CHAPTER 6 - LEARNINGPsychology

McGonigle

CP + H

Reinforcement

• Skinner’s Box- rat deprived of food kept pressing the lever- 1st – accidental , it soon learned pressing the lever meant food.

• Reinforcement- process by which a stimulus increases the chances that a behavior will occur again.

Flooding- Classical Conditioning

• Fear of High Places, Snakes, Claustrophobia.

• Person is exposed to the harmless stimulus until fear responses are extinguished.

• Look out several times from a six story building until fear ends. Sit in a room of small, un poisonous snakes.

Classical Conditioning

• Conditioning = Pairing of different stimuli to produce a response/reaction.

• Classical Conditioning = One stimulus calls forth the response that is usually called forth by the other stimulus.

Ivan Pavlov1849-1936

• Studying relationship between nervous system & digestion. (dogs)

• Dogs – began to salivate when they heard trays clink + assistants walk in.

• These events meant that food was coming.

Pavlov’s theory

• Dogs could be trained to salivate at any stimuli he chose in an experiment.

• Bell- rings and a second later, meat powder was placed on the dog’s tongue.

(dog salivates)• Pavlov- replicates experiment several times.

Experiment (cont’d)

• Around the fourth or fifth time, Pavlov rings bell, but does not place meat powder on the tongue of the dog.

• Dogs salivate anyway, they had been conditioned to salivate in response to the bell alone.

Letters of Learning Pavlov’s Experiment

• US – Unconditioned Stimulus – causes a response that is automatic, not learned.

• UR – Unconditioned Response- salivation in response to meat is not learned it is natural.

• CR – Conditioned Response- learned response to a stimulus that was previously neutral.

• CS – Conditioned Stimulus – Through repeated association w/ the meat, the bell became a learned stimulus.

Classical Conditioning- Taste Aversion

• Learned avoidance of a particular food.

• When food is poisonous or unhealthy, a taste aversion helps us to avoid them by keeping us away from them. ( Halloween)

• In taste aversion- usually only one pairing of food and illness is enough. ( Aversion therapy)

Extinction ( of conditioning)

• When a bear cub matures, it may no longer need its scent of danger approaching.

• Car alarm – constantly sounding, will eventually lose its effect. ( you won’t call police every time).

• When a CS is no longer followed by an US, it will lose its ability to bring about a conditioned response.

• Conditioned Stimulus is disconnected from unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

• Extinguished response is not gone forever.

• Organisms sometimes display responses that were extinguished earlier.

• Dogs – stopped salivating after bell. However a few days later, when they hear the bell, they salivate again.

• Response is a little weaker & there is less saliva.

Generalization

• The act of responding in the same ways to stimuli that seem to be similar, even if the stimuli are not identical.

• Pavlov’s circle (CS) was presented w/ meat (US) – dog salivates at circle.

• Any geometric shape close to a circle caused salivation from the dog- (generalization)

Discrimination

• Dog’s weaker response to figures that looked less like a circle is discrimination.

• Act of responding differently to stimuli that are not similar to each other.

• Bear cub is not afraid of all furry creatures - ( mouse , squirrel, chipmunk, etc.)

Systematic Desensitization

• When flooding is too fearful for patients.

• Patient – is taught relaxation techniques.

• They are exposed gradually to the stimulus that they fear while they remain relaxed. ( Shown pictures of snakes)

Counterconditioning

• A pleasant stimulus is paired repeatedly with a fearful one, thus counteracting the fear.

• Peter- feared rabbits, but loved candy.

• Eventually after eating candy, Peter felt comfortable enough to pet the rabbit.

Bell & Pad Method for Bed-Wetting

• Teaches children to wake up in response to bladder tension.

• Child w/ wetting tendencies- sleeps on a special pad.

• When he starts to wet, the water content triggers a bell & the ringing wakes the child up.

• Bell in this case – is an unconditioned stimulus.

Operant Conditioning

• People learn to do certain things and not to do others, because of the results.

• They learn from the consequences of their actions.

• Studying – positive operant behavior = good grades. Not studying – negative operant behavior= bad grades.

Primary Reinforcers

• Reinforcers that function due to the biological makeup of the organism.

• Food, water, adequate warmth can all be seen as primary reinforcers. ( Abraham Maslow)

• Do not need to be taught to value these reinforcers.

Secondary Reinforcers

• These reinforcers must be learned.

• They acquire their value by being paired with established reinforcers.

• Money, attention & social approval are all usually secondary reinforcers.

Positive Reinforcers

• Increase the frequency of the behavior they follow when they are applied.

• Food, fun activities, and social approval are examples of positive reinforcers.

• Reinforcement must be specific to the person- to be effective. (athletes/sports)

Negative Reinforcers

• Behavior is reinforced = Something unwanted stops happening or is removed following the behavior.

• Discomfort, fear, and social disapproval = all are negative reinforcers. (Kohlberg)

• Tired = sleep, have an itch= scratch it!

Reward

• Similar to positive reinforcers, they increase the frequency of a behavior.

• Students- go out for pizza after a long study session. (equate studying w/pizza)

• Team – has no sprints if kicker makes the field goal!

Punishment

• Unwanted Events that when applied, decrease the frequency of the behavior they follow.

• If a student fails two classes- he/she can not continue playing sports at their school.

• Negative reinforcer as well= student does not want the embarrassment/shame of being thrown off team.

Problems with Punishment• Does not teach alternate, acceptable behavior.

• Tends to work only when it is guaranteed- all the time.

• Punished people try to leave the situation rather than change behavior.

• Punishment can create anger & hostility.

• Punishment may have broader effects than desired.

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Refers to how often and when reinforcement to a behavior occurs.

• Continuous reinforcement: Reinforcement of a behavior every time that it occurs. (Skinner)

• Partial Reinforcement: A behavior is not reinforced every time that it occurs.

Interval Schedules

• Fixed Interval Schedule: A fixed amount of time must elapse between reinforcements of a behavior. ( 10:00, 10:05, 10:10, 10:15))

• Variable Interval Schedule: Varying amounts of time go between reinforcements. (unpredictable 10:00, 10:02, 10:09, 10:17)

Ratio Schedule

• Desired Response is reinforced every time, it is a 1:1 ratio of response to reinforcement.

• If a response must occur five times before it is reinforced, the ratio is 5:1.

• For fun: Try to guess the ratio schedule of a slot machine, scratch ticket, lottery ticket..

Shaping

• Way of teaching complex behaviors in which one first reinforces small steps in the right direction. ( learning to ride a bicycle)

• P. 144 – Squirrel!! (shaping)

Albert Bandura- Observational learning

• We acquire knowledge and skills by observing and imitating each other.

• New student in school- learns it is ok to speak up in class after watching the other kids.

• Children learn to speak, eat, and play by watching their parents and others do these things.

Opinion Question

• Are you in favor of rewarding positive behavior or punishing negative behavior? (Why?)

• How would you punish a child who broke curfew, would you take away their privileges, yell at them, or would you tell them not to do it again?

• Do you think a parent should give rewards to children who do well in school? Do you think a child should be internally motivated to do well?

Group Work

• In a group of 2/3 determine the following with regard to the Asch Experiment, The Elliott Experiment, and the Gardner Experiment:

• Unconditioned Stimulus• Unconditioned Response• Conditioned Stimulus • Conditioned Response

• Explain why this is so and if it does not exist, please also state this and why..

Essential Questions• How do we learn?• How do animals learn?• How is learning different from human to animal?• Is classical conditioning ethical with humans?• Is classical conditioning ethical with animals?• Is classical conditioning really learning?• Is positive reinforcement better than negative

reinforcement?• Is observational learning always effective? Why or Why

not?•