Download Module 26 notes - Bremerton School District

Unit VI: Learning
Ms. Justice
AP Psychology
2014-2015
Unit VI - Overview
26 – How We Learn & Classical Conditioning
27 – Operant Conditioning
28 – Operant Conditioning’s Applications, and
Comparison to Classical Conditioning
29 – Biology, Cognition, and Learning
30 – Learning by Observation
Unit VI: Learning
Module 26
How We Learn &
Classical Conditioning
Learning
26-1
What is Learning?
26-1
Learning is a relatively permanent change in an
organism’s behavior due to experience.
Learning is more flexible in
comparison to the geneticallyprogrammed behaviors of
Chinook salmon, for example.
How Do We Learn?
26-1
We learn by association. Our minds naturally
connect events that occur in sequence.
2000 years ago, Aristotle
suggested this law of
association. Then, 200 years
ago, Locke and Hume
reiterated this law.
Associative Learning
26-1
Learning to associate one stimulus with another.
Toss me
a fish!!
Associative Learning
26-1
Learning to associate one stimulus with another.
Associative Learning
Learning to associate a response
with a consequence.
26-1
Classical Conditioning
26-2
Classical Conditioning
26-2
Ideas of classical conditioning
originate from old philosophical
theories.
However, it was the Russian
physiologist Ivan Pavlov who
elucidated classical
conditioning.
His work provided a basis for
later behaviorists like John
Watson.
Pavlov’s Experiments
Pavlov’s Experiments
26-2
Before conditioning: Food produces salivation .
However, the tone does not.
Food = Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
Salivation = Unconditioned Response (UR)
Tone = neutral stimulus
Pavlov’s Experiments
26-2
During conditioning: The neutral stimulus (tone) and the US
(food) are paired, resulting in salivation (UR).
After conditioning: The neutral stimulus (now Conditioned
Stimulus, CS) elicits salivation (now Conditioned Response, CR)
Review!
26-2
• In Pavlov’s experiment, what is the
UR?
US?
CR?
CS?
Remember, the UR is unlearned, or unconditionally
triggered by the stimulus
The CR is learned, or conditioned by the stimulus
Conditioning & the Bike Bell
Conditioning & The Office
Acquisition, Extinction, Spontaneous
Recovery, Generalization &
Discrimination
26-3
Acquisition
26-3
Acquisition is the initial learning stage in classical
conditioning in which an association between a
neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
takes place.
1. In most cases, for conditioning to occur, the
neutral stimulus needs to come before the
unconditioned stimulus.
2. The time in between the two stimuli should
be about half a second.
Acquisition
26-3
The CS needs to come half a second before the US
for acquisition to occur.
Extinction
26-3
When the US (food) does
not follow the CS (tone),
CR (salivation) begins to
decrease and eventually
causes extinction, the
diminishing of a
conditioned response.
Figure 7.5, p. 297
Spontaneous Recovery
26-3
After a rest period, an extinguished CR (salivation)
spontaneously recovers, but if the CS (tone)
persists alone, the CR becomes extinct again.
Stimulus Generalization
Tendency to respond to stimuli
similar to the CS is called
generalization.
Pavlov conditioned the dog’s
salivation (CR) by using
miniature vibrators (CS) on the
thigh. When he subsequently
stimulated other parts of the
dog’s body, salivation dropped.
26-3
Stimulus Discrimination
Discrimination is the
learned ability to
distinguish between a
conditioned stimulus
and other stimuli that
do not signal an
unconditioned
stimulus.
26-3
Pavlov’s Legacy
26-4
Cognitive Processes
26-4
Early behaviorists believed that
learned behaviors of various
animals could be reduced to
mindless mechanisms.
However, later behaviorists
suggested that animals learn the
predictability of a stimulus,
meaning they learn expectancy or
awareness of a stimulus.
Biological Predispositions
26-4
Pavlov and Watson believed that laws of learning
were similar for all animals. Therefore, a pigeon
and a person do not differ in their learning.
However, behaviorists later
suggested that learning is
constrained by an animal’s
biology.
Applications of Classical
Conditioning
26-4
John Watson used classical
conditioning procedures to
test his theory that human
emotions and behaviors are
merely conditioned
responses.
He conducted experiments on
a 9 month old child named
Albert.
John B. Watson
“Little Albert” Experiment