Download Introduction to Learning Theory and Behavioral Psychology

Introduction to Learning Theory and
Behavioral Psychology
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Learning can be defined as the
process leading to relatively
permanent behavioral change or
potential behavioral change.
In other words, as we learn, we
alter the way we perceive our
environment, the way we
interpret the incoming stimuli,
and therefore the way we
interact, or behave.
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John B. Watson (18781958) was the first to
study how the process of
learning affects our
behavior, and he formed
the school of thought
known as Behaviorism.
The central idea behind
behaviorism is that only
observable behaviors are
worthy of research since
other abstraction such as a
person’s mood or thoughts
are too subjective.
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Classical and Operant
Conditioning
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Classical Conditioning. One
important type of learning,
Classical Conditioning, was
actually discovered accidentally
by Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936).
Pavlov was a Russian
physiologist who discovered this
phenomenon while doing
research on digestion. His
research was aimed at better
understanding the digestive
patterns in dogs.
During his experiments, he would
put meat powder in the mouths of
dogs who had tubes inserted into
various organs to measure bodily
responses.
► What he discovered was that the
dogs began to salivate before the
meat powder was presented to
them.
► Then, the dogs began to salivate as
soon as the person feeding them
would enter the room. He soon
began to gain interest in this
phenomenon and abandoned his
digestion research in favor of his
now famous Classical Conditioning
study.
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Principles of Classical
(Respondent) Conditioning
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Pavlov found that, when a
neutral stimulus is paired with
an unconditioned stimulus,
eventually, the CS also
produces the salivation
response.
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The stimulus that
naturally elicits the target
response is called the
unconditioned stimulus and the
response it elicits is called the
unconditioned response. The
neutral stimulus is called the
conditioned stimulus and the
response it produces after
conditioning is called the
conditioned response.
UCS: unconditional stimulus
► stimulus which evokes regular,
measurable response
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UCR: unconditional response
measurable response regularly
evoked by UCS
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CS: Conditional stimulus
novel response which does not
evoke UCR until after pairing
with UCS
CR: Conditional Response
► similar to UCR, evoked by CS
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Principles of classical conditioning
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Extinction –
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Spontaneous recovery –
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Higher-order-conditioning –
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Stimulus generalization –
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Stimulus discrimination –
when the conditioned stimulus is
presented repeatedly without the
unconditioned stimulus the conditioned
response eventually disappears
After a response that has been
extinguished, it may spontaneously
reappear after the passage of time with
exposure to the conditioned stimulus
a neutral stimulus can become a
conditioned stimulus by being paired
with an already established conditioned
stimulus
After a stimulus becomes a conditioned
stimulus for some response, similar
stimuli may produce the same reaction
different responses are triggered by
stimuli that resemble the conditioned
stimulus in some way
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Classical conditioning in real life
Examples of behaviours learned through classical
conditioning include taste preferences, likes and dislikes
and fears and phobias (little Albert example)
Drug reaction can be explained through the principles of
classical conditioning
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The drug causes a compensatory (oppositional) bodily response
Environmental cues become condition stimuli for this response,
increasing craving
This compensatory response may be responsible for drug
tolerance and overdosing
Other examples include response to environmental cues
in chemotherapy and dental treatment
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Therapy Techniques Based on
Classical Conditioning
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Counterconditioning - reducing a conditioned
response (anxiety, for example) by establishing an
incompatible response (relaxation) to the same
conditioned stimulus (a snake, for example).
Wolpe developed a treatment program for
anxiety that was based on the principles of
counterconditioning.
anxiety symptoms could be reduced (or inhibited)
when the stimuli to the anxiety were presented in a
graded order and systematically paired with a
relaxation response-- systematic desensitization
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Therapy Techniques Based on
Classical Conditioning
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Treatment techniques that have developed to reverse classically
conditioned fears include counterconditioning or systematic
desensitization
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Systematic Desensitization
consistently proven to be effective in the treatment of anxiety
and phobias
events which cause anxiety are recalled in imagination
then a relaxation technique is used to dissipate the anxiety
with sufficient repetition through practice, the imagined event
loses its anxiety-provoking power
shown to be effective when self-administered as well
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Therapy Techniques Based on
Classical Conditioning
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There are three steps in the self-administered
systematic desensitization procedure:
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Relaxation;
► 2. Constructing an anxiety hierarchy;
► 3. Pairing relaxation with the
situations described in your anxiety
hierarchy.
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Example of Systematic
Desensitization
Example-- Fear of Flying
Items included in an anxiety hierarchy describe
situations which produce varying levels of anxiety,
some more worrisome than others
► Describe the items on your anxiety hierarchy in
sufficient detail to enable you to vividly imagine
each one. It might be sufficient to say, “Standing in
line at the ticket counter,” but saying, “Standing in
a long line at the crowded ticket counter, with
nothing to do but wait to get my luggage checked,”
might be more graphic.
► Items are most effective if they can help you
experience the event in your imagination, not just
describe it.
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Creating your Anxiety Hierarchy
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Attempt to create about 16 or 17 situations at the beginning.
Most people tend to discard some items in the sorting process,
so you can expect to end up with about 10 to 15 items in your
final hierarchy. To aid in sorting the items, write each one on a
separate index card.
The situations or scenes in your hierarchy should represent a
fairly well-spaced progression of anxiety.
Grade the anxiety of each item by assigning it a number on a
scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is the highest level of anxiety
imaginable and 0 is no anxiety (complete relaxation). Write
this number on the back of the index card for the item being
graded.
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Creating your Anxiety Hierarchy
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When each item has an anxiety
grade, sort the cards into 5
piles. Each pile will represent a
different category of anxiety,
as follows:
Pile Anxiety Grade
Low Anxiety1–19
Medium Low Anxiety20–39
Medium Anxiety40–59
Medium High Anxiety60–79
High Anxiety80–100
Goal here is to end up with at
least two items in each pile.
► When you have finished,
combine all the cards into one
pile that is ordered from lowest
to highest anxiety.
► Set the cards aside for one day.
► It helps to check the accuracy
of your ordering by shuffling
the cards the next day or so.
Without looking at the grades
on the back of the cards, reorder them. Then check the
grades to see if your second
ordering is the same as the
first. If not, make some
adjustments.
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Creating your Anxiety Hierarchy
Sample Fear of Flying Anxiety
Hierarchy
► Note -- any item’s relative
anxiety level does not
necessarily relate to its
temporal sequence.
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Packing luggage
Making reservations
Driving to the airport
Realizing you have to make a flight
Checking in
Waiting for boarding
Calling for Boarding
Boarding the plane
In-flight service
Moving around the cabin
Climbing to cruising altitude
Descending
Waiting for departure
Taking off
Landing
Upset
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Overview of the Pairing
Procedure
The overall goal of systematic desensitization is to
reduce the ability of certain situations to cause
anxiety. You will accomplish this by confronting
each item of your anxiety hierarchy while you are in
a deep state of relaxation.
► Practice systematic desensitization in the same
environment you use to practice relaxation. Your
systematic desensitization sessions should not
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exceed 30 minutes.
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Also, you should not attempt to desensitize yourself
to more than three of your anxiety hierarchy items
per session.
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Abbreviated Instructions
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Card
1--Relax.
2--Read the anxiety situation.
3--Imagine the situation for a
tolerable time.
4--Stop.
Determine your anxiety level.
Re-establish relaxation.
5--Re-read the anxiety situation.
Imagine the situation for a
tolerable time.
6--Stop.
Determine your anxiety level.
If anxiety is present, return to Card
2.
If no anxiety, go to Card 7.
7--Next item.
Return to Card 1.
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you are
desensitizing high
anxiety items,
repeat one cycle of
the desensitization
process after you
have reached a level
without anxiety,
just to reinforce
your ability to relax
in that situation.
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B. F. Skinner
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the most well known Behaviorist is
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990). Skinner followed
much of Watson’s research and findings, but
believed that internal states could influence
behavior just as external stimuli. He is
considered to be a Radical Behaviorist
because of this belief, although nowadays it
is believed that both internal and external
stimuli influence our behavior.
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Operant Conditioning
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Thorndike’s law of
effect – behavior is
controlled by
consequences (free will
on the individual’s part)
BF Skinner – behavior is
determined by the
environment (no free
will)
Reinforcement and
punishment – the carrot
and the stick
 Behavior becomes
more or less likely
depending on its
consequences
Reinforcer: A stimulus that causes
reinforcement. A stimulus which increases
the probability that a response will occur.
► Reinforcement: The effect of the stimulus.
► Primary reinforcer: Something that is
naturally reinforcing and satisfies a natural
drive, e.g. food, drink, sex.
 Primary reinforcers/punishers –satisfy
biological needs
 Secondary reinforcers/punishers –
reinforce through association with other
reinforcers/punishers
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Secondary or Generalized reinforcer:
Stimuli that are not reinforcing in themselves,
in that they satisfy no natural drive on their
own, but they are so often paired with
primary reinforcers that they become
reinforcing themselves, e.g. money, praise,
prestige.
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REIFROCEMENT
Positive reinforcer: A stimulus
that when added to a situation,
increases the likelihood that a
response will occur.
► Positive reinforcement: reward
► Negative reinforcer: A stimulus,
that when removed from a
situation, increases the likelihood
that a response will occur, relief.
► Negative reinforcement: relief
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Punishment – try to decrease the
likelihood of a response
► Positive punishment – something
unpleasant occurs
► Negative punishment – something
pleasant is removed
There are many types of
reinforcement in everyday life.
Primary reinforcers are effective
without having been associated
with other reinforcers. Secondary
reinforcers are effective only when
associated with primary reinforcers.
► Positive reinforcers strengthen
responses when they are
presented. Negative reinforcers
strengthen the behaviors that
caused them to be removed.
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TYPES OF REIFORCEMNT AND
PUNISHMENT
INCREASED
PRESENTED
REMOVED
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DECREASED
Principles of operant conditioning
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Extinction – a previously learned response stops because
it is no longer reinforced
Spontaneous recovery – Return of a response that has
been extinguished
Immediate consequences are more effective than
delayed consequences
Stimulus generalization – Stimuli similar to that in the
initial learning may produce the same reaction
Stimulus discrimination – the ability to distinguish
between similar stimuli and to respond only to the one
that results in the reinforcers
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Schedules of reinforcement
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The pattern of delivery of reinforcements; can have
powerful effects on rate, form, and timing of behavior
Continuous reinforcement – reinforcing a response each
time it occurs; most effective for initial learning
Partial, intermittent, or variable schedules –
reinforcement occurs only after a certain amount of time
has passed or after a certain (sometimes random)
number of responses have been made; these schedules
make responses more resistant to extinction when
reinforcement is discontinued
Shaping – Method of getting a response to occur by
reinforcing successive approximations to the desired
response
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PUNISHMENT
Punishment: the goal of punishment is to decrease the probability of a behavior
Type I Punishment: presentation punishment, presenting an aversive stimulus
following a behavior.
► Type II Punishment: removal punishment, removing a pleasant stimulus following a
behavior.
► Negative aspects of punishment:
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it emphasizes the undesirable responses and does not necessarily illustrate the desirable
response
► it is often associated with highly undesirable emotional side effects that often become
associated with the person doling out the punishment rather than with the behavior
being punished
► it usually does not eliminate the behavior but suppresses it
► it often does not work: supporting studies, Sears, Macoby & Lewin (1957) severely
punishing children for being aggressive increases the likelihood that they will be
aggressive, and being unduly punitive when toilet training results in a greater likelihood
of bed-wetting.
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Areas of application of behavior
modification:
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parenting
education
severe psychological and developmental problems (schizophrenia, autism,
mental retardation)
clinical behavior therapy
self-management
medical and health care (direct treatment, establishing treatment compliance,
promotion of healthy living, stress management, management of care givers)
gerontology
behavioral community psychology (applications to socially significant problems
in unstructured community settings where the behavior of individuals is not
considered deviant in the traditional sense)
organizational behavior management
sport psychology (improving athletic skills, strategies for motivating practice
and endurance training, changing the behavior of coaches, preparing for
competition)
behavioral assessment
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TOKEN ECONOMY
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A behavior therapy procedure, based on
operant conditioning principles, in which
institutionalized patients are given
tokens, such as poker chips, for socially
constructive behavior, and are withheld
when unwanted behaviors are
exhibited. The tokens themselves can be
exchanged for desirable items and
activities such as tea or coffee and extra
time away from the ward.
Token economy, in short term trials, was
effective at reducing the negative
symptoms of schizophrenia. . For
example, patients in a mental hospital
are given tokens they can exchange for
food or coffee when they make their
beds, groom themselves, get up and go
to sleep at the correct hours, and so on;
they are fined (tokens are taken away)
for assault or destruction of property.
A classic study was conducted in a mental
hospital with psychiatric patients who had
difficulty performing expected behaviors
(Ayllon & Azrin, 1968). The researchers chose
a number of simple grooming behaviors,
including face washing, hair combing, teeth
brushing, bed making, and dressing properly.
The researchers first recorded baseline, or
normally occurring, frequencies of the
behaviors. Then they gave the patients a
token every time the proper behavior was
performed. The tokens could be exchanged
for food and personal items at the hospital
drugstore. The patients significantly increased
the frequency of the desired behaviors when
they were reinforced with tokens.
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Other Techniques
Time-out: weaken undesired behavior by temporarily
removing positive reinforcement.
► Example: Sending a student who frequently interrupts
classroom routine to sit in an empty room for 10 min.
(Punishment II)
► Response Cost: tokens are withdrawn when child makes
an undesired response
► Extinction: weaken undesired behavior by ignoring it.
► Example: A mother ignoring a whining child, or a teacher
ignoring a student who speaks out of turn.
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FLOODING
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This is the type of exposure therapy that starts with the
most feared rather than the least feared stimulus is called
flooding;
If conducted only in the imagination, it is sometimes called
implosion
The therapist controls the timing and content of the scenes
to be imagined or confronted, and instead of trying to
relax, the patient is told to experience the fear fully until it
subsides.
Flooding is quicker than systematic desensitization, but
relapse may be more common, and the procedure is simply
too frightening for many patients.
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FLOODING
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The standard behavioral
treatment for compulsive rituals
(checking, counting, washing,
and so on) is known as
exposure and response
prevention.
This is a variant of flooding in
which the ritual is treated as a
form of escape or avoidance.
The patient is placed in the
situation that provokes ritualized
behavior and prevented from
responding in the habitual way
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. A compulsive washer, for
example, is allowed to become
dirty or even made dirty and
then prevented from washing.
The water might be turned off
for most of the day.
Exposure reduces
hypersensitivity to dirt and the
associated anxiety, while
response prevention eventually
eliminates (extinguishes)
compulsive washing.
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SHAPING
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successive approximation
Shaping; in operant conditioning, the
gradual process of reinforcing behaviors
that get closer to some final desired
behavior.
Operant conditioning can be used to
shape behavior so that patients perform
complex actions or acquire skills that
were formerly beyond their capacities.
► The method is to approximate the
desired behavior gradually, rewarding
each small step toward mastery.
► Shaping is often necessary for severely
impaired people whose behavioral
repertoire is very limited. For example,
the mouth movements of a mute autistic
child are reinforced at first, then sounds,
and later only sounds closer and closer
to normal speech.
► The process of dressing is divided into
stages and the child is given candy or
applause for completing each partial
task.
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SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES
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Social learning, as described by Albert Bandura, deals with the
fact that a fundamental means of learning is through
observing and imitating of models. This theory is behaviorist
due to Bandura's emphasis on the fact that individuals learn to
imitate a behavior because they are reinforced for that
behavior.
Teachers serve as models who shape and influence their
students' behavior. Books, pictures, television and movies also
present models to children and adolescents.
An important tenet of Bandura's theory is that exposure to
highly esteemed models can alter students' attitudes. That is,
social learning through imitation can significantly modify
students' behavior and help them acquire skills.
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Social Learning Theories
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General characteristics
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Emphasize the importance
of learning by observing
people in social contexts
Similarities to behaviorism
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Agree with laws of
conditioning
Recognize importance of
reinforcers and the
environment
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Differences from
behaviourism:
Include the importance of
higher-level mental
processes
Emphasize the role of
attitudes, beliefs, and
expectations
Regard the environment,
behaviour, and a person’s
internalized motives and
cognitions as forming a
circle in which all elements
mutually affect each other
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Observational Learning
► Definition
Observational learning, also called social
learning theory, occurs when an observer's
behavior changes after viewing the behavior
of a model.
► An observer's behavior can be affected by
the positive or negative consequences-called vicarious reinforcement or vicarious
punishment-- of a model's behavior.
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Processes of Learning by observation
Learning by observation involves
four separate processes:
attention, retention,
production and motivation
1) Attention:
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2) Retention:
Observers cannot learn
unless they pay attention to
what's happening around
them.
This process is influenced by
characteristics of the model,
such as how much one likes
or identifies with the model,
and by characteristics of the
observer, such as the
observer's expectations or
level of emotional arousal.
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Observers must not only
recognize the observed
behavior but also remember it
at some later time. This process
depends on the observer's
ability to code or structure the
information in an easily
remembered form or to
mentally or physically rehearse
the model's actions.
Processes of Learning by observation
3) Motor Production:
 Observers must be
physically and/intellectually
capable of producing the
act. In many cases the
observer possesses the
necessary responses. But
sometimes, reproducing the
model's actions may involve
skills the observer has not
yet acquired. It is one thing
to carefully watch a circus
juggler, but it is quite
another to go home and
repeat those acts.
4) Motivation:
 In general, observers will
perform the act only if they
have some motivation or
reason to do so. The
presence of reinforcement
or punishment, either to the
model or directly to the
observer, becomes most
important in this process.
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SUMMARY OF SOCIAL LEARNING
(OBSERVATIONAL) THEORY
A person's behavior can affect
his feelings about himself and
his attitudes and beliefs about
others. Likewise, much of what
a person knows comes from
environmental resources such
as television, parents, and
books.
► Environment also affects
behavior: what a person
observes can powerfully
influence what he does.
► But a person's behavior also
contributes to his environment
► The relationship between these
elements is called reciprocal
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Attention and retention
account for acquisition or
learning of a model's behavior;
production and motivation
control the performance.
Human development reflects
the complex interaction of the
person, the person's behavior,
and the environment..
determinism
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Other types of Learning
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Cognitive processes
Tolman’s experiment with rats demonstrated latent learning
Latent learning is learning that is not immediately revealed through
a change in behavior and occurs without obvious reinforcement
Formation of cognitive maps is a form of latent learning
Insight
Learning that appears to occur in a flash
Behaviorists – explanation is in terms of prior reinforcement history
Cognitive theorists – requires mentally combining previously learned
responses in new ways
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