Download learning - khollington

Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(5th Ed)
Learning
James A. McCubbin, PhD
Clemson University
Worth Publishers
Learning
 Learning
relatively permanent change in an organism’s
behavior due to experience
Conditioning is the process of
learning associations
We learn by association
Our minds naturally connect events that
occur in sequence
Associative Learning
learning that two events occur together
a response and its consequences
Environmental events and behavioral
responses
1) learning is inferred from a change in
behavior/performance*
2) learning results in an inferred change
in memory
3) learning is the result of experience
4) learning is relatively permanent
2 types of conditioning
(learning associations)
Classical Conditioning – explains how
certain stimuli can trigger an automatic
response
Operant Conditioning – how we acquire
new, voluntary actions
We will also look at…
Observational learning – how we acquire
new behaviors by observing others
HTTP://WWW.LEARNER.OR
G/SERIES/DISCOVERINGPS
YCHOLOGY/08/E08EXPAND
.HTML
Classical or Pavlovian
Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
Russian physiologist
Nobel Prize in 1904
studied digestive secretions on dogs
Accidentally discovered that a
neutral stimulus elicited a natural
response. Abandoned his original
study and focused on how
associations are formed.
Classical or Pavlovian
Conditioning
 Classical Conditioning can be defined as a type of learning in
which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke
a reflexive response that was originally evoked by a different
stimulus.
organism comes to associate two stimuli
tone and food
begins with a reflex (unlearned behavior governed by the
nervous system)
a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that evokes the
reflex
neutral stimulus eventually comes to evoke the reflex
Classical or Pavlovian
Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
effective stimulus that unconditionallyautomatically and naturally- triggers a
response (food)
Unconditioned Response (UR)
unlearned, naturally occurring automatic
response to the unconditioned stimulus
salivation when food is in the mouth
Classical or Pavlovian
Conditioning
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
previously neutral stimulus that, after
association with an unconditioned stimulus,
comes to trigger a conditioned response
Conditioned Response (CR)
learned response to a previously neutral
conditioned stimulus
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING MODEL
BEFORE CONDITIONING
Bell
No
Response
Food
(US)
DURING CONDITIONING: Acquisition
Bell
(CS)
Food
(US)
AFTER CONDITIONING
Bell
(CS)
Salivation
(CR)
Salivation
(UR)
Salivation
(UR)
Examples…
 Tasty appearance of unnatural-looking
and pretty odorless foods like
Twizzlers, lollipops, and candy canes,
owe their attractive, incentivized
properties to the process of classical
conditioning.
 If one had never tasted these foods,
or, better yet, were a baby that had
never tasted anything like these foods,
the objects would probably not look
tasty at all. The sight of a candy cane,
for example, may just as well be that
of a plastic toy.
 The same holds true for other
incentivized objects, such as the
ashtray for the smoker or the bottle
for the drinker.
More examples…
 1. Conditioned Fear & Anxiety - many phobias that people
experience are the results of conditioning.
 For Example - "fear of bridges" - fear of bridges can develop from
many different sources. For example, while a child rides in a car
over a dilapidated bridge, his father makes jokes about the bridge
collapsing and all of them falling into the river below. The father
finds this funny and so decides to do it whenever they cross the
bridge. Years later, the child has grown up and now is afraid to
drive over any bridge. In this case, the fear of one bridge
generalized to all bridges which now evoke fear.
 2. Advertising - modern advertising strategies evolved from John
Watson's use of conditioning. The approach is to link an attractive
US with a CS (the product being sold) so the consumer will feel
positively toward the product just like they do with the US.

Factors That Affect
Conditioning
 Timing is key… .5 second is optimal
 Stimulus Generalization - a response to a specific stimulus
becomes associated to other stimuli (similar stimuli) and now
occurs to those other similar stimuli.
 Stimulus Discrimination - learning to respond to one stimulus
and not another. Thus, an organisms becomes conditioned to
respond to a specific stimulus and not to other stimuli.
 Extinction - this is a gradual weakening and eventual
disappearance of the CR tendency. Extinction occurs from multiple
presentations of CS without the US.
 Spontaneous Recovery - sometimes there will be a reappearance
of a response that had been extinguished. The recovery can occur
after a period of non-exposure to the CS. It is called spontaneous
because the response seems to reappear out of
nowhere. (extinction is not unlearning)
Classical Conditioning Experiment!
1. Each of you will get pixie stick.
2. I will do a series of trials where I say Pavlov and raise my
hand. Every time I raise my hand, put a dash of sugar on your
tongue
3. Notice when you mouth salivates
In this experiment, what was the:
a) Unconditioned Stimulus?
b) Unconditioned Response?
c) Conditioned Stimulus?
d) Conditioned Response?
Behaviorism
John B. Watson
Developed behaviorism – the scientific study of
behavior. Rejected introspection and the study
of the consciousness.
Watson used the conditioned reflex as the
model he had been seeking to investigate and
explain human behavior
Watson believed that all human behavior
is a result of conditioning and learningpast experience and environmental
influences.
Claimed that neither talent, personality, or
intelligence is inherited.
He believed human emotions could be thought
of as reflexive responses.
 Fear, rage, and love
 Each could be reflexively triggered by a small specific
stimuli
http://www.apa.org/monitor
/2010/01/little-albert.aspx
 Watson and grad student Rosalie Rayner used “Little
Albert” to demonstrate that classical conditioning could
be used to establish a conditioned emotional response.
 Neutral Stimulus: The white rat
 Unconditioned Stimulus: The loud noise
 Unconditioned Response: Fear
 Conditioned Stimulus: The white rat
 Conditioned Response: Fear
 Stimulus generalization also occurred.
Classical Conditioning and
Drug Responses
Coffee
Feel alertness within a few sips even though it
takes 20 minutes for caffeine to take affect
 smell, taste of coffee (CS) + caffeine (UCS) =
alertness (UCR)
Smell, taste of coffee (CS) = alertness (CR)
Placebo Effect (Response)
When an individual has psychological and
physiological reaction to what is actually a
fake drug or treatment
Blood Pressure med. Patients given a
placebo in the normal environment in
which they receive the real drug had a
drop in blood pressure. Did not work of
course for those without prior experience.
Conditioned Compensatory
Response
CC can produce different effects with drugs that
disrupt the body’s normal functioning.
Experiments: Dogs were given epinephrine (increases
heart rate) while in a stand. The body will
compensate and lower the heart rate (compensatory
response). After several trials just putting the dogs
in the stands would cause them to lower their heart
rate, the situational cues produced a conditioned
compensatory response.
 Shepard Siegel focused on drug tolerance and
withdrawal symptoms in addictive opiate drugs like
heroine and morphine. (read 4th edition pgs 202203)
 Situational cues are repeatedly paired with the drug’s effects
(UCS), which elicits a compensatory response that is
opposite to the drug’s effect (UCR). After several pairings
the situational cues become CS. Exposure to the CS will now
elicit a conditioned compensatory response (CCR). The
heroine user experiences the CCR as withdrawal symptoms
paired with a powerful craving for the drug.
 When heroine is administered in the same environment this
leads to drug tolerance because the CCR becomes stronger
over time. The user must take more to get the same high. If
the drug is taken in an unfamiliar situation the CCR will not
be elicited, instead the full effect of the drug will take place
which could lead to overdose.
Siegel predicted that drug tolerance will
be situational specific.
Classical Conditioning has helped to
understand addiction and relapse.
Extinction is not unlearning. Presented
with the CS after a lengthy time can
produce spontaneous recovery.
Explains why people can be successful in
rehabilitation centers and then relapse
when exposed to drug-related conditioned
stimulus.
CONTEMPORARY VIEWS OF
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Cognitive Aspects of CC
Robert Rescorla
One group of rats heard a tone (CS) that was
paired 20x with a brief shock (UCS)
Another group experienced the same number of
paired shocks but with 20 additional shocks with no
tone
Rats in the first group displayed a much stronger fear
response
 CC depends on the information the CS provides about
the UCS. For learning to occur there must be a reliable
signal. Information is actively processed. More than
associating two stimuli.

Taste aversion
• Learned association between the taste of a certain
food and a feeling of nausea or revulsion; this learning
can occur quickly, often with only one pairing; Speed
of learning is likely related to survival instincts
• John Garcia’s rats and saccharine flavored water.
• Demonstrated taste aversion after pairing with
drug that gave the rats gastrointestinal distress.
• Proved that animals will associate a taste
stimulus with internal stimuli (stomach ache)
while a painful stimulus like a shock with external
stimuli like a light or noise.
Evolutionary Aspects of CC
·
·Garcia’s results led to biological
preparedness – the idea that an organism is
innately predisposed to form associations
between certain stimuli and responses.
May also explain common fears such as dark,
heights, and snakes
Operant Conditioning
We learn to
associate a
response and its
consequence
Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
type of learning in which behavior is
strengthened if followed by reinforcement or
diminished if followed by punishment
Law of Effect
Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed
by favorable consequences become more
likely and behaviors followed by unfavorable
consequences become less likely
Operant Conditioning
Operant Behavior
complex or voluntary behaviors
push button, perform complex task
operates (acts) on environment
produces consequences
Respondent Behavior
occurs as an automatic response to
stimulus
behavior learned through classical
conditioning
Operant Conditioning
·Also called Instrumental Conditioning
·Learning in which an organism’s behavior is followed by a
reward or punishment
·Organism learns to perform behavior in order to gain a reward
or avoid a punishment
·Works on voluntary behavior rather than involuntary behavior in
classical conditioning
·Thorndike's Law of Effect: also known as the principle of
reinforcement, states behavior that is reinforced will be repeated
while behavior that punished will be suppressed.
Elements of Operant
Conditioning
·Reinforcer
·A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that
desired behavior more likely to occur again. Both positive and
negative reinforcement results in strengthening a behavior.
·Punisher
·A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and makes that
desired behavior less likely to occur again
Operant Conditioning
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
elaborated Thorndike’s Law of
Effect
developed behavioral
technology
Operant Conditioning
Skinner Box
soundproof
chamber with a bar
or key that an
animal presses or
pecks to release a
food or water
reward
contains a device
to record responses
Operant Conditioning
Reinforcer
any event that strengthens the behavior
it follows
Shaping
conditioning procedure in which
reinforcers guide behavior toward closer
approximations of a desired goal
Successive Approximations
reward behaviors that increasingly
resemble desired behavior
Principles of
Reinforcement
Primary Reinforcer
innately reinforcing stimulus
satisfies a biological need
Secondary Reinforcer
conditioned reinforcer
learned through association with
primary reinforcer
Schedules of
Reinforcement
Continuous Reinforcement
reinforcing the desired response each time it
occurs
learning occurs rapidly
extinction occurs rapidly
Partial Reinforcement
reinforcing a response only part of the time
results in slower acquisition
greater resistance to extinction
Schedules of
Reinforcement
Fixed Ratio (FR)
reinforces a response only after a
specified number of responses
faster you respond the more rewards you
get
different ratios
very high rate of responding
like piecework pay
Schedules of
Reinforcement
Variable Ratio (VR)
reinforces a response after an
unpredictable number of responses
average ratios
like gambling, fishing
very hard to extinguish because of
unpredictability
Schedules of
Reinforcement
Fixed Interval (FI)
reinforces a response only after a
specified time has elapsed
response occurs more frequently as the
anticipated time for reward draws near
Schedules of
Reinforcement
Variable Interval (VI)
reinforces a response at unpredictable time
intervals
produces slow steady responding
like pop quiz
Types of Reinforcement
·Positive reinforcer
(+)
·Negative reinforcer
(-)
·Adds something rewarding
·Removes something unpleasant
following a behavior, making that
behavior more likely to occur
again
·Example: Giving a dog a treat for
fetching a ball is an example
from the environment following a
behavior, making that behavior
more likely to occur again
·Example: Putting on your
seatbelt to stop the beeping in
your car
Overview
·CLASSICAL
·Learner is passive
·OPERANT
·Learner is active
·Desired behavior is
usually involuntary
·Response
generalization does not
occur
·Desired behavior is
usually voluntary
·Schedules of
Reinforcement
Response Acquisition:
The building phase of conditioning
How do we acquire learning in classical and operant
conditioning?
·Classical
conditioning:
·Operant
conditioning: Learning
Naturally occurring
responses are attached to
conditioned stimulus by
pairing that stimulus with the
unconditioned stimulus
·Spacing of trials effects rate
of training
process in which desired
responses are followed by
reinforcers
·Shaping=reinforcing
successive approximations
to a target behavior, can
speed up acquisition
Extinction and Spontaneous
Recovery
·Classical
conditioning
·Extinction: US and CS are no longer
paired, eliminating the CR
·Spontaneous recovery occurs when
the CR temporarily returns without
additional training
·The greater the variety in learning
settings, the harder to extinguish
(counteracting field-dependency)
·Operant
conditioning
·Extinction occurs when
reinforcement is stopped, eliminating
the conditioned behavior
·Spontaneous recovery occurs when
behavior temporarily returns without
additional training
·Spontaneous Recovery consists of
overcoming proactive/retroactive
interference
Generalization and
Discrimination
·Classical
conditioning
·Operant
conditioning
·Stimulus generalization: Organism
·Response generalization:
learns to respond to other similar
stimuli
Stimulus
generates similar responses; does
not occur in Classical Conditioning
Example?
Example?
·Stimulus discrimination: Organism
learns to respond only to specific
stimuli
·Response discrimination: Only
specific responses are reinforced in
the presence of specific stimuli
Example?
Example?
Contingencies in Classical
Conditioning
·Research has shown that a CS must provide
information about the US in order for
conditioning to occur
·This predictive relationship between the CS
and US is referred to as a contingency (Think
"If-then" statements)
Contingencies in Operant
Conditioning
·Behaviors can either be continuously reinforced
or partially reinforced (intermittent schedule of
reinforcement).
·Behaviors that are reinforced intermittently are
more resistant to extinction
·Most behavior is reinforced with some type of
intermittent schedule
Free- Response Question (FRQ) on Learning
1. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are different learning
methods.
Their differences lie in:
A.
the extent to which acquisition leads to a desired behavior
B.
the type of behavior to which each method applies
Their similarities are that they both produce the following basic phenomena
A.
Acquisition
B.
Extinction
C.
Spontaneous recovery
D.
Generalization
E.
Discrimination
Describe these differences and similarities, giving examples to illustrate your
answers.
Punishment
Punishment
aversive event that decreases
the behavior that it follows
powerful controller of unwanted
behavior
Punishment
·Goal of punishment is to decrease the occurrence of a behavior
·Effective punishment:
·
·
·
·
Should be swift; occur as soon as possible after the
behavior
Should be sufficient, i.e., strong enough
Should be certain, occurring every time the behavior
does
Should be consistent
Problems with
Punishment
Punished behavior is not forgotten, it's
suppressed- behavior returns when
punishment is no longer eminent
Causes increased aggression- shows
that aggression is a way to cope with
problems- Explains why aggressive
delinquents and abusive parents come
from abusive homes
Problems with
Punishment
Creates fear that can generalize to desirable
behaviors, e.g. fear of school, learned
helplessness, depression
Does not necessarily guide toward desired
behavior- reinforcement tells you what to
do--punishment tells you what not to doCombination of punishment and reward can
be more effective than punishment alone
Punishment teaches how to avoid it
Cognition and Operant
Conditioning
Cognitive Map
mental representation of the layout of
one’s environment
example- after exploring a maze, rats act
as if they have learned a cognitive map of
it
Latent Learning
learning that occurs, but is not apparent
until there is an incentive to demonstrate it
Latent Learning
Average
errors
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Days
Observational Learning
Observational Learning
learning by observing and imitating others
Modeling
process of observing and imitating
behavior
Prosocial Behavior
positive, constructive, helpful behavior
opposite of antisocial behavior