Download Learning - AP Psychology

Learning
Define Learning
Learning
is a
relatively permanent
change in behavior as
a result of experience.
Classical Conditioning
In
classical
conditioning, we learn
to associate two
stimuli and anticipate
events.

For example, we learn that a
flash of lightening signals an
impending crack of thunder, so
we start to brace ourselves when
lightening flashes nearby.
Two related events:
Stimulus 1
Lightning
Stimulus 2
Thunder
Result after repetition
Stimulus
We see
lightning
Response
We wince
anticipating
thunder
Operant Conditioning
 In
operant conditioning, we
learn to associate a response
and its consequence, and we
repeat acts followed by
rewards, and avoid acts
followed by punishment.

For example, we learn that when
we get good grades, we get
money, so we continue to get
good grades. Or, if we don’t get
good grades, we lose privileges.
To avoid losing privileges, we get
good grades.
Social/Vicarious/Observational
Learning
In
social learning (or
observational learning),
we learn from other’s
experiences and
examples.

For example, chimpanzees
sometimes learn behaviors merely
by observing others perform them.
If one animal watches another
learn to solve a puzzle that gains a
food reward, the observing animal
may perform the trick as well, and
even more quickly.
Classical
Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
 Ivan
Pavlov - Russian;
Medical doctor who spent two
decades studying the digestive
system. Nobel Prize in 1904.
Studied learning for the next
three decades, by “accident”.
Classical Conditioning

After studying salivary secretion in dogs,
he knew that when he put food in a dog’s
mouth the animal would invariably
salivate. He also began to notice that
when he worked with the same dog
repeatedly, the dog began salivating to
stimuli associated with food – the sight of
food, the food dish, the mere presence of
the person bringing the food, even the
sound of oncoming footsteps in
anticipation of the food
Classical Conditioning


Pavlov’s Experiment:
Through experimentation, Pavlov asked:
If a neutral stimulus (something the dog
could see or hear) regularly signaled the
arrival of food, would the dog associate
the two stimuli (the food and the neutral
stimuli)? If so, would the dog begin to
salivate to the neutral stimulus in
anticipation of the food?
From Pavlov’s research:
Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned
 A stimulus
Stimulus
that naturally
and automatically
triggers a response
Classical Conditioning
 Unconditioned
 The
Response
unlearned, naturally
occurring response to the
unconditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning
For
example:
 For
Pavlov, the UCS was
food and the UCR was
the dog’s salivation
Classical Conditioning


Pavlov’s Experiment (continued):
Just before placing food in the dog’s
mouth to produce salivation, Pavlov
sounded a tone. After several
pairings of tone and food, the dog
began to salivate to the tone alone, in
anticipation of the food.
Classical Conditioning

Conditioned Stimulus
 An originally irrelevant
stimulus that, after association
with and unconditioned
stimulus, comes to trigger a
conditioned response
Classical Conditioning
 Conditioned
Response
 The learned response to a
previously neutral
conditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning

For example:

For Pavlov, the previously neutral stimulus
was the tone. During conditioning, the
tone was paired with the food (UCS). After
conditioning, the tone, when presented
alone, produced salivation in the dog. The
tone is now considered the CS, and the
dog’s salivation to the tone alone is now
considered the CR.
UCS
(passionate
kiss)
UCR
(sexual
arousal)
CS
(onion
breath)
UCS
(passionate
Kiss)
CS
(onion
breath)
CR
(sexual
arousal)
UCR
(sexual
arousal)
OH BABY !!!!
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)
CS
(waiting
room)
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)
CS
(waiting
room)
CR
(nausea)






1. While George was having a cavity filled by his dentist,
the drill hit a nerve that had not been dulled by
anesthetic, a couple of times. Each time he cringed in
pain. George now gets anxious each time he sees the
dentist.
What is the:
Unconditioned stimulus:
____________________
Unconditioned response:
____________________
Conditioned stimulus: ____________________
Conditioned response: ____________________

2. Every time a psychology instructor
enters the classroom, she goes straight to
the board to write an outline on it.
Unfortunately, she has long finger nails and
each time she writes the outline, her nails
screech on the board, making students
cringe. After a few weeks of this, students
cringe at the sight of the teacher entering
the classroom.

3. Fanny eats fried chicken that
has e coli in it and ends up
vomiting for hours that night.
Luckily she recovers within a day,
but now just the thought (or the
sight or the smell) of fried chicken
makes her nauseous.

4. At a football game, every time the
home team scores a touchdown, the
person behind you blasts an air horn
near your ears causing you to wince.
Unfortunately for you, the home team
scores frequently. As the end of the
game nears, the home team scores a
touchdown, and even though the
inconsiderate fan behind you has left,
you still wince.
 5.
LaToya’s husband puts on
Polo cologne every time
they’re going to be sexually
intimate. Now when LaToya
is walking through the mall
and passes a store selling
Polo cologne, she becomes
sexually aroused.
 6.
Charlie has been
humiliated in the past for
doing poorly on tests. When
that has happened, he would
get so upset he would shake.
Now when presented with a
test, he begins to shake.

Fred has a fluffy down pillow
with some of the down sticking
out of the fabric. When he first
tries out the pillow, a piece of
down tickles his nose and he
sneezes. He now sneezes every
time he lays down on any kind of
pillow.

It is springtime and the
pollen from the flowers
causes you to sneeze.
Soon you are sneezing at
the mere sight of a
flower…real or fake.

You ride a roller coaster
and get sick afterward.
Now, whenever you are
near a roller coaster you
feel queasy.
 Your
relationship is going
badly and your significant
other has yelled at you
without warning several
times. You now feel tense
and fearful any time that you
are around him or her.
Five Major Conditioning Processes
Acquisition
 Generalization
 Discrimination
 Extinction
 Spontaneous Recovery

Acquisition


The initial stage in classical
conditioning
The phase associating a neutral
stimulus with an unconditioned
stimulus so that the neutral stimulus
comes to elicit a conditioned
response
Acquisition

Findings:


The time between presenting the neutral
stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus
needs to be short. For most species and
procedures, about ½ second works best.
Conditioning is more likely to occur if the
conditioned stimulus is presented before
the unconditioned stimulus
Generalization

The tendency, once a response has been
conditioned, for stimuli similar to the
conditioned stimulus to elicit similar
responses

IE. A dog responding to a bell tone may
also respond to a similar sounding door
bell. A person bit by a dog may fear all
dogs. You may buy a lemon Ford, and
never buy a Ford again.
Discrimination

The learned ability to distinguish
between a conditioned stimulus and
other stimuli that do not signal an
unconditioned response

IE. A child is bitten by a dog, and only
fears that dog. Other dogs don’t illicit
an automatic fear response.
Extinction

The diminishing of a conditioned
response when an unconditioned
stimulus no longer follows a
conditioned stimulus

If the food no longer follows the bell
tone, eventually the dog will no longer
associate the bell tone with food and
will stop salivating.
Spontaneous Recovery


The reappearance, after a rest period,
of an extinguished conditioned
response.
The conditioned response continues
to get weaker after less pairings of
the CS and the UCS, and after more
and more rest periods
Acquisition
(CS+UCS)
Extinction
(CS alone)
Spontaneous
recovery of
CR
Extinction
(CS alone)
Pause
Classical Conditioning – Extra

Little Albert Experiment – Fear Conditioning

An 11-month infant named Albert feared loud
noises, but not white rats. In the experiment,
when Albert was presented with a white rat and
reached out to touch it, a hammer was struck on a
steel beam behind his head. After seven
repetitions of seeing the rat and then hearing the
frightening noise, Albert burst into tears at the
mere sight of the rat.
Classical Conditioning - Extra

Five days after the testing, Albert
showed generalization of his
conditioned response by reacting
with fear to a rabbit, a dog, and a
sealskin coat.
Operant
Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
 Type
of learning in which
behavior is strengthened if
followed by a reinforcer, or
diminished if followed by a
punisher
Operant Conditioning

B.F. Skinner’s Experiments:


Based on Edward Thorndike’s LAW OF
EFFECT – states that rewarded behavior is
likely to recur
Experiments conducted with animals in an
operant chamber (Skinner Box) – a
soundproof box, with a bar or key that an
animal presses or pecks to release a reward
of food or water
Operant Conditioning
– while conditioning
an animal to perform certain
behaviors, reinforcers are
successively given only as the
subject gets closer to the
ultimate behavior goal
 Shaping

IE. If the purpose of putting a rat in a
maze is to teach it to get from Point A to
Point B while following a certain path,
then every time the rat makes a turn
towards the right path, a reward should
be given. If it makes a turn towards the
wrong path, NO reward is given.
Operant Conditioning
 If
we can shape animals to
respond to one stimulus and
not to another, then obviously
they can perceive the
differences.


IE. Some pigeons have been trained to be
able to distinguish between Bach and
Stravinsky.
IE. If the goal of a teacher is to get all
students to strive for 100% accuracy on
their spelling tests, then every time a
student improves on successive spelling
tests they should be rewarded. NOT just
reward those that get a 100%.
Operant Conditioning
– any event
that increases the frequency
of a preceding response, or
strengthens the behavior that it
follows
 Reinforcement
 IE.
Being able to borrow the
car after the dishes are done
will increase the likelihood
that you will do the dishes
again.
Operant Conditioning

Positive Reinforcement –
strengthens a response by
presenting a typically pleasurable
stimulus after a response.

IE. Food for a hungry animal.
Attention, approval, money for
people.
Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement –
strengthens a response by
reducing or removing an
aversive stimulus
 Negative

IE. Taking aspirin to relieve a headache
will increase the behavior of taking
aspirin because it reduces or eliminates
the pain. Smoking a cigarette to relieve
stress will increase the behavior of
smoking because it reduces or eliminates
anxiety and pressure.
Operant Conditioning
Positive ADDS a desirable
stimulus, like getting a hug or
watching t.v.
 Negative REMOVES an
aversive stimulus, like fastening
a seatbelt to stop the annoying
beeping

Operant Conditioning
Primary Reinforcers –one that
primarily satisfies a biological
need
 Conditioned or Secondary
Reinforcers – a stimulus that is
learned, and/or is associated with
a primary reinforcer

 IE.
Primary reinforcers may
be food, or pain relief.
Secondary reinforcers may
be money, praise, good
grades, a pleasant tone of
voice.
Operant Conditioning

Immediate and Delayed Reinforcers –
How quickly does a reinforcement
needed to be given after a desired
behavior has been exhibited in order for
the behavior to be conditioned? How
often does the reinforcement need to be
given to condition proper behavior?
Operant Conditioning

Continuous Reinforcement –
Reinforcing the desired response
immediately, every time it
occurs. Learning occurs quickly,
but as soon as reinforcement
ends, extinction occurs very
quickly also.

You go to the same soda machine
every day, put your money into it,
and it delivers a soda. On Friday,
you put your money into it and it
doesn’t work. Same thing Saturday.
You stop using the machine, though
a week later you may try again.
Operant Conditioning

Partial (Intermittent)
Reinforcement – Reinforcing a
response only part of the time.
This results in slower acquisition
of a response, but much greater
resistance to extinction also.
 IE.
Slot machines. You may
win only once in long while,
but you’ll keep playing
because the reinforcement is
worth it, and the habit may last
a long time.
Operant Conditioning

Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
Schedules:

Fixed-Ratio = a schedule of
reinforcement that reinforces only
after a specified number of
responses.
 IE. Every 10th sale gets a prize.
Operant Conditioning

Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
Schedules:

Variable-Ratio Schedule = a
schedule of reinforcement that
reinforces a response after an
unpredictable number of responses
 IE. Slot machines, fishing.
Operant Conditioning

Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
Schedules:

Fixed-interval schedules = a schedule
of reinforcement that reinforces a
response only after a specified time
has elapsed
 IE. At the end of every 30 minutes a
new batch of cookies will be baked.
Operant Conditioning

Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
Schedules:

Variable-Interval Schedules = a
schedule of reinforcement that
reinforces a response at unpredictable
time intervals
 IE. “You’ve Got Mail”…you don’t
know when you will get an email,
but you are always checking for it.
Operant Conditioning

Punishment – An event that
decreases the behavior that it
follows

May be done by administering an
undesirable consequence, or by
withdrawing a desirable
consequence

IE. Shock treatment and
spanking are added,
undesirable consequences,
while taking away phone or
car privileges withdraws
desirable consequences.
Operant Conditioning

Issues/Questions regarding punishments



Physical punishments are not forgotten, just
suppressed
Physical punishments may increase
aggressiveness by demonstrating that
aggression is a way to cope with problems
Punishments may create fear
Operant Conditioning


If punishment isn’t delivered swiftly,
or proportionally with regards to the
crime, those punished may be
confused, depressed, or helpless
Punishments still do not teach the
proper behavior – it only suppresses
unwanted behaviors
Observational
Learning
Observational Learning
Observational
Learning is learning
by watching and
imitating others
Observational Learning
 For
example, a child sees
his big sister burn her
fingers on the stove has
thereby learned not to
touch it.
Observational Learning
Modeling
is the
process of observing
and imitating a
specific behavior
Observational Learning
 Pro-Social
Models
exemplify positive,
constructive, helpful
behavior. Anti-Social
Models exemplify negative
and hurtful behavior.
Observational Learning
 Mirror
Neurons in the
frontal lobe are partially
responsible for allowing
humans to imitate simple
language and emotions
Observational Learning

Albert Bandura’s Experiment –
The Bobo Doll

Children exposed to an adult
taking out their frustrations on a
Bobo doll would imitate their
punches and kicks when presented
with a Bobo doll when they were