Download LEARNING NOTES Over the years there are so many things that

LEARNING
NOTES
Over the years there are so many things that each of us has learnt. We have acquired a
lot of this learning. How did we expand our learning? What helped us learn? Who
helped us to learn? By understanding what exactly is the process of learning we can
answer these and related questions. It would also help if we understand the various
psychological processes that occur during learning
Learning is defined as a relatively permanent behavior change due to experience.
There are three main types of learning
(I)CLASSICAL CONDITIONING occurs when an association is made between
stimuli and a known result is expected.
two
The founder of the concept of classical conditioning-Pavlov was a Russian doctor who
used dogs as his subjects.
He noticed dogs salivated at the sight of food. This is a natural or reflex reaction. He
wondered if he could associate something unnatural to salivation.
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Pavlov rang a bell, and then fed the dog. The bell meant
nothing to the dog.
He repeated this over and over and over until, the bell did
mean something – the bell meant food was coming. The dog
had made an association between the bell and the
presentation of food
Eventually, the bell alone caused the dog to salivate.
Pavlov rigged tubes to the dog’s neck to measure the
salivation (salivation=the response).
In this experiment, we can see the “aspects” of classical conditioning…
UCS (unconditioned stimulus) – this is the natural stimulus
– the food.
UCR (unconditioned response) – this is the natural
response – salivation.
CS (conditioned stimulus) – this is what’s associated to
the UCS – the bell.
CR (conditioned response) – this is the response (which is
the same as the UCR) – salivation.
Classical conditioning uses a biological process over which the person/animal has no
control. There is no voluntary decision involved in classical conditioning.
We often cringe in response to fingernails on a chalkboard…and sometimes when the
teacher simply approaches the blackboard we feel the cringe, even though there has
not yet been any screech yet!
(II) OPERANT CONDITIONING occurs when we learn to associate our own behavior
(or our response) and its consequence. We therefore repeat behaviors with
desired/goodresults; we cut down on behaviors with undesirable/bad results.
Operant Conditioning was a result of B.F. Skinner’s work. He built “Skinner Boxes”,
which were contraptions in which an animal could manipulate things and/or respond to
stimuli. The responses were then measured.
A typical Skinner Box was set up with a (1) food dispenser, (2) water dispenser, (3) a
light bulb, (4) a speaker, and (5) a lever the animal could pull. An (6) electrical shock
was sometimes added.
Skinner placed pigeons or lab rats in his boxes. He used shaping to “teach” them to do
things like walk in figure-8s or “play” ping pong. Shaping involved rewarding desired
behavior and directing the animal toward a desired behavior. At first, the animal is
rewarded for getting close to the behavior, then rewarded for going a bit further, and
finally rewarded for the actual behavior.
PROCESSES OF CONDITIONING
There are five main conditioning processes…
Acquisition is the initial learning of a stimulus-response relationship. This is where the
dogs learned to associate the bell and food.
Extinction is the diminished association between the UCS (food) and the CS (bell) after
the UCS is removed. In other words, if you stop nailing the food and the bell together,
the link wears off – the bell goes back to meaning nothing to the dog.
Spontaneous recovery emerges even after extinction. This is when, after a time lapse,
the association between the UCS and the CS reappears. The association is not as
strong as before, and will wear off if not linked with the CS.
Generalization is the tendency to respond to a similar CS. For instance, Pavlov’s dogs
might feel that a buzzer is close enough to a bell and they might salivate to a buzzer.
Or, if they’re conditioned to respond to a white light, they might also respond to a red
light.
Discrimination is drawing the line between responding to some stimuli, but not others.
For example, Pavlov’s dogs might respond to a bell or a buzzer, but discriminate
against a police siren. It’s as if they think, “The buzzer is like the bell, but the siren is
not.” A discriminative stimulus is a stimulus that an animal can distinguish from
another. A pigeon might respond to a speaker making a “ding dong” sound in its box,
but might not respond to a “whoop whoop” sound.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLASSICAL AND OPERANT CONDITIONING
Operant conditioning differs from Classical conditioning in the following ways:
Classical – two outside stimuli are associated with one another.
This is natural, automatic, and biological. Pavlov’s dogs didn’t choose to salivate. It was
natural, automatic, biological.
Operant – your actions are associated with consequences.
The animal or person makes a choice or decision about what it does.
He She/it realizes that a “consequence” can be either bad or good.
(III).OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING occurs by watching others’ experiences.
(IV) VERBAL LEARNING-One additional form of learning is Verbal Learning, or
learning through language. In this way, we can learn without experiencing something or
watching someone else experience it.
(V) COGNITIVE LEARNING. This includes:Insight learning is learning that comes all-at-once. You may be stumped on something,
but then, all-of-a-sudden, the problem is solved in a flash.
Latent Learning- is learning that takes place but is not used right away. It is used later
at another point of time.
TYPES OF REINFORCERS
There are two main types of reinforcers – anything that INCREASES a response.
(A)Positive reinforcement STRENGTHENS a behavior with a pleasurable stimulus
after a response.
1. Simply, if you do what’s wanted, you get a doggie
treat!
2. For example, a dog sits and you give him a piece of a
hot dog. This increases the likelihood he’ll sit.
(B)Negative reinforcement STRENGHTHENS a behavior by removing something
unpleasant.
Simply, you do something to make something bad go away.
For example, when your alarm goes off in the morning, you hit the snooze button to
make the annoying sound stop. This increases the likelihood you’ll hit it again.
Remember, negative reinforcement is not punishment.
Negative reinforcement encourages a behavior by removing something bad.
Punishment discourages a behavior by adding something bad.
There are two other types of reinforcers…
(C)Primary reinforcers are natural; they are unlearned, such as food or getting rid of
pain.
(D)Conditioned or secondary reinforcers get their power by attaching to a primary
reinforcer. This “attaching” must be learned. For example, in a Skinner Box, rats learned
that pulling the lever (conditioned reinforcer) gave some food (primary reinforce).
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT- When should the reinforcement be given?
1. Continuous reinforcement occurs when the reinforcement is given every time
the behavior is down.
2. Partial or intermittent reinforcement occurs when the reinforcement is not
given after every behavior.
3. Fixed ratio – Reinforcer is given after a set number of behaviors.Example- Being
paid for every 10 units of production.
4. Variable ratio – Reinforcer is given after a random number of
behaviors.Example- pulling the handle of a slot machine( you don’t know which
pull will win).
5. Fixed interval – Reinforcer is given after a set time period. Example- A worker is
paid on the 7th of each month
6. Variable interval – reinforcer is given after a random time period.Example- A
fisherman sits by the stream, waiting for the fish to bite the bait.
7. Punishment is
often
confused
with
negative
reinforcement.
Punishment DISCOURAGES a behavior (whereas negative reinforcement
encourages a behavior by removing something unpleasant).