Psychology 40S C. McMurray Learning Psychology 40S C. McMurray

How Do We Learn? Learning is a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience.

Experience is the key to Learning! 3 Types of Learning: Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning Social Learning/Observational Learning

Classical Conditioning A learning procedure in which a person’s old response becomes attached to a new stimulus An association between 2 stimuli For example: When do we know when a scary part of a movie is about to take place? Apply this to classical conditioning Activities: Draw a line and clap Lemonaide “Pavlov” activitiy

Classical Conditioning Scary Movie Example A learning procedure in which a person’s old response becomes attached to a new stimulus Old response: Being scared when something jumps out at you in movie. Attach response to music…now scared when music plays. An association between 2 stimuli Associating music with scary part of movie Activities: Draw a line and clap Lemonaide “Pavlov” activitiy

Classical Conditioning and Pavlov’s Dog Pavlov’s dog experiment Pavlov originally studied how much dogs salivated during digestion. Noticed that dogs started salivating at the sight of food. Pavlov varied the stimuli before feeding…drooling to a bell Activities: Draw a line and clap Lemonaide “Pavlov” activitiy Ivan Pavlov

What did the sign on Pavlov's lab door say? Joke Time: What did the sign on Pavlov's lab door say? Please knock. DON'T ring the bell.

Classical Conditioning “Little Albert” Experiment (Famous example of classical conditioning in humans) He is considered the “Father of Behaviourism” Watch Little Albert experiment Activities: Draw a line and clap Lemonaide “Pavlov” activitiy John Watson

Little Albert

Classical conditioning with an altoid

Name the US,UR, CS,CR US A large dog barks then bites you You see a large dog barking at you You feel pain You feel fear CS UR CR US- unconditioned stimulus UR – unconditioned response CS- conditioned stimulus CR – conditioned response

Name the US,UR, CS,CR CS The child sees a nurse A child gets an injection from a nurse The child cries and runs from a nurse The child feels pain and cries US CR UR US- unconditioned stimulus UR – unconditioned response CS- conditioned stimulus CR – conditioned response

Fraser explains Classical Conditioning

Polly Dots Classical Conditioning Experiment 1 2 3 Tell students to put 5 circles on their paper. When they hear the word “start” they begin in circle one making as many dots as they can. Say “stop” after 10 seconds, quickly move to circle 2 and repeat making dots when teacher says “start” continue…Each time you say start clap your hands. By the time they get to circle 5 clap your hands but do not say the word “start” Many will start because of the clap of your hands. 4 5

Extinction After conditioning has occurred, what would happen if the unconditioned stimulus no longer followed the conditioned stimulus? When the US (food) does not follow the CS (tone), CR (salivation) begins to decrease and eventually causes extinction. Extinction: The weakening of a conditioned response through removal of the unconditioned stimulus

Spontaneous Recovery An extinguished response is not necessarily gone forever. With spontaneous recovery, organisms sometimes display responses that were extinguished earlier. After a rest period, an extinguished CR (salivation) spontaneously recovers, but if the CS (tone) persists alone, the CR becomes extinct again. Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance of a learned response after its apparent extinction

Stimulus Generalization Tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS is called generalization. (Pavlov’s dog salivates to any kind of bell)

Stimulus Discrimination Responding differently to stimuli that are not similar to each other is called Discrimination. (Pavlov’s dog salivates only to the bell he was trained with)

Review of Classical Conditioning Terms Neutral Stimulus (NS) A stimulus that does not cause a response Unconditioned Stimulus (US) a stimulus that causes an automatic response Unconditioned Response (UR) an automatic response to a stimulus Conditioned Stimulus (CS) a learned stimulus Conditioned Response (CR) a learned response to a neutral stimulus

Operant Conditioning A learning procedure in which a person’s behaviour increases or decreases due to consequences that follow that behaviour Skinner box experiment B.F. Skinner

Operant Chamber Skinner developed the Operant chamber, or the Skinner box, to study operant conditioning.

Operant Chamber The operant chamber, or Skinner box, comes with a bar or key that an animal manipulates to obtain a reinforcer like food or water. The bar or key is connected to devices that record the animal’s response.

Skinner Box

Reinforcement: Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. Types of Reinforcers Reinforcement: Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. Preview Question 9: What are the basic types of reinforcers?

Reinforcement Schedules Continuous Reinforcement: Reinforces the desired response each time it occurs. Partial Reinforcement: Reinforces a response only part of the time. Though this results in slower acquisition in the beginning, it shows greater resistance to extinction later on. Preview Question 10: How do different reinforcement schedules affect behavior?

(4 Types of Partial Reinforcement) Ratio Schedules Fixed-ratio schedule: Reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses. e.g., piecework pay. Variable-ratio schedule: Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses. This is hard to extinguish because of the unpredictability. (e.g., behaviors like gambling, fishing.)

Interval Schedules Fixed-interval schedule: Reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed. (e.g., preparing for an exam only when the exam draws close.) Variable-interval schedule: Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals, which produces slow, steady responses. (e.g., pop quiz.)

Positive Reinforcement

Big Bang Theory Operant Conditioning operant conditioning big bang theory

Skinner Smart Pigeons Operant Conditioning Skinner Skinner's Missile guided Pigeon Project

An aversive event that decreases the behavior it follows. Punishment An aversive event that decreases the behavior it follows. Preview Question 11: How does punishment affect behavior?

Punishment (orange text 332-333) Although there may be some justification for occasional punishment, it usually leads to negative effects. (Larzelaere & Baumrind, 2002) Results in unwanted fears. Gives no information to the person who is being punished. Justifies pain to others. Causes aggression towards the punisher. Causes unwanted behaviors to reappear in its absence. Causes one unwanted behavior to appear in place of another.

Video www.learner.org/resources/series54.html Discovering Psychology “Learning” #8

Review… Classical and Operant Conditioning Ted Talk: The Difference between Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning

Social Learning… Learning by Observation Form of learning by observing and imitating the behaviour of others Bobo Doll Experiment Activities: Draw a line and clap Lemonaide “Pavlov” activitiy Albert Bandura Acive Psych video clip: CD2 Learning #14: Bandura on Social Learning

Learning by Observation Higher animals, especially humans, learn through observing and imitating others. The monkey on the right imitates the monkey on the left in touching the pictures in a certain order to obtain a reward. Preview Question 14: What is observational learning, and how is it enabled by mirror neurons?

Observational Learning Cognitive Learning: Learning something simply by thinking about it. Modeling: Also known as Observational Learning. It is a type of imitation. The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior.

Mirror Neurons Neuroscientists discovered mirror neurons in the brains of animals and humans that are active during observational learning. Mirror Neurons: Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. They enable imitation and empathy.

Imitation Onset Learning by observation begins early in life. This 14-month-old child imitates the adult on TV in pulling a toy apart.

Bandura's Experiments Bandura's Bobo doll study (1961) indicated that individuals (children) learn through imitating others.

Waving Bear see the waving bear