Download Chapter 6 - Learning

CHAPTER 6 LEARNING
Psychology
McGonigle
CP + H
Reinforcement
• Skinner’s Box- rat deprived of food kept pressing the
lever- 1st – accidental , it soon learned pressing the lever
meant food.
• Reinforcement- process by which a stimulus increases
the chances that a behavior will occur again.
Flooding- Classical Conditioning
• Fear of High Places, Snakes, Claustrophobia.
• Person is exposed to the harmless stimulus until
fear responses are extinguished.
• Look out several times from a six story building
until fear ends. Sit in a room of small, un
poisonous snakes.
Classical Conditioning
• Conditioning = Pairing of different stimuli to produce a
response/reaction.
• Classical Conditioning = One stimulus calls forth the
response that is usually called forth by the other stimulus.
Ivan Pavlov
1849-1936
• Studying relationship between nervous system &
digestion. (dogs)
• Dogs – began to salivate when they heard trays clink +
assistants walk in.
• These events meant that food was coming.
Pavlov’s theory
• Dogs could be trained to salivate at any stimuli he chose
in an experiment.
• Bell- rings and a second later, meat powder was placed
on the dog’s tongue.
(dog salivates)
• Pavlov- replicates experiment several times.
Experiment (cont’d)
• Around the fourth or fifth time, Pavlov rings bell, but does
not place meat powder on the tongue of the dog.
• Dogs salivate anyway, they had been conditioned to
salivate in response to the bell alone.
Letters of Learning Pavlov’s Experiment
• US – Unconditioned Stimulus – causes a
response that is automatic, not learned.
• UR – Unconditioned Response- salivation in
response to meat is not learned it is natural.
• CR – Conditioned Response- learned response
to a stimulus that was previously neutral.
• CS – Conditioned Stimulus – Through repeated
association w/ the meat, the bell became a
learned stimulus.
Classical Conditioning- Taste Aversion
• Learned avoidance of a particular food.
• When food is poisonous or unhealthy, a taste
aversion helps us to avoid them by keeping us
away from them. ( Halloween)
• In taste aversion- usually only one pairing of food
and illness is enough. ( Aversion therapy)
Extinction ( of conditioning)
• When a bear cub matures, it may no longer need
its scent of danger approaching.
• Car alarm – constantly sounding, will eventually
lose its effect. ( you won’t call police every time).
• When a CS is no longer followed by an US, it will
lose its ability to bring about a conditioned
response.
• Conditioned Stimulus is disconnected from
unconditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous Recovery
• Extinguished response is not gone forever.
• Organisms sometimes display responses that
were extinguished earlier.
• Dogs – stopped salivating after bell. However a
few days later, when they hear the bell, they
salivate again.
• Response is a little weaker & there is less saliva.
Generalization
• The act of responding in the same ways to stimuli
that seem to be similar, even if the stimuli are not
identical.
• Pavlov’s circle (CS) was presented w/ meat (US)
– dog salivates at circle.
• Any geometric shape close to a circle caused
salivation from the dog- (generalization)
Discrimination
• Dog’s weaker response to figures that looked less like a
circle is discrimination.
• Act of responding differently to stimuli that are not similar
to each other.
• Bear cub is not afraid of all furry creatures - ( mouse ,
squirrel, chipmunk, etc.)
Systematic Desensitization
• When flooding is too fearful for patients.
• Patient – is taught relaxation techniques.
• They are exposed gradually to the stimulus that they fear
while they remain relaxed. ( Shown pictures of snakes)
Counterconditioning
• A pleasant stimulus is paired repeatedly with a fearful
one, thus counteracting the fear.
• Peter- feared rabbits, but loved candy.
• Eventually after eating candy, Peter felt comfortable
enough to pet the rabbit.
Bell & Pad Method for Bed-Wetting
• Teaches children to wake up in response to
bladder tension.
• Child w/ wetting tendencies- sleeps on a special
pad.
• When he starts to wet, the water content triggers
a bell & the ringing wakes the child up.
• Bell in this case – is an unconditioned stimulus.
Operant Conditioning
• People learn to do certain things and not to do
others, because of the results.
• They learn from the consequences of their
actions.
• Studying – positive operant behavior = good
grades. Not studying – negative operant
behavior= bad grades.
Primary Reinforcers
• Reinforcers that function due to the biological
makeup of the organism.
• Food, water, adequate warmth can all be seen as
primary reinforcers. ( Abraham Maslow)
• Do not need to be taught to value these
reinforcers.
Secondary Reinforcers
• These reinforcers must be learned.
• They acquire their value by being paired with established
reinforcers.
• Money, attention & social approval are all usually
secondary reinforcers.
Positive Reinforcers
• Increase the frequency of the behavior they follow when
they are applied.
• Food, fun activities, and social approval are examples of
positive reinforcers.
• Reinforcement must be specific to the person- to be
effective. (athletes/sports)
Negative Reinforcers
• Behavior is reinforced = Something unwanted
stops happening or is removed following the
behavior.
• Discomfort, fear, and social disapproval = all are
negative reinforcers. (Kohlberg)
• Tired = sleep, have an itch= scratch it!
Reward
• Similar to positive reinforcers, they increase the frequency
of a behavior.
• Students- go out for pizza after a long study session.
(equate studying w/pizza)
• Team – has no sprints if kicker makes the field goal!
Punishment
• Unwanted Events that when applied, decrease
the frequency of the behavior they follow.
• If a student fails two classes- he/she can not
continue playing sports at their school.
• Negative reinforcer as well= student does not
want the embarrassment/shame of being thrown
off team.
Problems with Punishment
• Does not teach alternate, acceptable behavior.
• Tends to work only when it is guaranteed- all the time.
• Punished people try to leave the situation rather than
change behavior.
• Punishment can create anger & hostility.
• Punishment may have broader effects than desired.
Schedules of Reinforcement
• Refers to how often and when reinforcement to a
behavior occurs.
• Continuous reinforcement: Reinforcement of a
behavior every time that it occurs. (Skinner)
• Partial Reinforcement: A behavior is not
reinforced every time that it occurs.
Interval Schedules
• Fixed Interval Schedule: A fixed amount of time
must elapse between reinforcements of a
behavior. ( 10:00, 10:05, 10:10, 10:15))
• Variable Interval Schedule: Varying amounts of
time go between reinforcements. (unpredictable
10:00, 10:02, 10:09, 10:17)
Ratio Schedule
• Desired Response is reinforced every time, it is a
1:1 ratio of response to reinforcement.
• If a response must occur five times before it is
reinforced, the ratio is 5:1.
• For fun: Try to guess the ratio schedule of a slot
machine, scratch ticket, lottery ticket..
Shaping
• Way of teaching complex behaviors in which one first
reinforces small steps in the right direction. ( learning to
ride a bicycle)
• P. 144 – Squirrel!! (shaping)
Albert Bandura- Observational learning
• We acquire knowledge and skills by observing
and imitating each other.
• New student in school- learns it is ok to speak up
in class after watching the other kids.
• Children learn to speak, eat, and play by
watching their parents and others do these
things.
Opinion Question
• Are you in favor of rewarding positive behavior or
punishing negative behavior? (Why?)
• How would you punish a child who broke curfew,
would you take away their privileges, yell at them,
or would you tell them not to do it again?
• Do you think a parent should give rewards to
children who do well in school? Do you think a
child should be internally motivated to do well?
Group Work
• In a group of 2/3 determine the following with regard to
the Asch Experiment, The Elliott Experiment, and the
Gardner Experiment:
•
•
•
•
Unconditioned Stimulus
Unconditioned Response
Conditioned Stimulus
Conditioned Response
• Explain why this is so and if it does not exist, please also
state this and why..
Essential Questions
• How do we learn?
• How do animals learn?
• How is learning different from human to animal?
• Is classical conditioning ethical with humans?
• Is classical conditioning ethical with animals?
• Is classical conditioning really learning?
• Is positive reinforcement better than negative
reinforcement?
• Is observational learning always effective? Why or Why
not?
•