1. Learning vs. innate reflexes

2. Conditioning means LEARNING
Condition = Learn
Conditioned = Learned
Unconditioned = Automatic/innate
Response
Stimulus
2 kinds of conditioning (learning)
CLASSICAL and OPERANT

3. Classical conditioning
It always involves a REFLEX or some involuntary physical process
A reflex is an unlearned, involuntary response like salivation, pupil dilation
Here are some terms we’ll
be using:
NS neutral stimulus
UCS unconditioned stimulus
UCR unconditioned response
CS conditioned stimulus
CR conditioned response

4. LEARNING BY ASSOCIATION
cLASSICAL cONDITIONING
LEARNING BY ASSOCIATION
Controlling an animals’ or persons’ responses in a way so that an OLD response becomes attached to a NEW stimulus. A number of different reflex responses that ordinarily occur automatically can be conditioned to occur whenever the correct conditioned stimulus occurs. Ex.
A Russian scientist, Ivan Pavlov, discovered the principles of Classical Conditioning accidently while studying the process of digestion. He noticed that the mere sight of food was enough to start a dog salivating.

5. Pavlov’s experimental laboratory

6. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING TERMS
Pavlov began by ringing a bell (which has nothing to do with salivating and is therefore NEUTRAL) and then presenting food. Eventually just the sound of the bell (without the food itself) was enough to cause the dogs to salivate.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING TERMS
NEUTRAL STIMULUS (NS) – one that had nothing to do with the response in the beginning. Ex. the bell
UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS) – a stimulus that leads to a certain response without previous training – it’s the cause automatically (or unconditionally) without being taught. Ex. food
UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UCR) – a RESPONSE that occurs naturally and automatically (or unconditionally) without being taught. Ex. Salivating (it normally causes salivation – it doesn’t need to be taught!)
No Learning Has Taken Place Yet!

7. Under normal conditions the sound of a bell would not cause salivation
Under normal conditions the sound of a bell would not cause salivation. The dog has to be TAUGHTor CONDITIONED to ASSOCIATE bell with food and thus salivate.
CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS) – an ordinarily neutral STIMULUS that, after training, leads to a conditioned response. Ex. The bell goes from being neutral to being conditioned.
CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR)- the learned RESPONSE. Ex. Salivating.
Now learning has taken place! You dropped the “middle man” (UCS) - the very thing you needed in the beginning, is the one thing you don’t need in the end.

8. Ivan Pavlov: The Accidental Daddy of Classical Conditioning (sometimes called “Pavlovian Conditioning”)

9. Here’s how he did it:
He rang a bell (some question whether he actually used a bell!) at the same time he put food in the dog’s mouth
The bell was the neutral stimulus (NS) because it was originally neutral – it didn’t produce any reflex before the experiment
The meat was the unconditioned stimulus (US) because the dog didn’t have to LEARN to salivate – it did it naturally
Neutral
Stimulus
(NS)
Unconditioned
Stimulus
(US)

10. Unconditioned response (UR)
What was the dog’s response? You guessed it! He salivated when he was fed.
So “salivating” was the unconditioned response (UCR) because it was an unlearned, involuntary physiological reflex
Unconditioned response (UR)

11. But something else was happening:
Since the bell was rung every time the dog was fed, the dog started to salivate as soon as the bell was rung. The dog had acquired a new behavior.

12. Pavlov had discovered that he could condition an (involuntary) reflex!
So the formerly neutral stimulus (bell) now produced a CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR).
Now the bell is a Conditioned Stimulus because it has acquired the ability to elicit a response.
And we can call the salivation a conditioned response (CR) because it’s a learned response.
Conditioned
Stimulus (CS)
Conditioned
Response
(CR)

13. And classical conditioning doesn’t just involve salivating!
It can involve any feeling, sensation or other response
If you ever got really seasick, just a picture of a boat on the water might make you feel queasy
If someone upset you greatly, you may not ever be able to stand the smell of the cologne or aftershave that person wore

14. Watson: Can a phobia be induced?
The famous “Little Albert experiment” in 1920.
Watson and his colleague Rosalie Rayner used children from an orphanage as subjects, and most famously, an 11-month-old baby. – controversial!

15. Generalization wkst
Occurs when an animal/person responds to a second stimulus similar to the original conditioned stimulus
Ex.

16. Generalization
The conditioned response can occur with a similar stimulus (a plate instead of a dog food bowl; a cologne that smells similar to one you responded to earlier)

17. Soon, Pavlov found he could pair almost any neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus and get a conditioned response:

18. Discrimination
(opposite) teach the animal/person to respond only to the one specific stimulus by never pairing anything else with it.
Ex.

19. Discrimination
The conditioned response doesn’t occur with stimuli that are only vaguely similar to the original stimulus

20. Extinction
The weakening or fading process after the UCS or reinforcement has been withdrawn.
Ex.

21. Extinction
If the conditioned response isn’t reinforced, it may disappear. (The dog will no longer salivate when it hears the bell.)

22. Go through these three stages (Generalization, Discrimination and Extinction) using the fear of spiders as an example.

23. Operant Conditioning wkst
Operant Conditioning is learning from the consequences of behavior.
We tend to repeat behaviors that are associated with reward and avoid those that are associated with punishment.
The learner will either REPEAT or ELIMINATE certain behaviors to get REWARDS or AVOID PUNISHMENT.
Operant Conditioning is NOT limited to reflexive responses rather a wide range of voluntary behaviors.

24. Remember that reinforcement means “strengthening the behavior”
2 types of reinforcers – wkst BOTH reinforce the likelihood of that behavior happening again
Remember that reinforcement means “strengthening the behavior”
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT- reinforcing stimuli that gives pleasure to the subject. EX>
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT – the removal of unpleasant consequences that increases the frequency of a behavior. EX>
You want the negative thing to stop so you do the behavior. – Do it to get rid of something negative.
This is NOT the same thing as punishment because punishment makes a behavior STOP!

25. REVIEW….
Reinforcement can be:
POSITIVE or NEGATIVE
EITHER OF THEM CAN STRENGTHEN A BEHAVIOR (MAKE IT TAKE PLACE!) - Do a behavior to get something good (Pos. Reinf.) or do a behavior to avoid something negative (Neg. Reinf.)
Don’t think of “positive” as being good - a bad behavior can be positively reinforced!
Don’t confuse Punishment with Negative Reinforcement.
Don’t think of Positive Reinf and Negative Reinf as opposites.

26. PUNISHMENTwkst
PRESENTS A PAINFUL STIMULUS to STOP the behavior (the opposite of Positive Reinforcement).
Ex>
Punishment does NOT TEACH NEW BEHAVIORS effectively.
Side effects:

27. Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
Rewards are a form of control that can spoil your inner passion!
*puzzle experiment

28. B.F. Skinner (1974) - OC
Skinner felt that all behavior is learned. He invented the “Skinner Box” (controversial).
“Most behavior is shaped by one’s history of rewards and punishments.”
SHAPING – teaching pigeons to bowl!

29. He perfected the concept of SHAPING
Behavior that is close to what is desired is reinforced until gradually the final behavior is learned
Example =>
Whenever the bird pecks near Disk B, it’s rewarded. Eventually the bird gets rewarded only when it pecks on Disk B.

33. Behaviors followed by positive consequences are strengthened…

34. …while behaviors followed by punishment are stopped.

35. MODELING
Learning is not only classical and operant – we most often LEARN BY IMITATING OTHERS. Especially in social responses – how to behave in new situations by watching others. Ex.

36. Albert Bandura and Observational Learning
Bobo Doll

37. Bandura and Modeling
Bandura showed that we can learn behavior by observing others
Children watched and imitated an adult behavior of kicking a Bobo doll
His work is often cited by those who argue that violence in the media can incite violence in those who watch it – especially children
Those who are observed are the models for behavior, and we call this learning modeling

38. Modeling – The behavior of others simply increases the chances that we will do the same thing (good or bad). Ex.
Observational Learning or imitation – an observer watches a model perform a behavior and is later able to reproduce it closely. Ex.
Disinhibition – When an observer watches
someone engage in a threatening activity without
being punished (harmed), the observer may
find it easier to engage in that behavior later.
Ex.

39. Can you think of more examples of modeling?
A father who volunteers his time at a soup kitchen
Parents who solve their disagreements by yelling at each other
A mother who is gentle with her children
Peers who bully on the playground
A parent who is terrified of spiders and whose child is also terrified

40. = LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
If pain comes no matter how hard one tries, a person learns to give up
= LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
If rewards come without effort, a person never learns to work
= LEARNED LAZINESS

41. If a person has numerous experiences in which his or her actions have no effect on the world, they may learn a general strategy of helplessness or laziness.
Martin Seligman – dog experiment
Apply to everyday situations – in order for people to be able to try hard and be full of energy, people must learn that their actions do make a difference. When people are unable to control events in their lives they are less motivated to act and thus stop trying = vicious cycle. Ex.
“What people do is important but what people think they can do is also important.”

42. Implications of Learned Helplessness
For poor people
For inner cities
For nursing homes
For depression
For students?

43. Learned Helplessness First described by Martin Seligman
Author of “Learned Helplessness,” “Learned Optimism,” and found of Positive Psychology
Described how “negative explanatory style” can lead to depression

44. Learned Helplessness experiment
Dogs were restrained in one side of a “shuttle box” and given a slight shock
Then they were allowed freedom to run to other side of the shuttle box
But they didn’t try to run to the other side - they had learned to be helpless.
Other animals had same reaction

45. Shuttle box

46. Learning Outline – test review
Reflex
Classical Conditioning – Pavlov
CS, UCS, CR, UCR, NS
Discrimination, generalization, extinction (Little Albert)
Operant Conditioning – Skinner
Reinforcement – positive and negative
Punishment
Modeling
Learned Helplessness/Laziness