Learning

Take a few moments…•Do you associate any food/smells with

being sick? What happened?

•How do you learn “right/wrong” behaviors?

•When you were little, did you copy your mom/dad/brother/sister/friends? In what ways?

Behaviorism•Psychology should be an objective science

that studies behavior without reference to mental processes▫Most current behavioral psychologists

would argue that mental processes should be studied

Learning•A relatively permanent change in behavior•Acquired from experience or observation

Learning

Classical Conditionin

gOperant

Conditioning

Observational Learning

Classical Conditioning

PAVLOV WATSON

Classical Conditioning•Learning in which an organism comes

to associate stimuliClassical Conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

a stimulus that naturally triggers a response

Unconditioned Response (UR)

the naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US)

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

stimulus that was originally meaningless but comes to trigger a response

Conditioned Response (CR)

the learned response to a previously neutral, but now conditioned, stimulus (CS)

Ivan Pavlov• Studied how dogs associate salivation with food by ringing

a tuning fork/bell with the presentation of food. The dog eventually salivated at the sound of the tuning fork/bell.

Another Example…•An experimenter sounds a tone just

before delivering an air puff to your eye.▫Unconditioned stimulus

Air puff▫Unconditioned response

Eye blink to air puff▫Conditioned stimulus

Tone▫Conditioned Response

Eye blink to tone

Another Example…•The Office… Jim classically conditions

Dwight▫Unconditioned stimulus

Jim offers mint▫Unconditioned response

Accepts mint▫Conditioned stimulus

Computer sound▫Conditioned Response

Expects mint

Learning ProcessesProcess Description Example

Extinction The disappearance of a CR

Pavlov found that when he rang the fork repeatedly without presenting the food, the dogs salivated less and less

Spontaneous Recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished CR

Pavlov found that if he waited a few hours before ringing the fork again, the dogs would salivate to the ringing after the pause

Generalization

The tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit a similar response.

Pavlov found that dogs would salivate to tones of different pitches that they had not previously associated with food

Discrimination

The ability to distinguish between stimuli

Pavlov’s dogs also learned to respond to certain tones and not to others

John B. Watson• Conditioned “Little Albert” to fear white rats, later

all white, fluffy animals▫Previously not afraid of white rats, Watson

presented a loud banging sound when Albert saw a white rat conditioned fear of rats.

• US▫Loud noise

• UR▫Crying at noise

• CS▫Rat

• CR▫Crying at rat

Operant Conditioning

SKINNER

Operant Conditioning•Learning in which behaviors are

strengthened or diminished by consequence

•Controlled rats’, and later pigeons’, behaviors with an operant chamber (Skinner box)▫contained a bar or key that an animal can

manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforce, with attached devices to record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking

Shaping•Skinner used shaping –reinforcers guide

behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

•Reinforcement – anything that STRENGTHENS behaviors

•Punishment – anything that DIMINISHES behavior

Positive NegativeReinforcement

Adding a desired stimulus

Removing an undesired stimulus

Punishment Adding an undesired stimulus

Removing a desired stimulus

Positive… Adding/+

Negative… Removing/-

Big Bang Theory – Sheldon trains Penny

Operant Conditioning Examples

• Receiving praise for A+ in Psych/Soc.▫Positive reinforcement – addition of something

good• Lunch detention for being late to class.

▫Positive punishment – addition of something bad• No homework in class because everyone’s

behavior was on point!▫Negative reinforcement – removal of something

bad• You get your phone taken away for Snapchatting

in class…▫Negative punishment – removal of something good

Motivation•The type of motivation can affect the

effectiveness of reinforcements and punishments▫Intrinsic motivation – the desire to perform a

behavior for its own sake.▫Extrinsic motivation – the desire to perform a

behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishment.

▫Children who were normally avid readers (intrinsically motivated) were paid for reading and their reading amount decreased positive reinforcement backfired

Observational Learning

BANDURA

Observational Learning •Learning by observing others

▫Learning does not always happen as a byproduct of experience

•Modeling – the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Albert Bandura's Experiment•Experimental group of

preschoolers was exposed to an adult beating a blow-up (Bobo) doll for 10 minutes and then left to see if they would do the same▫children exposed to

aggressive adult models were more likely to be aggressive towards the doll when alone with the toys

Applications of Observational Learning• Antisocial (destructive, inconsiderate) models

may have antisocial effects▫family, TV, movies, friends

• Prosocial (positive, constructive, helpful) models can have prosocial effects

• Violent viewing correlates with violent play/actions▫Violent TV/movies can desensitize children and

adults to pain, death, and punishment.