Download Powerpoint

Learning
Haven’t we already talked about this???
What’s the difference between:
• Learning
• Knowledge
• Memory
• Education
• Training
Learning
“… any relatively permanent change in
behavior that occurs because of
experience” (Wade & Tavris, 2005, p. 285)
“… any relatively permanent change in
behavior that occurs because of
experience” (Wade & Tavris, 2005, p. 285)
But…what about new information? Ideas?
Memories?
The study of learning has been
heavily dominated by…
Behaviorism
The study of observable relationships between the behavior and the
environment.
To a behaviorist, if you can’t see it and measure it, there’s no point in talking
about it.
Conditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning
stimulus
Operant Conditioning
response
behavior
Consequence
Classical Conditioning
An accidental discovery by Ivan Pavlov’s graduate students
Pavlov’s Dog
http://nobelprize.org/medicine/educational/pavlov/index.html
CS=bell
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
UCS=food
Response (R)
R=drooling
Pavlov was studying salivation. The dogs were studying food.
Have you ever been classically
conditioned?
CS=?
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
UCS=?
Response (R)
R=feeling sick?
R=hungry?
R=anxious?
Conditioning Fear
John B. Watson trained “Little Albert” to be
afraid of white mice
CS=mouse
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
UCS=noise
Response (R)
R=fear/crying
Stimulus Generalization
John B. Watson trains “Little Albert” to be
afraid of bearded men
CS= mouse + anything like a mouse
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
UCS=noise
Response (R)
R=fear/crying
People who have chemotherapy begin to feel sick at the sight of things
related to their chemotherapy (nurses’ uniforms; the room; the hallway)
Stimulus Discrimination
Learning to tell the difference between
stimuli
CS= blue hallway – no drooling CS= yellow hallway - drooling
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
UCS=food
Response (R)
R=fear/crying
People who have chemotherapy begin to feel sick at the sight of things
related to their chemotherapy (nurses’ uniforms; the room; the hallway)
Extinction
Stopping the reaction
How many times do you have to ring the bell
without food to get the drooling to stop?
Operant Conditioning
What is a consequence?
Operant Conditioning
behavior
Consequence
Neutral consequences – have no effect on behavior
Reinforcers – increase behavior
Punishers – decrease behavior
Note! Not all reinforcers are “rewards” and not all “rewards” are reinforcers.
Examples???
Reinforcement Schedules
Intermittent – Once in a while (or every nth time)
Continuous – every single time
How do we reinforce…
Lottery ticket buyers
Dogs at the dinner table
Tantrum-throwers
Speeders
Skinner’s “shaping” of behavior
Does punishment change
behavior?
Sometimes. If…
• Immediate.
• Consistent.
Note: Harsher doesn’t help. Mild punishment
works just as well.
Punishment does not work when…
Why punishment fails…
• Causes anxiety, fear, rage
These are not good conditions for learning. Too much anxiety, too
little information.
• Stops working when the punishment goes away
– Can I get away with it? INSTEAD OF Is this a good idea?
• Can’t be immediate enough or specific enough
The dog who eats the box of treats while you’re at work has been
rewarded 50 times before you get home to punish him.
• Doesn’t convey information about what to do
• May be an accidental reinforcer
Social-Cognitive Learning Theory
Behaviorism (yes, we are conditioned,
but)…
The “environment” is the environment we perceive, so…
•Attitudes
•Beliefs
•Expectations
Mean that a “stimulus” or “consequence” will be different for different people
We are able to learn by watching others.
Observational learning
but we don’t learn everything we watch others do
Why do we start smoking? Why don’t we start smoking?
Social cognitive theory helps explain this.
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Expectations
Are behaviorists still around?
• Do you ever see systems of reinforcement
and punishment?
• “Cognitive behavioral therapy”
• Behaviorists never said thinking didn’t
happen, only that there was no sense in
trying to study it. What kind of research
would Skinner be doing today?