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CLASSROOM NOTES
I. Classical Conditioning
A. Stimulus – something that produces a reaction
B. Response – the reaction to a stimulus
C. Ivan Pavlov – pioneered research on conditioning with
famous experiment on dogs.
D. Classical Conditioning – a previously neutral stimulus
produces a new response
1.
2.
3.
4.
Unconditioned Stimulus – dog food
Unconditioned Response – salivation
Conditioned Stimulus – bell
Conditioned Response – drool at sound of bell
E. Practical Applications
1. Flooding – exposure to harmless stimulus until
conditioning is extinct.
2. Desensitization – slow exposure to nonthreatening stimuli until extinction
3. Counterconditioning – pair fearful stimulus with
pleasant one to learn different response
4. Bell & Pad – bladder control training
II. Operant Conditioning - B. F. Skinner
A. Learning based on consequences of actions
Project Pigeons
B. Reinforcement – the process by which repeated
presentation of a stimulus increases the chances that a
desired behavior will occur again
1. Skinner Box – (see rat example pg 136)
2. Positive reinforcers – fun, food, social approval
3. Negative reinforcers – discomfort, fear, social
disapproval
C. Rewards & Punishments – differ from reinforcers
1. Rewards – increase the frequency of a behavior
2. Punishments – decrease the frequency of a
behavior
D. Schedules of Reinforcement
1. Continuous – reinforcement every time behavior
occurs
2. Partial – reinforcement schedules vary (pg 140)
a. Fixed interval
b. Variable interval
c. Fixed ratio
d. Variable ratio
E. Extinction – if no reinforcement is received, eventually
learned behavior will disappear
III. Cognitive Factors in Learning
A. Cognitive Psychologists – people learn by thinking
about it and watching others
B. Albert Bandura – people learn thru observational
learning. Children learn by watching adult model behavior.
C. Learning From the Media – kids learn violent behavior
from TV, movies & video games.
IV. PQ4R – Learning to Learn – an active approach
to learning
A. Preview – become familiar with the overall picture
B. Question - set learning goals up front by creating
questions about the subject matter
C. Read – read with the purpose of answering questions
D. Reflect – create mental images as you are reading
(relate material to old learning or personal experiences)
E. Recite – repeat your questions and answers to yourself
or with someone else
F. Review – go over the material several times…….not just
the night before the test. Review involves relearning,
which takes less time than the original learning.