Download Chapter 6 - Montezuma Schools

Chapter 6
Learning
Learning
Learning
A pretty permanent change in behavior or mental processes due to
experience
Experience is our teacher
What are somethings you can think of that you learned from
experience/observation?
Applies to good and bad behaviors
Good news, you can unlearn through retraining, counseling,
and perseverance
Types: classical, operant, cognitive-social, and evolution
Classical Conditioning
Diagram 6.1 page 207 (Extremely important!)
Classical conditioning: learning through involuntarily paired associations
Pavlov discovered through studying dogs’ salivary responses
Tone (neutral stimulus or NS)
Presented with food (unconditioned stimuli or UCS)
Dog would salivate (unconditioned response or UCR)
Over time, the pairing of NS with the UCS causes conditioning to occur
NS → Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
UCR → Conditioned Response (CR)
Anytime the dogs heard a tone, they began to salivate
Classical Conditioning
At the start
Tone
Food
Salivate
(NS)
(UCS)
(UCR)
Over time
Tone
Salivate
(CS)
(CR)
Components of Classical Conditioning
Neutral Stimulus (NS): stimulus that doesn’t make the response happen
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): brings about the unconditioned response
Unconditioned Response (UCR): unlearned (natural) reaction to unconditioned
stimulus
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): once neutral stimulus that because of conditioning
brings about the conditioned response
Conditioned Response (CR): learned reaction to the conditioned stimulus because
of conditioning
*CS and CR only happen because of the UCS*
Extinction-Classical
Extinction: gradual disappearance of the CR over time, and happens only if
the UCS is withheld whenever the CS is presented
Example: Pavlov stopped presenting the food
Behavior doesn’t become unlearned, however, and re-conditoning doesn’t take
as long.
Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning: learning through voluntary behavior and its consequences
Reinforcement: strengthens response, making the chances of it recurring
increase
Punishment: weakens response, making the chances of it recurring decrease
Reinforcement
Increase in behavior
Punishment
Decrease in behavior
Behavior
A Little Operant Conditioning History
Thorndike
Law of effect: probability of an action being repeated is strengthened when
followed by a pleasant or satisfying consequence
Cat box
Skinner (Remember, Skinner was a behaviorist. No emotions, just observable behaviors)
Reinforcer and punishment must come after the response
Watch responses → make sure getting an increase/decrease as desired
Example: Praise shy students for speaking in class, but instead of them speaking more they speak
less because they are embarrassed by the attention
Skinner Box (pg. 223)
Types of Reinforcers and Reinforcements
Types of Reinforcers
Primary reinforcers: stimuli that increases response because it satisfies a biological
need (ex: food and water)
Secondary reinforcers: stimuli that increases response because of a learned value
(money and possessions)
Types of Reinforcements
Positive: adding a stimulus, strengthening a response and making it more likely to
recur
Example: Make a joke and the class laughs. More likely to make a joke (or that joke) again.
Negative: removing a stimulus, strengthening a response and making it more likely to
recur
Example: Have a headache, take an aspirin, headache goes away. More likely to take an aspirin in the
future if headache returns.
**Table 6.2 page 217**
Types of Punishments
Positive: adding a stimulus, weakening a response and making it less likely to
recur
Example: Kid missed curfew, parents give him more chores as a punishment.
Negative: removing a stimulus, weakening a response and making it less likely
to recur
Example: Kid missed curfew, parents take away his car keys as a punishment.
Side Effects of Punishment
Punishing the desired behaviors: yelling at a dog for not coming immediately
when you call
Passive aggressiveness: not being directly confrontational, but indirectly (ie not
yelling back, but instead “forgetting” to do something)
Avoidance: avoid punisher
Inappropriate modeling: punisher displays inappropriate response
Temporary suppression vs. elimination: just on good behavior when punisher is
present
Learned helplessness: learn to give up, hopeless
Increased aggression: frustration builds and individual begins to act out
Extinction-Operant
Extinction: lack of reinforcement could lead to regressing back to old
behaviors
Stop Extinction
Continuous Reinforcement: every correct response is reinforced
faster initial learning
Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement: some, but not all, correct responses are
reinforced
Switch to partial reinforcement when response is well learned
More resistant to extinction
Cognitive-Social Learning
Cognitive-Social Theory: emphasizes the roles of thinking and social learning in
behavior
Stimulus-Organism-Response
Attitudes, beliefs, expectations, motivations and emotions influence learning
Learn new behaviors through observation and imitation
Kohler
Insight: sudden understanding of the problem, and determine the solution
Example: chimp
Tolman
Cognitive map: mental image of space
Latent learning: hidden learning that exits without behavioral signs
Example: rats in a maze
Cognitive-Social Learning
Observational Learning: learn new behaviors by watching or imitating others
learn from others
avoid dangerous situations
teaches us to think and feel
shows how to act and interact socially
Example: Bandura’s Bobo doll study
4 Steps to Observational learning
1. Attention: watching, focused
2. Retention: remember directions/demonstrations
3. Reproduction: imitate behavior
4. Reinforcement: increasing the likelihood of the behavior to recur
Evolution’s Influence on Learning
Evolutionary Learning: instincts one is born with
Taste aversion: classically conditioned negative reaction to a particular taste
that has been associated with nausea or other illness
Example: soda can and ants or jello with fruit in it
Biological preparedness: built-in readiness to form associations between
certain stimuli and responses
Example: Quickly associating nausea with food or drink helps us to
avoid it again in the future (ie cavemen getting sick by eating a
certain plant)
Instinctive Drift: conditioned responses regress back to innate responses
Example: Brelands, a chicken, and baseball