Download An In Depth Look at Human Behaviour

Operant and Classical
Conditioning
 Cognition: how
we acquire, store, and use
knowledge
 Learning: A
change in knowledge or
behaviour as a result of experience
• We learn a lot within first few years of life
• Humans rely on learning over instinct
• We can change our thinking and behaviour to
meet new situations
 Both
study the effects of positive
reinforcement (rewards) and punishment
on behaviour
 Both explain a different type of behaviour
• Classical Conditioning explains how we learn
attitudes, feelings, and basic responses
• Operant Conditioning explains more complex
behaviour
 Key
Psychologist: Ivan Pavlov
 Belief – pleasant or unpleasant
reinforcement comes before the desired
behaviour
• Example: Pavlov’s Dog
 Meat (reward) – salivates (behaviour)
 Candy (reward) – be appropriate (behaviour)
 Learning
in which a stimulus that does
not elicit a given response is repeatedly
linked with one that does until the neutral
stimulus elicits the response by itself
• Unconditioned Stimulus (US) – agent that leads to a response without
training
• Unconditioned Response (UR) – automatic response to a US
• Neutral Stimulus (NS) – agent that initially has no effect
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS) – a former NS that comes to elicit a given
response after pairing it with an US
• Conditioned Response (CR) – a learned response to CS
* The NS always becomes the CS*
US – food
UR – salivates
US + NS – bell UR – salivates
CS – bell
CR - salivates
 Key
Psychologist – B.F. Skinner
 Belief – behaviour comes before
reinforcement
• Example – Mouse and lever
 Mouse pushes lever (behaviour) to get cheese (reward)
 You study hard on test (behaviour) you receive a 4+ (reward)
 Learning
by watching or imitating
models of behaviour that are successful
I.e. sports, speaking


Process:
1. Attention
2. Retention
3. Reproduction – convert stored memory into action
4. Motivation- interest in skill to practice
Issue: What is the effect of TV / Video game violence
on children?
 Understanding
or learning which is often
sudden like an “aha” experience or
“eureka” moment
• Latent learning occurs
• Latent learning – the mind works on the problem
even though there are no outward signs until the
insight reveals itself (AHA!!)
 Behaviourist
Psychologists (like Pavlov
and Skinner) believe we can explain
most, if not all, human learning as a form
of conditioning – especially operant.
 For example, we continue to do things
that bring us rewards and avoid things
that bring us pain
 Disadvantages
of Punishment
• May stop undesired behaviour but does not
show the desired behaviour
• Punishment is attention therefore may be
considered a reward
• Too much punishment causes psychological
effects