Psychology

Learning
Barn swallows in Minnesota In 2005, Wade Boggs was In 1953, a Japanese researcher
have built nests inside a baseball player. Boggs was as observed a young macaque (a type
Home Depot warehouse, renowned for his superstitions as of monkey) on the island of
he was for his great hitting. For 20 Koshima washing a sweet potato in
safe from the weather and years, Boggs ate chicken every a stream before eating it. No one
from predators. So how do day of the year. Before games he had ever seen a macaque do this
they get in and out to bring followed a strict set of rituals that before. Soon other members of the
food to their babies when the included stepping on the bases in monkey’s troop were showing the
doors are closed? They reverse order, running wind sprints same behavior. Several
flutter around the motion at precisely 17 minutes past the generations later, macaques on
sensors that operate the hour, and tossing exactly three Koshima still wash their potatoes
pebbles off the field. Every time before eating them (De Waal,
doors until they open! he stepped up to hit during a 2001).
game, he drew the Hebrew letter
chai in the dirt with his bat. For
Boggs, the slightest change in this
routine was very upsetting
(Gaddis, 1999; Vyse, 2000).
•What common thread runs through these diverse
situations?
•What connects a superstitious ballplayer to
potato-washing monkeys and door opening
swallows?
•Macaques aren’t born with the habit of washing
their sweet potatoes, nor do swallows begin life
knowing how to operate motion sensors.
•These behaviors are the product of experience;
that is, they represent learning.
Definition of Learning

– Learning is one of the most fundamental concepts

in all of psychology.
– Learning shapes personal habits, such as nail-
biting; personality traits, such as shyness;
personal preferences, such as a distaste for
formal clothes; and emotional responses, such as
reactions to favorite songs.
– If all your learned responses could somehow be
stripped away, little of your behavior would be left.
You would not be able to talk, read a book, or
cook yourself a hamburger.
Definition of Learning

– When people learn anything, some part of their

brain is physically changed to record what they
have learned.
Definition of Learning

– Not all change accomplished through learning:

some is maturation is due to biology, not
experience.
– For example, practice alone will not allow a child to
walk. Children learn to walk because their nervous
systems, muscle strength, and sense of balance have
reached the point where walking is physically possible
for them—all factors controlled by maturation. Once
that maturational readiness has been reached, then
practice and experience play their important part
Definition of Learning

•Learning involves the acquisition, from

experience, of new knowledge, skills, or
responses that results in a relatively permanent
change in the state of the learner.
•This definition emphasizes these key ideas:
–Learning is based on experience.
–Learning produces changes in the organism.
–These changes are relatively permanent.
Definition of Learning

– In this chapter, you will see how fruitful the

research into learning has been and how wide
ranging its applications are.
– We will focus most of our attention on a specific
kind of learning: conditioning.
– Conditioning involves learning associations
between events that occur in an organism’s
environment.
 Classical Conditioning: Pavlov and the
Salivating Dogs
• Classical conditioning is a type of learning in
which a stimulus acquires the capacity to
evoke a response that was originally evoked
by another stimulus.
• The process was first described in 1903 by
Ivan Pavlov, and it was originally called
Pavlovian conditioning in tribute to him.
• This learning process was characterized as
“classical” conditioning decades later (starting
in the 1940s) to distinguish it from other types
of conditioning that attracted research interest
around that time (Clark, 2004).
Classical Conditioning: Pavlov and the
Salivating Dogs
•Classical conditioning apparatus.
•The dog is restrained in a harness.
•A tone is used as the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the
presentation of meat powder is used as the unconditioned
stimulus (US).
•The tube inserted into the dog’s salivary gland allows precise
measurement of its salivation response.
 Classical Conditioning: Terminology and
Procedures
• Elements of Classical
Conditioning:
– Unconditioned stimulus
(UCS): a naturally
occurring stimulus that
leads to an involuntary
response
– Unconditioned response
(UCR): an involuntary
response to a naturally
occurring or unconditioned
stimulus
 Pavlov and the Salivating Dogs
– Conditioned stimulus (CS):
stimulus that becomes able to
produce a learned reflex
response by being paired with
the original unconditioned
stimulus
▪ Conditioned means
“learned”
▪ Neutral stimulus (NS) can
become a conditioned
stimulus when paired with
an unconditioned stimulus
– Conditioned response (CR):
learned reflex response to a
conditioned stimulus
▪ Sometimes called a
conditioned reflex
▪ CS: ice cream truck
▪ CR: salivation when one
hears ice cream truck bell
 Pavlov and the Salivating Dogs
• Acquisition: repeated pairing of the NS and the UCS; the organism is in the process
of acquiring learning
– although classical conditioning happens quite easily, a few basic principles that
researchers have discovered:
▪ CS must come before UCS
▪ CS and UCS must come very close together in time—ideally, only several
seconds apart
▪ Neutral stimulus must be paired with the UCS several times, often many
times, before conditioning can take place
Pavlov and the Salivating Dogs

• Extinction: disappearance or weakening of a

learned response following the removal or absence
of the unconditioned stimulus (in classical
conditioning) or the removal of a reinforcer (in
operant conditioning)
Pavlov and the Salivating Dogs

• Spontaneous recovery: reappearance of a

learned response after extinction has occurred
– Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior
Pavlov and the Salivating Dogs

• Do you think your dog will be stumped, unable to

anticipate the presentation of her food, if you get a
new can opener?
• Will you need to establish a whole new round of
conditioning with this modified CS?
 Pavlov and the Salivating Dogs
• CS is usually some stimulus that is
distinctive or stands out from other
competing stimuli
• Stimulus generalization:
tendency to respond to a stimulus
that is only similar to the original
conditioned stimulus with the
conditioned response
• Stimulus discrimination:
tendency to stop making a
generalized response to a stimulus
that is similar to the original
conditioned stimulus because the
similar stimulus is never paired
with the unconditioned stimulus
 Higher-Order Conditioning

Higher-order conditioning

In Stage 1, a strong salivation response is conditioned to occur to the sound of the

metronome (CS1). In Stage 2, finger snapping (NS) is repeatedly paired with the
ticking of the metronome (CS1) until the dog begins to salivate to the finger snapping
alone (now CS2). This is called “higher-order conditioning,” because one CS is used to
create another, “higher” CS.
Explanation of Classical Conditioning

• Stimulus substitution: original theory in which

Pavlov stated that classical conditioning occurred
because the conditioned stimulus became a
substitute for the unconditioned stimulus by being
paired closely together (Pavlov).
 Explanation of Classical Conditioning
• Cognitive perspective: modern theory in which classical conditioning is
seen to occur because the conditioned stimulus provides information or an
expectancy about the coming of the unconditioned stimulus (Robert Rescorla
and Allan Wagner, 1972)

Expectation In Classical Conditioning In the Rescorla–Wagner model of

classical conditioning, a CS sets up an expectation. The expectation in turn
leads to an array of behaviors associated with the presence of the CS.
Conditioning of “Little Albert”
• Conditioned emotional response (CER): emotional
response that has become classically conditioned to
occur to learned stimuli
– Examples: fear of dogs; the emotional reaction that occurs
when seeing an attractive person
– CERs may lead to phobias—irrational fear responses.
After “Little Albert” had been
conditioned to fear a white rat, he
also demonstrated fear to a
rabbit, a dog, and a sealskin coat
(although it remains uncertain if
stimulus generalization actually
occurred as this fear was to a
single rabbit, a single dog, etc.).
Can you think of any emotional
reactions you experience that
might be classically conditioned
emotional responses?
Conditioning of “Little Albert”
• Conditioned emotional response (CER):
 Conditioned emotional response (CER)
• Advertisers, for example, understand that conditioned emotional
responses can include various positive emotions that they would
like potential customers to associate with their products, which may
be why attractive women are commonly involved in ads for
products geared toward young males, including beer and sports
cars.
• Even the warm and fuzzy feelings that envelop you when hearing a
song that you used to listen to with a former boyfriend or girlfriend
are a type of conditioned emotional response.

What response do you think the

advertisers of Pepsi are looking for
when they feature Sofia Vergara in
an ad?
 Evaluative Conditioning of Attitudes
•Pavlovian conditioning can also influence people’s attitudes.
In recent decades, researchers have shown great interest in a
subtype of classical conditioning called evaluative
conditioning.
•Evaluative conditioning refers to changes in the liking of a
stimulus that result from pairing that stimulus with other
positive or negative stimuli. In other words, evaluative
conditioning involves the acquisition of likes and dislikes, or
preferences, through classical conditioning (De Houwer,
2011).
–For example, a neutral stimulus might be paired with an unconditioned
stimulus that triggers positive reactions so that the neutral stimulus
becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits similar positive reactions.
 Classical Conditioning in Advertising

•Many advertisers
attempt to make their
products serve as
conditioned stimuli that
elicit pleasant
emotional responses
by pairing their
products with attractive
or popular people or
sexual imagery.
 The Development of Operant Conditioning:
The Law of Effect
•Thorndike’s research focused on
instrumental behaviors, that is,
behavior that required an
organism to do something, such
as solve a problem or otherwise
manipulate elements of its
environment (Thorndike, 1898).
•For example, Thorndike
completed several experiments Thorndike’s Puzzle Box In Thorndike’s
original experiments, food was placed
using a puzzle box, which was a just outside the door of the puzzle box,
wooden crate with a door that where the cat could see it. If the cat
triggered the appropriate lever, the
would open when a concealed door would open and the cat could get
lever was moved in the right way out.
 Thorndike’s Experiment
This is one of the earliest “learning
curves” in the history of the
experimental study of
conditioning. The time required by
one of

Thorndike’s cats displayed trial-

and-error behavior when trying to
escape from the puzzle box. For
example, they made lots of
irrelevant movements and actions
until they discovered the solution.
Once they figured out which
behavior was instrumental in
opening the latch, they stopped all
other ineffective behaviors and
escaped from the box faster and
faster.
The Contributions of Thorndike and
Skinner
• Thorndike’s law of effect
– If a response is followed by a pleasurable consequence,
it will tend to be repeated
– If a response is followed by an unpleasant consequence,
it will tend not to be repeated
 Operant Conditioning: Skinner’s Demonstration:
It’s All a Matter of Consequences

• Operant conditioning: the learning of voluntary

behavior through the effects of pleasant and
unpleasant consequences to responses
 Operant Conditioning: Terminology and
Procedures
• Like Pavlov, Skinner created a prototype
experimental procedure that has been
repeated thousands of times. In this
procedure, an animal, typically a rat or a
pigeon, is placed in an operant chamber
that has come to be better known as a
“Skinner box.”
• A Skinner box is a small enclosure in
which an animal can make a specific
response that is systematically recorded
while the consequences of the response
are controlled. In the boxes designed for
rats, the main response made available
is pressing a small lever mounted on
one side Wall. In the boxes made for
pigeons, the designated response is
pecking a small disk mounted on a side
wall.
 Operant Conditioning: Terminology and
Procedures
• A cumulative recorder connected to
the box keeps a continuous record of
responses and reinforcements. A
small segment of a cumulative record
is shown here. The entire process is
automatic as the paper moves with
the passage of time; each lever press
moves the pen up a step, and each
reinforcement is marked with a slash.

• This photo shows the real thing—a rat

being conditioned in a Skinner box.
 The Contributions of Thorndike and
Skinner

• B.F. Skinner was a behaviorist; he wanted to

study only observable, measurable behavior
– Gave “operant conditioning” its name
▪ Operant: any behavior that is voluntary

• Learning depends on what happens after the

response: the consequence
Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning

•Acquisition and Shaping

–As in classical conditioning, acquisition in operant
conditioning is the formation of a new response
tendency.
–However, the procedures used to establish a tendency
to emit a voluntary operant response are different from
those used to create a reflexive conditioned response.
Operant responses are typically established through a
gradual process called shaping—the reinforcement of
closer and closer approximations of a desired response.
Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning

•Extinction
–In operant conditioning, extinction refers to the gradual
weakening and disappearance of a response tendency
because the response is no longer followed by
reinforcement. Extinction begins in operant conditioning
whenever previously available reinforcement is stopped.
Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning

•Extinction
–A key issue in operant conditioning is how much
resistance to extinction an organism will display when
reinforcement is halted. Resistance to extinction occurs
when an organism continues to make a response after
delivery of the reinforcer for it has been terminated. The
greater the resistance to extinction, the longer the
responding will continue.
Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning

•Stimulus Control: Generalization and

Discrimination
–Operant responding is ultimately controlled by its
consequences, as organisms learn response-
outcome (R-O) associations (Colwill, 1993).
–However, stimuli that precede a response can also
influence operant behavior. When a response is
consistently followed by a reinforcer in the presence of a
particular stimulus, that stimulus comes to serve as a
“signal” indicating that the response is likely to lead to a
reinforcer (Murphy & Lupfer, 2014).
–Once an organism learns the signal, it tends to respond
accordingly.
 Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning
•Stimulus Control: Generalization and Discrimination
–Discriminative stimuli are cues that influence operant
behavior by indicating the probable consequences
(reinforcement or nonreinforcement) of a response.
–Discriminative stimuli play a key role in the regulation of
operant behavior.
▪For example,
–birds learn that hunting for worms is likely to be reinforced
after a rain.
–children learn to ask for sweets when their parents are in a
good mood.
–drivers learn to slow down when the highway is wet.
 The Concept of Reinforcement

• Reinforcement: any event or stimulus, that when

following a response, increases the probability
that the response will occur again
– Primary reinforcer: any reinforcer that is naturally
reinforcing by meeting a basic biological need, such as
hunger, thirst, or touch
– Secondary reinforcer: any reinforcer that becomes
reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer,
such as praise, tokens, or gold stars
 The Concept of Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcement: the
reinforcement of a response
by the addition or experience
of a pleasurable stimulus

• Negative reinforcement:
the reinforcement of a
response by the removal,
escape from, or avoidance
of an unpleasant stimulus
– Example: taking aspirin for
a headache is negatively
reinforced: removal of
headache!
 Schedules of Reinforcement

• A schedule of reinforcement is a specific pattern of presentation of

reinforcers over time.
• Continuous reinforcement: reinforcement of each and every correct
response
• Partial reinforcement (Intermittent reinforcement): a response that is
reinforced after some—but not all—correct responses tends to be very
resistant to extinction
 Schedules of Reinforcement: Partial reinforcement
(Intermittent reinforcement):
• In a Ratio schedules require the organism to make the designated
response a certain number of times to gain each reinforcer.
• Fixed-ratio (FR) schedule, the reinforcer is given after a fixed number of
nonreinforced responses.
• Examples:
• A rat is reinforced for every tenth lever press.
• A salesperson receives a bonus for every fourth gym membership
sold.
• In a variable-ratio (VR) schedule, the reinforcer is given after a variable
number of nonreinforced responses. The number of nonreinforced
responses varies around a predetermined average.
• Examples:
• A rat is reinforced for every tenth lever press on the average. The
exact number of responses required for reinforcement varies from
one time to the next.
• A slot machine in a casino pays off once every six tries on the
average. The number of nonwinning responses between payoffs
varies greatly from one time to the next.
 Schedules of Reinforcement: Partial (Intermittent)
reinforcement
• Interval schedules require a time period to pass between the
presentation of reinforcers.
• In a fixed-interval (FI) schedule, the reinforcer is given for the first
response that occurs after a fixed time interval has elapsed.
• Examples: A rat is reinforced for the first lever press after a 2-
minute interval has elapsed and then must wait 2 minutes before
being able to earn the next reinforcement.
• You can get clean clothes out of your washing machine every 35
minutes.
• In a variable-interval (VI) schedule, the reinforcer is given for the
first response after a variable time interval has elapsed. The interval
length varies around a predetermined average.
• Examples:
• A rat is reinforced for the first lever press after a 1-minute
interval has elapsed, but the following intervals are 3 minutes,
2 minutes, 4 minutes, and so on—with an average length of 2
minutes.
• A person repeatedly dials a busy phone number (getting
through is the reinforcer).
 Reinforcement schedules in everyday life

Complex human behaviors are regulated by schedules of reinforcement.

Piecework is Playing slot

reinforced on machines is
a fixed-ratio based on
schedule. variable-ratio
reinforcement.

Watching the
Surfers waiting
clock at work
for a big wave are
is rewarded on
rewarded on a
a fixed-interval
variable interval
basis (the
basis.
arrival of
quitting time is
the reinforcer).
 Punishment

• Punishment: any event or

object that, when following a
response, makes that
response less likely to
happen again
• Punishment by application:
the punishment of a response by
the addition or experiencing of
an unpleasant stimulus

• Punishment by removal: the

punishment of a response by the
removal of a pleasurable
stimulus
 Punnishment vs Negative reinforcement

• The concept of punishment in

operant conditioning is confusing
to many students, on two counts.
• First, they often confuse it with
negative reinforcement, which is
entirely different.
• Negative reinforcement involves
the removal of an aversive
stimulus, thereby strengthening
a response.
• Punishment, on the other hand,
involves the presentation of an
aversive stimulus, thereby
weakening a response.
• Thus, punishment and negative
reinforcement are opposite
procedures that yield opposite
effects on behavior.
 Punnishment

• The second source of confusion

involves the tendency to equate
punishment with disciplinary
procedures used by parents,
teachers, and other authority
figures.
 The Role of Punishment in Operant
Conditioning

• Severe punishment ✓ Punishment should

– May cause avoidance immediately follow
of the punisher behavior it is meant to
instead of the punish.
behavior being ✓ Punishment should be
punished consistent.
– May encourage lying
✓ Punishment of the wrong
to avoid punishment
behavior should be paired,
– Creates fear and whenever possible, with
anxiety reinforcement of the right
behavior.
 Cognitive Learning Theory

• Researchers’ early focus was on observable and

measurable behavior
• In 1950s and 1960s, many psychologists
becoming aware that cognition could no longer be
ignored
– Cognition: mental events that take place inside a
person’s mind while behaving
 Tolman’s Maze-Running Rats: Latent
Learning

• Edward Tolman: early cognitive scientist

– Best-known experiments in learning involved teaching
three groups of rats the same maze, one at a time
(Tolman & Honzik, 1930)
 Tolman’s Maze-Running Rats: Latent
Learning

• Edward Tolman’s Maze

Experiment
– Group A
▪ In maze every day; only rewarded
on 10th day
– Group B
▪ Never rewarded
– Group C
▪ Rewarded each time at end of
maze
In the study by Tolman and
Honzik (1930), rats learned
to run the complicated maze
shown here.
Tolman’s Maze-Running Rats: Latent
Learning

• The results obtained by Tolman and

Honzik (1930) are summarized in
this graph.

• The rats in Group C showed a

sudden improvement in
performance when a food reward
was introduced on Trial 11.

• Tolman concluded that the rats in

this group were learning about the
maze all along, but that their
learning remained “latent” until
reinforcement was made available.
 Köhler’s Smart Chimp: Insight Learning
• Köhler chimps
• Insight: the sudden
perception of relationships
among various parts of a
problem, allowing the solution
to the problem to come
quickly
– Cannot be gained through
trial-and-error learning
alone
– “Aha” moment
 Bandura and the Bobo Doll

• Observational learning
• Learning new behavior by
watching a model perform
that behavior
• Learning/performance
distinction: learning can
take place without actual
performance of the
learned behavior
 Observational learning.
•In observational learning, an observer attends to and stores a mental
representation of a model’s behavior (example: assertive bargaining)
and its consequences (example: a good buy on a car).
•If the observer sees the modeled response lead to a favorable
outcome, the observer’s tendency to emit the modeled response will
be strengthened.
 Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment

In one classic study, Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1963) showed

how the observation of filmed models can influence the learning
of aggressive behavior in children.
 Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment

They manipulated whether or not nursery-school children saw an

aggressive model on film, and whether the aggressive model
experienced positive or negative consequences. Soon after the
manipulations, the children were taken to a room where their play
was observed through a one-way mirror.
 Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment

Among the toys available in the room were two “Bobo dolls” that
served as convenient targets for kicks, punches, and other
aggressive responses. Children who had seen the aggressive
model rewarded engaged in more aggression toward the toys
than children in the other conditions did.
 Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment

This study was one of the earliest experimental demonstrations of

a cause-and-effect relationship between exposure to TV
depictions of aggression and increased aggressive behavior.
The Four Elements of Observational Learning
• Attention
– To learn through observation, you must pay attention to another
person’s behavior and its consequences.
• Memory (Retention)
– You may not have occasion to use an observed response for weeks,
months, or even years. Thus, you must store a mental representation
of what you have witnessed in your memory.
• Imitation (Reproduction)
– The learner must be capable of reproducing, or imitating, the actions
of the model.
• Desire (Motivation)
– Finally, you are unlikely to reproduce an observed response unless
you are motivated to do so. Your motivation depends on whether you
encounter situation in which you believe the response is likely to pay
off for you.