Download UNIT 6: Learning - Spokane Public Schools

UNIT 6: Learning
Learning: a relatively permanent change in thought/behavior that results from experience
We learn largely by association: mentally pairing events together when they occur together
Conditioning: the process of learning associations between events
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Classical conditioning: paired events are 2 stimuli
Operant Conditioning: paired events are behavior and consequences
CLASSICAL
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a type of learning that occurs when a neutral stimuli (stimulus A) becomes paired
(associated) with a second stimulus (stimulus B)
Stimulus B causes an automatic reflexive behavior
-in time Stimulus A is sufficient to produce that behavior by itself
Ex) Pavlov’s dogs
Ivan Pavlov 1849-1936
 Russian physiologist Nobel Prize winning work on the digestive processes
 noticed dogs salivated when they saw people with food, then turned attention
to studying learning
Classical conditioning
Conditioned = learned, unconditioned = unlearned
Unconditioned stimulus (US): a stimulus that automatically elicits a response (food)
Unconditioned response (UR): the automatic reflexive response to the us (salivation due to
food)
Before conditioning a neutral stimulus (e.g. tone from a toning fork) does not elicit response
-During conditioning, US (food) is presented with the neutral stimulus (tone)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): an originally neutral stimulus that aquires significance through
repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus (US)
Conditioned response (CR): the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned)
stimulus (salivation due to the tone)
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Acquisition: initial learning of the association between a neutral stimulus (tone) and a US (food)
Level of acquisition depends on the timing of stimuli presentation
Forward conditioning: procedure in which the CS (tone) begins before the US (food) is presented
1.delayed conditioning: CS occurs both before and during US
2. Trace conditioning: CS ends before US begins
Non-forward conditioning
3. Backward conditioning: conditioning procedure in which the US (food) is presented before
the CS (tone)
4. Simultaneous conditioning: conditioning procedure in which the US (food) and CS (tone) are
presented at the same time
Extinction: the process by which a CR (salivation) eliminated through repeated presentations of
the CS (tone without the US(food))
Reacquisition - once classical conditioning has occurred, connection between the CS (tone) and
US (food) never completely disappears
Spontaneous recovery: the reappearance , after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned
response
Stimulus generalization: tendency for the CR (salivation) to be elicited by neutral stimuli that
are similar to, but not identical to the CS (tone)
Ex) dogs began to salivate when a slightly different tone sounded
Stimulus Discrimination: the ability to distinguish among similar stimuli and to respond only to
actual conditional stimuli
The Behaviorist Zeitgeist
Attitudes: an overall evaluation of an object, ranging from positive o negative (likes and dislikes)
Conditional emotional response: an emotional response elicited by a previously neutral
stimulus. Can lead to phobias
Watson and Raynor 1920: Case of little Albert
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Baby Albert was presented with a white rat, he enjoyed playing with it, but when he
would approach the rat, he would be startled with extremely loud noises ultimately
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causing him to have a phobia towards the white and later, an immense fear of furry
white things.
Taste aversion: classically conditioned avoidance of a certain food or taste that
makes/made a person sick
Can treat alcoholism using the drug Antabuse
1.physical/medical phenomena = conditioning in order to boost the immune system
Chemotherapy as a medical example
-anticipating nausea: classically conditioned response to chemotherapy, triggered by
previously neutral CS
2. Drug addictions and overdoses: taking drug in a place repeatedly in a specific setting
develops CR to that place. Body compensates for expected drug. Taking drug in a new
setting can cause an overdose due to missing CR
3. Advertising: viewing political slogans (CS) while eating food (US) leads to more
positive/negative evaluations of slogans.
4. Therapy techniques
Systematic desensitization: a behavior therapy technique that teaches people to be
relaxed in the presence of a feared object or situation. Pairs feelings of being relaxed
with thoughts of fears.
OPERANT CONDITIONING: type of learning in which I specific behavior becomes
associated with its consequence
 What’s the difference?
o Classical: association between 2 external stimuli, typically out of
organism’s control, relevant behavior is an automatic reflexive response
o Operant: association creatwed between organisms behavior and its
consequences, typically within organism’s control, relevant behavior is
voluntary, operating on environment
 Thorndike’s puzzle box
o Thorndike put cats in a box where they had to push a lever in order to
escape
o Learn the law of effect: rewarded behaviors are more likely to be
repeated
 B.f. Skinner – influential behaviorist
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Developed principles behind operant conditioning through the use of a
“skinner box”
o Shaping: The gradual process of reinforcing an organism for behavior
that gets closer and closer to the desired behavior
Reinforcement
o Reinforcer: object or event that comes after a behavior that increases
the likelihood of engaging in THAT behavior again
2 Types of Reinforcement: positive and negative
o Positive = adding something; Negative = take something away
o Positive reinforcement: desired reinforce is given after a a behavior,
increasing the likelihood of that behavior in future
o Negative reinforcement: an unpleasant event/circumstance is removed
following a desired behavior, increasing the likelihood of that behavior
Some principles of classical conditioning are relevant to operant conditioning
too
o Generalization: ability to generalize from a learned behavior to a similar
behavior
o Discrimination: ability to distinguish between learned behavior and a
similar
o Extinction: after the withdrawal of reinforcement, the fading out of a
learned behavior following an initial burst of the behavior
o Spontaneous Recovery: process by which an old response reappears if
there is a break after extinction
Schedules of Reinforcement
o Interval schedules: reinforcement given after a specified period of time
 Fixed: reinforcement given for the behavior after a certain
interval of time
 Variable: reinforcement given for desired response after varying
interval of time
o Ratio Schedules: reinforcement given after a specific number of desired
behaviors
 Fixed: reinforcement after a set number of responses
 Variable: reinforcement after a variable number of responses
Punshment: consequence; not negative reinforcement
o Positive punishment: when behavior leads to the introduction of an
undesired consequence
o Negative punishment: removal of a pleasant event or circumstance
following a behavior
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Cognitive Learning Models
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Wolfgang Kohler- insight learning
o Made chimps creatively use tools to retrieve a reward
o Consistently demonstrated that “aha!” moment
Social learning theory: learning occurs in a social context and is as much a
product of watching others as it is of making associations
Albert Bandura: bobo doll studies
o Results: children act the same way towards the doll as their parents did
(modeling)
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