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Chapter 5
Learning
Chapter 5 Overview

Classical conditioning
– Learning through association of stimuli

Operant conditioning
– Learning through consequences

Cognitive learning
– Learning through mental processes
Learning

A relatively permanent change in
behavior, knowledge, capability, or
attitude that is acquired through
experience and cannot be attributed to
illness, injury, or maturation
Classical Conditioning

A type of learning through which an
organism learns to associate one
stimulus with another
– A stimulus is any event or object in the
environment to which an organism
responds
What type of learning did Pavlov
discover, and how is it
accomplished?

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) discovered
classical conditioning
– Unconditioned stimulus (US)
– Unconditioned response (UR)
– Conditioned stimulus (CS)
– Conditioned response (CR)
What kind of learning did Pavlov
discover, and how is it
accomplished?

Unconditioned stimulus (US)
– Elicits an unconditioned response
without learning


e.g., food, loud noise, light in eye,
puff of air in eye
Unconditioned response
(UR)
– Response elicited by an
unconditioned stimulus without
learning

e.g., salivation, startle, contraction
of pupil, eyeblink
What kind of learning did Pavlov
discover, and how is it
accomplished?

Conditioned stimulus (CS)
– Neutral stimulus that, after repeated
pairing with US, becomes associated
with it and elicits a conditioned
response


e.g., a tone
Conditioned response (CR)
– Learned response that comes to be
elicited by a conditioned stimulus


e.g., salivation in response to a tone
Higher order conditioning
– Occurs when conditioned stimuli are
linked to form a series of signals
What kinds of changes in stimuli
and learning conditions lead to
changes in conditioned responses?

Extinction
– Weakening and eventual
disappearance of the CR as a
result of repeated presentation
of the CS without the US

Spontaneous recovery
– Reappearance of an
extinguished CR when organism
is exposed to the CS following a
rest period
What kinds of changes in stimuli
and learning conditions lead to
changes in conditioned responses?

Generalization
– Tendency to make a CR to a stimulus that is
similar to the original CS

Discrimination
– Learned ability to distinguish between similar
stimuli so that the CR occurs only to the original
CS but not to similar stimuli
How did Watson demonstrate that
fear could be classically
conditioned?



Watson and Rayner
(1920) “Little Albert”
study
Conditioned fears “persist
and modify personality
throughout life”
Mary Cover Jones (1924)
later used classical
conditioning to remove
fears in another boy
According to Rescorla, what is the
critical element in classical
conditioning?

Pavlov and Watson
– Believed that the critical element of
classical conditioning is repeated pairing
of the CS and US

Robert Rescorla
– Showed that the critical element is
whether the CS provides information that
enables the organism to reliably predict
the occurrence of the US
How do biological predispositions
affect classical conditioning?

Biological predispositions affect classical
conditioning
– Organisms are biologically predisposed to rapidly
acquire classically conditioned associations that
enhance chances for survival
Garcia and Koelling study (1966)



Rats learned to associate nausea with
flavored water, and electric shock with noise
and lights
But did not learn to associate nausea with
noise and lights, or electric shock with
flavored water
Results demonstrated that animals are
biologically predisposed to make certain
associations but not others
What types of everyday responses
can be subject to classical
conditioning?

Why diet soda can make people hungry
– Sweet taste of soda becomes a CS that elicits
insulin increase, leading to feelings of hunger

Advertising
– An attractive celebrity (US) is associated with a
product (CS)
– After repeated pairings, the product elicits
excitement (CR)
Operant Conditioning

A type of learning in which the
consequences of behavior are
manipulated so as to increase or
decrease the frequency of an existing
response or to shape an entirely new
response
What did Thorndike and Skinner
discover about the effects of
consequences on behavior?

Edward Thorndike formulated the law of
effect
– The consequence, or effect, of a response
determines whether the tendency to respond in
the same way in the future is strengthened or
weakened


i.e., organisms tend to repeat behaviors that bring
about pleasant consequences
The law of effect formed the basis for B. F.
Skinner’s work on operant conditioning
What are the effects of positive
reinforcement and negative
reinforcement?


Anything that follows a response and
strengthens it or increases the probability
that it will be repeated
Positive reinforcement
– A pleasant or desirable consequence that
increases the probability that a response will be
repeated

Negative reinforcement
– Termination of an unpleasant condition after a
response, which increases the probability that
the response will be repeated
What are the effects of positive
reinforcement and negative
reinforcement?

Primary reinforcer
– A reinforcer that fulfills a basic physical need and
does not depend on learning

Secondary reinforcer
– A reinforcer that is acquired or learned through
association with other reinforcers
What are the four types of
schedules of reinforcement, and
which type is most effective?

Fixed-ratio (FR)
– Reinforcer given after a fixed number of correct,
nonreinforced responses

Variable-ratio (VR)
– Reinforcer is given after a varying number of
nonreinforced responses

Fixed-interval (FI)
– Reinforcer is given after first correct response
after a specific period of time has elapsed

Variable-interval (VI)
– Reinforcer is given after first correct response
following a varying period of time
What are the four types of
schedules of reinforcement, and
which type is most effective?

Ratio schedules yield
higher response rates
than interval schedules
– Fixed ratio schedule
has highest response
rate

Variable schedules are
most resistant to
extinction
What are the goals of shaping,
extinction, generalization, and
discriminative stimuli in the operant
conditioning process?

Shaping
– Gradually molding a desired behavior
(response) by reinforcing any movement in the
direction of the desired response
– Eventually, responses are guided toward the
ultimate goal by rewarding successive
approximations

A series of gradual steps, each of which is more similar
to the final desired response
What are the roles of shaping, extinction,
generalization, and discriminative stimuli
in the operant conditioning process?

Extinction
– Weakening and eventual disappearance of a
conditioned response as a result of withholding
reinforcement

Generalization
– Tendency to make a learned response to a
stimulus similar to that for which the response
was originally reinforced

Discriminative stimulus
– Stimulus that signals whether a response or
behavior is likely to be rewarded, ignored, or
punished
How does punishment affect
behavior?

Punishment is the removal of a pleasant
stimulus or the application of an unpleasant
stimulus, thereby lowering the probability of
a response
– Positive punishment

Decrease in behavior that results from an added
consequence
– Negative punishment

Decrease in behavior that results from a removed
consequence
The disadvantages of punishment




It does not extinguish undesirable behavior,
rather, it suppresses the behavior when the
punishing agent is present
It indicates that a behavior is unacceptable
but does not help people develop more
appropriate behavior
The person who is punished often becomes
fearful and feels angry toward the punisher
It frequently leads to aggression
Alternatives to punishment

Removing the rewarding consequences of
undesirable behavior may be the best way
to extinguish it
– Not giving in to a child’s demands during a
tantrum
– Ignoring misbehavior that is performed merely
to get attention and giving attention to more
appropriate behaviors

Using positive reinforcement can make good
behavior more rewarding
Making punishment more effective



Punishment is most effective when applied
during the misbehavior or as soon afterward
as possible
Punishment should be of the minimum
severity necessary to suppress the problem
behavior
To be effective, punishment must be applied
consistently
When is avoidance learning
desirable, and when is it
maladaptive?

Escape learning
– Learning to performing a behavior because it prevents or
terminates an aversive event

Avoidance learning
– Learning to avoid events or conditions associated with
aversive consequence
– Can be adaptive

Avoiding riding in a car with a driver who has been drinking
– But much avoidance learning is maladaptive

Avoiding situations because of phobias
What are some applications of
operant conditioning?

Biofeedback
– The use of sensitive equipment to give people
precise feedback about internal physiological
processes so that they can learn to exercise
control over them

Has been used to control migraine headaches,
gastrointestinal disorders, asthma, anxiety, epilepsy,
sexual dysfunctions, neuromuscular disorders, etc.
What are some applications of
operant conditioning?

Behavior modification
– Changing behavior based on the learning
principles of classical conditioning, operant
conditioning, or observational learning
– Has been used to change self-injurious behavior
in children and adults with autism

Token economy
– A program that motivates socially desirable
behavior by reinforcing it with tokens
Cognitive Learning

Cognitive processes are mental processes
such as thinking, knowing, problem solving,
remembering, and forming mental
representations
– Behaviorists such as Watson and Skinner
believed that learning could be explained
without reference to internal mental processes
– Today, however, most psychologists stress the
role of mental processes by broadening the
study of learning to include cognitive
processes
What is insight, and how does it
affect learning?

Insight
– Sudden realization of the relationship between
elements in a problem, which makes the solution
apparent

Köhler studies with chimpanzees
– Chimpanzees who had given up attempts to get
bananas suddenly returned with a solution
– Their behavior seemed to be based on insight,
not trial-and-error learning
What did Tolman discover about
the necessity of reinforcement?

Latent learning
– Learning that occurs without apparent
reinforcement and is not demonstrated until the
organism is motivated to do so

Cognitive map
– A mental representation of a spatial
arrangement such as a maze
What did Tolman learn about the
necessity of reinforcement?


Rats rewarded for running a
maze after 11 days of
nonreinforcement showed
marked improvement the
next day and outperformed
rats that were rewarded
daily
These rats had learned the
maze without reinforcement
– They formed a cognitive
map, but did not use it until
they were reinforced
What do we learn by observing
others?

Albert Bandura: Many behaviors are
acquired through observational learning
– Learning by observing the behavior of others
and the consequences of that behavior; learning
by imitation

Model is the individual who demonstrates a behavior
or whose behavior is imitated
What do we learn by observing
others?

Modeling effect
– Learning a new behavior from a model through the
acquisition of new responses

Facilitation effect
– Exhibiting a behavior similar to that shown by a model in
an unfamiliar situation

Inhibitory effect
– Suppressing a behavior because a model is punished for
displaying the behavior

Disinhibitory effect
– Displaying a previously suppressed behavior because a
model does so without receiving punishment
What does research suggest about the
effects of violence on television and in
electronic games on viewers’ and
players’ behavior?

Bandura’s “Bobo Doll” studies
– Children imitate aggressive behavior of an adult
model seen on film

Recent research
– Individuals who watch the most violence as
children are more likely to engage in acts of
violence as adults

Children also imitate prosocial behavior
– As seen on shows such as Sesame Street
What does research suggest about the
effects of violence on television and in
electronic games on viewers’ and
players’ behavior?


Recent research suggest that playing violent
video games increases feelings of hostility
and decreases sensitivity to violent images
But, like television, video games can also
teach positive messages and skills
– Can teach teenagers to drive more safely
– Can enhance spatial cognitive skills