Download What is Learning?

What is Learning?
Psychology
Ciccarelli and White
-Any relatively permanent change in behavior
based on experience or practice
Chapter Five:
Learning
-Learning is not maturation. Maturation is
change based biological processes.
Classical Conditioning
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Ivan Pavlov
Getting the terminology down:
Classical Conditioning
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Stimulus
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Response
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Unconditioned
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Conditioned
Classical Conditioning
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Conditioned stimulus (CS) – a stimulus that is
repeatedly paired with the unconditioned
stimulus so that the two become associated.
Conditioned Response (CR) – is the same
response as the unconditioned response,
however, it results from the conditioned
stimulus.
The conditioned stimulus is always followed
by the conditioned response.
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Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) – signal or
trigger for the unconditioned response; this
signal leads to a response that is NOT
learned
Unconditioned response (UCR) – the
response is typically a natural response or
emotion that is also NOT learned
The unconditioned stimulus is always
followed by the unconditioned response.
Classical Conditioning
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Famous example: Pavlov’s dogs
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Neutral stimulus (NS): rhythmic clicking sound
NS is paired with unconditioned stimulus (UCS):
food
UCS → Unconditioned response (UCR):
salivation
After conditioning:
NS becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS)
CS → Conditioned Response (CR): salivation
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Classical Conditioning
NS---UCS
 UCS → UCR
 NS → CS
 CS → CR
____________________________________
Ticking – Food
Food → Salivation
Ticking & Food become associated
Ticking → Salivation
Classical Conditioning
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Classical Conditioning
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Pavlov’s principles for classical conditioning
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What comes first, the chicken or the egg?
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The timing of the CS/NS and the UCS
Time span
Repeated exposure
The CS must be distinctive
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Higher Order Conditioning – CS paired with
NS and NS also becomes a CS
General Classical Conditioning:
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If you salivate when you see food on T.V.
If you feel fear when you hear a dentist’s drill
Drug addicts/environmental stimuli
Remember back to the chapter on sleep
Study spots or study associations
Other properties of Classical
Conditioning
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Classical Conditioning
It is everywhere!
Stimulus generalization – similar stimuli to the
original CS can also elicit the CR
Stimulus discrimination – similar stimuli to the
CS can be distinguished and do not elicit the
CR
Extinction – CS presented without UCS; the
CS will no longer elicit the CR and will once
again as a NS
Spontaneous recovery – brief appearance of
the CS and UCS association
Classical Conditioning
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Exercise:

Explain the case of Little Albert with the proper
terminology
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NS1(clicking) —UCS (food)→UCR (salivation)
CS1 (clicking) →CR (salivation)
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Higher Order Conditioning:
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CS1 (clicking) — NS2 (snapping) →CR
(salivation)
CS2 (snapping) →CR (salivation)
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First step: decide what each of the terms relate to in
this example (NS, UCS, UCR, CS, CR)
Second step: explain how it works using the terms in
the proper order (hint: start with the NS)
Apply classical conditioning to your life
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Give your own life example of classical conditioning
Use the same steps as above
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Classical Conditioning
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Phobia – acquired fear that is out of
proportion to the actual threat
Phobias – heights, dogs, snakes, the dark,
public speaking, getting married, etc.
Systematic desensitization – while
experiencing fear the person/animal is also
learning to relax (relaxation exercises) or
experiencing something pleasant (ex: food).
Classical Conditioning
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Can be displayed:
CS (feared stimulus)→ CR1 (fear)
CS (feared stimulus) — NS/CS (relaxation
exercises)
CS (feared stimulus) → CR2 (relaxation)
Classical Conditioning
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Vicarious conditioning
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Watching others respond to a stimulus and then
being conditioned to acquire the same response
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Sheep meat and coyotes
Birds and the monarch butterfly
Tigers and humans in India
Which two of Pavlov’s principles are violated?
Biological preparedness – associations are made
to increase survival
Pavlov:
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Biological Preparedness Examples:
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Ex: Children with shots
Ex: Rappelling
How does Classical
Conditioning work?
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Conditioned Taste Aversion
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Classical Conditioning
Stimulus substitution
What is the problem with this theory? (hint: think about
the four principles of classical conditioning)
How does Classical
Conditioning work?
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Expectancy:
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Cognition/mental activity
Cognitive perspective.
Rescorla (1998):
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CS had to predict that the UCS was coming
Study with rats and tones
This demonstrates that the rats responded to their
expectation of the shock
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Operant Conditioning or
Instrumental Conditioning
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Operant conditioning
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B.F. Skinner
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Stimulus: the lever
Response: pushing the lever
Consequence: escape and food
Law of effect
Puzzle box experiments with cats
Operant Conditioning
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Rewards
Avoid punishment
Edward Thorndike
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Operant Conditioning
Voluntary – operate in the world (to have agency)
Consequences
Learning happens after a response
Operant Conditioning
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Concepts in operant conditioning
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Reinforcement – a response that is strengthened
and is likely to happen again
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Reward (something positive)
Avoidance (something negative)
In the Thorndike cat puzzle, what was reinforced?
Reinforcers work well when:
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A behavior is reinforced immediately after a response
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Operant Conditioning
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Not all reinforcers are created equal
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Some are more powerful than others
Determined: amount of time spent on a voluntary
behavior
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ex: spending more time on a TV show or video game
than homework
(remember, learning can be associative)
Only the desired behavior is reinforced
(dog example)
Operant Conditioning
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Primary & secondary reinforcers
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Primary – fulfills basic needs (ex: food, water,
touch etc.)
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Secondary – reinforcers that are paired with
primary reinforcers (ex: money, praise)
Premack Theory
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Parents use an extension of this theory
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Secondary reinforcers work due to classical
conditioning
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Class Exercise
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Table of Differences
In groups
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Discuss and write down how classical and
operant conditioning are different/similar
Table of Similarities
Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Reinforcement should be immediate.
Duration between stimuli (NS/CS &
UCS) should be short. (< 5 sec)
Expectancy develops for a
reinforcement after a correct
response.
The CS is expected to come before
the UCS, or in other words, to predict
it.
Extinction, generalization, and
spontaneous recovery is possible in
operant conditioning.
Extinction, generalization, and
spontaneous recovery is possible in
classical conditioning.
Class Exercise
Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Increases a particular behavior (often
already occurring)
Creates a new association
Voluntary
Involuntary
Consequences provide the information
to make an association.
Stimuli that come before a response
create an association.
Extinction happens when you remove
the reinforcement.
Extinction happens when you remove
the UCS.
Types of Reinforcement
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Schedules of Reinforcement
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Positive or Negative Reinforcement?
1. Simon Cowell on American Idol has said:: ―Do you really believe you can
become an American Idol? Well then, you are deaf.‖ The singer began crying
and never competed on American Idol again.
Continuous reinforcement – reinforced
after every correct response.
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2. Ashton Kutcher went on David Letterman to encourage people to watch him
on Two and a Half Men and the ratings for Two and a Half Men went up. Now
he is looking for other talk shows he can make an appearance on to talk about
Two and a Half Men.
3. Brandon Hantz, Russell Hantz’s nephew decided that he was going to be a
hero on Survivor unlike his uncle who was considered a villain. He noticed that
he seemed to be doing well in the game when he was kind to others. So he
tried to be nice to people as a strategy to try to win the game.
Positive reinforcement: addition of a
positive or pleasurable consequence
Negative reinforcement: removal of a
negative or unpleasant consequence
Key to remember: reinforcers increase the
likelihood a particular response
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Partial Reinforcement – a correct response is
only reinforced some of the time.
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4. Brad Womack went on the Bachelor a second time because he wanted to
clean up his image. He had been considered the worst bachelor of all time
when he didn’t choose a bachelorette in his first season.
A child receives a gold star after every
assignment completely correctly.
Factory worker gets paid for each part assembled
correctly.
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An employee is paid weekly for a job well done
everyday.
A vacationer plays the slot machines in Los
Vegas hoping for the big win.
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Schedules of Reinforcement
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Advantage of continuous reinforcement –
learning takes place quickly
Advantage of partial reinforcement –
responses are more resistant to extinction
Disadvantage of continuous reinforcement –
it is more susceptible to extinction than partial
reinforcement
Disadvantage of partial reinforcement – make
take longer to learn.
Partial Reinforcement
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Fixed interval schedule of reinforcement –
reinforcement is:
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Partial Reinforcement
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Has a set span of time and reinforces at a
predictable time (ex: paycheck every week; ex:
Christmas for children)
Has a span of time but it reinforces unpredictably
(ex: pop quizzes; fishing; hunting)
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Interval refers to spans of time
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Ratio refers to number of responses
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Fixed refers a set amount of time or responses for
reinforcement (predictable)
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Variable refers to differing amounts of time or
responses for reinforcement (unpredictable)
Partial Reinforcement
Variable interval schedule of reinforcement –
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Terminology
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Fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement – the
number of responses will always be the same
number for the reinforcement (predictable)
(ex: a little girl sells 10 boxes of girl scout
cookies to win a prize)
Variable ratio schedule of reinforcement – the
number of responses changes for the
reinforcement (unpredictable) (ex: slot
machines, lotto)
Punishment
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Punishment – a response that is
weakened and is less likely to happen again
Types of punishment
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Punishment by application – something is applied
that is unpleasant (spanking, extra chores, writing
sentences)
Punishment by removal – something is removed
that is considered valuable (grounding a
teenager, reduction in privileges, taking away an
allowance; people with DUIs have their licenses
taken away)
Class Exercise
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Respond to the following examples in the
following slide.
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First, determine if the example is
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Reinforcement
Punishment
Then, determine if:
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Positive or negative reinforcer
Punishment by application or punishment by removal
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Class Exercise
Reinforcement or Punishment?
1. In Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Ty Pennington and his team built a
house for a family with a little boy who has a rare disease. His bones are
susceptible to breaking. They put in elevators throughout the house. The boy
uses the elevators without exception to move around the house to avoid strain
on his bones.
2. In a few of the final seasons of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer many of her friends
failed to recognize her leadership due to her affiliation with Spike, a vampire
with a bad reputation. They looked to Faith, another vampire slayer for direction
and leadership.
3. In the Harry Potter series, Dolores Umbridge made Harry write out that he
must not tell lies on a sheet a paper with a special pen with no ink. Harry
realized after writing a few sentences that the pen was not intended for the
paper but instead, by magic, it was engraving the sentence on his hand!
The problem with some types
of punishment
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First of all, it may be easier to encourage
behaviors than to eliminate them.
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Punishment may be temporary
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4. When Ellen began her own talk show she decided to start the show by
dancing. The audience members decided to dance as well. It seemed to be a
popular way to begin the show, so Ellen continues to open her show with an
impromptu dance.
A child continues a behavior when someone is not
looking
A child stops when punished but continues the behavior later
Some types of punishment can become
abuse
Punishment
Punishment
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Punishment that may lead to abuse (severe
spankings, removal of food, etc.)
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An association is made between the person who
is delivering the punishment and the punishment
instead of associating the undesired behavior with
the punishment
Punishment may not weaken the response
because other negative reinforcements are used
to continue with the behavior and avoid the
punishment (successful lying)
How can punishment be
effective?
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Most child development specialists recommend
punishment by removal
There should be a short duration between the
undesired behavior and the punishment
Punishment should be consistent
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Follow through
Intensity
Punishment/correct behavior
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Fear and anxiety really don’t help anyone
learn anything except fear and anxiety.
Abusive behavior creates a model for
aggression
Cultural point:
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Japanese – positive/negative reinforcement
Austria, Denmark, Israel, and Italy have banned
physical punishment in schools and homes
More concepts in Operant
Conditioning
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Discriminate stimulus – a stimulus that cues
behavior for a particular reinforcement
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(see a cop car/starts raining and you slow down in your
car)
Shaping – a type of operant conditioning in
which an ultimate complex goal is reached
using small steps.
The purpose of shaping is to mold behavior.
The small steps are referred to as successive
approximation.
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More Concepts in Operant
Conditioning
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Shaping is used in a variety of ways/settings:
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Train dogs for obedience or to do tricks
Train dogs for people with handicaps or to sniff
out drugs
During the Iraq war, dolphins were used by the
U.S. Navy to search for explosives in the Persian
Gulf.
More Concepts in Operant
Conditioning
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More Concepts in Operant
Conditioning
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Extinction, generalization, and spontaneous
recovery
Extinction: removal of the consequence
Generalization
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Biofeedback (involuntary responses)
Neurofeedback (brain wave activity)
Constraints on Operant
Conditioning
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Instinctive drift
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Pigs picking up coins; rooting
Obvious constraint: limits to various capabilities
ex: child who calls everyone and everything as
―Dada‖
ex: dog trying to perform old tricks
Cognitive Learning Theory
Cognitive Learning Theory
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Analysis of current behavior
Behavior: socially relevant
Spontaneous recovery
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Behavior modification – operant conditioning
typically to change pre-existing behavior
Applied behavior analysis (ABA)
Edward Tolman
Wolfgang Kohler
Martin Seligman
Cognitive Learning Theory
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Kohler and his chimps
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Food outside of cage
Two sticks that fit together
Insight or problem solving
Tolman and his rats
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Three groups of rats
Latent learning
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Cognitive Learning Theory
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Seligman and his dogs
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Shocking dogs with no escape
When given an escape, they found
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Learned helplessness
Fear interfered with the ability to learn
Depression
Cognitive Learning Theory
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Observational Learning
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A model demonstrates a behavior and the viewer
learns (whether or not they demonstrate the
behavior)
Albert Bandura and the Bobo Doll
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Modeled/Aggression or not
Reward/Punishment
Cognitive Learning Theory
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Observational Learning
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Attention
Memory
Imitation
Motivation
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