Chapter 7

Learning

PowerPoint®
Presentation
by Jim Foley

© 2013 Worth Publishers

• What is learning?
– Process of acquiring through experience new
information or behaviors
 Types of Learning

Classical conditioning: Operant

learning to link two
stimuli in a way that conditioning:
helps us anticipate an changing behavior
event to which we have choices in response
a reaction to consequences

Cognitive learning:
acquiring new behaviors
and information through
observation and
information, rather than
by direct experience
Associative Learning:
Classical Conditioning Stimulus 1: See
lightning
How it works: after repeated
exposure to two stimuli Stimulus 2: Hear
occurring in sequence, we thunder
associate those stimuli with each
other. Here, our response to
thunder becomes
Result: our natural response to associated with lightning.
one stimulus now can be
triggered by the new, predictive
stimulus.
After Repetition
Stimulus: See lightning
Response: Cover ears to avoid sound
Associative Learning:
Operant Conditioning
 Child associates his “response” (behavior) with consequences.
 Child learns to repeat behaviors (saying “please”) which were
followed by desirable results (cookie).
 Child learns to avoid behaviors (yelling “gimme!”) which were
followed by undesirable results (scolding or loss of dessert).
Cognitive Learning
Cognitive learning refers to acquiring new behaviors
and information mentally, rather than by direct
experience.
Cognitive learning occurs:
1.by observing events and the behavior of others.
2.by using language to acquire information about
events experienced by others.
Behaviorism
 The term behaviorism was used by John B. Watson
(1878-1958), a proponent of classical conditioning,
as well as by B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), a leader in
research about operant conditioning.
 Both scientists believed the mental life was much
less important than behavior as a foundation for
psychological science.
Ivan Pavlov’s Discovery
While studying salivation in dogs,
Ivan Pavlov found that salivation
from eating food was eventually
triggered by what should have
been neutral stimuli such as:
 just seeing the food.
 seeing the dish.
 seeing the person who
brought the food.
 just hearing that person’s
footsteps.
 Before Conditioning
Neutral stimulus:
a stimulus which does not trigger a response

Neutral
stimulus
(NS)
No response
 Before Conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus and response:
a stimulus which triggers a response naturally,
before/without any conditioning

Unconditioned
response (UR):
Unconditioned dog salivates
stimulus (US):
yummy dog food
 During Conditioning
The bell/tone (N.S.) is repeatedly presented with
the food (U.S.).

Neutral Unconditioned
stimulus Unconditioned response (UR):
(NS) stimulus (US) dog salivates
 After Conditioning
The dog begins to salivate upon hearing the tone
(neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus).

Did you follow the Conditioned

changes? response:
Conditioned The UR and the CR are the
(formerly same response, triggered by dog salivates
neutral) different events.
The difference is
stimulus whether conditioning
was necessary for the
response to happen.
The NS and the CS are the
same stimulus.
The difference is
whether the stimulus
triggers the conditioned
response.
 Basic
• Classical conditioning: Type of learning in which one learns
to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events
• Neutral stimulus (NS): In classical conditioning, a stimulus
that elicits no response before conditioning
• Unconditioned response (UR): In classical conditioning, an
unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to
an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth)
• Unconditioned stimulus (US): in classical conditioning, a
stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—
triggers an unconditioned response (UR)
Find the US, UR, NS, CS, CR in the following:

Your romantic partner always uses the same

shampoo. Soon, the smell of that shampoo makes
you feel happy.

The door to your house squeaks loudly when you

open it. Soon, your dog begins wagging its tail when
the door squeaks.

The nurse says, “This won’t hurt a bit,” just before

stabbing you with a needle. The next time you hear
“This won’t hurt,” you cringe in fear.

You have a meal at a fast food restaurant that

causes food poisoning. The next time you see a sign
for that restaurant, you feel nauseated.
 Acquisition refers to the initial
Acquisition stage of learning/conditioning.

• Acquisition
– Initial stage, when one links a
neutral stimulus and an
unconditioned stimulus so
that the neutral stimulus
begins triggering the
conditioned response

15
 Acquisition and Extinction
 The strength of a CR grows with conditioning.
 Extinction refers to the diminishing of a conditioned response. If
the US (food) stops appearing with the CS (bell), the CR decreases.
Spontaneous Recovery [Return of the CR]
spontaneous recovery (a return of the conditioned response despite a
lack of further conditioning).
•if the CS (tone) is again presented repeatedly without the US, the CR
becomes extinct again.
Generalization and Discrimination
Please notice the narrow, psychological definition .

Ivan Pavlov conditioned Ivan Pavlov conditioned dogs

dogs to drool when to drool at bells of a certain
rubbed; they then also pitch; slightly different
drooled when scratched. pitches did not trigger
drooling.
Generalization refers to the Discrimination refers to the
tendency to have learned ability to only
conditioned responses respond to a specific stimuli,
triggered by related stimuli. preventing generalization.

MORE stuff makes you drool. LESS stuff makes you drool.
John B. Watson and Classical
Conditioning: Playing with Fear
 In 1920, 9-month-old Little Albert was not afraid of rats.
 John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner then clanged a steel
bar every time a rat was presented to Albert.
 Albert acquired a fear of rats, and generalized this fear
to other soft and furry things.

 Watson prided
himself in his ability
to shape people’s
emotions. He later
went into
advertising.
Operant Conditioning
 Operant and Classical Conditioning are
Different Forms of Associative Learning
Classical conditioning: Operant conditioning:
 involves respondent behavior,  involves operant behavior,
reflexive, automatic reactions chosen behaviors which
such as fear or craving “operate” on the environment
 these behaviors become
 these reactions to associated with consequences
unconditioned stimuli (US) which punish (decrease) or
become associated with reinforce (increase) the
neutral (thenconditioned) operant behavior
stimuli
There is a contrast in the process of
conditioning.
The experimental (neutral) The experimental (consequence)
stimulus repeatedly precedes the stimulus repeatedly follows the
respondent behavior, and operant behavior, and eventually
eventually triggers that behavior. punishes or reinforces that
behavior.
B.F. Skinner: The Operant Chamber
 B. F. Skinner, like Ivan Pavlov, pioneered more controlled
methods of studying conditioning.
 The operant chamber, often called “the Skinner box,”
allowed detailed tracking of rates of behavior change in
response to different rates of reinforcement.
Recording
device

Bar or lever
that an animal
presses,
randomly at
first, later for
reward

Food/water dispenser
to provide the reward
Reinforcement
 Reinforcement refers to This meerkat has just
any feedback from the completed a task out
environment that makes in the cold
a behavior more likely to
recur.
 Positive (adding)
reinforcement: adding
something desirable
(e.g., warmth)
 Negative (taking away) For the meerkat,
this warm light is
reinforcement: ending desirable.
something unpleasant
(e.g., the cold)
 Operant Conditioning: Types of
Reinforcers
• Primary: Is unlearned; innately reinforcing
stimuli
• Conditioned (secondary): Gains power
through association with primary reinforcer
• Immediate: Occurs immediately after a
behavior
• Delayed: Involves time delay between desired
response of and delivery of reward
 How often should we reinforce?

 Do we need to give a reward every single time? Or is

that even best?
 B.F. Skinner experimented with the effects of giving
reinforcements in different patterns or “schedules”
to determine what worked best to establish and
maintain a target behavior.
 In continuous reinforcement (giving a reward after
the target every single time), the subject acquires
the desired behavior quickly.
 In partial/intermittent reinforcement (giving
rewards part of the time), the target behavior takes
longer to be acquired/established but persists longer
without reward.
 Different Schedules of
Partial/Intermittent Reinforcement
We may schedule  Fixed interval schedule: reward every
our reinforcements hour
based on an  Variable interval schedule: reward
interval of time after a changing/random amount of
that has gone by. time passes

We may plan for a

certain ratio of  Fixed ratio schedule: reward every
five targeted behaviors
rewards per
 Variable ratio schedule: reward after
number of a randomly chosen instance of the
instances of the target behavior
desired behavior.
Which Schedule of Reinforcement is This?
Ratio or Interval?
Fixed or Variable?
1. Rat gets food every third time it presses the lever FR
2. Getting paid weekly no matter how much work is done FI
3. Getting paid for every ten boxes you make FR
4. Hitting a jackpot sometimes on the slot machine VR
5. Winning sometimes on the lottery you play once a day VI/VR
6. Checking cell phone all day; sometimes getting a text VI
7. Buy eight pizzas, get the next one free FR
8. Fundraiser averages one donation for every eight houses VR
visited
9. Kid has tantrum, parents sometimes give in VR
10. Repeatedly checking mail until paycheck arrives FI
 Operant Conditioning
• Everyday behaviors are continually reinforced
and shaped.
– Reinforcement: Any event that strengthens a
preceding response
– Shaping: Gradually guiding toward closer and
closer approximations of the desired behavior
 Operant Effect: Punishment
Punishments have the opposite effects of reinforcement.
These consequences make the target behavior less likely
to occur in the future.

+ Positive - Negative Punishment

Punishment You TAKE AWAY
something pleasant/
You ADD something desired (ex: no TV time,
unpleasant/aversive no attention)--MINUS is
(ex: spank the child) the “negative” here

Positive does not mean “good” or “desirable” and

negative does not mean “bad” or “undesirable.”
More effective forms of operant conditioning
The Power of Rephrasing
 Positive punishment: “You’re
playing video games instead of
practicing the piano, so I am
justified in YELLING at you.”
 Negative punishment: “You’re
avoiding practicing, so I’m turning
off your game.”
 Negative reinforcement: “I will
stop staring at you and bugging
you as soon as I see that you are
practicing.”
 Positive reinforcement: “After
you practice, we’ll play a game!”
Four Major Drawbacks of Physical
Punishment
 Skinner’s Legacy: Applications of
Operant Conditioning
• At school: Computer and adaptive learning
software used in teaching and learning
• In sports: Behavioral methods implemented in
shaping behavior in athletic performance
• At work: Rewards successfully used to
increase productivity
• At home: Basic rules of shaping used in
parenting
Learning by Observation
 Can we learn new behaviors and skills without conditioning
and reward?
 Yes, and one of the ways we do so is by observational
learning: watching what happens when other people do a
behavior and learning from their experience.
 Skills required: mirroring, being able to picture ourselves
doing the same action, and cognition, noticing consequences
and associations.

Observational Learning Processes

The behavior of others serves as a model, an
Modeling example of how to respond to a situation; we may
try this model regardless of reinforcement.
Vicarious  Vicarious: experienced indirectly, through others
Vicarious reinforcement and punishment means
Conditioning our choices are affected as we see others get
consequences for their behaviors.
Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment (1961)
 Kids saw adults punching an inflated doll while narrating
their aggressive behaviors such as “kick him.”
 These kids were then put in a toy-deprived situation…
and acted out the same behaviors they had seen.
 Mirrors and Imitation in the Brain
• Mirror neurons
– Include frontal lobe neurons that some scientists
believe fire when performing certain actions or
when observing another doing so
• Brain’s mirroring of another’s action
– May enable imitation and empathy
 Mirroring in the Brain
 When we watch others doing or feeling something,
neurons fire in patterns that would fire if we were
doing the action or having the feeling ourselves.
 These neurons are referred to as mirror neurons,
and they fire only to reflect the actions or feelings of
others.
Prosocial Effects of Observational Learning
 Prosocial behavior
refers to actions
which benefit others,
contribute value to
groups, and follow
moral codes and
social norms.
 Parents try to teach
this behavior through
lectures, but it may
be taught best
through modeling…
especially if kids can
see the benefits of
the behavior to
oneself or others.
Antisocial Effects of Observational Learning
 What happens when we learn
from models who demonstrate
antisocial behavior, actions that
are harmful to individuals and
society?
 Children who witness violence in
their homes, but are not physically
harmed themselves, may hate
violence but still may become
violent more often than the
average child.
 Perhaps this is a result of “the
Bobo doll effect”? Under stress,
we do what has been modeled for
us.
 Media Models of Violence
Do we learn
antisocial behavior
such as violence
from indirect
observations of
others in the media?

Research shows that viewing media violence leads to

increased aggression (fights) and reduced prosocial behavior
(such as helping an injured person).
This violence-viewing effect might be explained by imitation,
and also by desensitization toward pain in others.
Biopsychosocial Influences on Learning