Download Reinforcement

Chapter 6
Learning & Conditioning
Learning
Learning: the process of acquiring new and relatively
enduring information or behaviors
• Does NOT include temporary changes due to disease,
fatigue, injury, maturation, or drugs, since these do
NOT qualify as learning even though they can alter
behavior
Crash Course Psychology: Episode 11, Learning
Classical Conditioning
 A type of learning in which a stimulus acquires
the capacity to evoke a response that was
originally evoked by another stimulus.
 How could the following be examples of CC:
Songs?
 Food?
 Drug paraphernalia?
 Flavored medicine?

Classical Conditioning
 Ivan Pavlov
 Russian physiologist who studied digestion
 Used dogs to study salivation when dogs were presented
with meat powder
 Reflex: Automatic, non-learned response

The Office Altoid Experiment
Pavlovian Terms
 Neutral Stimulus (NS): Stimulus that does not
evoke a response
 Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Stimulus that
evokes a response because it has been
repeatedly paired with an unconditioned
stimulus
 Unconditioned Stimulus (US/UCS): A stimulus
innately capable of eliciting a response
Pavlovian Terms cont’d
 Unconditioned Response (UR/UCR): An innate
reflex response elicited by an unconditioned
stimulus (US/UCS)
 Conditioned Response (CR): A learned response
elicited by a conditioned stimulus
Classical conditioning apparatus
Pavlov’s Dog
 NS- Bell (because is causes no response before




training)
CS- Bell (after pairing with meat)
UCS- Meat Powder (dog naturally likes)
UCR- Salivate (dog salivates at meat- relex)
CR- Salivate (dog salivates at bell)
Classical Conditioning: More Terminology
 Trial = pairing of US and CS
 Acquisition = initial stage in learning, where
the NS and US become associated.


The NS becomes the CS
The new CS evokes the UR
Processes in Classical Conditioning
 Extinction - diminishing of the CR; loss of the
learned behavior
 Spontaneous Recovery - the reappearance, after
a pause, of an extinguished CR
Generalization versus Discrimination
Bitten by this
Bitten by this
Afraid of this
Not afraid of
this
Operant Conditioning
 Edward L. Thorndike (1913)
 Law of Effect

The probability of a response is altered by the effect it has;
responses that lead to desired effects are repeated; those
that lead to undesired effects are not
B.F. Skinner
 B.F. Skinner (1953) – principle of reinforcement
 Operant chamber



Commonly referred to as a “Skinner Box”
Voluntary Responses
Reinforcement contingencies (rules)

Big Bang Theory
Figure 6.12 Reinforcement in operant conditioning
Figure 6.13 Skinner box and cumulative recorder
Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning
 Acquisition
 Shaping
 Successive Approximations or baby steps toward
goal
 Extinction
 Stimulus Control
 Generalization
 Discrimination

discriminative stimuli: a stimulus that elicits a response
after being associated with reinforcement
Figure 6.14 A graphic portrayal of operant responding
Table 6.1 Comparison of Basic Processes in Classical and Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement:
Consequences that Strengthen Responses
 Primary Reinforcers
 Satisfy biological needs

Food, water, warmth, sex, affection
 Secondary Reinforcers
 Conditioned reinforcement

$, grades, attention, flattery, praise, applause
Consequences:
Reinforcement and Punishment
 Increasing a response:
 Positive reinforcement = response followed by
rewarding stimulus
 Negative reinforcement = response followed by
removal of an aversive stimulus
Escape learning
 Avoidance learning

 Decreasing a response:
 Punishment
 Problems with punishment
trigger strong emotional responses
 increase in aggressive behavior

Reinforcement
 Positive Reinforcement: When a response is
followed by a reward or other positive event

Jon Stewart vs. Arby's
 Negative Reinforcement: When a response
is followed by the removal of an unpleasant
event (e.g., the bells in Fannie’s car stop when
she puts the seatbelt on); ends discomfort
Figure 6.18 Positive reinforcement versus negative reinforcement
Punishment
 Punishment: a consequence that decreases
(or attempts to decrease) the likelihood of a
behavior occurring in the future.


Positive punishment: presentation of an aversive
stimulus
Negative punishment: removal of a rewarding
stimulus
Punishment Examples
 Positive Punishment

If you stroke a cat's fur in a manner that the cat finds
unpleasant, the cat may attempt to bite you. Therefore, the
presentation of the cat's bite will act as a positive punisher
and decrease the likelihood that you will stroke the cat in that
same manner in the future.
 Negative Punishment

When a child "talks back" to his/her mother, the child may
lose the privilege of watching her favorite television
program. Therefore, the loss of viewing privileges will act as
a negative punisher and decrease the likelihood of the child
talking back in the future.
Figure 6.20 Comparison of negative reinforcement and punishment
Positive
Reinforcement
Getting Money
Food
Hugs
Treats
Praise
Negative
Changing the batteries in
smoke detector to make it
stop beeping
Taking off uncomfortable
clothing
Tylenol for a headache
Punishment
Spanking
Hitting
Yelling
Pinching
Time-out
Grounding
No TV
No Sex
Schedules of Reinforcement
 Continuous reinforcement
 Intermittent (partial) reinforcement
 Ratio schedules
Fixed
 Variable


Interval schedules
Fixed
 Variable

Figure 6.17 Schedules of reinforcement and patterns of response
Figure 6.19 Escape and avoidance learning
Changes in Our Understanding of Conditioning
 Biological Constraints
 Instinctive Drift

Challenges associated with training an animal away
from their DNA instincts
 Cognitive Influences
 Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation
Mirror Neurons
 Frontal lobe neurons the are believed to fire when
performing an action or observing someone also
doing so.
Observational Learning: Basic Processes
• Albert Bandura (1961)
Social learning
– Modeling
– The Bobo Doll Experiment
–
The Bobo Doll Experiment
Albert Bandura