Download Prologue to Chapter 5: Basic Principles of Learning

Prologue to Chapter 6: Basic
Principles of Learning
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How do we learn anything?
How do we come to be productive
members of society and some do not?
What influence does our environment have
on our behavior?
What are the basic principles of learning?
What tools exist in the psychologist’s tool
box?
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Definition of Learning
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Learning is “any relatively permanent change in
behavior brought about through experience.”
Learning involves experience that will change
your behavior
This chapter is the “psychologist’s tool box”
Psychology has gone to great lengths to develop
the tools which we’ll now examine
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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Classical condition is learning by association
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it is sometimes called “reflexive learning”
it is sometimes called respondent conditioning
The Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, and his
dogs circa 1905
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discovered classical conditioning by serendipity
received the Nobel Prize in science for discovery
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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Association: the KEY element in classical
conditioning
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Pavlov considered classical conditioning to be a form
of learning through association, in time, of a neutral
stimulus and a stimulus that incites a response.
Any stimulus can be paired with another to make an
association if it is done in the correct way (following
the classical conditioning paradigm)
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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Terminology of Classical Conditioning
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Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): any stimulus that
will always and naturally ELICIT a response
Unconditioned Response (UCR): any response that
always and naturally occurs at the presentation of the
UCS
Neutral Stimulus (NS): any stimulus that does not
naturally elicit a response associated with the UCR
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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Terminology of Classical Conditioning
(continued)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): any stimulus
that will, after association with an UCS,
cause a conditioned response (CR) when
present to a subject by itself
Conditioned Response (CR): any response
that occurs upon the presentation of the CS
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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The Classical Conditioning “paradigm”
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“paradigm” is a scientific word similar to
using the word “recipe” in a kitchen, I.e., this
is how you do it
UCS--------------------->UCR
NS------------->UCS--------------------->UCR
CS------------------------------------------>CR
That’s all there is to it. I’ll show you a
fleshed-out example on the next slide
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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Here’s a fleshed out example:
UCS----------------->UCR
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NS--------------->UCS----------------->UCR
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(food powder) --------------> (salvating)
(bell)--->(food powder) -------------> (salvating)
CS---------------------------------------->CR
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(bell)------------------------------------> (salvating)
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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Here’s another example:
UCS------------------>UCR
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NS --------------> UCS ----------------->UCR
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(onion juice) -----------------> (crying)
(whistle)-->(onion juice)---------------> (crying)
CS ---------------------------------------->CR
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(whistle)----------------------------------> (crying)
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Importance of Classical
Conditioning
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Classical conditioning is involved in many of our
behaviors
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wherever stimuli are paired together over time we
come to react to one of them as if the other were
present
a particular song is played and you immediately think
of a particular romantic partner
a particular cologne is smelled and you immediately
think of a romantic partner
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Classical Conditioning in
Abnormal Behavior
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Phobias and classical conditioning
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phobias are an unnaturally intense fear of an
object not really warranting such fear
there are over 750 identified phobias
phobias can be intensely debilitating and
result in a person’s total incapacitation
all phobias are originally begun by means of
classical conditioning (typically by accident)
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Abnormal behavior and CC
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The mechanism of establishing a phobia is
as follows:
UCS -------------------> UCR
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NS ----------> UCS -------------------> UCR
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(intense pain) -----------------> (fear)
(dog) ------> (bite) ----------------------> (fear)
CS --------------------------------------> CR
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(dog) --------------------------------------> (fear)
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Abnormal behavior and CC
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Using classical conditioning, it is possible
to make a person have a phobia of just
about anything
Phobias, unreasonable fears of objects that
should not be feared, are treatable by
psychological intervention
Objects of fear may include:
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Cats
Felinaphobia
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Spiders
Arachnaphobia
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Abnormal behavior and CC
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Phobias can all be treated using
“systematic desensitization”
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involves pairing relaxation with the object
that produces the fear
done first in the imagination successfully and
then followed by experiencing the stimulus
progressively in the real world
there is no reason why anyone should have a
debilitating fear; treatment is possible
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Abnormal behavior and CC
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Philias and classical conditioning
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philias (or manias) are extreme pleasures
derived from stimuli usually not likely to
produce this intense pleasure
philias can be relatively harmless, e.g.,
frottage or podophilia
philias can be extremely dangerous, e.g.,
pedophilia and necrophilia
others include kleptomania, pyromania, etc.
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Abnormal behavior and CC
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All philias are established in the same way:
UCS ---------------> UCR
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NS ---------------> UCS ---------------> UCR
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(sexual stimulation) -----> (pleasure)
(toes) ----> (sexual stimulation) ----> (pleasure)
CS ---------------------------------------> CR
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(toes) -----------------------------------> (pleasure)
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Pyromania
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Abnormal behavior and CC
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Philias can all be treated with some success
using a technique called “aversive counterconditioning”
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a painful stimulus is paired with the object
that formerly brought pleasure
this must be done carefully to avoid making
the individual become masochistic
the movie “Clockwork Orange” demonstrates
aversive counter-conditioning quite well
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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Research has shown that the body’s
immune system can be trained to become
either more or less effective by classical
conditioning
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rat experiments conducted where rats were
irradiated (weakening immune system) and
this irradiation was presaged by exposure to
given stimuli; later rats shown stimuli and
immune system functions decreased
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Tools: Classical Conditioning
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Some pointers on effective conditioning
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NS and UCS pairings must not be more than
about 1/2 second apart for best results
Repeated NS/UCS pairings are called
“training trials”
Presentations of CS without UCS pairings are
called “extinction trials”
Intensity of UCS effects how many training
trials are necessary for conditioning to occur
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The Other Side of the Tool Box
Operant Conditioning
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Tools: Operant Conditioning
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Operant conditioning is simply learning
from the consequences of your behavior
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the “other side” of the psychologist’s tool
box, operant conditioning is a form of
learning in which the consequences of
behavior lead to changes in the probability of
a behavior’s occurrence.
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Tools: Operant Conditioning
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The Operant Conditioning paradigm:
SD ------> Response ------> Consequence
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where “SD” is the “discriminative stimulus”
where “Response” is the subject’s behavior
where “Consequence” is what happens to the
subject after EMITTING the response
What consequences can follow a subject’s
response?
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Tools: Operant Conditioning
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Consequences to behavior can be:
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nothing happens: extinction
something happens
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the “something” can be pleasant
the “something” can be aversive
Consequences include positive and negative
reinforcement, time out, and punishment. We’ll
examine each of these now.
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Positive Reinforcement
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What is a reinforcer?
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Definition: a reinforcer is any stimulus
which, when delivered to a subject, increases
the probability that a subject will emit a
response.
Primary reinforcers, e.g., food
Secondary reinforcers, e.g., praise
One can only know if a stimulus is a
reinforcer based on the increased probability
of occurrence of a subject’s behavior
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Money: a secondary reinforcer
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Positive Reinforcement
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What is positive reinforcement?
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a procedure where a pleasant stimulus is
delivered to a subject contingent upon the
subject’s emitting a desired behavior
Schedules of reinforcement
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reinforcement schedules may be used to
decrease the probability that a response
pattern in a subject will extinguish
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Positive Reinforcement
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Schedules of reinforcement
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there are 4 types of reinforcement schedules
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fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement
fixed interval schedule of reinforcement
variable ratio schedule of reinforcement
variable interval schedule of reinforcement
each of these schedules will produce different
response patterns in subjects; the variable ratio
schedule best for most resistant to extinction
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Positive Reinforcement
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Shaping behaviors
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the use of positive reinforcement in the differential
reinforcement of successive approximations is called
“shaping”
shaping can be used to create a new response pattern
in a subject
shaping must be done carefully and one must rely on
the differential reinforcement of successive
approximations to the target behavior
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Negative Reinforcement
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Negative reinforcement
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a procedure where an aversive stimulus is
removed from a subject contingent upon the
subject’s emitting a desired behavior
the reinforcing consequence is the removal or
avoidance of an aversive stimulus
Escape conditioning: the behavior is reinforced
because it stops an aversive stimlus
 Avoidance conditioning: behavior reinforced
because aversive stimulus is prevented
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Negative Reinforcement
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Examples of negative reinforcement in the
real world include:
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taking out the trash to avoid your mother
yelling at you
taking an aspirin to get rid of a headache
using a condom to avoid contracting a fatal
disease
paying your car insurance on time to prevent
cancellation of your policy
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Time Out
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Time Out (from positive reinforcement)
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a procedure where a pleasant stimulus is
removed from a subject contingent upon the
subject’s emitting an UNDERSIRED response
both positive and negative reinforcement
build behaviors while time out and
punishment are used to destroy behaviors
Grounding, toys being taken away, sitting on
a stool for 5 minutes are examples of time out
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Punishment
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Punishment
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Punishment defined
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a procedure where an aversive stimulus is
presented to a subject contingent upon the
subject emitting an undesired behavior.
punishment should be used as a last resort in
behavior engineering; positive reinforcement
should be used first
examples include spanking, verbal abuse,
electrical shock, etc.
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Punishment
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Dangers in use of punishment
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punishment is often reinforcing to a punisher
(resulting in the making of an abuser)
punishment often has a generalized inhibiting
effect on the punished individual (they stop
doing ANY behavior at all)
we learn to dislike the punisher (a result of
classical conditioning)
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Punishment
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Dangers in use of punishment
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what the punisher thinks is punishment may,
in fact, be a reinforcer to the “punished”
individual
punishment does not teach more appropriate
behavior; it merely stops a behavior from
occurring
punishment can cause emotional damage in
the punished individual (antisocial behavior)
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Punishment
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Dangers in use of punishment
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punishment only stops the behavior from
occurring in the presence of the punisher;
when the punisher is not present then the
behavior will often reappear and with a
vengeance
the best tool for engineering behavior is
positive reinforcement
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Punishment
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Guidelines for the effective use of punishment
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use the least painful stimulus possible; if you spank
your child, do it on the child’s bottom with an open
hand never more than twice and NEVER so hard as
to leave any marks on your child. That would be
classified as child abuse.
reinforce the appropriate behavior to take the place of
the inappropriate behavior
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Punishment
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Guidelines
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make it clear to the individual which behavior you
are punishing and remove all threat of punishment
immediately as soon as the undesired behavior stops.
do not give punishment mixed with rewards for a
given behavior; be consistent!
once you have begun to administer punishment do
not back out but use punishment wisely
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Special issues in learning...
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Contrasting Classical and
Operant Conditioning
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Classical conditioning usually involves
reflexive behavior (eliciting a response)
whereas operant condition involves
instrumental behavior (emitting a response)
Classical conditioning elicits a response
whereas operant conditioning manipulates
the probability that a given response will be
emitted by the subject.
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Stimulus Discrimination
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Stimulus discrimination refers to the fact
that most responses are more likely to
occur in the presence of some stimuli than
in the presence of other stimuli
What is this letter? A
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Why did you say “A” here? The “A” is a
discriminative stimulus for saying
(responding) with the saying of the letter A
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Stimulus Discrimination
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Learning anything is an accrual of discriminative
stimuli
Sd’s, Sp’s, and S-deltas
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Sd’s: stimuli which indicate that if you emit the
appropriate response now you will be rewarded
Sp’s: stimuli which indicate that if you emit the
inappropriate response now you will be punished
S-deltas: stimuli indicating no consequences
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Stimulus generalization
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Stimulus generalization refers to the fact
that the more similar two stimuli are, the
more likely the individual is to respond to
them as if they were the same stimulus
Stimulus generalization has implications
for both classical and operant conditioning
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classical: e.g., agoraphobia
operant: e.g., “B” vs “P”
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Extinction: the process of
unlearning
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Extinction is the process of unlearning a learned
response because of a change on the part of the
environment (reinforcement or punishment or
stimulus pairing contingencies)
Removing the source of learning
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in CC, not pairing the NS with the UCS will result in
extinction
in OC, not providing consequences causes ext.
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Spontaneous recovery and
external disinhibition
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Spontaneous recovery: a temporary increase in
the strength of a response; this increase is likely
to occur during extinction after the passage of
time and if there has been a single repeat in
association made either actually or in the
subject’s own perception
External disinhibition: temporary increase of
extinguished response because of intense, but
unrelated, external stimulus event
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What is learning?
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Theoretical Interpretations of
Learning
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Cognition or connection? Is learning the
result of a change in the neural connections
in an individual’s nervous system or is it a
change in how the individual thinks?
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Is learning a physical change in the system?
Is learning a cognitive change in how an
individual processes information?
What is learning?
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Tolman’s Place vs Response
Learning
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Tolman’s “Place vs Response” learning
experiments
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rats sought food in mazes
did rats learn to find food by a series of right-left
turns or did they know that the food was “over
there?”
Tolman concluded that rats had a “cognitive map” of
where the food was and that it was “over there” (not
just a series of right-left responses)
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Tolman’s latent learning
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rats who were not reinforced for making
correct choices would, when necessary, go
through the maze correctly when food was
available at the end
Tolman interpreted that rats learned mazes
but did not display their learning until it
was prudent to do so, I.e., latent learning
Learning is a very complex phenomenon
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Kohler’s insight experiments
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Kohler’s observations of sudden insight in his
chimp experiment provides evidence that learning
has a “cognitive” part to it and is not just a series
of correctly sequenced and reinforced behavior
Kohler’s work supports Tolman’s views of the
cognitive aspects involved in learning
We are “response learners” and also “thinkers” in
learning
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Modeling: Learning while
watching others
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Albert Bandura’s modeling research using
the Bobo dolls with children to study how
aggression is learned
Implications for modern media and
violence in our society?
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The average teen has observed 17,000
murders on television programming
Heavy metal and rap music: violence
preached?
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Teaching Violence?
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Biological factors in learning
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Ability to learn is influenced by biological
factors, e.g.,
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research shows that some people are more
biologically prepared to learn some fears
more readily than others
diets for improving learning? Brain food?
can you “supercharge” your learning
potential?
learning in the future, a possibility?
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Application of psychology
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Application of psychology:
Learning the wrong things
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What is superstitious behavior?
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non-contingent reinforcement
examples of superstitions
Learned helplessness
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the cessation of all behavior as a result of
intense punishment
dog’s behavior in electrified cage
wife’s behavior in an abusive marriage
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Questions?
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Any questions over chapter 6?
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