Science and Human
Behaviour
Mr. Lema, Isaac
Clinical Psychologist
09th November 2015
Learning Objectives
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Grasp basic knowledge about behavioral
science
Have a better understanding of human
behavior
Appreciate the value of behavioral sciences in
medical setting
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Outline
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Introduction
Human Behavior
Significance to Medicine
Development of Behavior
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Introduction
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Behavioral science - scientific study of human
behavior
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Behavior: an action or response that animal does
voluntary or involuntary; any thing we do or act
Covert or overt ; nature or nurture
It involve observation and explanation of
human behaviour to an individual or in a
group
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Human Behavior
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Human beings are biological creature
Every person is different, yet much the same
People can be understood fully only in the
context of their culture, ethnic identity and
gender identity
Human lives are a continuous process of
change
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Human Behavior …
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Behavior is motivated
Behavior has multiple causes
Humans are social animals
People play an active part in creating their
experiences
Behavior can be adaptive or maladaptive
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Significance to Medicine
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Etiology of medical conditions or diseases
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Presentation: signs or symptoms
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Healthy management: prevention,
intervention and treatment
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Development of Behavior
Through the interaction of
 Hereditary dispositions
 Environmental influences
 An organism behave in a certain way for
various reason:
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Its structures (sense organs, nervous system,
muscles, and skeletal makeup) are conducive to
certain kinds of behavior
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Behaviorism and Learning
Theories
Mr. Lema, Isaac
Clinical Psychologist
16th November 2015
Learning Objectives

Understand the meaning of learning in
behavioral science
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Introduce variety of learning influencing
human behavior
Classic condition
Operant condition
Social Cognitive Theory
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Outline
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Introduction
What is Learning
Unlearned Versus Learned Behavior
Learning Theory
Cognitive Approaches to Learning
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
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Introduction
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Behaviorism is the study of behavior based on
observable actions and reactions
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It focuses on analysis of relationship between
behavior and environment and on the way
that stimuli provoke responses
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It begins with the work of John B. Watson
(1878 – 1958)
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What is Learning?
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Learning theories come from behaviorism
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Refers to changes in behavior overtime as the
result of experience
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Learning as the end product (deliberate)
How it takes place (learning process)
Learning is a hypothetical construct (Sims &
Hume, 1984)
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What is Learning? …
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Cannot be directly observed, but only inferred
from observable behavior
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Permanently change in personal’s behavioral
performance
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Permanent change behavior can also result out of
learning i.e. effects of brain damage on behavior
or changes associated with puberty or maturation
process
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What is Learning? …
Learning
 is a relatively permanent change in behavior due to
past experience (Richard, 2010)
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is the process by which relatively permanent changes
occur in behavioral potential as a result of
experience (Santrock, 2006)
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Learning behavioral potential; Performance actual
behavior
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Unlearned Vs Learned Behavior
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Do not require specific training for their first
appearance
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Some develop before birth and others later
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Refers as innate, native or congenital
i.e. sexual responses await the delayed
developmental certain developmental structures,
particularly the sex glands
Pattern is determined by the racial genes
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Unlearned Vs Learned Behavior
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Depends on model of learning as practice,
training and observation of similar behavior in
others
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Behavior produced by structural changes
which depend upon specific environmental
influences
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Learning Theory
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Explore the relationship between stimulus
and response
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Involve conditioning which occurs in two basic
ways
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Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
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Classical Conditioning
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Involves learning a new association between a
neutral stimulus and a stimulus that reliably
elicits a reflexive response
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Organism learns to associate two stimuli, such
that one stimulus comes to elicit a response
that originally was elicited only by the other
stimulus
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Classical Conditioning …
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Ivan Pavlov psychologist interested in the
process of digestion in dogs
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Notice dogs would often start salivating
 before they were given any food
 when they looked at the food or saw the feeding
bucket or
 heard footsteps of a person coming to feed
them
Led to classical conditioning (Richard, 2010)
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Classical Conditioning ...
Why dogs drool over bells?
 Unconditional Stimulus (UCS)
A stimulus that reflexively and reliably
evokes a response (the UCR)
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Unconditional Response (UCR)
A response that reflexively reliably is
evoked by a stimulus (the UCS)
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Classical Conditioning ...
Neutral Stimulus
(a tone)
UCS
(food)
No Response
(no salivation)
UCR
(salivation)
Neutral Stimulus +
(a tone)
CS
(food)
UCS
UCR
(food)
(salivation)
CR
(salivation)
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Classical Conditioning ...
Generalization
 CR transferred spontaneously to stimulus
similar to, but different from the original CS
Discrimination
 CR such as an alarm reaction occurs to one
stimuli but no to others
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Classical Conditioning ...
Extinction
 CS is presented repeatedly in the absence of
the UCS, causing the CR to weaken and
eventually disappear (tone without food)
Spontaneous recovery
 reappearance of the previously extinguished
CR after a rest period and without new
learning trials
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Classical Conditioning ...
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Classical conditioning is usually strongest
when
there are repeated CS-UCS pairings
the UCS is more intense
the sequences involves forward pairing
the time interval between CS and UCS is
short
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Operant Conditioning
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A spontaneously emitted behavior is followed
by an outcome that changes the probability
that the behavior will occur again
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Outcomes that increase the occurrence of a
behavior - reinforces
That decrease its occurrence – punishments
Behavior is affected by the consequences that
follows it
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Operant Conditioning …
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With reinforcement a response is
strengthened (increased in frequency) by
an outcome that follows it
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The outcome (stimulus or event) that
increases the frequency of a response is
called a reinforcer
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Operant Conditioning …
Positive reinforcement
 Occurs when a response is strengthened by
the subsequent presentation of stimulus
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i.e. a rat receives a pellet of food when it presses a
lever and eventually begins to press the level
more often
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Operant Conditioning …
Negative reinforcement
 A response is strengthened by the subsequent
removal (or avoidance) of an adversive
stimulus (taking aspiring relieves headache)
increases the rate of response that precedes
their removal or termination
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Operant Conditioning …
Punishment
 occurs when a response is weakened by
outcomes that follow (rat pressing leaver
receives electric shock instead of pellets)
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Cognitive Approaches to
Learning
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Cognitive theorist emphasize that organisms
develop awareness, or expectancy of the
relationship between their responses and
possible consequences
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Emphasise changes that occur within an
organism’s system of cognition – its mental
representation of its self and the world
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Cognitive Approaches to
Learning ...
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Learning by insight: the sudden perception of
a useful relationship that helps solve a
problem (S-O-R) model of learning
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Notion of cognitive maps (mental
representation of the spatial layout)
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Expectancy model: not the repeated pairing
but how well the CS predicts the UCS
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Bandura’s Social Cognitive
Theory
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The modeling process and self-efficacy
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Four step process that includes several
cognitive factors
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Attention
Retention
Reproductive
Motivation
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Bandura’s Social Cognitive
Theory…
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According to Bandura, self-efficacy which
represents people’s belief that they have the
capability to perform behaviors that will
produce the desired effect
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Conclusion
Learning as a process
 Each organism must learn:
a) which events are important (or not) to its
survival and well being
b) which stimuli signal that an event is about to
occur and
c) whether its response will produce positive or
negative consequences
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References
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Lahey, Benjamin. B (2004), Psychology an Introduction 8th Edition
McGraw Hill Publisher
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Richard, G (2010) Psychology The Science of Mind and Behavior; 6th
Edition. Hodder education
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Santrock John W. (2006) Educational Psychology; second edition. Mc Graw
Hill Publisher
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Sims, ACP & Hume, WI (1984) Lecture Notes on Behavioral Sciences
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