Basic

psychological
processes

D R C H E T N A L A K H OT I A
 Introduction to Psychology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3nl
GWelVj8
LEARNING
UNIT II
 Structure of the Unit

What is Classical Operant

learning? conditioning conditioning

Cognitive Observational
learning learning
 What is learning?
- How We’re Changed By Experience!
• Key process in human behaviour
• A new born child is helpless at birth. He depends upon others.
• But in due course, he learns a number of things. He learns to crawl, stand, walk, run,
eat, speak, dress etc.
• The process of learning continues till death.
• Even an adult during the course of his daily routine goes on learning and adding to his
experience.
• Why does a person learn?
• He learns because he has to make adjustment in the changing environment. The stimulus
from the environment is there on the one hand.
 Definition

• “Any relatively permanent change in behaviour produced by experience”

• Acc. To J.P.Guilford – “Learning is any change in behaviour, resulting

from behaviour”

• Acc. To Gales et. al. – “Learning is the modification of behaviour through

experience and training”

 Features of learning

Learning does not apply It is Growth It is Purposeful

to temporary changes

It means establishing Changes brought about

It is Universal relationship between by learning are both
stimulus and response positive and negative
 Classical
Conditioning
Elements of
CC

Stimulus
Generalization Pavlov’s
& experiment
Discrimination

Spontaneous
Extinction
Recovery
 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING:
Learning That Some Stimuli Signal Others

• Learning by association
• Discovered by IVAN PAVLOV in 1900s → hence called PAVLOVIAN
conditioning as well
• Type of learning in which one stimulus comes to serve as a signal for the
occurrence of the second stimulus → forming a mental association
between 2 stimuli
• Stimulus – physical event capable of affecting behaviour
• Condition – to make people or animals act or react in a particular way by
gradually getting them used to a pattern of events
 A. BASIC ELEMENTS
ELEMENT SYMBOL DESCRIPTION
Neutral Stimulus NS A stimulus that does not bring
out/trigger a response
Unconditioned Stimulus US/UCS A stimulus innately capable of
evoking/triggering a response
Conditioned Stimulus CS A stimulus that triggers a response
because it has been repeatedly
paired/associated with a US
Unconditioned Response UR/UCR An innate/automatic reflex response
elicited/triggered by a US
Conditioned Response CR A learned response elicited or triggered
by a CS
 B. PAVLOV’S EXPERIMENT
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd7Jdug5SRc
• Activity – another example
 CC: Some Basic Principles

Spontaneous
Acquisition Extinction
Recovery

Stimulus Stimulus
Generalization Discrimination
 I. Acquisition
• The process by which a CS acquires the ability to bring out a CR through repeated
pairings of a UCS with the CS
• This pairing is affected by various factors, most important of which is temporal
arrangement of CS-UCS
• Temporal → time related
• 4 major arrangements:
• Delay conditioning
• Trace conditioning
• Simultaneous conditioning
• Backward conditioning
 A. DELAY & TRACE Conditioning
• These are both known as ‘forward
conditioning’
• In Delay → CS is presented before the
UCS and stays until US is presented.
• E.g. A bell begins to ring and continues
to ring until food is presented

• In Trace → onset and end of CS

precedes onset of UCS with some time
gap between the two
• E.g. bell begins ringing and ends before
the food is presented with a small time
gap.
 B. SIMULTANEOUS Conditioning

• CS and UCS are presented together

• Not a very good approach

• E.g. Bell begins to ring and at the same time food is

presented. Both begin, continue and end at the same

time
 C. BACKWARD Conditioning

• UCS occurs before CS

• Not effective
• E.g. Food is presented and then the
bell begins.
• Conditioning is very less likely to occur
 Other factors affecting acquisition

A. Intensity of either the CS or UCS → intensity more – faster conditioning

B. Time interval between presentations of CS and UCS-

i. very short interval – rarely produces conditioning

ii. Optimal time gap – 0.2 and 2 seconds

iii. Longer intervals make it difficult to recognize the CS as a signal for future events

– may feel it was accidental

 II. Extinction
• Once conditioning is acquired, how do we get rid of it?
• This is answered by the concept of extinction – gradual
weakening and eventual disappearance of the CR due to multiple
presentations of CS without the UCS.
• In this expt. – the dog stopped salivating after a while when
Pavlov rang the bell but did not present food.
• Therefore to achieve this → the association between CS and
UCS needs to end
• Reconditioning: rapid recovery of a CR to a UCS-CS pairing
following extinction
 III. Spontaneous Recovery
• The reappearance of a weakened conditioned response to a
conditioned stimulus after a rest period following extinction

• The amount of recovery depends on the time lapsed – longer

the duration of time lapsed → greater is the recovery of the
learned response

• Hence termed as ‘spontaneous’ recovery

 IV. Stimulus Generalization:
responding to similarities
• Process in which stimuli similar to the conditioned
stimuli produce the same response
• Greater the similarity of the two stimuli → greater the
likelihood of stimulus generalization
• Young children may become trusting of all adults who
offer them chocolate through the process of
generalization which may turn out to be unfortunate.
• But sometimes can be advantageous as well.
 V. Stimulus Discrimination:
responding to differences
• Process by which organisms learn to respond to certain stimuli but not to

others

• Lesser the similarities of the new stimuli to the original conditioned stimuli

→ greater is the chance for stimulus discrimination

• E.g. sound of fork as compared to the bell

 ACTIVITY
The last three times little Theresa • Q.1 - The painful shot that Theresa received
visited Dr. Lopez for checkups, he
during each visit was a(n) __________ that elicited
administered a painful preventive
the ________________ , her tears.
immunization shot that left her in
tears. Today, when her mother takes • Q.2 – Dr. Lopez is upset because his presence has
her for another checkup, Theresa become a ____________ for Theresa’s crying.
begins to sob as soon as she comes • Q.3 – Fortunately, Dr. Lopez gave Theresa no more
face to face with Dr. Lopez, even shots for quite some time. Over that period, she
before he has had a chance to say
gradually stopped crying and even came to like
hello.
him. _________________ had occurred.
 OPERANT
CONDITIONING

L E A R NING B AS E D O N C O N S E Q UENCE S
 Skinner’s
approach

Concept and
Generalization types of
reinforcement

Extinction &
Spontaneous Shaping
Recovery
 What is Operant Conditioning?
• This is a form of learning in which behaviour is modified or changed through

consequences.

• Which means it is a learning process in which the consequences which follow a

response determine if the behaviour will be repeated.

• Behaviour will likely be repeated when it has been reinforced

• And tend not to be repeated when it is punished

• First described by B.F.Skinner → hence termed as Skinner
Conditioning

• His theory was influenced by Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect

• According to this principle

• Actions that bring desirable outcomes are more likely to be repeated

• While those that bring undesirable outcomes are less likely to be

repeated
 Skinner’s Experiment
• Experimented on rats and pigeons
• In special made boxes called the Skinner Box
• Hungry rat placed in a chamber which allowed rat to enter but not exit.
• In the chamber → there was a lever
• Task → to teach the rat to press the lever
• At first the rat will wander around the box, exploring the environment randomly
• At some point, it might press the lever by chance and when that happens a food pellet arrives
• In the first instance the rat may not learn the connection, but eventually he will press the lever each
time he wants to receive food
• Therefore learning → press the lever (operate on environment) → to receive food (consequence)
• Hence as number of trials increase → rat takes lesser and
lesser time to press the lever at the right time for food

• Thus lever pressing is an operant response and getting food is

a consequence
• The response is instrumental in getting food

• Thus operant conditioning is also called ‘instrumental conditioning’

 Reinforcement –
Definition and Types
• Reinforcement – process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a previous
behaviour will be repeated
• Premack Principle – the principle of using a more preferred activity to reinforce a less
preferred activity
• E.g. you must eat those vegetables before you get the dessert.

Primary Secondary Positive Negative

Reinforcers Reinforcers Reinforcement Reinforcement
 Primary & Secondary Reinforcers

Primary Reinforcers Secondary Reinforcers

• Satisfies some biological need • Stimulus that becomes
• Works naturally reinforcing because of its
• e.g. food and water association with a primary
reinforcer
• e.g. money is a secondary
reinforcer as we have learnt that
it allows us to obtain primary
reinforcers like food, shelter etc.
 Positive
Reinforcement
• Stimulus added to the environment
that leads to increase of a previous
behaviour

• E.g.
• After performing well → you receive
applause from the audience →
inspiring you to try out more roles

• At work, when one exceeds the

month’s sales quota, they get a bonus
 Negative Reinforcement
• Here a response or behaviour is strengthened by
stopping, removing, or avoiding a negative outcome

• That is one engages in an action in order to avoid a

negative result

• E.g.
• Deciding to take an antacid/eno before eating a spicy
meal.
• Before heading out for a day at the beach, you
slather on sunscreen (the behavior) to avoid getting
sunburned (removal of the aversive stimulus).
• On Monday morning, you leave the house early (the
behavior) to avoid getting stuck in traffic and being
late for work (removal of an aversive stimulus).
 PUNISHMENT
• A stimulus that decreases the
probability that a previous behaviour
will occur again
• Positive – adding something – making
a student write 100 times in the diary
that they will do the homework in time
• Negative – removing something
pleasant – stopping the child from
playing because homework wasn’t
done.
 SHAPING:
Reinforcing What Doesn’t Come Naturally

• The process of teaching a complex

behaviour by rewarding closer and closer
approximations of the desired behaviour

• These are behaviours which may not be

part of anyone’s spontaneous behaviour
and hence shaping allows to learn complex
behaviours by rewarding every step
successfully completed.
 Extinction

• In operant conditioning – extinction means the process of no longer

providing the reinforcement that has been maintaining a behaviour
• Thus frequency tends to decrease over time
• For example, a child will stop throwing tantrums if they are no longer
reinforced by paying attention to them
• This happens not because the child has forgotten how to kick and
scream, but because such behaviour fails to produce the desired effect
• Hence extinction here isn’t forgetting.
 Spontaneous Recovery
• Same as classical conditioning
• Alongside Pavlov’s concept, Skinner added an aspect of ‘reduction’ in a
certain behaviour
• Skinner, in his experiment, introduced the operant conditioning chamber
(Skinner’s box).
• The chamber had two levers, one was connected to a food-pellet
dispenser, and the other was connected to an electric circuit.
• To get food, the rat had to press the correct lever.
• After several attempts, the rat learned to associate the pressing of a
specific lever with food.
• Now that the rat had learned this behavior (pressing the lever), due to the resulting
reinforcement, Skinner decided to observe the rat’s behavior in the absence of
reinforcement.
• After several attempts of pressing the food lever, the rat learned that it doesn’t
dispense food anymore (extinction).
• This made the rat exhibit new behavior like scratching the cage, pressing the
second lever, pressing the food lever repeatedly, and the like.
• However, after a brief rest period, when the rat received a food pellet after pressing
the same (previously pressed) lever, the previously learned behavior resurfaced.
• Thus, implying spontaneous recovery.
 Generalization & Discrimination

G E N E R A L I Z AT I O N D I S C R I M I N AT I O N
• If we have learned that being polite helps us • Is useful when a particular response is not
to get our way in a certain situation → appropriate in similar situaltions
reinforcing our politeness → we are likely to • For e.g. behaviour that is appropriate in a fast-food
generalize that response to other situations restaurant, such as eating with your hands, may
as well. not be appropriate in a French restaurant. (Carlson
& Buskist, 1997)
• However sometimes generalization may
lead to unfortunate consequences
• E.g. when people behave negatively towards
all members of a racial group because they
had an unpleasant experience with one
member of that group.
Cognitive learning

INSIGHT LEARNING
 What is cognitive learning?
• Type of learning where there is a change in what the learner
knows rather than what he/she does.
• Hence cognitive learning theory is an approach to the study of
learning that focusses on the thought processes that underlie
learning
• How is it different from the other 2 theories?
• This theory focuses on internal thoughts and expectation of learners
and not external stimuli or reinforcement
 INSIGHT LEARNING
• Major experiments performed by Wolfgang Kohler on
monkeys
• Learning by insight means sudden grasping of the solution
and a flash of understanding and not a result of mere trial
and error.
• It is a completely cognitive experience that requires the
ability to visualize the problem and the solution internally –
before initiating a behavioural response
• In short it’s the ‘eureka’ or ‘aha’ moment!
 (i) Kohler’s experiment on Sultan

• Kohler kept a monkey (named Sultan) hungry for some

time, and then shut him in a large cage.
• He hung bananas from the ceiling, and kept a box on
the floor of the cage
• The monkey could not reach the banana.
• Another box was put in a corner of the cage.
• But Sultan could not get the idea of placing one box on
the other and thus reaching the banana.
• Ultimately Kohler gave demonstration of putting one
box on the other.
• Sultan could now learn the whole situation. Also the
task wasn’t just about keeping the boxes one over the
other but involved specific arrangements
• He used his intelligence and insight to put the two
boxes one upon the other, stand on these and then
reach the bananas.
 (ii) Experiment with
two sticks
• Köhler placed a chimpanzee named Sultan inside a cage.
• Sultan grew hungry and a bunch of banana was placed just outside the cage.
• Sultan was provided with one long and another short bamboo stick.
• Neither of the sticks could reach the banana alone and the only possible way to reach the banana
was to join the two sticks.
• Initially, Sultan showed all customary reactions that a chimpanzee shows inside a cage, and
gradually tried to draw the banana towards him with the sticks.
• After a lot of efforts, Sultan nearly gave up, but as he was playing with the sticks, he managed to
touch the banana by pushing a stick with another stick.
• Sultan accidentally managed to join the two sticks and with its help, it pulled the banana inside the
cage.
• Sultan immediately grabbed the banana when faced with the same problem next day.
 Characteristics of Insight Learning

With insight, Situation is

organism tends to perceived as
Insight is sudden
perceive a pattern whole by the
or organization learner

Transfer of
Past experience learning occurs
plays a role as a result of
insight
 LIMITATIONS

• Critics argue that insight learning cannot always happen without

trial and error. Insight is generally the final stage of trial and error

• Extremely complex problems may not be solved using insight

learning
 Observational Learning:
Learning from the behaviour and
outcomes of others!!
• Proposed by Albert Bandura and his
colleagues
• A major part of human learning
happens through observational
learning
• Learning by watching the behaviour of
another person or model
• This type of learning is also known as
‘social cognitive’ approach to learning
• Homework – read about the BOBO
Doll Experiment
• Observational learning is
sometimes also referred to as
shaping, modeling, and vicarious
reinforcement.
• While it can take place at any
point in life, it tends to be the most
common during childhood as
children learn from the authority
figures and peers in their lives.
• It also plays an important role in
the socialization process.
Some Basic Principles
 Importance Of Observational
Learning
• Both negative and positive behaviours can be acquired as a result of this
type of learning
• Observational learning is very important in learning those skills which
may not be acquired as a result of the operant conditioning technique of
shaping
• E.g piloting a plane, performing complex surgeries etc.
• Behaviours observed are learned on the basis of reward obtained by the
model.
 Homework
1. Observational learning and aggression – explain with
the help of bobo doll experiment
2. Practical application of Observational learning - real
life example