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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.
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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?
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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
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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
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