#37 - Pavlovian Conditioning for the Applied Behavior Analyst w/ Dr. Michael Domjan

Show Notes

• About the episode

  In this episode, Zach and Caleb discuss respondent concepts such as habituation, sensitization, and Pavlovian conditioning with Dr. Michael Domjan, and how these processes are relevant in applied clinical practice.
  
  

  Learning Objectives

  • Distinguish between habituation and sensitization as distinct non-associative learning processes and identify how they differ from standard respondent and operant conditioning.

  • Analyze the "misbehavior of organisms" to explain how innate evolutionary behaviors and species-specific patterns can interfere with or override operant reinforcement contingencies.

  • Evaluate the phenomenon of sign tracking (autoshaping) and its clinical implications when Pavlovian signal-response relationships persist despite conflicting operant consequences.

  • Explain the process of dishabituation and how the introduction of novel environmental stimuli can cause the sudden recovery of a habituated response.

  • Differentiate between "reversal of sensitization" and "systematic desensitization" to better understand the technical behavioral mechanisms used in the treatment of fear and anxiety.

  
  

• Things to check out from the episode:

  Dr. Domjan's Youtube channel:
  Introduction to Learning and Behavior: Key Concepts
  
  Dr. Domjan's textbooks discussed during the episode:
  The Essentials of Conditioning and Learning, Fifth Edition
  
  Amazon.com: The Principles of Learning and Behavior: 9781285088563: Domjan, Michael P.: Books
  
  

  References:
  Breland, K., & Breland, M. (1961). The misbehavior of organisms. American psychologist, 16(11), 681.
  
  Groves, P. M., & Thompson, R. F. (1970). Habituation: a dual-process theory. Psychological review, 77(5), 419.
  
  Skinner, B. F. (1965). Science and human behavior (No. 92904). Simon and Schuster.
  
  Weinert, C., Maier, C., Laumer, S., & Weitzel, T. (2022). Repeated IT Interruption: Habituation and Sensitization of User Responses. Journal of Management Information Systems, 39(1), 187–217.
  
  Wolpe, J., Brady, J. P., Serber, M., Agras, W. S., & Liberman, R. P. (1973). The current status of systematic densitization. American Journal of Psychiatry, 130(9), 961-965.