Download Chapter 6

Chapter 6
Learning
Objectives
6.1 How We Learn
• Distinguish among three major types of learning
theories focusing on behavior.
6.2 Classical Conditioning
• Identify the principles of classical conditioning within
examples of associative learning.
6.3 Operant Conditioning
• Apply the principles of operant conditioning to
examples of reinforcement learning.
6.4 A Cognitive Approach: Observational Learning
• Explain the evidence that learning can occur without
any displayed behavior.
How We Learn
• Learning: A lasting change in knowledge
or behavior based on experience
• Acquisition: Gaining new knowledge or
behavior to use in the future
Behaviorism
Training or learning as displayed by an
animal or human’s behavior
• Classical conditioning: A neutral
stimulus is associated with an unlearned
stimulus and its automatic response
• Operant conditioning: Training emits
behaviors to make them more likely to
occur again
The Cognitive Approach
The explanations of behavior based on
changes in knowledge within the mind
• Observational learning: Acquiring new
behaviors from watching a model
Pavlovian Conditioning
• Unconditioned stimulus: An unlearned
signal that leads to an automatic, reflexive
response
• Unconditioned response: A physiological
behavior that is involuntarily elicited by a
stimulus
• Neutral stimulus: An event or signal that
causes no reflexive, automatic response
• Conditioned stimulus: A learned signal that
predicts another stimulus is about to occur
Higher Order Conditioning
• Learning to associate a new, neutral
stimulus with an already learned
conditioned stimulus and conditioned
response
Extinction and Spontaneous
Recovery
• Extinction: The absence of a learned
behavior
• Spontaneous recovery: After a rest, the
reappearance of an extinguished
conditioned response
• Resistance to extinction: Associations
that are difficult to unlearn
Generalization and Discrimination
• Generalization: Learning to respond to
stimuli similar to the one experienced
• Discrimination: Learning to see the
difference between two similar stimuli
Conditioning and Emotional
Responses
In humans, events or images may elicit
important reflexes or instinctive responses
involving emotions.
Classical Conditioning and
Physiological Response
We may be drawn to particular people
without realizing they have tapped into
classically conditioned responses from our
past. We learn so well from classical
conditioning that changes may occur in
our physiological responses below our
conscious awareness.
Contemporary Views of Classical
Conditioning
• Learning to predict
• Biological and evolutionary predispositions
Applying Principles of Classical
Conditioning
• Flooding: A therapy to treat phobias
based on intense exposure to the feared
stimulus
• Systematic desensitization: Treatment
for phobia that practices relaxation to
progressively more feared stimuli
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
• Behaviors that lead to positive outcomes
are likely to be repeated
Skinner’s Experiments: Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcement: A consequence that
creates a pleasant state, making behavior
more likely to occur
• Negative reinforcement: A consequence
that takes away an unpleasant state, making
behavior more likely to occur
• Primary reinforcer: A reward that provides
basic needs
• Secondary (conditioned) reinforce: A
reward that can be exchanged for ones
meeting basic needs
Operant Conditioning
• Acquisition and Shaping
• Generalization and Discrimination
• Extinction
Schedules of Reinforcement
Types of reinforcement:
intermittent reinforcement
continuous reinforcement
Punishment
• The goal of punishment is to extinguish a
behavior rather than reinforce it.
Contemporary Views of Operant
Conditioning
• Learned helplessness
• Intrinsic motivation
• Biological influences
Applying Principles of Operant
Conditioning
• Behavior modification: An operant
conditioning program designed to achieve
a goal
• Token economies: Situations in which
easy-to-use secondary reinforcers are
traded in for a meaningful reward
• Behavioral contract: The learner signs a
written specification of an operant
conditioning program
Tolman’s Latent Learning
• learning takes place without any change in
displayed behavior.
Bandura’s Social-Cognitive Learning
Theory
• In a study by Albert Bandura, children
modeled adults behavior with an inflatable
doll
Bandura’s Basic Processes
1.
2.
3.
4.
Attention
Retention
Reproduction
Motivation
Biological Basis: Mirrors in the Brain
• Mirror neurons: Neurons in the frontal
lobe that respond to motor behavior in
oneself and in others
Applying Principles of Observational
Learning
• Observational learning greatly speeds the
amount of information and behavior we
can acquire by benefitting from the
behavior of others.