Ms Carey Three Main Types of Learning: LEARNING Chapter 8 Psychology12 Ms Carey Three Main Types of Learning: 1. Classical Conditioning (Pavlov) 2. Operant Conditioning (Skinner) 3. Learning by Observation (Bandura)

In this Chapter… Learning by Observation- learning by conditioning AND by observations of others Research credited to ALBERT BANDURA Operant Conditioning- a type of learning that associates its behaviours with consequences Research credited to B.F. SKINNER Classical Conditioning- a type of learning that is associated by different Stimuli Research credited to Russian physiologist IVAN PAVLOV

What is Classical Conditioning? Classical Conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. SO…what does that really mean? the learning of conditioned behavior as being formed by pairing stimuli to condition an animal or human into giving a certain response.

Example of Classical Conditioning:

Classical Conditioning: - When you see the tennis star, you think of ‘nice shots’ on the tennis court. They have added a ‘camera’ to the picture so you begin to associate the camera and the shot to the tennis star.

CS, UCS, CR, UCR

CS, UCS, CR, UCR

IVAN PAVLOV FIRST CLASSICAL CONDITIONING RESEARCHER: Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov explored one important form of learning in his classic experiments on conditioning dogs. He noticed that they learned by association. It was his experiments that are called CLASSICAL CONDITIONING. Pavlov received a medical degree in Russia at the age of 33 and spent the next three decades focusing on learning and experimentations.

Early Experiments After studying salivary secretion in dogs, Pavlov knew that when he put food in a dog’s mouth the animal would invariably salivate. He also noticed that when he worked with the same dog repeatedly, the dog began to salivating to stimuli associated with food- to the mere sight of food, to the food dish, to the presence of the person who regularly brought the food. At first, Pavlov and his assistants tried to imagine what the dog was thinking and feeling as it drooled in anticipation of the food. OBVIOUSLY this led into serious debates and led nowhere. So in order to explore the phenomenon more objectively, they decided to experiment.

Classical Conditioning…. They decided to pair various neutral stimuli with food in the mouth to see if the dog would begin salivating to the neutral stimuli alone. To eliminate the possible influence of extraneous stimuli, they isolated the dog in a small room, secured it with a harness, and attached a device that diverted it’s saliva to a measuring instrument. From an adjacent room, they could present food- at first by sliding in a food bowl, later by blowing meat powder into the dog’s mouth at a precise moment. If a neutral stimulus- something the dog could hear or see- now regularly signaled the arrival of food, would the dog associate the two stimuli? If so, would it begin salivating to the neutral stimulus in anticipation of the food? The answers proved to be YES.

What’s with the Bells?? Just before placing food in the dog’s mouth to produce saliva, Pavlov sounded a bell. After several pairings of tone and food, the dog began salivating to the tone alone, in anticipation of the meat powder. Using this procedure, Pavlov conditioned the dogs to salivate to other stimuli- a buzzer, a light, a touch on the leg, even the sight of a circle. The dogs were then learning by association- they were associating the sounds of the bells (and other stimuli) with the anticipation of food. So…they would then begin to drool.

PAVLOV TERMS Because salivation in response to food in the mouth was unlearned, Pavlov called it an UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UCR). Food in the mouth automatically, unconditionally, triggers a dog’s salivary reflex. Thus, Pavlov called the food stimulus an UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS)

Salivation in response to the bell was conditional upon the dog’s learning the association between tone and the food. This is called: CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR)

It’s that Simple? If this demonstration of associative learning was so simple, what did Pavlov do for the next three decades?? Pavlov and his associates explored the causes and effects of classical conditioning. Their experiments identified FIVE major conditioning processes: Acquisition Extinction Spontaneous Recovery Generalization Discrimination

Dennis the Menace…

Example of Classical Conditioning from THE OFFICE