1. James M. Kuterbach, MA July 27, 2006
PY 101 General Psychology
James M. Kuterbach, MA
July 27, 2006

2. Overview
Learning
Memory
Thinking

3. Learning Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning
Learning by Observation

4. Learning
Learning – a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior die to experience

5. Classical Conditioning
Classical Conditioning – also called “Pavlovian Conditioning”
Watson & Pavlov
Basis behind “habits” and phobias
Unconditioned and Conditioned Stimuli

6. Classical Conditioning
Learning by Association
Associative Learning – learning that certain events occur together
Learning is a passive participant

7. Classical Conditioning
Food Salivation
Unconditioned Stimulus Unconditional Response

8. Classical Conditioning
Food Salivation
Bell
Unconditioned Stimulus Unconditional Response
Conditioned Stimulus

9. Classical Conditioning
Bell Salivation
Conditioned Stimulus Conditional Response

10. Classical Conditioning
Load Noise Startle Response & Fear
Unconditioned Stimulus Unconditional Response

11. Classical Conditioning
Load Noise Startle Response & Fear
Fuzzy Animal
Unconditioned Stimulus Unconditional Response
Conditioned Stimulus

12. Classical Conditioning
Fuzzy Animal Startle Response & Fear
Conditioned Stimulus Conditional Response

13. Classical Conditioning
Extinction – the diminishing of a conditioned response
Spontaneous Recovery – the reappearance of an extinguished response, after a rest period
Generalization – tendency for similar stimuli to elicit a conditioned response

14. Operant Conditioning Thorndike & Skinner Based on the Law of Effect
Rewarded behavior is likely to recur
Basis of most direct learning
Learner must be an active participant

15. Operant Conditioning Reinforcements & Punishments
Reinforcements – Anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior reoccurring
Punishment – Anything that decreases the likelihood of a behavior reoccurring

16. Operant Conditioning
Positive Reinforcement – giving a desired stimulus to increase a behavior
Negative Reinforcement – removing an adverse stimulus to increase a behavior

17. Operant Conditioning Reinforcement Schedules Fixed-ratio schedule
Variable-ratio schedule
Fixed-interval schedule
Variable-interval schedule

18. Operant Conditioning Punishments that work Time out Overcorrection
“Time out from positive reinforcement”
Remove the person from whatever is reinforcing their behavior
Overcorrection

19. Operant Conditioning
Shaping – procedure that guides a subject to the eventual desired behavior by reinforcing successive approximations
Chaining – creating a new behavior by putting together a series of known behaviors

20. Learning By Observation
Bandura – Social Learning Theory
Also called Observational Learning
May be responsible for most learning
Learner is active in learning

21. Learning By Observation
Learning occurs by observing others being reinforced or punished
Modeling
The best models are those that are most like the learner

22. Memory
Memory – the persistence of learning over time, through the storage and retrieval of information
Information Processing System
Encoding
Storage
Retrieval

23. Memory
Short-term Memory
Chunking
Long-term Memory
Mnemonics

24. Thinking
Cognition – mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating
Hueristic – simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently

25. Thinking Obstacles to Problem Solving Confirmation Bias Fixation
Mental Set
Functional Fixedness
Representative Heuristic
Availability Heuristic