1. Learning Chapter 7

2. Learning Behavior Change Relatively enduring Practice and experience
You learn by observing
Change
Connections between neurons are formed
Relatively enduring
Change is usually permanent
Practice and experience
Reinforces

3. Learning Stimulus – produces activity in an organism
Anything perceived by the senses – smell, touch, taste, sight, hearing
Response – reaction of an organism to a stimulus
Stimulus: Bright light
Response: Close/cover your eyes

4. Aristotle Greek philosopher 4th Century B. C. Laws of Association
Associations are mental connections between two stimuli

5. Ivan Pavlov Russian psychologist Won the Nobel Peace Prize
Classical Conditioning
Studied the role of the salivary glands in digestion

6. Natural Response Unconditioned Response (UCR)
unlearned, occurs naturally, no conditioning or training are needed in order to produce this response
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
the stimulus that causes the UCR

7. Conditioned Stimulus and Response
Conditioned response (CR)
Learned response
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
A stimulus presented that wouldn’t normally cause a certain response

8. Pavlov’s Experiment What happens when a dog is given food ?
Gets excited, jumps around, salivates
What happens when you ring a bell?
Gets excited jumps around, no salivating
What happens if every time you give a dog food you rang a bell?
The dog will eventually salivate
What happens now if you ring the bell?
The dog will salivate

9. Pavlov’s Experiment UCS Food UCR Salivation CS Bell CR
Why does the dog now salivate to the sound of the bell?
The dog has learned to associate the bell with food – he learned something!

10. Pavlov’s Observations
The following 4 areas play a role in classical conditioning
Time between CS and UCS
Repetition
Extinction
Generalization and discrimination

11. Applications of Classical Conditioning
1. Counterconditioning
Changing a negative response to a positive one
2. Flooding
Having a person face their fear continuously
3. Desensitization
Gradually exposing a person to something they fear

12. Operant Conditioning
A behavior is learned in connection with a reward or punishment

13. E.L. Thorndike Operant conditioning Placed a cat in a “puzzle box”
One lever in the box would open the door
The cat would claw around and eventually find the lever
Once the door opened the cat was able to get out and received a reward (food)
The cat was put back in the box, it would claw around again and find the lever, get out of the box and receive the reward
After a number of trials the cat new exactly where to go to get his reward

14. B.F. Skinner Behavior psychologist Respondent behavior
The response that is involuntary, it doesn’t have to be learned, it happens automatically
Operant behavior
Voluntary behavior, choosing to do something
Reinforcement
Encourages or discourages a behavior

15. Principles of Operant Conditioning
Any response followed by a reinforcing stimulus tends to be repeated
A stimulus is considered reinforcing when it increases the rate of an operant behavior

16. Primary and Secondary Reinforcements
A stimulus that is tied to some aspect of survival (food, water)
Secondary
A stimulus that is not necessary for survival, (money, praise)

17. Changes in Operant Conditioning
Generalization
when stimuli are similar but not identical, and the CR still occurs
Discrimination
learning the difference between two similar stimuli
Extinction
getting rid of a response

18. Shaping
A method of refining a behavior by reinforcing behaviors that are close to the desired behavior
Eventually the reinforcements will lead to the actual desired behavior

19. Chaining Teaching steps to a desired behavior separately
Once each behavior is linked together you get the actual desired behavior

20. Schedules of Reinforcement
How often must a person receive reinforcement for a behavior to continue?
Fixed Schedule
Given consistently
Variable Schedule
Given at different rates or times

21. Schedules of Reinforcement
Ratio Schedule
Based on the number of times a behavior occurs and the rate at which it’s reinforced
Interval Schedule
Reinforcement is given after a specific amount of time

22. Biology of Conditioning
Taste Aversion
Develop a dislike for a particular food if it resulted in an illness (biological preparedness)
Adaptive behavior
Instinctual Drift
Instincts
We drift towards certain things because of inborn tendencies

23. Latent Learning Edward Tolman
Individuals interact with the environment
Form associations between two different stimuli
Cognitive maps – associations made previously that can be used at a later time
Latent learning – using a previously learned behavior at a later time, but when you learned it, it wasn’t obvious that you could use it for something else

24. Insight Learning Wolfgang Kohler Figuring out a method or behavior
Placed chimpanzees in cages with bananas hanging from the ceiling
In the cages were several boxes
Chimps tried jumping and climbing to get to the bananas
After a while they studied the boxes
They then stacked the boxes, climbed on top and got the bananas

25. Cognitive Theories Cognition Thinking Memory formation Learning
Problem solving

26. Jean Piaget French psychologist
Mental abilities develop as a function of biological development & experience
Schemas contain info. About
Objects
Actions
Events
Relationships
Example: Morning routine

27. Jean Piaget Children are already born with certain schema Suck Reach
Look
Grasp

28. Stages of Cognitive Development
1. Sensorimotor (birth-2 years)
Differentiates self from objects
Object permanence – things continue to exist even when they are no longer present to the senses
2. Preoperational (2-7 years)
Use language, represent objects with words

29. Stages of Cognitive Development
3. Concrete operational (7-12)
Think logically
Classifies objects by several features (size, color, shape)
4. Formal operational (12 & up)
Become concerned with the hypothetical, the present, and the future

30. Factors Affecting Learning
Meaningfulness
Words or ideas that have personal meaning
Transfer
Learning new information, but being able to use it in real world situations
Chemical Influence
Stimulants – caffeine, soda, coffee – inc. brain chemicals and may allow for more rapid learning
Depressants – alcohol – reduce nerve firing and the potential for learning

31. Social or Observational Learning
Albert Bandura
Direct experience
Vicarious experience - observing

32. Bandura’s Research Divided preschool children into 2 groups
One watched a film of an adult playing quietly with a doll
The other watched a film of an adult playing aggressively with the doll
Punching, kicking, throwing it around the room
Later, when the children were allowed to play with toys, those who had seen the more aggressive film were more than twice as likely to act aggressively

33. Processes in Observational Learning
Acquisition or modification of a behavior after at least one exposure to the behavior
Attention
Retention
Motor Reproduction Processes
Motivation

34. Violence in the Media Observational Learning
Media violence can encourage violent behavior
Children brought up in a home where there is no aggressive behavior or punishment are usually less likely to exhibit violent behaviors seen in the media.

35. Current Approaches Individual differences in cognitive processes
The big picture
Minor details
Hands-on
Think or reasoning

36. Factors that Influence Learning
Emotions
Advantageous to learning
If emotions are overwhelming, little learning takes place
Evolutionary
Processes are inborn and are turned on by situations we face each day

37. Factors the Influence Learning
Culture
Values – learning depends on your family values
Perceptual Processes – how do you perceive what you come into contact with
Intelligence – varies among people