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Chapter 5:
Learning and Behavior
Presented by:
Heather Hays
Learning & Behavior
Learning: adaptive process in which the
tendency to perform a certain behavior is
changed through experience
Learning & Behavior
3 kinds of learning
1) Habituation
2) Classical Conditioning
3) Operant Conditioning
All involve cause & effect relations between
behavior and environment.
Habituation
Learning not to respond to an unimportant
event that occurs repeatedly
Simplest form of learning
Forms of Habituation
Short-term
Long-term
Habituation permits us to remain relatively
free from distraction by petty events, so we
are able to concentrate on more important
events
Classical Conditioning
A response normally elicited by one
stimulus (the UCS) comes to be controlled
by another stimulus (the CS) as well
Sequence and timing important
Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): a stimulus
that naturally elicits a reflexive response

ex: food
Unconditioned Response (UR): the
response given to the UCS
 ex: salivating
Classical Conditioning
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): stimulus
which because of its repeated association
with the UCS also eventually will elicit a
conditioned response (CR)
 ex: bell
Conditioned Response (CR): the response
given once the CS is given
 ex: salivation
Classical Conditioning
 Accomplishes 2 functions:
1) Ability to learn to recognize stimuli that
predict the occurrence of an important event
allows the learner to make the appropriate
response faster & more effectively
2) stimuli which were previously unimportant
acquire some of the qualities of the important
stimuli with which they become associated with,
thus become able to modify behavior
Classical Conditioning
Basic Principles: (5)
1) Acquisition: time during which a CR first
appears and increases in frequency
2) Extinction: elimination of a response that
occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented
without being followed by the UCS
3) Spontaneous recovery: after an interval of time,
the reappearance of a response that had
previously been extinguished
Classical Conditioning
4) Generalization: CRs elicited by stimuli
that resemble the CS used in training
5) Discrimination: appearance of a CR when
one stimulus is presented but not another
Summary of Classical
Conditioning
For classical conditioning to occur, the CS
must not only occur immediately before
the UCS, but it must also reliably predict
the occurrence of the UCS
Operant Conditioning
Behavior is affected by its consequences
whether the consequence is good or bad
Good consequences: actions get repeated
Bad consequences: actions do not get
repeated
Operant Conditioning
Thorndike:
Law of Effect: idea that the consequences of
a behavior determine whether that behavior
is likely to be repeated
Operant Conditioning
Skinner:
Three-Term Contingency: relation among
discriminative stimulus, behavior, & the
consequences of that behavior
Operant Conditioning
 Three-Term Contingency
1) Discriminative stimulus: stimulus that sets the
occasion for responding because in the past a
behavior ahs produced certain consequences in
the presence of that stimulus
2) Operant behavior: response we make to the
stimulus
3) Following event is the consequence of the
operant behavior
Operant Conditioning
2 types of reinforcement:
1) Positive: increase in frequency of a
response that is regularly and reliably
followed by an appetitive stimulus
2) Negative: increase in frequency of a
response that is regularly and reliably
followed by the termination of an aversive
stimulus
Operant Conditioning
Both positive and negative reinforcement
INCREASE the likelihood that a given
response will occur again!
Operant Conditioning
Punishment: a decrease in the frequency of
a response followed by an aversive
stimulus
Punishment does NOT equal negative
reinforcement!
Operant Conditioning
Extinction: a decrease in frequency of a
previously reinforced response because it
is no longer followed by a reinforcer
Operant Procedures &
Phenomena
Shaping
Intermittent reinforcement
4 kinds of schedules:
1) fixed-ratio
2) variable-ratio
3) fixed-interval
4) variable-interval
Operant Procedures &
Phenomena
Generalization
Discrimination
Major Difference Between
Classical & Operant
The Nature of their Contingencies!
Conditioning of Complex
Behaviors
Aversive Control of Behavior
How it works:
A stimulus is present when the punishment
occurs & then through the process of
classical conditioning the stimulus
becomes linked to the response
Types of Aversive Control
Escape Response: Negative reinforcement
teaches organisms to make responses that
terminate aversive stimuli thus making the
stimulus cease
Conditioned Flavor-Aversion learning: a
substance is avoided because its flavor has
been associated with illness
Observation & Imitation
How it Works: organisms learn by watching
and listening to other organisms in their
environment and then they mimic what
they see and hear and then their behavior is
reinforced
Classically conditioned and operantly
conditioned behaviors can be learned
through observation and imitation
Learning & Behavior
THE END