tolmanwould place a rat in a maze and allow itto explore the maze without giving therat any reinforcement, such as food.Then he would place food at the end ofthe maze and record which path the rattook to reach the food. The rat quicklylearned to take the shortest route to thefood. Next, Tolman blocked the shortest

path to the food. The rat then followed the next shortest path to the food.Tolman believed that the rat had developed a cognitive map of themaze. A cognitive map is a mental picture of a place, such as the maze.The rats had developed a cognitive map of the maze when allowed toexplore the maze on their own.

Tolman called the type of learning demonstrated by the rat latentlearning. Latent learning is not demonstrated by an immediately observ-able change in behavior at the time of the learning. Although the learningtypically occurs in the absence of a reinforcer, it may not be demonstrateduntil a reinforcer appears. For example, have you ever had to locate a build-ing or street in a section of your city or town that you were unfamiliar with?You may have been through that section of town before and remembereddetails such as an unusual sign or large parking lot. Remembering thesedetails may have helped you find the building or street you were lookingfor. You had learned some details without intending to do so.

Learned Helplessness Psychologists have shown that general learning strategies can affect a

person’s relationship to the environment. For example, if a person hasnumerous experiences in which his or her actions have no effect, he orshe may learn a general strategy of helplessness or laziness.

In the first stage of one study (Hiroto, 1974), one group of college stu-dents were able to turn off an unpleasant loud noise, while another group

cognitive learning: form ofaltering behavior that involvesmental processes and mayresult from observation or imitation

cognitive map: a mental pic-ture of spatial relationships orrelationships between events

latent learning: alteration ofa behavioral tendency that isnot demonstrated by an imme-diate, observable change inbehavior

This cartoonist exaggerates the cognitive learning capa-bilities of rats. In what ways do humans use informa-tion obtained from latent learning in daily life?

Mazes and MapsFigure 9.11


learned helplessness:condition in which repeatedattempts to control a situationfail, resulting in the belief thatthe situation is uncontrollable

had no control over the noise. Later, all were placed in a situation inwhich they merely had to move a lever to stop a similar noise. Only theones who had control over the noise in the first place learned to turn itoff. The others did not even try!

It is not hard to see how these results can apply to everyday situa-tions. In order to be able to try hard and to be full of energy, people mustlearn that their actions do make a difference. If rewards come withouteffort, a person never learns to work (learned laziness). If pain comes nomatter how hard one tries, a person gives up. This occurrence is calledlearned helplessness.

Martin Seligman believes that learned helplessness is one major causeof depression. He reasons that when people are unable to control eventsin their lives, they generally respond in one of the following ways: (1) they may be less motivated to act and thus stop trying; (2) they mayexperience a lowered sense of self-esteem and think negatively aboutthemselves; or (3) they may feel depressed (see Figure 9.12).

Seligman identified three important elements of learned helplessness:stability, globality, and internality. Stability refers to the person’s belief thatthe state of helplessness results from a permanent characteristic. For exam-ple, a student who fails a math test can decide that the problem is eithertemporary (“I did poorly on this math test because I was sick”) or stable (“Inever have done well on math tests and never will”). Similarly, the personcan decide that the problem is either specific (“I’m no good at math tests”)or global (“I’m just dumb”). Both stability and globality focus on the stu-dent—on internal reasons for failure. The student could have decided thatthe problem was external (“This was a bad math test”) instead of internal.People who attribute an undesirable outcome to their own inadequacieswill probably experience depression along with guilt and self-blame.

Learned Helplessness

What happens when it isimpossible for a learner to havean effect on the environment?What happens when a learneris punished and cannot escapethe punishment? The learnermay give up trying to learn.How can learned helpless-ness cause depression?

Figure 9.12

Examples of How Learned Helplessness Develops

Common Factors of Learned Helplessness Situations

• Parents punish children constantly for any and all offenses.• You are overly critical of all your friend's actions.• A student is placed in an advanced math course without proper preparation (taking and passing the basic math course first).

Subjects believe they have no control over their own environment.

Success seems a matter of luck, rather than skill.


MODELINGThe second type of social learning is modeling.

When you go to a concert for the first time, you may bevery hesitant about where to go, when to enter (especiallyif you are late), when to clap, how to get a better seat afterthe first intermission, and so on. So you observe others, fol-low them, and soon you are an “old hand.” This illustratesa third type of learning—observation and imitation.

The general term for this kind of learning is modeling.It includes three different types of effects. In the sim-plest case—the first type of modeling—the behavior ofothers simply increases the chances that we will do thesame thing. We clap when others do, look up at abuilding if everyone else is looking there, and copy thestyles and verbal expressions of our peers. No learningoccurs in this case, in the sense of acquiring newresponses. We simply perform old responses that weotherwise might not be using at the time.

The second type of modeling is usually calledobservational learning, or imitation. In this sort of learn-ing an observer watches someone perform a behaviorand is later able to reproduce it closely, though theobserver was unable to do this before observing themodel. An example is watching someone else do anunfamiliar dance step and afterward being able to dothe dance step yourself.

Have you ever noticed that some children seem tobehave in a manner similar to their parents? AlbertBandura suggested that we watch models perform andthen imitate the models’ behavior. Bandura and his col-leagues demonstrated observational learning by using aBobo doll (see Exploring Psychology on page 259).

The experimenters found that children were more likely to act aggres-sively after they had observed aggressive behavior.

Individual differences in personality may help to explain why peopleact differently when shown the same movie containing violent material.The American Psychological Association (APA) Commission onViolence and Youth (1993) reported that personal qualities do play a role.One child may learn that violence is right and another child may viewviolence as pitiful. Others have found that more aggressive children seekout violent television and are also more affected by it.

A third type of modeling involves disinhibition. When an observerwatches someone else engage in a threatening activity without beingpunished, the observer may find it easier to engage in that behavior later.For example, someone with a snake phobia may watch another personhandling snakes. Such observation may help alleviate the phobia. Thisprocedure is used in clinical work as we will see in the chapter on ther-apies (Chapter 17).

TV and ViolenceBefore you turn 18 years old, you prob-

ably will have witnessed 200,000 violentacts on TV. What effect does this have onyou? Since the 1960s more than 3,000studies have investigated the link betweentelevision violence and real violence.

A study released in 1996 (MediascopeNational Television Violence Study [NTVS])found that by watching violence on televi-sion, viewers risk the following results: (1) They learn to behave violently. (2) Theybecome more desensitized to violence. (3) They become more fearful of beingattacked.

The study also found the following:

• Perpetrators go unpunished in 73 percent of all violent scenes.

• 47 percent of violent scenes show no harm to victims, while 58 percentshow no pain.

• 25 percent of violent scenes on TVinvolve handguns.

• Only 4 percent of violent programsemphasize a nonviolent theme.

• Less than 3 percent of violent scenesfeature close-ups, while only 15 percentshow blood.

Reading CheckHow does observa-

tional learning differ from disinhibition? Give classroomexamples.

modeling: learning by imitat-ing others; copying behavior

The Imitation of OthersFigure 9.13


BEHAVIOR MODIFICATIONThe term behavior modification often appears in magazine articles

describing research on changing people’s behavior through drugs, “mindcontrol,” or even brain surgery. In fact, it is none of these things.Behavior modification refers to the systematic application of learningprinciples (classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learn-ing) to change people’s actions and feelings. When you give your littlebrother a quarter to leave you alone, that is very much like behavior mod-ification. Behavior modification involves a series of well-defined steps tochange behavior. The success of each step is carefully evaluated to findthe best solution for a given situation.

The behavior modifier usually begins by defining a problem in con-crete terms. For example, Johnnie’s mother might complain that her sonis messy. If she used behavior modification to reform the child, she wouldfirst have to define “messy” in objective terms. For example, he does notmake his bed in the morning, he drops his coat on the couch when hecomes inside, and so on. She would not worry about where his bad habitscome from. Rather, she would work out a system of rewards and pun-ishments aimed at getting Johnnie to make his bed, hang up his coat, anddo other straightening-up tasks.

Modeling, operant conditioning, and classical conditioning principleshave been used in behavior modification. Classical conditioning principlesare particularly useful in helping people to overcome fears, and we shall dis-cuss them when we consider the problem of treating psychological disor-ders (Chapter 17). Modeling is often used to teach desired behaviors. Inaddition, as you will see in the following examples, operant conditioningprinciples have also been applied to everyday problems.

Computer-Assisted InstructionSome instructors teach their students by a conversational method

very similar to what computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is using today.CAI is a refinement of the concept of programmed instruction that was

behavior modification:systematic application of learn-ing principles to change peo-ple’s actions and feelings

Social learning theorists argue thatmuch learning results from observingthe behavior of others and fromimagining the consequences of ourown behavior. What behaviorsmight this child be learning?

Inflated doll similar to Bobo doll


introduced by S.L. Pressey (1933) andrefined by B.F. Skinner in the 1950s.

The essential concept of pro-grammed instruction is based on oper-ant conditioning. The material to belearned is broken down into simplerunits called frames. Each time the stu-dent shows that she or he has learnedthe information in a frame, the studentis given positive reinforcement in theform of new information, choices, orpoint rewards similar to those used invideo games. Each question, or prompt,builds on information already mastered.The computer retains (as does the stu-dent) exactly what the learner under-stands on the basis of the student’sanswers to questions.

Several principles of learning arebeing applied in CAI. The student is learning complex material through aresponse chain. She or he is reinforced constantly. Knowledge is beingshaped in a systematic and predictable way. The student is able to have adialogue with the instructor on every point, which is often impossible fora class of students in a conventional setting.

Token EconomiesPsychologists tried an experiment with a group of

extremely troubled boys in Washington, D.C. In fact,the boys had been labeled “uneducable” and placed inthe National Training School. The experimentersused what is known as a token economy to moti-vate the boys. The youngsters received points—orsecondary reinforcers—for good grades on tests.They could cash in these points for such rewards assnacks, lounge privileges, or items in a mail-order

catalog. Within a few months, a majority of the stu-dents showed a significant increase in IQ scores (an

average gain of twelve-and-a-half points). The boys con-tinued to improve in the months that followed, showing

that they were, indeed, educable (Cohen &Filipczak, 1971).

In token economies, people are systemati-cally paid to act appropriately. In the realworld, behaviorists argue, the rewards are justas real; they are simply less systematic. Inovercrowded mental hospitals, for example,the only way some patients can get attentionis by acting out. Overworked staff members

How You FormBad Habits

Do you procrastinate? For example, have you everfound yourself cramming for an important test the nightbefore? Operant conditioning probably played a role inyour bad habit of procrastination. You selected immediatepositive reinforcement and delayed punishment. That is,you opted to spend your time doing something else, suchas watching TV, instead of studying.

Procrastination provided the immediate reinforcementof giving you more leisure time. The punishment, lowergrades or lack of sleep the day before the test, was delayed.Many bad habits are formed when people follow this pat-tern of immediate reinforcement and delayed punishment.

How Social Learning WorksSocial learning theorists argue that much learningresults from observing the behavior of others andfrom imagining the consequences of our ownbehavior. What role does the environment playin social learning?

Figure 9.14

Environmental factors(reinforcers, punishers) Behavior

MotivationsBeliefs

PerceptionsValues

Emotions

token economy: condition-ing in which desirable behavioris reinforced with valuelessobjects, which can be accumu-lated and exchanged for valuedrewards


simply do not have time to bother withpeople who are not causing trouble.Since attention from the staff is reinforc-ing for these patients, people arerewarded for undesirable behavior. Bysystematically rewarding only desirablebehavior, token economies haveimproved conditions in prisons,mental hospitals, halfwayhouses, and classrooms.

Self-ControlOne of the most important fea-

tures in behavior modification is anemphasis on asking people to set uppersonal systems of rewards andpunishments to shape their ownthoughts and actions—this is a self-control program. As in any applica-tion of behavior modification, thefirst step in self-control is to definethe problem. People who smoketoo much would be encouraged toactually count how many cigarettesthey smoked every hour of the dayand note what kinds of situationsled them to smoke. (After a meal?When talking to friends? Driving towork?) Similarly, people who havea very poor opinion of themselveswould have to define the problemmore concretely. They might beginby counting the number of self-deprecating remarks they make andthoughts they have. Researchershave found that just keeping trackof behavior in this way often leads aperson to start changing it.

The next step may be to set upa behavioral contract. A behavioralcontract simply involves choosing areinforcer (buying a new shirt,watching a favorite TV program)and making it depend on some lessdesirable but necessary act such asgetting to work on time or washingthe kitchen floor. One soda loverwho had trouble studying decided

SQ4R Method

Survey the chapter. Read theheadings. Read any summaries.Your goal is to get a generalunderstanding of the chapter.

Question the material. Formulatequestions about the material as ifyou were the instructor writingthe test.

Read carefully and try to answerthe questions you formulated. Ifyou become distracted or tired,stop reading. Pick it up later.

Write down the answers to yourquestions. Sum up the informa-tion in your own words.

Recite to yourself what youhave read. Recall main headingsand ideas. Be sure to put thematerial into your own words.Answer questions aloud.

Review the material. Summarizethe main points in the chapter.Answer the questions you haveformulated.

Question yourself by transform-ing heads into questions.

Read the section or chaptercarefully while trying to answerthe questions you created.

Reflect on the text as you arereading to try and understand it,think of examples, and relate toinformation about the topic thatyou already know.

Recite the information byanswering your own questionsaloud.

Review the material by recallingand summarizing main points.

PQ4R Method

Preview the chapter by survey-ing general topics to be studied.

Studying effectively is an active process. By using succes-sive approximations (reading one more page each time yousit down to study) and positive reinforcements (rewardingyourself for productive studying), you can improve your studyhabits. The SQ4R and PQ4R methods are active methods ofstudying. How can you improve your own study habits?

Improving Study HabitsFigure 9.15

that she would allow herself a soda only after she studied for half an hour.Her soda addiction remained strong, but her study time increased dramatically under this system.

Improving Your Study HabitsOne psychologist designed a program to help students improve their

study habits. A group of student volunteers were told to set a time whenthey would go to a small room in the library they had not used before.They were then to work only as long as they remained interested. Assoon as they found themselves fidgeting, daydreaming, or becomingbored, they were to read one more page before they left.

The next day they were asked to repeat the same procedure, addinga second page to the amount they read between the time they decided toleave and the time they actually left the library. The third day they addeda third page, and so on. Students who followed this procedure found thatin time they were able to study more efficiently and for longer periods.

Why did this procedure work? Requiring students to leave as soon asthey felt distracted helped to reduce the negative emotions associatedwith studying. Studying in a new place removed the conditioned aversivestimulus. Thus, aversive responses were not conditioned to the subjectmatter or the room, as they are when students force themselves to work.The procedure also made use of successive approximations. The studentsbegan by reading just one more page after they became bored and onlygradually increased the assignment. In conclusion, it is important to notethat classical and operant conditioning and social learning do not oper-ate independently in our lives. All three forms of learning interact in acomplex way to determine what and how we learn.


Learned Helplessness

2

31

1. Review the Vocabulary How is atoken economy an example of behaviormodification?

2. Visualize the Main Idea In a diagramsimilar to the one below, identify threeimportant elements of learned helplessness.

3. Recall Information How can youimprove your study habits through conditioning?

4. Think Critically What principles ofmodeling should parents consider whenrewarding and punishing their children?Provide reasons for your answer.

Assessment

5. Application Activity Devise a plan of behavior modification (such as teaching your dog not to bark indoors or stopping your friendfrom knuckle cracking) by applying learningprinciples.

Summary and Vocabulary

Classical Conditioning� Ivan Pavlov discovered the principles of classical

conditioning.� The four elements involved in classical condition-

ing are UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.� Generalization and discrimination are complemen-

tary processes in which the participant respondsto similar stimuli in the same manner or respondsdifferently to dissimilar stimuli.

� A CR will sometimes reappear spontaneouslyafter extinction in a process called spontaneousrecovery.

� Classical conditioning may be used to affecthuman behavior, such as taste aversions and fears.

Chapter Vocabularyclassical conditioning (p. 241)neutral stimulus (p. 242)unconditioned stimulus (UCS)(p. 242)unconditioned response (UCR)(p. 242)conditioned stimulus (CS) (p. 242) conditioned response (CR) (p. 242)generalization (p. 244)discrimination (p. 244)extinction (p. 245)operant conditioning (p. 250)reinforcement (p. 251)primary reinforcer (p. 252)secondary reinforcer (p. 252)fixed-ratio schedule (p. 253) variable-ratio schedule (p. 254)fixed-interval schedule (p. 254)variable-interval schedule (p. 255)shaping (p. 255)response chain (p. 256)aversive control (p. 256)negative reinforcement (p. 256)escape conditioning (p. 257)avoidance conditioning (p. 257)social learning (p. 259)cognitive learning (p. 260)cognitive map (p. 260)latent learning (p. 260)learned helplessness (p. 261)modeling (p. 262)behavior modification (p. 263)token economy (p. 264)

Learning is a relatively permanent change in a behavioral tendencythat results from experience. Not all behaviors are acquired in thesame way. Psychologists have studied three basic types of learning:classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learning.

Main Idea: Peopleacquire certain behav-iors through classicalconditioning, a learningprocedure in whichassociations are madebetween a neutral stim-ulus and a conditionedresponse.

Operant Conditioning� Operant conditioning, as explained by B.F. Skinner,

means that human behavior is influenced by one’shistory of rewards and punishments.

� Reinforcers (positive and negative, and primaryand secondary) are stimuli that increase the likeli-hood that certain behaviors will be repeated.

� Behavior is reinforced according to continuous orpartial reinforcement schedules that are based onnumbers of responses or times of responses.

� Reinforcing responses that are increasingly similarto the desired behavior is a process called shaping.

� Punishments are stimuli that decrease the likeli-hood that certain behaviors will be repeated.

Main Idea: Operantconditioning occurswhen the consequencesthat follow a behaviorincrease or decrease thelikelihood of that behav-ior occurring again.

Social Learning� Latent learning is not demonstrated by an imme-

diately observable change in behavior at the timeof learning.

� If people have numerous experiences in whichtheir actions have no effect, they may learn a gen-eral strategy of learned helplessness.

� Modeling is a type of learning that occurs as theresult of observation and imitation.

� Behavior modification uses learning principles tochange people’s actions or feelings.

Main Idea: Sociallearning, consisting ofcognitive learning andmodeling, involves howpeople make decisionsand act upon the infor-mation available to them.


Assessment

Reviewing VocabularyChoose the letter of the correct term or conceptbelow to complete the sentence.

Self-Check QuizVisit the Understanding Psychology Web site at psychology.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 9—Self-Check Quizzes to prepare for the Chapter Test.

a. extinctionb. behavior modificationc. unconditioned stimulusd. generalizatione. schedules

f. secondaryg. token economyh. modelingi. operant conditioningj. escape conditioning

Recalling Facts1. What are the differences between classical and

operant conditioning?2. How do taste aversions develop?3. What are the four partial schedules of reinforce-

ment, and how do they differ?4. Create three diagrams like the one below on

your paper—one each for classical conditioning,operant conditioning, and social learning. Fill ineach with the definition, how it works, and anexample of that type of learning.

PSYCHOLOGY


1. A stimulus that elicits a predictable responsewithout training is called a(n) _______.

2. Money is an example of a(n) ________ reinforcer.

3. __________ is a type of learning based on theconsequences of actions.

4. In conditioning, _________ results from therepeated performance of a response withoutreinforcement.

5. _________ is the process of removing an aver-sive stimulus after it has started.

6. In a(n) __________, people are rewarded forbehaving in an appropriate manner with value-less objects.

7. ________ refers to the systematic application oflearning principles to change people’s actionsand feelings.

8. When children imitate the behavior of their par-ents, they are practicing a form of learning called_______.

9. The tendency for a stimulus similar to the origi-nal conditioned stimulus to elicit a response sim-ilar to the conditioned response is called ______.

10. The various ways that reinforcers occur after abehavior has been elicited are referred to as________.

5. Name and describe the three different types ofmodeling.

Critical Thinking1. Identifying Alternatives Which of the sched-

ules of reinforcement do your instructors gener-ally use in conducting their classes? How wouldyour classes be different if they used the otherschedules?

2. Applying Concepts Businesses often make useof conditioning techniques in their commercials.Think of specific examples of such advertising.Describe how the principles of conditioning areused in those advertisements.

3. Synthesizing Information How might a thera-pist help cigarette smokers quit smoking usingclassical conditioning techniques? Using operantconditioning techniques? Using social learningtechniques?

4. Evaluating Information Is punishment an effec-tive tool of learning? Describe the advantages ordisadvantages of using punishment to teach achild a behavior.

5. Predicting Consequences How has technologymade parenting more challenging? Provideexamples to support your answer.


Definition How it works Example

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/psychology/psych2001/quiz.shtml?BOOK=006&CHAPTER=9&TITLE=Learning+Principles+and+Applications+Principles+and+Applications

Psychology Projects1. Classical Conditioning Select some particular

task that you find difficult or unpleasant.Whenever you begin to work at this task, play oneof your favorite tapes or CDs. Do this for twoweeks and then analyze your reactions. Have yourfeelings toward the music become associated withthe task? Do you find it easier to work and com-plete the task? Write a report that explains yourfindings in light of what you know about condi-tioning techniques.

2. Operant Conditioning Go to a public placewhere you can watch parents and children inter-acting. Watch a parent-child interaction longenough to identify an aversive stimulus the parentor child may be using to control behavior. Whatparticular behavior of the child is the parentattempting to change? What particular behaviorof the parent is the child attempting to change?Are they successful? Collect your observationsand conclusions in a report.

Technology ActivityUse the Internet to locate the Website of a self-help or support group

at which self-control and other self-improvementtechniques are taught. You should look for the fol-lowing stages/techniques: definition of the problem,establishment of behavioral contracts, and applica-tion of reinforcers in a program of successiveapproximations. Evaluate the site and summarizeyour findings in a brief report.

Psychology JournalReread the journal entry in which youdescribed your attempts to teach a skill or

task. Did you use classical conditioning, operant con-ditioning, or social learning techniques? Make a newentry, describing and identifying your learning tech-niques. Explain why your teaching strategy was suc-cessful or unsuccessful.

Assessment


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Stimulus ResponseMowrer’s Experiment

Before Conditioning

During Conditioning

After Conditioning

Full Bladder (neutral stimulus)Alarm (UCS)

Full Bladder (CS) paired withAlarm (UCS)

Full Bladder (CS)

No awakening Awakening (UCR)

Awakening (UCR)

Awakening (CR)

Practice and assess key socialstudies skills with Glencoe SkillbuilderInteractive Workbook CD-ROM, Level 2.

Building SkillsInterpreting a Chart Review the chart of O. HobartMowrer’s experiment to stop bed-wetting below.Then answer the questions that follow.

1. What happened in the above experiment? Whatthings were paired to lead to awakening?

2. Explain how the CS, UCS, CR, and UCR relateto the end result (awakening).

3. Which type of learning is displayed in this chart?

See the Skills Handbook, page 628, for anexplanation of interpreting charts.

at-a-tat-tat. rat-a-tat-tat.If scientists could eavesdrop onthe brain of a human embryo10, maybe 12 weeks after con-

ception, they would hear an astonishingracket. Inside the womb, long beforethe earliest dreamy images flickerthrough the cortex, nerve cells in thedeveloping brain crackle with purpose-ful activity. Like teenagers with tele-phones, cells in one neighborhood ofthe brain are calling friends in another,and these cells are calling their friends,and they keep calling one another overand over again, “almost,” says neurobi-ologist Carla Shatz of the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, “as if they wereautodialing.”

But these neurons—as the long,wiry cells that carry electrical mes-sages through the nervous system andthe brain are called—are not transmit-ting signals in scattershot fashion.That would produce a featureless sta-tic, the sort of noise picked up by a

radio tuned between stations. On thecontrary, evidence is growing that thestaccato bursts of electricity that formthose distinctive rat-a-tat-tats arisefrom coordinated waves of neural

activity, and that those pulsing waves,like currents shifting sand on theocean floor, actually change the shapeof the brain, carving mental circuitsinto patterns that over time willenable the newborn infant to perceivea father’s voice, a mother’s touch, ashiny mobile twirling over the crib.

The finding that the electricalactivity of brain cells changes thephysical structure of the brain isbreathtaking. For the rhythmic firingof neurons is no longer assumed to bea by-product of building the brain butessential to the process, and it beginswell before birth. The brain beginsworking long before it is finished. Andthe same processes that wire the brainbefore birth also drive the explosion oflearning that occurs immediatelyafterward.

At birth, a baby’s brain contains100 billion neurons. Also in place are atrillion glial cells which form a kind ofhoneycomb that protects and nourish-es the neurons. But while the braincontains virtually all the nerve cells itwill ever have, the pattern of wiringbetween them has yet to stabilize. Upto this point, says Shatz, “what thebrain has done is lay out circuits thatare its best guess about what’srequired for vision, for language, forwhatever.” And now it is up to neuralactivity—no longer spontaneous, butdriven by sensory experiences—totake this rough blueprint and refine it.

During the first years of life, thebrain undergoes a series of extraordi-nary changes. Starting shortly afterbirth, a baby’s brain produces trillionsmore connections between neuronsthan it can possibly use. Then thebrain eliminates connections, orsynapses, that are seldom or neverused. The excess synapses in a child’sbrain undergo a pruning, startingaround the age of 10 or earlier, leav-

ing behind a mind whose patterns ofemotion and thought are unique.

Deprived of a stimulating environ-ment, a child’s brain suffers. Re-searchers at Baylor College ofMedicine, for example, have foundthat children who don’t play much orare rarely touched develop brains 20%to 30% smaller than normal for their

Wiring VisionWHAT’S GOING ON Babies can see atbirth, but not in fine-grained detail. They have not yet acquired the knackof focusing both eyes on a singleobject or developed more sophisticatedvisual skills like depth perception. Theyalso lack hand-eye coordination.WINDOW OF LEARNING Unless it isexercised early on, the visual system will not develop.

Wiring FeelingsWHAT’S GOING ON Among the first cir-cuits the brain constructs are thosethat govern emotions. Around twomonths of age, the distress and con-tentment experienced by newbornsstart to evolve into more complex feel-ings: joy and sadness, pride andshame.WINDOW OF LEARNING Emotionsdevelop in increasingly complex layers.

FertileMindsFrom birth, a baby’s braincells proliferate wildly,making connections thatmay shape a lifetime ofexperience. The firstthree years are critical

RBy J. MADELEINE NASH

270 TIME, February 3, 1997

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age. Lab animals provide anotherparallel. Not only do young rats rearedin toy-strewn cages exhibit more complex behavior than rats confinedto sterile, uninteresting boxes,researchers at the University ofIllinois have found, but the brains ofthese rats contain as many as 25%more synapses per neuron. Rich expe-riences, in other words, really do pro-duce rich brains.

The new insights into brain devel-opment have profound implicationsfor parents and policymakers. In anage when mothers and fathers are

increasingly pressed for time, theresults coming out of the labs are like-ly to increase concerns about leavingvery young children in the care of oth-ers. For the data underscore theimportance of hands-on parenting, offinding the time to cuddle a baby, talkwith a toddler and provide infantswith stimulating experiences.

The new insights have infused newpassion into the political debate overearly education and day care. There isan urgent need, say child-develop-ment experts, for preschool programsdesigned to boost the brain power ofkids born into impoverished house-holds. Without such programs, theywarn, the current drive to curtail wel-fare costs by pushing mothers withinfants and toddlers into the workforce may backfire. “There is a time

scale to brain development, and themost important year is the first,” notesFrank Newman, president of theEducation Commission of the States.By three, a neglected child bearsmarks that are very difficult to erase.

But the new research offers hopeas well. Scientists have found that thebrain during the first years of life is somalleable that very young childrenwho suffer strokes or injuries thatwipe out an entire hemisphere canstill mature into highly functionaladults. Moreover, it is becoming clearthat well-designed preschool pro-grams can help many children over-come glaring deficits in their homeenvironment. With appropriate thera-py, say researchers, even serious dis-orders like dyslexia may be treatable.While inherited problems may placecertain children at greater risk thanothers, says Dr. Harry Chugani, a neu-rologist at Wayne State University inDetroit, that is no excuse for ignoringthe environment’s power to remodelthe brain. “We may not do much to

change what happens before birth,but we can change what happens aftera baby is born,” he observes.

Strong evidence that activitychanges the brain began accumulatingin the 1970s. But only recently haveresearchers had tools powerful enoughto reveal the precise mechanisms bywhich those changes are broughtabout. Neural activity triggers a bio-chemical cascade that reaches all theway to the nucleus of cells and the coilsof DNA that encode specific genes. Infact, two of the genes affected by neur-al activity in embryonic fruit flies, neu-robiologist Corey Goodman and hiscolleagues at Berkeley reported, areidentical to those that other studieshave linked to learning and memory.How thrilling, exclaims Goodman, thatthe snippets of DNA that embryos useto build their brains are the same onesthat will later allow adult organisms toprocess and store new information.

As researchers explore the oncehidden links between brain activityand brain structure, they are begin-ning to construct a sturdy bridge overthe chasm that previously separatedgenes from the environment. Expertsnow agree that a baby does not comeinto the world as a genetically prepro-grammed automaton or a blank slate,but arrives as something much moreinteresting. For this reason the debatethat engaged countless generations ofphilosophers—whether nature or nur-ture calls the shots—no longer inter-ests most scientists. They are muchtoo busy chronicling the ways inwhich genes and the environmentinteract. “It’s not a competition,” saysDr. Stanley Greenspan, a psychiatristat George Washington University. “It’sa dance.” π

—For the complete text of this article and related

articles from TIME, please visit www.time.com/teach

Wiring LanguageWHAT’S GOING ON Even before birth,an infant tunes into the melody of its mother’s voice. Over the next sixyears, its brain will set up thecircuitry to decipher and reproducethe lyrics. A six-month-old canrecognize the vowel sounds that arebuilding blocks of speech.WINDOW OF LEARNING Language skills,sharpest early on, grow throughout life.

Wiring MovementWHAT’S GOING ON At birth babies can move their limbs, but in a jerky,uncontrolled fashion. Over the nextfour years, the brain progressivelyrefines the circuits for reaching,grabbing, sitting, crawling, walking and running.WINDOW OF LEARNING Motor-skilldevelopment moves from gross toincreasingly fine.

A n a l y z i n g t h e A r t i c l e

1. What “discovery” does this article detail?2. CRITICAL THINKING Do you agree that your

“uniqueness” was developed in the first three years of your life? Why or why not?

TIME, February 3, 1997 271

http://www.time.com/teach

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