Learning

Learning refers to any relatively permanent change in behavior which occurs as a result of practice or experience.

Learning is a change in behavior, for better or for worse.

It is a change that takes place through practice or experience. (growth, maturation, injury)

The change must be relatively permanent. (fatigue, diseases, drugs, hunger, thirst)

Classical Conditioning

Ivan PavlovA type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus that naturally brings about that response.

John Watson - Little Albert

VariablesNeutral stimulus - a stimulus that, before

conditioning, does not naturally bring about the response of interest

Unconditioned stimulus - a stimulus that naturally brings about a particular response without having been learned

Unconditioned response - a response that is natural and needs no training

Conditioned stimulus - a once-neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned response - a response that, after conditioning, follows a previously neutral stimulus

A. Before conditioningNS (bell) Pricking of earsUS (food) salivation (UR)

B. During ConditioningNS (bell) + US (food) salivation (UR)

C. After Conditioning CS (bell) salivation (CR)

Applying Conditioning Principles to Human Behavior

DentistMcDonaldsPhobia - irrational fearsPosttraumatic Disorders of veterans

Perfumes

ExtinctionA basic phenomenon of learning that

occurs when a previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears.

Examples: you stop putting coins in a damaged pop machine, stop writing with a pen once runs out of ink, stop texting a friend who never answers, attention to a crying child

Spontaneous Recovery

The reemergence of an extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further conditioning.

Extinction Burstinitial increase in the response rate and

magnitude or intensity, especially if that response has an emotional or aggressive component

Example: drug addiction, crying to get attention

Generalization and Discrimination

Stimulus generalization occurs when a conditioned response follows a stimulus

that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus; the more similar the two stimuli are, the more likely generalization is to occur

Examples: bell and buzzer, red lights (size, shape, shade)

Stimulus discriminationthe process that occurs if two stimuli are sufficiently

distinct from one another that one evokes a conditioned response but the other does not; the ability to differentiate between stimuli

Examples: two teachers, growling dog and wagging of tail, smile and frown

Operant Conditioning

Law of EffectEdward Lee Thorndikepuzzle box for a catresponses that lead to satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated

example, class recitation

Operant Conditioning

BF SkinnerSkinner Box - learn to obtain food by

operating on their environment within the box

Laboratory rats Learning in which a voluntary

response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its favorable or unfavorable consequences.

Reinforcement: The Central Concept of Operant Conditioning

Reinforcement - the process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated

Reinforcer - any stimulus that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will occur again

Primary reinforcer - satisfies some biological needs and works naturally

Secondary reinforcer - a stimulus that becomes reinforcing because of its association with a primary reinforcer

Positive Reinforcementreinforcement by the presentation of a

reinforcerpositive reinforcer - a stimulus added that brings

about an increase in a preceding response

Negative Reinforcement reinforcement by the removal of an aversive

conditionnegative reinforcer - unpleasant stimulus whose

removal leads to an increase in the probability that a preceding response will be repeated in the future

Punishmenta stimulus that decreases the probability that a prior behavior will occur again

Positive punishmentweakens a response through the application of an unpleasant stimulus

Negative punishment (Penalty)removal of something pleasant (penalty)

Schedules of Reinforcementrefers to the frequency and timing of

reinforcement that follows desired behavior

Continuous reinforcement schedule - reinforcing of a behavior every time it occurs

Partial (Intermittent) reinforcement schedule - reinforcing of a behavior some but not all of the time

Behavior that is reinforced occasionally can ultimately be learned better than can behavior that is always reinforced.

Learning occurs more rapidly under a continuous reinforcement schedules.

Partial reinforcement schedules maintain performance longer than do continuous reinforcement schedules before extinction.

2 Categories of Partial Reinforcement Schedules

Fixed- and Variable- Ratio Schedulesschedules that consider the number of

responses made before reinforcement is given

Fixed- and Variable- Interval Schedulesschedules that consider the amount of time that

elapses before reinforcement is provided

Fixed- and Variable- Ratio Schedules

Fixed - ratio schedulea schedule by which reinforcement is given only

after a specific number of responses are madeExample: garment workers

Variable - ratio schedulea schedule by which reinforcement occurs after

a varying number of responses rather than after a fixed number

Example: door-to-door salesperson

Fixed- and Variable- Interval Schedules

Fixed - interval schedulea schedule that provides reinforcement for a

response only if a fixed time period has elapsed, making overall rates of response relatively low

Examples: weekly paycheck, study habit

Variable - interval schedulea schedule by which the time between

reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed

Example: surprise quizzes

Shaping

The process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

Examples: helping a mental hospital resident to speak again, teaching a child with autism to play basketball

Behavior Modification

A formalized technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of unwanted ones.

ReinforcementPunishmentExtinctionShapingPenalty

Behavior ContractingToken economyTime-outOvercorrection/

Flooding Reprimands

Cognitive Learning Theory

An approach to the study of learning that focuses on the thought processes that underlie learning.Latent LearningObservational LearningInsight Learning

Latent Learning

Learning in which a new behavior is acquired but is not demonstrated until some incentive is provided for displaying it.

It is said to occur but is not shown in behavior immediately, until later, when conditions for its emergence are favorable.

Behavior of rats in a maze (control and experimental group)

Lessons in schoolFailures in love

Observational LearningLearning by observing the behavior of another

person, or model.Albert Banduraoften referred to as social cognitive approach to

learningBobo doll (children and an adult)

Four processes in Observational Learning:1.Attention 2.Retention3.Motor Reproduction4.Motivation

Insight LearningSultan the chimpanzee and the bananaWolfgang KohlerSudden appearance of a solution to a problem; AHA

experience; restructuring a perceptual world into a new pattern\

A Catholic man who lived in a small town married twenty different women in that same town. All of them are still living, and he never divorced any of them. Yet he broke no laws. How could she do this?