Unit 4: Learning

Definition of Learning:
 Any relatively permanent change in behavior (or
behavior potential) resulting from experience.
 Learning comprises of following three elements:

i. A change in behavior, for better or worse

ii. Change that takes place through practice and
experience not through growth and maturation
iii. Change must be relatively permanent
 To understand when learning has occurred, we
must differentiate maturational changes from
improvements resulting from practice, which
indicate that learning actually has occurred
Models of Learning:
1. Behavioral models (classical and operant conditioning).
 Behavioral model view learning as behavior. The
behavior is observable and can be measured.
Behaviorist speak a great deal about stimulus response.
The main elements of learning are the action or reactions
that we take in response to stimuli present in the
environment.
2. Cognitive model (social/observational learning).
 Cognitive model explain learning as the acquisition of
knowledge and the processing of information.
Cognitivist emphasize on learner’s thought in the
process of learning. The main element of learning are
our thinking, imagining, reasoning and remembering
abilities.
1. Behavioral Models:
i. Classical Conditioning
ii. Operant Conditioning

iii. Classical Conditioning:

 A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus
comes to bring about a response after it is paired
with a stimulus that naturally brings about that
response.
 Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist accidently
developed the principles of classical conditioning.
 He observed a curious phenomenon: The mere sight
of the experimenter who normally brought the food,
or even the sound of the experimenter’s footsteps,
was enough to produce salivation in the dogs.
 Pavlov’s genius lay in his ability to recognize the
implications of this discovery. He saw that the dogs
were responding not only on the basis of a biological
need (hunger) but also as a result of learning— or, as
it came to be called, classical conditioning.
 Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which
a neutral stimulus (such as the experimenter’s
footsteps) comes to elicit a response after being
paired with a stimulus (such as food) that naturally
brings about that response.
Neutral stimulus A stimulus that, before conditioning,
does not naturally bring about the response of interest.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) A stimulus that
naturally brings about a particular response without
having been learned.
Unconditioned response (UCR) A response that is
natural and needs no training (e.g., salivation at the smell
of food).
Conditioned stimulus (CS) A once neutral stimulus that
has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring
about a response formerly caused only by the
unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned response (CR) A response that, after
conditioning, follows a previously neutral stimulus (e.g.,
salivation at the ringing of a bell)
Figure (a), (b) and (c): The basic process of classical
conditioning.
(a) Before conditioning, the ringing of a bell does not
bring about salivation—making the bell a neutral
stimulus. In contrast, meat naturally brings about
salivation, making the meat an unconditioned
stimulus and salivation an unconditioned response.
(b) During conditioning, the bell is rung just before the
presentation of the meat.
(c) Eventually, the ringing of the bell alone brings
about salivation. We now can say that conditioning
has been accomplished: The previously neutral
stimulus of the bell is now considered a conditioned
stimulus that brings about the conditioned response
of salivation.
Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning:
a. Acquisition:
 The process by which a conditioned stimulus
acquires the ability to elicit a conditioned
response through repeated pairings of an
unconditioned stimulus with the conditioned
stimulus.
b. Temporal arrangement of the CS–UCS
pairings:
 Conditioning is also determined by temporal
factor i.e the extent to which a conditioned
stimulus precedes or follows the presentation of
an unconditioned stimulus.
 Forward conditioning: The presentation of the
conditioned stimulus always precedes the
presentation of the unconditioned stimulus.
 A form of forward conditioning in which the
onset of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) begins
while the conditioned stimulus (CS) is still
present is delay conditioning.
 A form of forward conditioning in which the
onset of the conditioned stimulus (CS) precedes
the onset of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
and the presentation of the CS and UCS does not
overlap is trace conditioning.
Simultaneous Conditioning: A form of
conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus
(CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) begin
and end at the same time.
Backward Conditioning: A type of conditioning in
which the presentation of the unconditioned
stimulus (UCS) precedes the presentation of the
conditioned stimulus (CS).
 Research suggests that delay conditioning is
generally the most effective method for
establishing a conditioned response. This is
because the conditioned stimulus helps predict
forthcoming presentations of the unconditioned
stimulus.
 Simultaneous and backward conditioning are
usually the least effective procedures.
c. Extinction:
 The process through which a conditioned stimulus gradually
loses the ability to evoke conditioned responses when it is no
longer followed by the unconditioned stimulus.
 It is the eventual decline and disappearance of a conditioned
response in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus is
known as extinction.
 Let’s consider the behavior of one of Pavlov’s dogs to see
why this is true. After many presentations of a bell
(conditioned stimulus) in the absence of meat (unconditioned
stimulus), the dog no longer salivates in response to the bell.
In other words, extinction has occurred.
 But if the conditioned stimulus (the bell) and the
unconditioned stimulus (the meat) are again paired after the
conditioned response of salivation has been extinguished,
salivation will return very quickly—a process termed
reconditioning.
ii. Operant Conditioning:
A process through which organisms learn to repeat
behaviors that yield positive outcomes or permit
them to avoid or escape from negative outcomes.
Some basic concepts of operant conditioning:
a. Reinforcement:
Thorndike’s Law of Effect:
 If you placed a hungry cat in a cage and then put a small piece of
food outside the cage, just beyond the cat’s reach, chances are that the
cat would eagerly search for a way out of the cage.
 The cat might first claw at the sides or push against an opening.
Suppose, though, you had rigged things so that the cat could escape
by stepping on a small paddle that released the latch to the door of the
cage (see Figure 1). Eventually, as it moved around the cage, the cat
would happen to step on the paddle, the door would open, and the cat
would eat the food.
 What would happen if you then returned the cat to the box? The next
time, it would probably take a little less time for the cat to step on the
paddle and escape. After a few trials, the cat would deliberately step
on the paddle as soon as it was placed in the cage.
 according to Edward L. Thorndike (1932), the cat would have learned
that pressing the paddle was associated with the desirable
consequence of getting food.
 Thorndike summarized that relationship by formulating the law of
effect : Responses that lead to satisfying consequences are more
likely to be repeated.
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
Reinforcement:
 The process by which a stimulus increases the
probability that a preceding behavior will be
repeated.
 Here, in Skinner Box experiment, pressing the
lever is more likely to occur again because of the
stimulus of food.
Positive Reinforcer and negative reinforcer:
 A positive rein forcer is a stimulus added to the
environment that brings about an increase in a
preceding response. If food, water, money, or
praise is provided after a response, it is more likely
that that response will occur again in the future
 In contrast, a negative reinforcer refers to an
unpleasant stimulus whose removal leads to an
increase in the probability that a preceding
response will be repeated in the future.
 For example, if you have an itchy rash (an
unpleasant stimulus) that is relieved when you
apply a certain brand of ointment, you are more
likely to use that ointment the next time you have
an itchy rash.
 Note that negative reinforcement is not the same as
punishment.
 Punishment refers to a stimulus that decreases the
probability that a prior behavior will occur again.
Unlike negative reinforcement, which produces an
increase in behavior, punishment reduces the likelihood
of a prior response.
 If we receive a shock that is meant to decrease a certain
behavior, then we are receiving punishment, but if we
are already receiving a shock and do something to stop
that shock, the behavior that stops the shock is
considered to be negatively reinforced.
 In the first case, the specific behavior is appropriate to
decrease because of the punishment; in the second, it is
likely to increase because of the negative reinforcement
 There are two types of punishment: positive
punishment and negative punishment.
 Positive punishment weakens a response through
the application of an unpleasant stimulus. For
instance, spanking a child for misbehaving or
spending ten years in jail for committing a crime is
positive punishment.
 In contrast, negative punishment consists of the
removal of something pleasant. For instance, when a
teenager is told she is “grounded” and will no longer
be able to use the family car because of her poor
grades, or when an employee is informed that he has
been demoted with a cut in pay because of a poor job
evaluation, negative punishment is being
administered.
Some basic principles of operant conditioning:
a. Shaping and Chaining
b. Schedule of reinforcement

a. Shaping and Chaining:

 Shaping is based on the principle that a little can eventually
go a long way. The organism undergoing shaping receives a
reward for each small step toward a final goal—the target
response—rather than only for the final response.
 At first, actions even remotely resembling the target
behavior—termed successive approximations—are followed
by a reward. Gradually, closer and closer approximations of
the final target behavior are required before the reward is
given.
 Shaping, then, helps organisms acquire, or construct, new
and more complex forms of behavior from simpler behavior.
 Chaining is a procedure that establishes a
sequence of responses, which lead to a reward
following the final response in the chain.
 For eg. in the routine performed by the circus
animal, trainers establish a sequence, or chain, of
responses, the last of which leads to a reward.
Trainers usually begin chaining by first shaping
the final response. When this response is well
established, the trainer shapes responses earlier in
the chain, then reinforces them by giving the
animal the opportunity to perform responses later
in the chain, the last of which produces the
reinforce.
 Shaping and chaining obviously have important
implications for human behavior. For example,
when working with a beginning student, a skilled
dance teacher or ski instructor may use shaping
techniques to establish basic skills, such as
performing a basic step or standing on the skis
without falling down, by praising simple
accomplishments.
 As training progresses, however, the student may
receive praise only when he or she successfully
completes an entire sequence or chain of actions,
such as skiing down a small slope
b. Schedule of reinforcement
Under natural conditions reinforcement is often an
uncertain event. Sometimes a given response yields
a reward every time it occurs, but sometimes it does
not.
Schedules of Reinforcement: Rules determining
when and how reinforcements will be delivered.
Continuous Reinforcement Schedule: A schedule
of reinforcement in which every occurrence of a
particular behavior is reinforced.
Variable-Interval Schedule: A schedule of
reinforcement in which a variable amount of time
must elapse before a response will yield
reinforcement.
Fixed-Ratio Schedule: A schedule of
reinforcement in which reinforcement occurs only
after a fixed number of responses have been
emitted.
2. Cognitive model (social/observational learning).
 Cognitive model explain learning as the
acquisition of knowledge and the processing of
information. Cognitivist emphasize on learner’s
thought in the process of learning. The main
element of learning are our thinking, imagining,
reasoning and remembering abilities.
 Psychologists working from the cognitive
learning perspective have developed approaches
that focus on the unseen mental processes that
occur during learning, rather than concentrating
solely on external stimuli, responses, and
reinforcements.
 Two types of learning of cognitive model are
i. Insight learning
ii. Observational learning.
i. Insight Learning:
 Insight learning is a sudden realization of a
solution to a problem. Because of its suddenness,
insight learning is different from trial-and-error
learning, which requires more careful
experimentation to arrive at a solution.
 One of the greatest contributions Wolfgang
Köhler made to the field of psychology was his
work on insight learning. Insight learning is a
process of learning that involves perceived
solutions, not rewards or consequences. He found
that people can learn when they understand an
entire situation.
ii. Observational learning:
 Learning by observing the behavior of another person, or model.
 Albert Bandura examined the principles of observational learning.
 Bandura dramatically demonstrated the ability of models to
stimulate learning in a classic experiment. In the study, young
children saw a fi lm of an adult wildly hitting a 5-feet-tall infl
atable punching toy called a Bobo doll (Bandura, Ross, & Ross,
1963a, 1963b). Later the children were given the opportunity to
play with the Bobo doll themselves, and, sure enough, most
displayed the same kind of behavior, in some cases mimicking the
aggressive behavior almost identically.
 Not only negative behaviors are acquired through observational
learning. In one experiment, for example, children who were afraid
of dogs were exposed to a model—dubbed the Fearless Peer—
playing with a dog (Bandura, Grusec, & Menlove, 1967). After
exposure, observers were considerably more likely to approach a
strange dog than were children who had not viewed the Fearless
Peer.
Observation learning and aggression:
Increasing violent activities among young people
due to proliferation of violence depicted on
television and in film.
Observational learning and culture:
Cultural shock:
 Dramatic differences in language, customs, and
lifestyle often lead to unintended misunderstandings
between persons from different cultural backgrounds.
Behaviors that are acceptable and in one country may
be quite offensive to persons from another count.
 To soften the effects of culture shock, experts in the
area of cross-cultural training have advocated an
experiential approach based on behavioral
modeling .Trainees first watch films in which models
exhibit the correct behaviors in a problem situation.
Then the trainees participate in a role-playing
exercise to test their knowledge.
Observational learning : some practical
applications
 Observational learning can play an important role
in work settings; for example, in helping workers
interact more effectively with people from
different cultural backgrounds. It can also play a
role in the development of both appropriate and
inappropriate forms of behavior.
Learned helplessness:
 It is a tendency to fail to act to escape from a
situation because of a history of repeated failures
in the past.
 It is observed in human beings when they have
been conditioned to expect pain, suffering or
discomfort without a way to escape from it.
 For eg. when a smoker repeatedly try and fail to
quit smoking, then he get frustrated and believe
that he can not quit it and then, do not try to quit
smoking anymore.