Learning and Conditioning

Learning … … is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as the result of practice.

Three Types of Learning Styles Kinesthetic: They learn best by doing something tactile to learn the concept. Auditory: Auditory learners learn best by hearing the concept explained to them. Visual: These individuals learn by seeing the material in a book or behaviors that are shown to them.

Four Basic Kinds of Learning Habituation Classical conditioning Operant conditioning Complex learning

Behaviourist Perspective Assumption 1: Simple associations of the classical or operant kind are the building blocks of all learning. Assumption 2: The same basic laws of learning operate regardless of what is being learnt or who is doing the learning.

Classical Conditioning … … is a learning process in which a previously neutral stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus through repeated pairing with that stimulus.

Pavlov’s Experiments

Extinction If the conditioned response is never paired again with the neutral stimulus then the conditioned response will fade and then disappear. This process is called extinction.

Conditioned Fear Classical conditioning plays a role in emotional reactions like fear. Irrational fears (phobias) can be eliminated using therapeutic techniques based on classical-conditioning principles.

The Little Albert Experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBfnXACsOI

Generalization The more similar the new stimuli are to the original conditioned stimulus, the more likely they are to evoke the conditioned response. Whereas generalization is a reaction to similarities, discrimination is a reaction to differences.

Critical thinking question Sometimes a person may be fearful of a neutral object, such as loose buttons, but not know why. How could you explain this phenomenon?

Operant Conditioning In operant conditioning, certain responses are learned because they operate, or affect, the environment. The likelihood that the action will be repeated depends on its consequences.

The Law of Effect A series of experiments by E.L. Thorndike (1898): he was trying to show that learning in animals is continuous, as with learning in humans.

The Law of Effect Thorndike argued that in operant learning, the law of effect selects from a set of random responses only those that are followed by positive consequences.

Skinner’s Experiments

Types of Reinforcement and Punishment Effect Positive Reinforcement Increases the likelihood of the desired behaviour Negative Reinforcement Positive Punishment Decreases the likelihood of the undesired behaviour Negative punishment

Implications for Child Rearing A child’s temper tantrums can be reduced if the behaviour is not reinforced with parental attention.

Shaping … … is a technique that consists of reinforcing only variations in response that deviate in the direction desired by the experimenter.

Critical thinking question Suppose that you are taking care of an 8-year-old who won’t make his bed and, in fact, doesn’t seem to know how to begin the task. How might you use operant-conditioning techniques to teach him to make his bed?

Social Learning The main idea of social learning is that people learn by watching what other people do and then copy that behavior. This is also called modeling. Bobo Doll experiment (Albert Bandura) http://yandex.ru/video/search?filmId=D-2p0etXUXI&text=Bobo%20Doll%20experiment%20

Constructivist Theory Constructivism, attributed to Jean Piaget, consists of an individual accommodating and assimilating information and then constructing new knowledge from their experience. “Play" is a vital source of learning for children.

Aversive Conditioning There are three different kinds of aversive conditioning: Punishment Escape Avoidance

Punishment In punishment training, a response is followed by an aversive stimulus or event, which results in the response being weakened or suppressed on subsequent occasions.

Escape and Avoidance Escape learning occurs to terminate an unpleasant stimulus such as annoyance or pain, thereby negatively reinforcing the behavior. You can transform escape learning into avoidance learning if you give a signal, such as a tone, before the unwanted stimulus.