Learning

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Learning

• Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior brought


about by experience.

. Habituation is a type of learning, in which there is a decrease in response to a stimulus that


occurs after repeated presentation of the same stimulus.
The Basics of Classical Conditioning 1

• Ivan Pavlov’s classic experiments on basic learning processes


showed that dogs who salivated in response to food would begin
to salivate just at the approach of the experimenter who
normally brought the food.
• The dogs were responding as a result of learning.
Ivan Pavlov conducted an experiment on classical conditioning to show that dogs not only naturally salivate at the sight of food, but also at the sight of the
experimenter who usually brings the food. He explained that the dogs were responding as a result of learning
footsteps/ bell
• Classical conditioning: a type of learning in which a neutral
stimulus comes to elicit a response after it is paired with a
stimulus that naturally brings about that response.
food
The Basics of Classical Conditioning 2

• Neutral stimulus: a stimulus that, before conditioning, does not


naturally bring about the response of interest.
• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): naturally brings about a
particular response without having been learned.
• Unconditioned response (UCR): is natural and needs no training.
The Basics of Classical Conditioning 3

• Conditioned stimulus (CS): a once-neutral stimulus that has


been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.
• Brings about a response formerly caused only by the unconditioned
stimulus.

• Conditioned response (CR): a response that, after conditioning,


follows a previously neutral stimulus.
Some basic principles of classical conditioning
• The CS must come before the UCS.
• The CS and UCS must come very close together in time-ideally, only several
seconds apart.
• The neutral stimulus must be paired with the UCS several times before
conditioning.
• The CS is generally something that is distinctive.

• Temporal arrangement of CS-UCS pairing.


Conditioned = Learned
Unconditioned = Natural/ not learned
Generalization and Discrimination
SG is the process in which a stimulus is conditioned to produce a particular response, another stimulus which is similar to the original stimulus produces
the same response. Bell- CS CS- buzzer/ footsteps
• Stimulus generalization: a process in which after a stimulus has
been conditioned to produce a particular response, stimuli that
are similar to the original stimulus produce the same response.
• The greater the similarity between two stimuli, the greater the
likelihood of stimulus generalization.
. The conditioned response elicited by the new stimulus is usually not as intense as the original response.

You choose to pet a dog which is wagging its tail, but not a growling dog

• Stimulus discrimination: the process that occurs if two stimuli


are sufficiently distinct from one another.
• One evokes a conditioned response, but the other does not.
• Stimulus discrimination provides the ability to differentiate between
stimuli.
Extinction
• Extinction: a basic learning phenomenon that occurs when a
previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and
disappears.
• Spontaneous recovery: the reemergence of an extinguished
conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further
conditioning.
Cocaine addicts who are thought to be ''cured'' can experience an irresistible urge to use the drug again if they are exposed to a
stimulus that has a strong connection to the drug, like white powder.
Applying Conditioning Principles to Human Behavior
• John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920) developed a case
study of “Little Albert.”
• Produced conditioned fear, using ethically questionable procedures
that could never be used today.
Applying Conditioning Principles to Human Behavior

• Classical conditioning can lead to the development of:


• Phobias, which are intense, irrational fears.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suffered by some war veterans
and others.
• Positive experiences, such as a song bringing back memories.
. Drug addition
• Learned taste aversion could even occur.
Beyond Traditional Classical Conditioning: Challenging Basic
Assumptions
• John Garcia, a learning psychologist, found that some organisms
were biologically prepared to quickly learn to avoid foods that
smelled or tasted like something that made them sick.
• Learned taste aversion could even occur. -symptoms
when a particular taste is associated with unpleasant
such as nausea or vomiting
• Conditioning could occur even when the interval between exposure to
the conditioned stimulus (such as tainted food) and the response
(sickness) was as long as 8 hours.
• Conditioning persisted over very long periods and sometimes
occurred after just one exposure.

• Biological preparedness: refers to the tendency of animals t learn


certain associations with only a few pairings due to the survival value
of learning.
Operant Conditioning
• Operant conditioning: learning in which a voluntary response is
strengthened or weakened, depending on the response’s
favorable or unfavorable consequences.
• Unlike classical conditioning, operant conditioning applies to
voluntary responses that an organism performs deliberately.
• The organism operates on its environment to produce a desirable
result.
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
• Thorndike’s law of effect: responses that lead to satisfying consequences are more likely
to be repeated.
• According to Thorndike, over time and through experience, an organism makes a direct
connection between the stimulus and the response without any awareness that the
connection exists.
• Edward L. Thorndike devised this puzzle box to study the process by which a cat learns to press a paddle to
escape from the box and receive food. Do you think Thorndike’s work has relevance to the question of why
people voluntarily work on puzzles and play games, such as sudoku, Angry Birds, and jigsaw puzzles? Do they
receive any rewards?
The Basics of Operant Conditioning 1

• Psychologist B. F. Skinner developed the Skinner box: a chamber


with a highly controlled environment, used to study operant
conditioning with laboratory animals.
• For example, a hungry rat is taught to press a lever in the Skinner
box.
• At first, it accidentally presses the lever as it explores its
environment—and it receives a food pellet.
• It will not learn the connection the first time.
• Sooner or later it presses the lever again, and in time the frequency of
the pressing response increases.
• B. F. Skinner with a Skinner box used to study operant conditioning. Laboratory rats learn to press the lever in
order to obtain food, which is delivered in the tray.

• Nina Leen/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images


Positive Reinforcers, Negative Reinforcers, and
Punishment 1
food pressing the lever
. Reinforcement is the process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated.
• Positive reinforcer: a stimulus added to the environment that
brings about an increase in a preceding response.
• Negative reinforcer: an unpleasant stimulus whose removal
leads to an increase in the probability that a preceding response
will be repeated.
• Note that negative reinforcement is not the same as
punishment.
• Punishment: a stimulus that decreases the probability that a
previous behavior will occur again.
. A reinforcer is any stimulus that increases the probability that the preceding behavior will occur again.
food
. A primary reinforcer satisfies some biological need and works naturally, regardless of a person's previous experience.
Eg: food for a hungry person
. Secondary reinforcer is a stimulus that becomes reinforcing because of its association with a primary reinforcer.
Eg: Money, used in token systems
Positive Reinforcers, Negative Reinforcers, and
Punishment 2

• There are two types of punishment:


• “Positive” adds something.
• “Negative” removes something.
decreases
• Positive punishment weakens a response through the application
of an unpleasant stimulus.
• For example, spanking.a child for misbehavior, sending someone to jail for 10yrs
decreases
• Negative punishment weakens a response through the removal
of something pleasant.
• For example, no more video games./ Reduced pay for poor performance
When stimulus is removed or terminated,
Intended result When stimulus is added, the result is… the result is …

Increase in behavior Positive reinforcement: Negative reinforcement:


(reinforcement) Example: Giving a raise for good Example: Applying ointment to relieve an
performance. itchy rash leads to a higher future
Result: Increase in response of good likelihood of applying the ointment.
performance. Result: Increase in response of using
ointment.

Decrease in Positive punishment: Negative punishment:


behavior Example: Yelling at a teenager when she Example: Restricting teenager’s access to
(punishment) steals a bracelet. car due to breaking curfew.
Result: Decrease in frequency of Result: Decrease in response of breaking
response of stealing. curfew.

• Types of reinforcement and punishment.


The Pros and Cons of Punishment: Why Reinforcement Beats
Punishment (Pg 182)

Quick and appropriate • Pros of punishment: • Cons of punishment:


solution to stop a
dangerous behavior • Appropriate for dangerous • Frequently ineffective.1. Employee
2. Teenager
Eg: Scolding a child for
running on a busy road
behaviors. • Physical punishment can
• Temporary suppression encourage lying, and create fear
provides an opportunity to and anxiety, emotional responses
reinforce more desirable that do not promote learning.
behaviors. • Fear, lowered self-esteem.
• Provides a model for maladaptive
behavior. E.g., aggression
• Does not relay information
about alternative, more desired
behavior.
How to Make Punishment Effective?

• Punishment should immediately follow the behavior it is meant


to punish.

• Punishment should be consistent

• Punishment for the wrong behavior should be paired,


whenever possible with reinforcement of the right behavior.
Schedules of Reinforcement: Timing Life’s Rewards 1
Q 15
(Examples in Pg 184,185)
• Schedule of reinforcement: the pattern of frequency and timing
of reinforcement following desired behavior.
• Continuous reinforcement schedule: reinforcing of a behavior
every time it occurs. Vending machine- money- candy every time
• Partial (or intermittent) reinforcement schedule: reinforcing of
a behavior some but not all of the time. Slot machine- money- win something occasionally
• Partial reinforcement schedules maintain performance longer
than do continuous reinforcement schedules before extinction
occurs.
Schedules of Reinforcement: Timing Life’s Rewards 2

• Fixed-ratio schedule: reinforcement is given only after a specific


number of responses are made. Frequent flyer program in which one gets a free flight after a
specific number of miles are flown.
• Variable-ratio schedule: reinforcement occurs after an average
number of responses, but the reinforcement schedule is
unpredictable. Selling cookies door to door
• The crucial factor in both is the number of responses.
FRS are apt to work as quickly as possible

VRS leads to high rate of response and resistance to extinction


Schedules of Reinforcement: Timing Life’s Rewards 3

• Fixed-interval schedule: reinforcement is provided for a response only after a fixed


time period has elapsed. Checking the mailbox for a mail which comes daily at 4pm
• Variable-interval schedule: the time between reinforcements varies around some
average rather than being fixed. Waiting for an important mail
• The crucial factor in both is the amount of time that has elapsed since the reward.

VIS leads to high rate of response and takes longer to extinguish

GRAPH Pg 185
Learned Helplessness
• Feelings of helplessness that develop after exposure to situations in which
no effort succeeds in affecting outcomes.

. A discriminative stimulus signals the likelihood that reinforcement will follow a response.
Eg: if you wait until your roommate is in a good mood before you ask to borrow her favorite sweater, your behavior can be said to be
under stimulus control because you can discriminate between her moods.

. In stimulus control training, a behavior is reinforced in the presence of a specific stimulus but not in its absence.
Eg: one of the most difficult discriminations is determining when someone's friendliness is not mere friendliness but a signal of romantic
interest. in this case, the non-verbal cue (eye contact and touching) acts as a discriminative stimulus, one to which the organism learns
to respond during stimulus control training.
Shaping: Reinforcing What Doesn’t Come Naturally
• Shaping: the process of teaching a complex behavior by
rewarding closer and closer approximations of the desired
behavior.
• Start by reinforcing any behavior similar to the behavior you want the
person to learn.
• Later, you reinforce only responses that are closer to the behavior you
ultimately want to teach.
• Finally, you reinforce only the desired response.

• Each step moves only slightly beyond the previously learned


behavior.
An example of shaping is when a baby or a toddler learns to walk. They are reinforced for crawling,
then standing, then taking one step, then taking a few steps, and finally for walking
Biological Constraints on Learning

• Not all behaviors can be trained in all species equally well.


• There are built-in limitations in the ability of animals to learn
particular behaviors.
• Biological constraints are consistent with evolutionary
explanations of behavior.
• Adaptive benefits promote survival.
• Associations that animals learn most readily involve stimuli that are
most relevant in the specific environment in which they live.
• We may be genetically predisposed to be fearful of certain stimuli.
Discrimination and Generalization in Operant
Conditioning
• Stimulus control training: behavior reinforced in the presence of a specific stimulus, but
not in its absence.
• A discriminative stimulus signals the likelihood that reinforcement will follow a
response.
Behavior Modification
• Behavior modification: a technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors
and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones.
• Typical steps:
• Identify goals and target behaviors.
• Design a data-recording system and record preliminary data.
• Select a behavior-change strategy.
• Implement the program.
• Keep careful records after the program is implemented.
• Evaluate and alter the ongoing program.
Cognitive Approaches to Learning
Cognitive Learning Theory
• Cognitive learning theory: an approach to the study of learning that focuses on the
thought processes that underlie learning.
• In its basic formulation it suggests that it is not enough to say that people respond
because there is an assumed link between a stimulus and a response.
• Instead, the idea is that people develop an expectation that they will receive a
reinforcer after making a response.
Latent Learning
Example in Pg 193
• Latent Learning: learning in which a new behavior is not
demonstrated until some incentive is provided for displaying
it.
• Occurs without reinforcement.

• In experiments with rats, the rats seemed to develop a cognitive


map—a mental representation of spatial locations and
directions.
Observational Learning: Learning Through Imitation
• According to psychologist Albert Bandura, a major part of human
learning is observational learning: learning by observing the
behavior of another person, or model.
• Classic Bobo doll experiment.
• Viewed as a social phenomenon, it is often referred to as a social
cognitive approach to learning.
• According to Lefrançois (2012) there are several ways that observational learning can occur:

• You learn a new response. E.g., After watching your coworker get chewed out by your boss for
coming in late, you start leaving home 10 minutes earlier so that you won’t be late.
• You choose whether or not to imitate the model depending on what you saw happen to the
model.
• You learn a general rule that you can apply to other situations.
Learning by Observation contains four stages and processes:

• Attention. Observers can only learn if they pay attention to a mentor or teacher.
For example dancing classes. Attendants must observe and pay attention to
teacher to learn how to dance.
• Retention. Observers must memorise information and store in to memory. In
order to take next step must recall what was memorised before. For example
learn how to use computer programs.
• Reproduction. Observes must replicate another behaviour.
• Reinforcement. Observers will go through different stages and will be motivated
to learn. According to Bandura’s (e.g. 1977) Social learning theory, experiment
on children by letting them watch television and later motivate aggressive
behaviour.
• Bandura identified three kinds of models: live, verbal, and symbolic.
• A live model demonstrates a behavior in person
• A verbal instructional model does not perform the behavior, but instead explains
or describes the behavior, as when a soccer coach tells his young players to kick
the ball with the side of the foot, not with the toe.
• A symbolic model can be fictional characters or real people who demonstrate
behaviors in books, movies, television shows, video games, or Internet sources

(Live model) (Symbolic)


What are the implications of this study?
• Bandura concluded that we watch and learn, and that this learning can
have both prosocial and antisocial effects

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