The Psychology of Learning What is Learning? How do we learn? Classic Conditioning Operant Conditioning Social Learning Cognitive Processes Talk about “Genie” …But first, lets learn to READ!

Questions: Why might you have had trouble reading this? Does previous exposure count? Latent Learning? What-The-Heckness is going on! Even if you could read the passage, does the story make sense? If not Why? Could culture or geography play a role?

What is Discrimination? What is Shaping? Concept Review: What’s Conditioning? (Classical, Operant) What are weaknesses of either? What is generalization? Why is it weak as a concept in learning? What is punishment? Why does punishment alone not work? What is Discrimination? What is Shaping?

Conditioning Conditioning does not guarantee learning, or at least does not guarantee the learning that was intended. A child in a classroom (where they don’t want to be) may not learn. A person who is trying to teach another the benefit of “hard work” may end up “teaching” the other the value of cheating. Because of the variability of reactions (or lack thereof) to conditioning expected behaviour outcomes are never assured.

Problems: 1. A student with very supportive parents, who is mentally capable of performing well, does not perform well. 2. A student with very indifferent (possibly abusive) parents, does very well academically. 3. A child who is repeatedly punished for poor behaviour continues to have poor behaviour (and this situation continues for an extended period of time).

Problems: If conditioning is supposed to work so well, why doesn’t it do so consistently? Conditioning works well if you can be consistent Conditioning works well if the result is clear. Conditioning works well if the stimuli or reward is something that the organism will react to. If the above doesn’t apply, conditioning wont work as intended.

Thinking About Thinking Cognitive learning: Everything that you do is based on concepts that you’ve thought of, seen, or had dreams about. But how much does that really influence your behaviour? You don’t actually DO everything that you’ve had a dream or fantasy about. So where are the boundaries? Thinking clearly means considering: Goals, considering consequences, weigh options, then acting.

Poker Chip analogy Life, just like in gambling, has risks. Sometimes the risks are very high, but often the rewards are too. The more secure you feel about where you are, the more you are likely to risk. The less secure, the less you will risk. ……okay So, what about those people who have very little, may be insecure, but are willing to accept very high risk? How does cognitive psychology explain that?

Social Learning (like “peer pressure.”) Your book talks about imitating / observation Yeah whatever…. Social Learning is all about wanting to fit in. Why do they imitate? Because those individuals want to connect with you in some way. Perhaps it’s the group your in … Perhaps it’s the talents you have… Maybe it’s your relationship to them…

Social Learning is not definite in it’s end Social Learning is not definite in it’s end. In social learning, you may be “teaching yourself.” In that case, you may not really get all the necessary information (think of trying to learn how to cook, by only watching TV – where they only show you the high points). In other cases, you may be “being taught.” In this case, your eventual expertise in a field largely depends on the expertise of the teacher.

Conclusions In learning, nothing is certain, and in many cases there is a certain amount of “loss” as information is transferred (they either didn’t tell you everything you needed, or things change and you need to adapt what you know). Learning, like any skill, needs to be practiced in order to maintain a high skill level. Learning needs to be focused. If you have no idea what you want, you will end up with a lot of information, but no particular skill to go with it.

Learning takes perspective Learning takes perspective. What seems “stupid” now, may be important at a much later an unexpected time…. Like not listening to the emergency procedure when you’re on that airplane… Like texting in the car right before the accident… Like waiting for the end of the year and asking, “What can I do to pass?”