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Module One: Booklet #7
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Is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that
results from experience
There are various ways is which people learn (we
will look at some learning styles in Module 2)
We will look at 2 main schools of thought
(viewpoints) regarding learning:
◦ 1) Classical Conditioning
◦ 2) Operant Conditioning
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Psychology - Learning-Classical & Operant
Conditioning-1.avi (13:50)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUa_F2OJ
T0k
Psychology - Learning-Classical & Operant
Conditioning-2.avi (13:46)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMMNkxx
XVKI
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Is a learning procedure in which associations are
made between a neutral stimulus and a learned,
neutral stimulus
◦ Remember Little Albert and the white rat (BANG!)
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It is thought that it helps animals and humans
avoid danger
Person’s or animal’s old response becomes
attached to a new stimulus
Ivan Pavlov did research (accidental discovery while
researching digestion!)
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Here is what he observed:
◦ A neutral stimulus (one that does not initially
elicit (draw out) a response) will cause a formerly
unrelated response if it is presented regularly just
before the stimulus that normally brings about
that response
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Here is what he observed:
◦ In Pavlov’s example, a bell (conditioned stimulus)
stimulated the dog to salivate (conditioned response)
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Some of the finer details:
◦ Acquisition (gaining) of a conditioned response
will happen gradually (depends on frequency of
practice and timing of a neutral stimulus)
◦ Generalization can happen where a similar neutral
stimulus initiates the conditioned response
(anything white or fluffy for Little Albert)
◦ Extinction (behaviour disappears) may happen and
the conditioned response will stop if the
conditioned response is repeatedly presented with
the controlled stimulus
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Example of a behaviourist theory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpoLxEN54ho (3:10)
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Ryan was really looking forward to
lunch because his mother had
prepared a tuna salad sandwich.
Unfortunately, the mayonnaise she
used had been left out too long and
was spoiled. Not long after eating the
sandwich, Ryan felt sick and had to
rush to the bathroom. Thereafter, the
mere mention of a tuna sandwich
would make Ryan nauseous.
Q: What is the NS, US, UR, CS & CR?
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When Good Tuna Goes Bad:
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NS: mention of tuna sandwich
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US: spoiled mayonnaise
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UR: getting sick
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CS: mention of tuna sandwich
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CR: feel nauseous
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Refers to learning in which a certain action is
reinforced or punished, resulting in corresponding
increases or decreases in occurrence
Learning occurs from the consequences of
behaviour
The subject "operates” on or causes some change
in the environment which produces a result that
influences whether the subject will operate or
responds the same way in the future
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Depending on the effect of the operant behaviours,
the learner will repeat or eliminate these
behaviours to get rewards or avoid punishment
Must engage in a behaviour in order for the
programmed outcome to occur
Study of how voluntary behaviour is affected by its
consequences
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B.F. Skinner most closely worked with operant
conditioning (worked with a rat in a “Skinner Box”)
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Occurs when a stimulus or event that follows a
response and increases the likelihood that the
response will be repeated
Skinner believed that most behaviour is influenced
by a person's history of rewards and punishments
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Two types:
◦ Positive reinforcement
 When a reward is added after an action
 Ex: At work, you exceed this month's sales
quota so your boss gives you a bonus.
◦ Negative reinforcement
 When something unpleasant is taken away if the
animal/person performs an action
 Ex: Before heading out for a day at the beach,
you slather on sunscreen in order to avoid
getting sunburned.
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Continuous schedule
◦ Behaviour is reinforced every time it occurs
◦ If continuously reinforced for a behaviour, you
tend to maitain that behaviour only when the
reinforcement is given
◦ If the reinforcement stops, the behaviours quickly
undergoes extinction(disappears)
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Partial schedule
◦ Positive reinforcement only intermittently (not all
the time)
◦ Responses are more stable and last longer once
they are learned
◦ Behaviours are established more slowly but are
more persistent (“continual”) because cannot
predict when the next reinforcement will occur so
have learned to be persistent
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Process of influencing behaviour by means of
unpleasant stimuli
Events or actions that serve as reinforcers or
punishers depend on their effect on the learner:
Are two ways in which unpleasant events can
affects our behaviour:
◦ Negative reinforcement
◦ Punishment
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Negative Reinforcement:
◦ Increasing the strength of a given response by
removing or preventing a painful stimulus when
the response occurs
◦ GOAL : The removal of unpleasant consequences
increases the frequency of a behaviour
◦ Ex: If walking with a rock in your shoe causes you
to limp, removing stone from shoe allows you to
walk without pain
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Punishment
◦ An unpleasant consequence occurs and decreases
the frequency of the behaviours that produced it
◦ Ex: If you want to stop a dog from pawing at you
when it wants attention, you should loudly say
“NO!”, and reprimand it when it paws at you
◦ Operates in opposite ways from negative
reinforcement
◦ Behaviour that is punished decreases or is not
repeated
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Can produce unwanted side effects such as rage,
aggression (violent behaviour), and fear
More likely to suppress (hold back) rather than
eliminate behaviours
Punishment alone does not teach appropriative and
acceptable behavior
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The Big Bang Theory - Sheldon Trains Penny (2:45)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy_mIEnnlF4
POSITIVE
(ADDED)
REINFORCEMENT
(STRENGTHENS)
PUNISHMENT
(WEAKENS)
• Clean the house and earn
$5
• a coach pats you on the
back after a good play
• a paycheck for working
• Getting $10 for getting an
“A” on your report card
• You get your mouth
washed out with soap when
you curse
• Touch and hot stove and
get burned
• Getting a ticket for
speeding
NEGATIVE
(SUBTRACTED)
•You leave early for school
to avoid traffic
• You take Tylenol to remove
back pain
•You buy your child ice
cream so they stop nagging
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6zS7v9nSpo (6:29)
CONCEPT
BASIC
PRINCIPLE
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Building associations between an
conditioned stimulus and conditioned
response
Reinforcement increases the FREQUENCY of the
behaviour preceding it; punishment decease
the FREQUENCY of the behaviour preceding it
NATURE OF
BEHAVIOUR
Based on involuntary, nature innate
behaviour. Behaviour is elicited by the
unconditioned or conditioned stimulus.
Organism voluntarily operates on its
environment to produce a desirable result.
After behaviour occurs, the likelihood of the
behaviour occurring again is increase or
decreased by the behaviour's consequences.
ORDER OF
EVENTS
Before conditioning, an unconditioned
stimulus leads to an unconditioned
response. After conditioning, a
conditioned stimulus leads to a
conditioned response.
Reinforcement leads to an increase in
behaviour. Punishment leads to a decrease in
behaviour.
EXAMPLE
After a physician gives a child a series of
painful injections (an unconditioned
stimulus) that produce an emotional
reaction (and unconditioned response),
the child develops a emotional reaction (a
conditioned response) whenever he sees
the physician (the conditioned stimulus.
A student who after studying hard for a test,
earns and A ( the positive reinforcer) is more
likely to study hard the night before the test. A
student who after going out partying the night
before a test, fails the test (punishment) is less
likely to go out partying the night before the
next test.