1. Learning
Modules 20, 21 & 22
Modules 20, 21 & 22

2. Learning Acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors. Associative Learning: connecting of events that co-occur in time and or space.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

3. Habits
Learned associations can become habits (repeated behaviors in a given context).
Wood & Neil, (2007)
repetitions
Modules 20, 21 & 22

4. Behaviorism is the view that psychology...
Should be an objective science
Studies behaviors without taking mental processes into account
Ivan Pavlov
(1849 – 1936)
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Most research psychologists agree that psychology should be an objective science, but NOT that it shouldn’t take mental processes into account. However Pavlov and Watson, whom you will meet later, shared a disdain for “mentalistic” concepts, such as consciousness.
APA Learning Goal 1: Knowledge Base of Psychology
John B. Watson
(1878 – 1958)
B. F. Skinner
(1904 – 1990)
Modules 20, 21 & 22

5. Goal: to find basic principles (laws) of learning.
Behaviorism
Goal: to find basic principles (laws) of learning.
- study only overt (observable) behavior.
- principles same for humans and animals.
Define learning as changes in behavior due to experience.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

6. Stimulus - any detectable event (e.g., light, smell of cookies) And
Conditioning
Relation between:
Stimulus - any detectable event
(e.g., light, smell of cookies)
And
Response - any observable behavior
Modules 20, 21 & 22

7. Through experience the stimulus and response become associated.
General Assumption:
Through experience the stimulus and response become associated.
Conditioning = Learned Associations
Modules 20, 21 & 22

8. Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov
Modules 20, 21 & 22

9. Modules 20, 21 & 22

10. Vocabulary
Unconditioned Stimulus (US): a stimulus that naturally triggers a response Example: food
Unconditioned Response (UR): a naturally occurring response to the US (food) Example: salivation
Neutral Stimulus (NS): a stimulus that has not been paired with the US and elicits no response Example: bell
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): a previously neutral stimulus (NS) that is paired with the US and as a result, triggers a conditioned response (CR) Example: bell
Conditioned Response (CR): a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus (NR), but now a conditioned stimulus (CS) Example: salivation
Click to reveal bullets for review.
APA Learning Goal 1: Knowledge Base of Psychology
Modules 20, 21 & 22

11. Classical Conditioning Unconditioned Stimulus (US) naturally
elicits an Unconditioned response (UR)
E.g., Food  Salivation
Loud noise  startle response
Pain  avoidance response
Modules 20, 21 & 22

12. Conditioned Stimulus (CS)- does not naturally elicit the UR.
When NS is paired with the US several times, the NS will become associated with the US and will elicit the same UR.
Pavlov game
Modules 20, 21 & 22

13. After several Pairings (CR) Bell (CS) Salivation
Bell (NS)
(UR)
FOOD (US) Salivation
After several Pairings
(CR)
Bell (CS) Salivation
Salivation is now a conditioned response to
the sound of the bell
Modules 20, 21 & 22

14. Ex. The Cat and the Can Opener. Can opener Sound (NS) Smell of Food
Food (US) Dance
Soon the can opener alone will result in
the cat doing the food dance.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

15. If the aroma brewing coffee makes your heart race, what is the US
If the aroma brewing coffee makes your heart race, what is the US?  The CS?  The CR?
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Modules 20, 21 & 22

16. Extinction:
When the CS and US are no longer paired, conditioning lessens and then disappears.
Re-conditioning
A previously conditioned response is re-conditioned faster than a new response.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

17. Spontaneous Recovery
Modules 20, 21 & 22

18. Stimulus Generalization The CR is elicited by similar stimuli.
Stimulus Discrimination
Only a specific CS elicits the CR.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

19. Stimulus Generalization?
Modules 20, 21 & 22

20. Classical Conditioning and Phobias Watson and Little Albert
Conditioned fear of white lab mouse.
Sight of mouse (CS) paired with loud noise (UCS).
UCR (CR) is a startle response.
Generalized to other white or fuzzy objects.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

21. Systematic Desensitization
Treating Phobias
Systematic Desensitization
Experience feared stimulus in safe environment.
Fear should extinguish.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

22. Applications of Classical Conditioning
Former drug users crave the drug when...
They are in the environment in which they took drugs.
They associate with people with whom they took drugs.
These contexts act as CSs and trigger cravings for the drug (CR).
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Former drug users often feel a craving for the drug when they are in the context in which they took drugs. These contexts, the people with which or the environments in which they used drugs act as CSs and trigger cravings for the drug (CR). Drug counselors advise former users to stay away from these contexts.
APA Learning Goal 4: Application of Psychology
Modules 20, 21 & 22

23. Stronger Conditioning for 1) More pairings
Basic Principles
Stronger Conditioning for
1) More pairings
2) Shorter time between CS and US
3) More Intense CS
4) Novel CS
Modules 20, 21 & 22

24. Module 21
Operant Conditioning
Modules 20, 21 & 22

25. Thorndike and the Law of Effect
Edward Thorndike (1898)
Placed cats in a puzzle box with a food reward outside the box
Recorded the amount of time that it took them to figure out how to escape
Concluded that rewarded behavior is likely to recur, which he called the law of effect.
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The law of effect states that when behavior is rewarded, an organism will repeat that behavior.
APA Learning Goal 1: Knowledge Base of Psychology
Modules 20, 21 & 22

26. - rewarding closer approximations
B. F. Skinner
Skinner Boxes
Shaping
- rewarding closer approximations
Modules 20, 21 & 22

27. Shaping behavior Successive approximations
Reward behavior that approaches the desired behavior
Allows animal trainers to get animals to perform complex behaviors
Helps us understand what nonverbal organisms perceive
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Shaping is a procedure in which reinforcers, such as food, gradually guide an animal’s behavior toward a desired action.
Click to start movie.
APA Learning Goal 1: Knowledge Base of Psychology
 APA Learning Goal 4: Application of Psychology
Modules 20, 21 & 22

28. Sheldon Conditions Penny (3 mins
Sheldon Conditions Penny (3 mins.) Conditioning does not work at a conscious level. According to behaviorists, a rewarded behavior increases because it is associated with the reward, not because the person is expecting a reward.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

29. Reinforcers (R) - increase behavior Punishment - decreases behavior
Always defined by their effect.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

30. Primary R - biologically rewarding
( e.g., food, drink, warmth, comfort)
Conditioned R - learned through association with Primary Rs.
(money, grades, praise)
Modules 20, 21 & 22

31. Immediate and Delayed Consequences
Modules 20, 21 & 22

32. Stimulus Generalization Stimulus Discrimination
Extinction
Stimulus Generalization
Stimulus Discrimination
Discriminative Stimulus
Cues that indicate when a response is likely
to get reinforced.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

33. Schedules of Reinforcement Continuous - Always rewarded
Intermittent - Only sometimes rewarded
Fixed (predictable)
Variable (unpredictable)
Interval (passage of time)
Ratio (number of responses)
Modules 20, 21 & 22

34. Fixed - e.g., Boss checks up on you every half hour.
Interval
Fixed - e.g., Boss checks up on you
every half hour.
Variable – Boss checks up on average every half hour, but you are never certain when the boss will check in.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

35. Fixed – you get a checkmark for every 10 widgets.
Ratio
Fixed – you get a checkmark for every widgets.
Variable – you get a checkmark for every 10 widgets on average. Never sure which widget will earn you a checkmark.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

36. Schedules and Extinction Continuous - easy to extinction
Fixed - easy to extinguish
Variable - harder to extinguish
Modules 20, 21 & 22

37. Is gambling continuous reinforcement or partial reinforcement?
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The answer is partial reinforcement on a variable ratio schedule.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

38. 1) more R’s better conditioning
Principles
1) more R’s better conditioning
2) shorter period of time between behavior
and R the better
3) the larger the R, the better
Modules 20, 21 & 22

39. Behavior Modification - Application of Operant Learning Principles
to change behavior.
Why is reinforcement
better than
punishment?
Modules 20, 21 & 22

40. Do we have to be consciously aware of R for conditioning to work? No.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

41. Effects of Biology and Cognition and Learning by Observation
Module 22
Effects of Biology and Cognition and Learning by Observation
Modules 20, 21 & 22

42. Biological Predispositions
John Garcia challenged the idea that all associations can be learned equally well.
Humans (and nonhuman animals) are biologically predisposed to learn certain associations but not others.
John Garcia
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Garcia and his colleagues gave rats a novel taste, sight or sounds and later gave them radiation or drugs that made them sick. They saw that the rats a) developed aversions to novel tastes even if they got sick hours later and b) the rats developed aversions to tastes, but not to sights or smells.
If you became violently ill after eating a certain kind of food, such as clams, you will develop an aversion to them. However, you would not develop an aversion to your dinner companions or to the sight of the restaurant.
This supports Darwin’s theory that organisms are biologically prepared to develop aversions to the taste of tainted food, and as a result survive to reproduce.
APA Learning Goal 1: Knowledge Base of Psychology
APA Learning Goal 3: Critical Thinking Skills in Psychology
Modules 20, 21 & 22

43. Conditioned Taste Aversions
Rats given water that is sweet, bright, noisy
water.
Condition 1: Electric shock
Condition 2: X-ray
Causing Nausea hours later
Modules 20, 21 & 22

44. Shocked group - avoided bright noise water - drank sweet water
Rats given Choice
Shocked group - avoided bright noise water
- drank sweet water
X-rayed Group - avoided sweet water
- drank bright noisy water.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

45. One trial (not gradual learning) Long period between behavior and
Why is this important?
One trial (not gradual learning)
Long period between behavior and
consequence
Belongingness
- taste associated with illness
- sounds and sights associated with pain
Modules 20, 21 & 22

46. Species-Specific Behaviors
Breland and Breland “Misbehavior of Organisms”
Instinctive Drift
Modules 20, 21 & 22

47. Predictability (Rescorla Studies) Paired a Tone (NS) with a Shock(US)
Group 1 (Tone is Good Predictor)
4 Tone - Shock pairings given.
Shock always follows Tone
and never occurs without Tone.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

48. Group 2 (Tone is poorer predictor) 4 Tone - Shock pairings given
Shock always follows the Tone
and often occurs without Tone.
Equal numbers of trials, thus both should be equally conditioned if learning depends only association.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

49. Only Group 1 becomes conditioned.
Conditioning is the establishment of a predictive relationship between a stimulus and an outcome. What is learned is an expectancy.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

50. Latent Learning (Tolman)
Rats put in complex maze once a day for 16 days.
Gr 1: Rewarded
- fewer errors over the 16 days.
Gr 2: No reward
- no change over 16 days
Modules 20, 21 & 22

51. Behaviorist’s Predictions
Days
Learning begins when reward Begins
Modules 20, 21 & 22

52. Actual Results E r o s 1 12 17 Days
(Predicted)
Days
Learning happens without consequences!!!
Modules 20, 21 & 22

53. On day 12, they make as few errors as Gr 1.
Learning occurred without reinforcement!
Learning ≠ Performance
R may be needed for performance but not for learning.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

54. Conditioning works by changing expectations that motivate behaviors.
Does not change what a person knows but does change their expectations about the consequences of behaviors.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

55. Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
Kohn(1993)demonstrates that people actually do inferior work when they are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives.
Modules 20, 21 & 22

56. Observational Learning Learning by observing others.
Bobo Doll experiment. Video
children imitated the behavior of an adult.
Vicarious Reinforcement and Punishment
Modules 20, 21 & 22

57. Modules 20, 21 & 22

58. Mirror Neurons and Imitation in the Brain
Video
Modules 20, 21 & 22