Download why am i drooling? conditioning versus cognitive learning

WHY AM I DROOLING?
CONDITIONING VERSUS
COGNITIVE LEARNING
Lesson Plan 5
Competency
Describe conditioning from a behaviorist perspective.
 Differentiate between classical and operant
conditioning.
 Summarize cognitive learning concepts.
 Explore the dissonance between conditioning and
cognitive learning.
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Overview
John Watson, who was an extreme
environmentalist—meaning he thought the
environment had more effect on human behavior
than genetics—made this statement in 1928:
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed,
and my own special world to bring them up in,
and I'll guarantee to take any one of them at
random and train him to be any type of specialist
I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchantchief, and, yes, beggarman and thief, regardless
of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities,
vocations, and race of his ancestors.
Behaviorism
Research on learning is influenced by this
school of thought
 Human behavior defined by observable
acts or events
 Does not take into account mental
capabilities such as mind, will, or thought
 Conditioning- associations between
environmental stimuli
 Stimulus-response (S-R) Psychology
 Classical and operant conditioning explains
much of human behavior
 Environmental rewards and punishers
maintain or discourage specific behaviors
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Classical Conditioning
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Learning, behaviorism, and conditioning all related to
form classical conditioning
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior
Behaviorism emphasizes the study of observable
behavior and the role of environment in changing
behavior
Conditioning- association between something in the
environment and the organism’s responses
Classical conditioning- process previously neutral
stimuli begins to elicit a response because of an
association to stimuli that already elicits that
response
Ivan Pavlov- most well-known in classical conditioning
Principles of Classical Conditioning
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Acquisition- initial learning stage of classical conditioning- neutral
stimuli become conditioned stimuli that create conditioned
responses
Extinction- process of a behavior response being unlearned.
Involves the weakening and eventual disappearance of a learned
response. Conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the
unconditioned stimulus.
Higher-order conditioning neutral stimulus can become a
conditioned stimulus by pairing with an already established
conditioned stimulus. (Food bowl/salivate; light and food
bowl/salivate; light/salivate)
Stimulus generalization - properties of a new stimulus elicit
responses from a previously conditioned stimulus. When a new
stimulus that resembles a conditioned stimulus elicits the
conditioned response.
Stimulus discrimination - different conditioned stimuli elicit
different conditioned responses. Tendency of a subject to respond
differently to two or more similar stimuli.
Spontaneous recovery is the re-emergence of the learned response
after the obvious extinction.
Operant Conditioning
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Basic Law of Learning- “Behavior becomes more likely or less likely
to occur, depending on its consequences.”
Focus on environmental consequences- heart of operant
conditioning
Learning process depends on the consequences of the behavior
Operant conditioning responses are complex and not reflexive
Operant conditioning is the process by which a response is more
or less likely to occur depending on its consequences.
Reinforcement, punishment or neutral consequences are the
results of behavior.
A neutral consequence neither increases nor decreases the probability
that the response will recur.
Reinforcement (which is a consequence of choices we make)
strengthens the response, increasing the probability that it will recur.
Punishment (which is also a consequence of choices we make),
weakens the response, decreasing the probability that it will recur.
Operant Conditioning
2 types of reinforcement
1. Positive reinforcement is any pleasant consequence
following a response that makes the response more
likely to occur again.
2. Negative reinforcement is the removal of any
unpleasant consequence following a response that
makes the response more likely to occur again.
 2 types of punishers
1. A positive punisher is at work when something
unpleasant or aversive occurs as a consequence
following a chosen behavior.
2. A negative punisher is applied when something
pleasant is removed as a consequence following a
chosen behavior.
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Principles of Operant Conditioning
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Extinction- weakening and eventual disappearance of a learned
response. In operant conditioning, extinction occurs when a response is
no longer followed by a reinforcer.
Stimulus generalization- the tendency for a response has been
reinforced (or punished) in the presence of one stimulus to occur (or be
suppressed) in the presence of other, similar stimuli. Stimuli that are
similar to the original stimulus are more likely to trigger a response.
Stimulus discrimination- tendency of a response to occur in the
presence of one stimulus but not in the presence of other, similar stimuli
that differ from it on some dimension.
Continuous reinforcement- results in quicker learning. When we first
acquire a response, we learn more quickly if the desired response is
reinforced each time it occurs. We are learning on a continuous
reinforcement schedule. However, once a desired response is occurring
reliably, it will be much more resistant to extinction if it is rewarded only
part of the time that it actually occurs. Only some of the responses
emitted will be directly rewarded. This maintenance schedule of learning
is called an intermittent or partial schedule of reinforcement.
Shaping- successive approximations of a desired response are
reinforced until that response is learned in its entirety. Shaping is used to
teach complex behaviors.
Cognitive Learning Concepts
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Most learning theories heavily influenced by
behaviorism.
Learning theories thought most learning could be
explained by Behavioral ABC’s
 Antecedents (events preceding behavior)
 Behavior
 Consequences
Behaviorist thought the mind was a “black box”- the
inner workings could only be observed
By the 1930s some wanted to begin to study the inner
workings
Latent Learning
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Edward Tolman-behaviorist researcher
Watched his rats pausing in their mazes and seemed to be
deciding their direction. He wanted to study decision-making with
C.H. Honzik
Results demonstrated latent learning
Latent learning is learning which is not immediately expressed in
some observable performance.
Latent learning is significant not for the specific response, but
knowledge about responses and their consequences
Much of human learning remains latent until circumstances allow
or require its expression
According to Wade and Tavris (2003), we learn how the world is
organized through the acquisition of knowledge about
responses and their consequences. It is this knowledge that
invites creativity and flexibility in planning and goal attainment.
Social-Cognitive Learning Theories
1950- Dollard and Miller proposed a major shift
in radical behaviorism
 New prospective- social-learning theory
 Most learning acquired through observing
other people in a social context, not through
conditioning
 Behavior is learned and maintained through
observation and imitation of others.
 Behavior is learned and maintained through
positive consequences.
 Such learning is cognitively processed.
 Humans make decisions and plans; have
expectations and form beliefs through
environmental observations.
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Conditioning and Cognitive
Learning Dissonance
Behavioral and social-cognitive perspectives differ
in philosophy, but both emphasize ability of
individuals and societies to grow and change.
 We can be proactive. We can change reinforcers
 Steven Covey (1990) insists that the basic attribute
of self-awareness gives us the ability to choose our
responses to the stimuli that enter our lives.
 We may not be able to choose that environment at
the moment. It is not what happens to us but our
response to what happens to us that truly matters. By
choosing our actions and reflecting upon them, we
can exercise our uniquely human endowments of selfawareness, imagination, conscience and independent
will. We can change ourselves and maintain that
change over time.
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Homework
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Readings: Lesson Plan 7 and supplemental
readings and Lesson Plan 8 and supplemental
readings
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Assignments: Discussion 7.1 or 8.1 or 8.2
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Assignment: Breaking the Norm (2-3 page
paper) 40pts- Due November 1st
Video Options
 A Beautiful Mind
 Crash
 Girl, Interrupted
 Thirteen
 The Experiment
 The Butterfly Effect
 What About Bob
 The Long Kiss Goodnight
 Analyze This
 I Am Sam
 Matchstick Men
 Ordinary People
 Prime