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GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY I NOTES LEARNING The learning that is covered in this unit is based on the findings of behaviorism, that school of thought that proposed that the subject matter of psychology was behavior and behavior was learned. There are three-waves or versions of the behaviorism that we will cover: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. 1. Classical Conditioning Classical Conditioning is a type of learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus by being associated with an unconditioned stimulus. Ivan Pavlov is a Russian physiologist who stumbled upon (as the story goes) the process of classical conditioning. Here’s how it happened: 1. The dogs in his study naturally salivated [an unconditional response] to food [an unconditional stimulus] 2. The tone [a neutral stimulus] was repeatedly associated (or paired with) the food [an unconditional stimulus] 3. Eventually the association became so strong, that the tone [now a conditional stimulus] produced the same response of salivation [a conditional response] The several trials, in which the UCS and NS are paired (step #2) is known as the acquisition phase. The conditioned response (i.e., the learned response) can go away through extinction by presenting the unconditioned stimulus (the unlearned stimulus) without the conditioned stimulus (i.e., the learned stimulus). Even after extinction, there may be spontaneous recovery, in which the conditioned response reappears. Stimulus Generalization takes place when the conditioned response occurs to other the conditioned stimulus (usually similar stimuli). o The most famous example of this is when John Watson classically conditioned a boy to be afraid of rats by making a loud, startling-producing noise every time the boy was presented with a rat. The rat eventually produced a fear response in the boy, but also the presentation of rabbits and other animals (not previously fearful to the boy) also had the same effect. Page 1 of 4 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY I NOTES Stimulus Discrimination takes place when the conditioned response only occurs under some conditions. For example, a cat may run to its food bowl when it hears the Tupperware container you have her food in, but may not run to her food bowl when other Tupperware containers are used. Higher Order Conditioning takes place when the conditioned stimulus can be paired with other neutral stimuli to produce a conditioned response. [In the figure, you can see a display of the classical conditioning model of Pavlov’s experiment; however, now the tone (a learned stimulus) can be used to classically condition the same response in another neutral stimulus (in this example, a light)] 2. Operant Conditioning B. F. Skinner’s model of operant conditioning asserts that behavior is learned by the consequences. The consequences can be such that they increase the likelihood of the behavior occurring again (known as reinforcement), or the consequences can be such that they decrease the likelihood of the behavior occurring again (known as punishment). Reinforcement and punishment can come in two varieties: 1. Positive –in which something is given. In the case of reinforcement, this would be giving something good; in the case of punishment, this would be giving something bad. 2. Negative—in which something is removed. In the case of reinforcement, this means taking away something bad; in the case of punishment, this means taking away something good. Quest: Would negative reinforcing a child’s behavior make them behave better? Page 2 of 4 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY I NOTES The acquisition phase of this type of learning takes place through shaping, where “reinforcing behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior.1” Extinction occurs over time when the reinforcement is no longer presented with the behavior; however, initially the behavior that was reinforced increases after the reinforcement is not presented. This is known as resistance Quest: We’ve all seen the kid screaming in the grocery store for a candy bar that his mom or dad will not give him that day. How are each of the above terms applied to that situation? Reinforcement Contingencies describe the several rules or parameters that are set up to determine when the consequences occur. Here are a few examples of these2: Continuous Reinforcement occurs when the “behavior is reinforced each time it occurs” Partial Reinforcement occurs when “behavior is reinforced intermittently” Ratio Schedule refers to “a schedule in which reinforcement is based on the number of times the behavior occurs” Interval Schedule refers to “a schedule in which reinforcement is provided after a specific unit of time” Fixed Schedule refers to “a schedule in which reinforcement is provided after a specific number of occurrences or after a specific amount of time” Variable Schedule refers to “a schedule in which reinforcement is provided at different rates or at different times” Quest: Imagine that you are helping your friend to develop better study habits. Can you develop a scenario for each of the schedules of reinforcement that would accurately describe each schedule? (To challenge yourself, use both positive and negative versions of the reinforcement). 3. Observational Learning Observational learning was developed by Albert Bandura, who found that “the acquisition or modification of behavior [could occur] after exposure to at least one performance of that behavior3” 1 Gazzaniga et al., Psychological Science (4th ed), p. 241 Quotes in this section on schedules and reinforcement contingencies are from Gazzaniga et al., Psycholgoical Science (4th ed), p. 244-245. 3 Gazzaniga et al., Psychological Science (4th ed), p. 251 2 Page 3 of 4 GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY I NOTES The key idea is that, with operant conditioning, the reinforcement was directly associated with the behavior that the person performed; whereas, Bandura had found that reinforcement can occur by observation (vicarious reinforcement) The most famous example of this model was in his “bo-bo doll study,” in which he found that children who saw a model (the person performing the observed behavior—and potentially receiving the consequence) playing aggressively with toys subsequently played aggressively with toys Page 4 of 4