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Learning
 Learning – A lasting
change in behavior or
mental processes that
results from experience.
 No topic is closer to the
heart of psychology.
 Shapes our thought and
language, our motivations
and emotions, and our
personalities and
perceptions.
Associative Learning
 Associative Learning –
Learning that certain
events occur together.
The events may be two
stimuli, or a response and
its consequences.
Habituation
 Habituation – Learning
not to respond to the
repeated presentation of a
stimulus.
 Simple form of learning.
 Example – If you live near
a busy street, you learn to
ignore the sound of
traffic.
Mere Exposure Effect
 Mere Exposure Effect – A
learned preference for
stimuli to which we have
been previously exposed.
Behavioral Learning
 Behavioral Learning –
Forms of learning, such
as classical conditioning
and operant
conditioning, that can be
described in terms of
stimuli and responses.
Classical Conditioning
 Classical Conditioning –Form of
behavioral learning in which a
previously neutral stimulus
acquires the power to elicit the
same innate reflex produced by
another stimulus.
 Learn to associate two stimuli
and thus to anticipate events.
 Example – Lightening strikes,
we learn to anticipate the
crack of thunder.
Neutral Stimulus
 Neutral Stimulus – Any stimulus that produces no
conditioned response prior to learning.
 When it is brought into a conditioning experiment, the
researcher will call it a conditioned stimulus.
 The assumption is that some conditioning occurs after
even one pairing of the CS and UCS.
Pavlov’s Dogs
 Ivan Pavlov – Russian Psychologist
 Dog experiment:
 Before Conditioning (food not paired with tone)
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Food in mouth = Dog Salivation
Tone = No Salivation
 After Conditioning (food paired with tone)
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Tone + Food in mouth = Dog Salivation
Tone = Salivation
Classical Conditioning
 Unconditioned Stimulus – A stimulus that
unconditionally – naturally and automatically –
triggers a response (unconditioned response).
 Unconditioned Response – The response elicited by an
unconditioned stimulus without prior learning.
Classical Conditioning
 Conditioned Stimulus – An originally irrelevant or
neutral stimulus that, after association with an
unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a
conditioned response.
 Conditioned Response – The learned response to a
previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus
that has become associated with the unconditioned
stimulus.
Another Example (Cancer
Patient)
 Radiation Treatment (US) = Nausea (UR)
 Waiting Room (CS) + Radiation Treatment (US) =
Nausea (UR)
 Waiting Room (CS) = Nausea (CR)
Acquisition
 Acquisition – The initial learning stage in classical
conditioning, during which the conditioned response
comes to be elicited by the conditioned stimulus.
Extinction and Spontaneous
Recovery
 Extinction – The weakening of a conditioned response
in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus.
 Spontaneous Recovery – The reappearance of an
extinguished conditioned response after a time delay.
Generalization
 Stimulus Generalization – The tendency to respond to
stimuli similar to the conditioned stimuli.
 Example – Dogs salivate in response to a tone that is
different, but somewhat similar to the CS.
Stimulus Discrimination
 Stimulus Discrimination – A change in responses to
one stimulus but not to stimuli that are similar.
Experimental Neurosis
 Experimental Neurosis – A pattern of erratic behavior
resulting from a demanding discrimination learning
task, typically one that involves aversive stimuli.
Applications of Classical
Conditioning
 Example:
 Taste-Aversion Learning – A biological tendency in
which an organism learns, after a single experience, to
avoid a food with a certain taste, if eating it is followed
by illness.
Operant Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning –A form
of behavioral learning in which
the probability of a response is
changed by its consequences –
that is, by the stimuli that follow
the response.
 We learn to associate a response
(our behavior) and its
consequence.
 Repeat acts follow by good
results.
 Avoid acts followed by bad
results.
Law of Effect
 Law of effect – The idea that responses that produced
desirable results would be learned, or “stamped” into
the organism.
Operant Conditioning
 Reinforcement – A condition (involving either the
presentation or removal of a stimulus) that occurs after
a response and strengthens that response.
 Punishment – Encourages us to learn to not repeat
behaviors that bring about punishment.
Types of Reinforcement
 Positive Reinforcement – Add a desirable stimulus.
 Example – Getting a hug; receiving a paycheck.
 Negative Reinforcement – Remove an undesirable
stimulus.
 Example – Fastening a seatbelt to turn off beeping.
Reinforcement Contingencies
 Relationships between a response and the changes in
stimulation that follow the response.
 AKA – How frequently reinforcement is given.
 Very important in learning.
Reinforcement Schedules
 Continuous reinforcement – All correct responses are
reinforced.
 Shaping – Reinforcing responses that are similar to the
desired response.
 Intermittent reinforcement – Some, but not all correct
responses are reinforced (partial reinforcement).
 Extinction – Response is weakened by the absence or
removal of reinforcement.
 Ratio Schedule – Reinforcement depends on the
number of correct responses.
Reinforcement Schedules
 Interval Schedule – A program by which reinforcement
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


depends on the time interval elapsed since the last
reinforcement.
Fixed Ratio Schedule – Reinforcement is contingent on a
certain, unvarying number of responses.
Variable Ratio Schedule – Number of responses required
for a reinforcement varies from trial to trial.
Fixed Interval Schedule – Reinforcement is contingent on a
certain, fixed time period.
Variable Interval Schedule – Programs by which the time
period between reinforcements varies from trial to trial.
Primary Reinforcers
 Primary Reinforcers – Reinforcers, such as food and
sex, that have an innate basis because of their
biological value to an organism.
Conditioned / Secondary
Reinforcers
 Conditioned / Secondary Reinforcers – Stimuli, such
as money or tokens, that acquire their reinforcing
power by a learned association with primary
reinforcers.
 Token Economy – Therapeutic method by which
individuals are rewarded with tokens, which act as
secondary reinforcers. Tokens can be redeemed for a
variety of rewards and privileges.
 Premack Principle – The concept that a more preferred
activity can be used to reinforce a less-preferred activity.
Types of Punishment
 Positive Punishment – Administer an undesirable
stimulus.
 Example – Spanking; a parking ticket.
 Negative Punishment (AKA omission training) –
Withdraw a desirable stimulus.
 Example – Time-out from privileges (such as time with
friends); revoked driver’s license.
Skinner’s Box
Applications of Operant
Conditioning
 Principles can be used
(and have been used) to
increase productivity:
 At School
 In Athletics
 At Work
 At Home
Insight Learning
 Insight Learning – A form of cognitive learning,
originally described by the Gestalt psychologists, in
which problem solving occurs by means of a sudden
reorganization of perceptions.
 Kohler and the Chimps!!!
Cognitive Maps
 Cognitive Map – A mental representation of physical
space.
 Tolman!
Observational Learning
 Higher animals, especially humans, can learn without
direct experience, by observing or imitating others.
Observational Learning
 Albert Bandura and the Bobo Doll
Brain Mechanisms and Learning
 Long-Term Potentiation – A biological process,
involving physical changes that strengthen the
synapses in groups of nerve cells, which is believed to
be the neural basis of learning.
Learning Styles
 Visual
 Auditory
 Tactile / Kinesthetic
Visual Learners
 Learn by watching people
do things.
 Different colors help them
study and remember.
 Use a lot of highlighters.
 Like to read instructions
and other materials on
their own.
 Like to see
demonstrations
Auditory Learners
 Learn best by listening.
 Do well with lectures and
class discussions.
 Like to have teachers read
directions to them.
Tactile / Kinesthetic Learners
 Learn best through
hands-on activities.
 Excel in experiments,
demonstrations.
 Typically do well in
science.