PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT
PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT
This course will be my usual brand of unit/mastery organized chaos! The topic is behavior analysis, both experimental and applied, as presented in the text: BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AND LEARNING (3nd ed) by David Pierce and Carl Cheney (Erlbaum, 2003).
I have prepared some commentary on the text; it is available online at http://www.mnsu.edu/dept/psych/CommentaryP_C.htm. I'd strongly suggest reading it along with each chapter in the text.PREREQUISITE:
Psychology 207: Intro Behavior Analysis is a necessary prerequisite for this course. You may not register for Advanced Behavior Analysis unless you have completed one of those courses with a grade of at least C or have received premission from the instructor.
In addition to the text there will be two projects: The first project will involve shaping your rat to perform a chain (sequence of performances under stimulus control) consisting of a behavior which you will define, a rod push, and then a lever press, followed by liquid reinforcement.
The second project will use human subjects. We will use a computer game as the experimental setting to investigate the phenomenon of rule-governed behavior on fixed interval schedule behavior.
- The program for this project can be downloaded: RatRaceFI.
- If you have problems running the short version above, download this larger file. Note that this programs run only on the Mac.
This will in a sense be original research, since this area is a current research topic in the field of behavior analysis. More details will be provided later.
I'll hand out instructions for the projects later. You must complete at least the third unit of the text before starting to work with the rodents, and the first eight units before starting the second project (you will need the first 12 chapters to write it up properly!). Most of your grade will be based on the text units -- so allocate your time and behavior accordingly!
The first project must be completed in order to receive credit for the second.Grades are based on a point system combining the units and projects: One (1) point will be awarded for the mastery (in sequence, of course) of each text unit; Two (2) points will be the conditioned reinforcer presented for the completion of each project.Unit tests may be retaken as many times as is necessary (but no more than once a day!), but more than three tries usually means that something is wrong!
Course organization will be very informal. I will be available for testing during the scheduled class times.If you are planning to take a test, please show up at the beginning of that class period! I would like you to check in then at least occasionally for any general-interest announcements or hand-outs that I might have.
I will also post announcements periodically on my WWWeb page (the URL is at the top of this page).I check my email regularly; I'm glad to use this mode of discussion with anyone who wishes!
The official lab hours are mostly for the Registrar's convenience; they are also a time when you can anticipate that I will be available if you need help! You are of course welcome to work in the lab at any time between 10am and 4pm (M-F) that other courses are not scheduled to use it!
Units in BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AND LEARNING (3nd ed) by Pierce and Cheney
Unit 1.
ch 1:
A Science of Behavior
Unit 2.
ch 2:
The Experimental Analysis of Behavior
Unit 3.
ch 3:
Reflexive Behavior and Respondent Conditioning
Unit 4.
ch 4:
Reinforcement and Extinction of Operant Behavior
Unit 5.
ch 5:
Schedules of Reinforcement
Unit 6.
ch 6:
Aversive Control of Behavior
Unit 7.
ch 7:
Operant-Respondent Interactions and Biological Context
Unit 8.
ch 8:
Stimulus Control
Unit 9.
ch 9:
Choice and preference
Unit 10.
ch 10:
Conditioned reinforcement
Unit 11.
ch 11:
Correspondence
Unit 12.
ch 12:
Verbal Behavior
Unit 13.
ch 13:
Applied Behavior Analysis
Unit 14.
ch 14:
Three levels of selection by consequences
NOTES:
1) You are not responsible for ADVANCED ISSUES in the text UNLESS they are specifically assigned.A good resource for those of you who surf the 'net is the BEHAV-AN discussion list, which is located at:
GRADE CONTRACT
A -- 18 points
B -- 14 points (at least one project)C -- 12 points (at least one project)
D --- 8 points
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