1. PowerPoint Image Slideshow
Psychology
Chapter 6 LEARNING
PowerPoint Image Slideshow

2. Learning? What’s that?
A ‘relatively’ permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice.
Note that learning is NOT the same as maturation, reflexes, or instincts
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Cognitive Learning
Latent Learning
Observational Learning

3. Classical Conditioning? Pavlov’s name ring a bell?
Learning by association, we perform a reflex or involuntary behavior to a new stimulus.
We need a UCS and UCR, and then we add a CS and eventually we get a CR. Huh?
Pair a neutral stimulus & an unconditioned stimulus to get the ball rolling
CS must precede UCS in acquisition phase
CS and UCS pairing is time sensitive
Acquisition takes more than 1 or 2 pairings
CS needs to be distinctive

4. FIGURE 6.3
Ivan Pavlov’s research on the digestive system of dogs unexpectedly led to his discovery of the learning process now known as classical conditioning.

5. FIGURE 6.4
Before conditioning, an unconditioned stimulus (food) produces an unconditioned response (salivation), and a neutral stimulus (bell) does not produce a response. During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented repeatedly just after the presentation of the neutral stimulus (bell). After conditioning, the neutral stimulus alone produces a conditioned response (salivation), thus becoming a conditioned stimulus.

6. Anything else I ought to know about CC?
Stimulus generalization: responding to a stimulus that’s similar to the CS
Stimulus discrimination: spotting how a stimulus is different from the CS
Extinction: what happens with no UCS?
Spontaneous Recovery: hey, there’s still something left after extinction?
Higher Order Conditioning: using a pairing of a new Neutral Stimulus with a CS, and after a while we’ve got a new CS.

7. FIGURE 6.7
This is the curve of acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery. The rising curve shows the conditioned response quickly getting stronger through the repeated pairing of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (acquisition). Then the curve decreases, which shows how the conditioned response weakens when only the conditioned stimulus is presented (extinction). After a break or pause from conditioning, the conditioned response reappears (spontaneous recovery).

8. FIGURE 6.5
In higher-order conditioning, an established conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus (the second-order stimulus), so that eventually the new stimulus also elicits the conditioned response, without the initial conditioned stimulus being presented.

9. Are there other forms of CC?
Conditioned Emotional Response: Watson/Rayner induced a phobia in Little Albert to a harmless little white rat (and some other white stuff too).
Vicarious Conditioning: all I gotta do is notice how somebody else responds to the CS?
Conditioned Taste Aversion: Why some foods are a turn off. Note 1 trial learning. Bio prepared!
Theories and explanations? You betcha!
Pavlov says the process is stimulus substitution.
Cognitive psychologists believe there must be an expectancy created by the CS/UCS pair.

10. FIGURE 6.8
John B. Watson used the principles of classical conditioning in the study of human emotion.

11. FIGURE 6.9
Through stimulus generalization, Little Albert came to fear furry things, including Watson in a Santa Claus mask.

12. Operant Conditioning? What’s that?
Thorndike’s cats in boxes helps him establish the “Law of Effect”. Consequences count!
Skinner continues the trend with rats in boxes.
What do we mean by a reinforcer?
Some reinforcers are primary? Innate.
Some reinforcers are secondary? Gold star
How are they different from a punisher?
Both things can be either positive or negative? (+ = present & neg = take away).

13. FIGURE 6.10
B. F. Skinner developed operant conditioning for systematic study of how behaviors are strengthened or weakened according to their consequences.
In a Skinner box, a rat presses a lever in an operant conditioning chamber to receive a food reward. (credit a: modification of work by “Silly rabbit”/Wikimedia Commons)

14. Anything else important to consider?
What sorts of things affect how quickly or long lasting operant learning works?
Continuous reinforcement. Simple and fast
Variable intervals keep us fishing.
Fixed intervals work pretty well for work.
Variable ratios work against gamblers
Anything else important to consider?
Speed matters (like with CC), but now we need a speedy delivery of the reinforcer.
We need to make sure we are reinforcing the correct response ONLY!

15. FIGURE 6.13
The four reinforcement schedules yield different response patterns. The variable ratio schedule is unpredictable and yields high and steady response rates, with little if any pause after reinforcement (e.g., gambler). A fixed ratio schedule is predictable and produces a high response rate, with a short pause after reinforcement (e.g., eyeglass saleswoman). The variable interval schedule is unpredictable and produces a moderate, steady response rate (e.g., restaurant manager). The fixed interval schedule yields a scallop-shaped response pattern, reflecting a significant pause after reinforcement (e.g., surgery patient).

16. Enough about Reinforcement. What about Punishment?
Punishment reduces the likelihood that a response gets repeated. May be + or -
It works best if it is intense or severe (uh oh)
It needs to be consistent (creates gambling)
Even when it works results often temporary
It may create fear, avoidance, anxiety, lying and/or animosity
It teaches violence. Kids spanked at age 3 are more likely to be violent at age 5.

17. Anything else about Operant Conditioning?
A Discriminative Stimulus works as a cue to direct us toward certain behavior (cops!)
Behavior Modification allows us to target certain behaviors (to increase or decrease)
Shaping allows us to gradually teach someone a very complex behavior (chain?)
Token economies allow us to skimp on reinforcers
Some behavior is biologically constrained

18. What about THINKING?!? Cognitive Theorists focus on mental processes
Tolman discovers rats show latent learning and develop cognitive maps
Bandura discovers kids will go beyond vicarious conditioning to modeling the behavior of others... sometimes. Vicarious reinforcement & vicarious punishment matter.
Do we really need to worry about violent video games?
Keys to Observational Learning: Attention, memory, imitation, & motivation

19. FIGURE 6.15
Psychologist Edward Tolman found that rats use cognitive maps to navigate through a maze. Have you ever worked your way through various levels on a video game? You learned when to turn left or right, move up or down. In that case you were relying on a cognitive map, just like the rats in a maze. (credit: modification of work by “FutUndBeidl”/Flickr)

20. This OpenStax ancillary resource is © Rice University under a CC-BY 4
This OpenStax ancillary resource is © Rice University under a CC-BY 4.0 International license; it has been reproduced & modified, but must be attributed to OpenStax, Rice University. Any unspecified modifications were carried out by Neil Walker.