1. Learning
Chapter 8
AP Psychology

2. What is learning? Relatively permanent change in behavior
Due to experience

3. Associative Learning Linking two events together
Conditioning: Process of learning associations

4. Behaviorism
Psychology should be an objective science that deals with observable behavior
Not mental processes
John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, Pavlov

5. Classical Conditioning
Learning to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

6. Ivan Pavlov

7. Ivan Pavlov Originally researching on the digestive system
Noticed that dogs began to salivate not only when tasting food, but when seeing food or a person delivering food
Led to debates about what the dogs were thinking when anticipating food

9. Pavlov’s Experiments Isolated dog in a small room with a harness
Inserted tubes to measure dog’s saliva
Sounded a tone just before placing feeding dog
Dog eventually began to salivate at the sound of the tone after several pairings

10. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): Naturally triggers a response
Food(naturally causes dogs to salivate)
Unconditioned response (UCR): Unlearned, natural response
Salivating to the taste of food (natural for dogs)
Conditioned stimulus (CS): Originally irrelevant stimulus
Tone (dogs do not naturally salivate to the sound of the tone)
Conditioned response (CR): Learned response to a previously neutral stimulus
Salivating to the sound of the tone

12. Example- The Office UCS: Altoid
UCR: Mouth feeling dry in anticipation of altoid
CS: Computer sound
CR: Mouth feeling dry/anticipation of altoid

13. Example- Frasier UCS: Team losing UCR: Sadness/unpleasant feelings
CS: Red balloon
CR: Sadness/unpleasant feelings

14. Acquisition Initial stage of learning
When one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
How much time should elapse between presenting the neutral stimulus and the UCS?
Pavlov discovered half a second

15. Acquisition
Conditioning does not happen when the US is presented before the CS.
Tone must be heard BEFORE presenting the food
Classical conditioning is biologically adaptive
Helps humans and other animals prepare for good or bad events
Helps us to survive and reproduce

16. Extinction Diminishing of a conditioned response
Occurs when a US does not follow a CS
Sounding the tone again and again without following with food

17. Spontaneous Recovery
Reappearance of extinguished conditioned response after a pause (usually weakened)

18. Generalization
Tendency for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
Dogs conditioned to salivate at the sound of Pavlov’s tone would also salivate to the sound of a different tone
Generalization can be adaptive
Children taught to fear moving cars also become afraid of moving trucks and motorcycles

19. Discrimination
Learned ability to distinguish between a CS and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus
Pavlov’s dogs learned to respond to the sound of some tones and not to respond to some other tones

20. Watson and “Little Albert”
At first, Little Albert feared loud noises, but not white rats.
Watson and Rosalie Rayner presented a white rat and struck a hammer against a steel bar behind Little Albert’s head as he reached to touch it.

21. Watson and “Little Albert”
After several repeats of the process, Little Albert began to cry at the sight of the rat.
Generalization: Little Albert reacted with fear to a rabbit, a dog, and a coat, but not to toys.

22. Review Discuss with someone next to you:
Give an example of generalization
Give an example of discrimination

23. Operant Conditioning
Organisms associate their own actions with consequences
Different from classical conditioning

24. Edward Thorndike B.F. Skinner

25. Thorndike’s Experiment
Placed cats in “puzzle boxes”
Used fish to entice cats to find their way out through a series of maneuvers
Cats’ performance improved with successive trials
Law of effect: Rewarded behavior is likely to recur

26. Skinner’s Experiments
Operant chamber- “Skinner box”
rats and pigeons
Animal presses a bar or pecks a key that releases food or water

28. Shaping
Reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of desired behavior

29. Reinforcers Any event that strengthens a behavior
Positive reinforcement: Presenting a pleasurable stimulus after a response
Praise, candy, money
Negative reinforcement: Reducing or removing something unpleasant
Removal of chores, taking aspirin to remove headache
NOT PUNISHMENT!!!

30. Reinforcers Primary reinforcers: Innately satisfying
Food when hungry, having a headache go away
Conditioned reinforcers: Learned association with primary reinforcers
Money, grades
Also called secondary reinforcers

32. Reinforcers Immediate and delayed reinforcers
Humans will respond to delayed reinforcers
Paycheck at the end of the week
Animals only respond to immediate reinforcers

33. Punishment Any consequence that decreases a behavior
Positive punishment: Adding an unpleasant stimulus
Spankings
Negative punishment: Taking away a desirable stimulus
Grounding for the weekend

34. Punishment Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten
Punishment teaches discrimination
Punishment can teach fear
Physical punishment may increase aggressiveness by modeling aggression

35. Reinforcement Schedules
Continuous reinforcement: Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
Learning and extinction both happen rapidly
Partial reinforcement: Reinforcing a behavior part of the time
Slower learning and extinction

36. Fixed-interval schedule: Reinforces a response after a specified time
Fixed-ratio schedule: Reinforces a response after a specified number of responses
Coffee shop rewards a free drink after ten purchases
Variable-ratio schedule: Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
Slot machines
Fixed-interval schedule: Reinforces a response after a specified time
Checking the mailbox
Variable-interval schedule: Reinforces a response after an unpredictable amount of time
Pop quizzes

38. Skinner’s Legacy
Believed that external influences, not internal thoughts and feelings, shape behavior
Encouraged people to use principals of operant conditioning to influence each other’s behavior
Skinner’s critics believed that these beliefs dehumanized people

39. Classical Conditioning
Classical vs. Operant
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Associations between two stimuli
Associations between an organism’s own behavior and consequences
Natural responses
Organisms “operate” on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli
UCS and CS presented TOGETHER
Reward/Punishment comes AFTER behavior

40. Biology and classical conditioning
Natural selection favors traits that enhance survival (Evolutionary approach)
Taste aversion: We avoid foods that we associate with illness
We avoid situations that we associate with danger
Classical conditioning is biologically adaptive

41. Biology and Operant Conditioning
Organisms can only be conditioned to perform actions that fall within their natural behaviors.
Organisms are predisposed to learn behaviors that are naturally adaptive
Food

42. Cognition and Classical Conditioning
Early behaviorists did not focus on cognition
Cognition can be involved in classical conditioning
Patients learning to overcome alcoholism receive drinks laced with nausea- inducing drugs, but still understand that the drug causes nausea, not the drink
Animals can learn the predictability of events
Pavlov’s dogs/food

43. Cognition and Operant Conditioning
Cognitive maps and latent learning
Rats exploring a maze without rewards learn the layout
Demonstrate learning when experimenter places food at the end of the maze
Insight learning: Sudden realization of the answer to a problem
Motivation
Intrinsic motivation stronger than extrinsic motivation

44. Learning and Personal Control
Learning behaviors to relieve stress
Problem-focused coping: Changing the stressor or how we interact with the stressor
Emotion-focused coping: Avoiding/ignoring stressor and attending to emotional needs
Belief that we cannot change the situation

45. Learning and Personal Control
Learned helplessness: Hopelessness and passive resignation an organism learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

46. Learning and Personal Control
Internal locus of control: Perception that you control your own fate
External locus of control: Perception that chance or outside forces beyond your control determine your own fate

47. Review
A difficult test is coming up. How would a person with each view respond?
Internal locus of control
External locus of control
I need to focus on studying this week to get the best grade possible
It doesn’t matter if I study or not. I am going to fail anyway.

48. Biopsychosocial Influences on Learning
Biological influences
Genetic predispositions, unconditioned responses, adaptive responses
Psychological influences
Previous experiences, predictability, generalization, discrimination
Social-cultural influences
Culturally learned preferences, motivation

49. Observational Learning
Learning by observing others
Modeling: The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

50. Mirror Neurons
Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions OR when observing another doing those actions
Neurons that fire when a monkey grabs something also fire in another monkey who is watching
Humans empathize with the feelings of others

52. Albert Bandura

53. Bobo Doll Experiment
Children watched an adult model beat up a Bobo doll (punching, kicking, throwing, etc.).
Children then brought into a room filled with a few toys and a Bobo doll.
Children who viewed the adult model’s actions were more likely to act violently toward the Bobo doll.

54. Prosocial and Antisocial Effects
Prosocial behavior: Positive, constructive, and helpful
Antisocial behavior: Violent, destructive
Prosocial and antisocial behaviors can both be learned through observation