Learning: Principles & Application
sCHAPTER 2
Describe the principles and techniques of classical conditioning
Outline the principles, techniques, and applications of operant conditioning
Cite the factors involved in the process of learning
Apply the principles of learning to human and animal behavior
OBJECTIVES
Aversive controlAvoidance conditioningBehavior modificationClassical conditioningConditioned response (CR)Conditioned stimulus (CS)DiscriminationEscape conditioning ExtinctionFeedbackFixed-interval scheduleFixed-ratio scheduleGeneralizationLearningNegative reinforcement
Neutral stimulusOperant conditioningPrimary reinforcersReinforcementResponse chainsSecondary reinforcerShapingToken economyTransferUnconditioned response
(UCR)Unconditioned stimulus
(UCS)Variable-interval scheduleVariable-ratio schedule
KEY TERMS
What do you have?
What do others have?
What myths caused this?
Was it the stimuli- Breaking the mirror caused the bad luck? OR was other factors that caused the bad luck
Superstition: Is the result of pairing an unrelated event (walking under a ladder) with a related event (breaking an ankle)
SUPERSTITIONS
What is conditioning? Hair or working out?Process by which we learn superstitions and other behavior in our lives
CONDITIONING
Infant Hold
yourself upright
To walk To use your
hands
Pre-teen Run Ride a bike Operate a TV
Adolescent Read Write Study
Teenage
Get what you want by: Asking Bargaining Being nice Pouting
Fears & how to overcome
Learned how to learn
…BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF BEHAVIOR
Learning: A lasting change in behavior that results from experience
Why have you learned to fear the dentist?1. Fear of pain2. OR because every time you expressed your fears, your parents or
friends gave you special attention and comfort.3. OR you may never have gone to the dentist, but may have
learned to fear him or her by watching someone else’s reaction.
These examples represent the 3 basic types of learning that psychologist have studied1. Classical conditioning2. Operant conditioning 3. Modeling
LEARNING
Ivan PavlovDiscovery of the principle of classical conditioning was accidental.
Was studying the process of digestion Wanted to understand how a dog’s stomach
prepares to digest food when something is placed in its mouth.
Notice that the mere sight or smell of food was enough to start a dog salivating
Fascination with what he called “psychic secretions”Occurred before the food was presented
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Pavlov (1927) Began experiments by ringing tuning fork and then immediately
placing some meat powder on the dog’s tongue
Why did he choose the tuning fork? It was a neutral stimulus
Neutral stimulus: A stimulus that does not initially elicit a response It had nothing to do with the response to meat (salivation) prior to conditioning.
Only after a few times, the dog started salivating as soon as it heard the sound, even if food was not placed in its mouth
Went on to demonstrate that a neutral stimulus will cause a formerly unrelated response if it is presented regularly just before the stimulus (here, food) that normally induces the response (salivation)
PAVLOV’S EXPERIMENT
Pavlov used term unconditioned to refer to stimuli and to the automatic, involuntary responses they caused. Ex: Blushing, shivering, being startled, or salivating
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): An event that elicits a certain predictable response without previous training
In the experiment what was the unconditioned stimulus?
FOOD
PAVLOV’S EXPERIMENT
Does the dog have to be taught to salivate when it smells meat?
Unconditioned response (UCR): A reaction that occurs naturally and automatically when the unconditioned stimulus is presented.
In the experiment what was the unconditioned response? Salivation
Under normal conditions, would the tuning fork cause salivation? NO, the dog had to be taught, or conditioned, to associate this
sound with food
PAVLOV’S EXPERIMENT
An ordinarily neutral event that, after training, leads to a response such as salivation
Conditioned stimulus (CS): In classical conditioning, a once-neutral event that has come to elicit a given response after a period of training in which it has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
The salivation it causes is a conditioned response (CR)
Conditioned response (CR): In classical conditioning, a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus
PAVLOV’S EXPERIMENT
A wide variety of events may serve as a conditioned stimuli for salivation. What events could make the dog salivate?
Sight of food Experimenter entering the room Sound of a tone Flash of light
Controlling an animal’s or person’s responses in this way so that an old response becomes attached to a new stimulus is called classical conditioning
PAVLOV’S EXPERIMENT
Classical conditioning: A learning procedure in which a stimulus that normally elicits a given response is repeatedly preceded by a neutral stimulus (one that usually does not elicit the response). Eventually, the neutral stimulus will evoke a similar response when presented by itself.
Reflex responses Occur automatically following a UCS can be conditioned
to occur whenever the correct CS occurs Glands=salivation or weeping Internal muscles=stomach
Controlled by the automatic nervous system and very much involved in your emotions
PAVLOV’S EXPERIMENT
Worksheet page 23-24
STIMULUS AND RESPONSE
Handout (gray)
PAVLOV DOGS
The Office (Jim and Dwight
Before conditioning, what was the…
Neutral stimulus Computer tone
Response Dwight’s mouth did not taste like nastiness
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) Altoids
Response Nastiness taste in mouth
THE OFFICE (CLASSICAL CONDITIONING)
During conditioning
Conditioned stimulus Computer tone paired with
Unconditioned stimulus Altoids
Response Nastiness in mouth
THE OFFICE (CLASSICAL CONDITIONING)
After conditioningConditioned stimulus
Computer tone
Conditioned responseNastiness in mouth
THE OFFICE (CLASSICAL CONDITIONING)
Occurs gradually
With each pairing of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus, the learned response, or CR, is strengthened
In Pavlov’s experiment, the more frequently the tuning fork was paired with the food, the more often the tone elicited salivation-the conditioned response
Does the timing between the conditioned stimulus (tone) & the unconditioned stimulus (food) matter? Yes, the timing influences learning
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Timing: Pavlov tried several different conditioning
stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. Sometimes he presented the tone before the food. Other times, he presented the tone at the same time as the food, called simultaneous conditioning.
He found that classical conditioning was most reliable and effective when the conditioned stimulus was presented just before the unconditioned stimulus. He found that presenting the CS about half a second before the UCS gave the best results
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Pavlov also explored generalization & discrimination Generalization: Responding similarly to a range of
similar stimuli In this experiment, the dog would respond to a second stimulus
similar to the original CS, without prior training
Pavlov conditioned a dog to salivate at the sight of a circle (CS), he found that the dog would salivate when it saw an oval as well.
Why did the dog salivate with a circle and an oval? The dog had generalized its response to include a similar
stimulus
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Pavlov was later able to do the opposite, to teach the dog to respond only to the circle by always pairing meat powder with the circle but never pair ing it with the oval.
Pavlov taught the dog to discriminate
Discrimination: The ability to respond differently to similar but distinct stimuli
Generalization and discrimination are complementary processes and are part of your everyday l i fe.
Ex: Your friend has come to associate the sound of a dentist’s drill (CS) with a fearful reaction (CR). After several exposures to a dentist’s drill, your friend may find that she has generalized this uncomfortable feeling to the sound of other non-dental drills.
Later, your friend may learn to discriminate between the sound of a dentist’s drill and other drills
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Do you think that a classically conditioned response is subject to change?
What if Pavlov (Jim) stopped presenting the food (Altoids) after the sound of the tuning fork (computer tone)?
What type of effect would the sound have on the dog/Dwight? The dog/Dwight would no longer associate the sound with the arrival
of the food/Altoids No longer elicited the same response
Pavlov called this effect extinction because the CR had gradually died out Extinction: The gradual disappearance of a conditioned
response because the reinforcement is withheld or because the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the UCS (unconditioned stimulus)
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Can a spontaneous recovery occur when the CR reappears when the CS is presented?
UHHHHHH OOOOOOHHHH What’s the CS & CR again?
CS: Tone of tuning fork CR: Salivation
Yes spontaneous recovery can occur but does not bring the CR back to its original strength
Pavlov’s dogs produced much less saliva during spontaneous recovery than they did during original conditioning
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Example of extinction and spontaneous recovery Every time you are in the shower and the water pressure
drops, the water suddenly turns very hot. You learn to associate the normally neutral stimulus of a drop in water presser with your automatic startle reaction to the hot water surge. Even after you finally repair your plumbing so hot water no longer follows a drop in water pressure. It may take several showers before you no longer react to a water pressure change. You eventually extinguish the startle reaction.
You go away on vacation and when you return, you again react with a startle whenever the water pressure changes. You have had a spontaneous recovery of your conditioned startle reaction. After several showers without any hot water assaults, you no longer have a reaction; it is extinguished.
SHOWER TIME!
Classical Conditioning worksheet page 30
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Can a 9-month old child be conditioned to fear objects?
The Little Albert Experiment
THE CASE OF LITTLE ALBERT
Handout (blue)
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY ALBERT?
Worksheet
BABY ALBERT CONDITIONING
Children and bed wetting
1938 O. Hobart Mowrer 7 wife Mollie developed a device called the bell and pad
2 metallic sheets, perforated with small holes attached with wires to a battery-run alarm
Full bladder (CS) Alarm (UCS)
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING & HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Taste aversion You have eaten something and became ill, now you can no
longer eat or look at the food without becoming nauseated
John Garcia & R.A. Koelling (1966) first demonstrated this phenomenon with rats. The rats were placed in a cage with a tube containing flavored water. Whenever a rat took a drink, lights flashed and clicks sounded. Then, some of the rats were given an electric shock after they drank. All the rats showed traditional classical conditioning; the lights and the sounds became conditioned stimuli, and they tried to avoid them in order to avoid shock. The other rats were not shocked, but were injected with a drug that made them sick after they drank and the lights and sounds occurred. These rats developed an aversion not to the lights or the sounds but only to the taste of the flavored water
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING & HUMAN BEHAVIOR
Why are people told never to feed a stray cat?
Operant conditioning: A form of learning in which a certain action is reinforced or punished, resulting in corresponding increases or decreases in the likelihood that similar actions will occur again
YOUR BRO! Suppose you have a younger brother who is unhappy
because you seem to be capturing your mother’s attention. He begins to pout and act aggressively toward you. Right away your mother stops attending to you to reprimand him. Even though your mother’s attention is negative, your brother seems to like it. A short time later, he is back again harassing you and earning another reprimand from your mother.
This is an example of operant conditioning!!
OPERANT CONDITIONING
The term operant is used because the subject (brother) operates on or causes some change in the environment
This produces a result that influences whether they will operate or respond in the same way in the future
Depending on the effect of the operant behaviors, the learner will repeat or eliminate these behaviors- to get rewards or avoid punishment
OPERANT CONDITIONING
How experimenter conducts the experiment?Classical conditioning: The experimenter presents the CS and UCS independent of the subject’s behavior. Reactions to the CS are then observed
Operant conditioning: The subject must engage in a behavior in order for the programmed outcome to occur In other words, operant conditioning is the study of how behavior is affected by its consequences
OPERANT CONDITIONING VS.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Worksheet: 29 & 43
OPERANT CONDITIONING
What psychologist is most closely associated with operant conditioning? B.F. Skinner
Believed that most behavior is influenced by one’s history of rewards and punishments.
Rat A rat presses a bar in a Skinner box. The Skinner box is an artificial
environment in which lights, sounds, rewards, and punishments can be delivered and controlled. Some of the animal’s behaviors, such as bar pressing, can be recorded by automatic switches
Pigeon and box
SKINNER BOX
Gray worksheet with groups
USING OPERANT CONDITIONING PRINCIPLES
EX: Yo what’s up dog, shake hands! Every time the the dog lifts its paw up to you, it is given a treat. The treat is called positive reinforcement
Reinforcement: Immediately following a particular response with a reward in order to strengthen that response
What type of reinforcers do people respond to? Social approval, money, & extra privileges
REINFORCEMENT
Important factor of Operant conditioning Timing and frequency
Behavior that is reinforced every time it occurs is on a Continuous schedule of reinforcement
Surprisingly in the long run, the best results are not obtained through continuous schedule but when positive reinforcement occurs on a partial schedule. Responses are more stable and last longer
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
Fixed-ratio schedule: A schedule of reinforcement in which a specific number of correct responses is required before reinforcement can be obtained
Ex: Rewarding every 4 th response
The student who receives a good grade after completing a specified amount of work.
People tend to work hard on fixed-ration schedules
Low morale and few responses at the beginning of each new cycle because there is such a long way to go before the next reinforcement
4 BASIC SCHEDULES
Variable-ratio schedule: A schedule of reinforcement in which a different number of responses are required before reinforcement can be obtained each time
EX: Slot machines, set to pay off after a varying number of attempts
Gamblers often n overlook this feature and continue to deposit coins at a high rate
Believe the more they do, the sooner they will hit the jackpot
Ratio must be set so casino operators can make a profit
4 BASIC SCHEDULES
Fixed-interval schedule: A schedule of reinforcement in which a specific amount of time must elapse before a response will elicit reinforcement
The time interval- whether it is seconds, minutes, hours or days- is always the same
4 BASIC SCHEDULES
Variable-interval schedule: A schedule of reinforcement in which changing amount of time must elapse before a response will obtain reinforcement each time
Ex: Trying to reach a friend and goes straight to voicemail. The number of times you continue to try and call will determine roughly how often you try the phone again…and again
Pigeon
4 BASIC SCHEDULES
Schedule worksheet
STUDENT WORKSHEET
Wolfe 1936 Demonstrated this chimpanzees that poker chips have no
value for chimps
They are not edible and they aren’t very much fun to play with
Operant conditioning was used to teach chimps to value poker chips as much as humans
STIMULUS CONTROL
“Chimp-O-Mat” Dispensed peanuts or bananas (primary reinforcers)
Primary reinforcers: Stimuli that are naturally rewarding, such as food or water
To obtain food, the chimps had to pull down on a heavily weighted bar to obtain poker chips, then insert the chips in a slot machine
With repetition, the poker chips became conditioned reinforcers. Their value was evident from the fact that the chimpanzees would work for them, save them, and sometimes try to steal from one another
STIMULUS CONTROL
People often refer to reinforcement only to pleasant consequences of behavior
Psychologists refer to reinforcement as anything that increases the frequency of an immediately preceding behavior
Aversive control: The process of influencing behavior by means of unpleasant stimuli
AVERSIVE CONTROL
Negative reinforcement: Increasing the strength of a given response by removing or preventing a painful stimulus when the response occurs
Negative reinforcement follows and takes away, or negates an aversive stimulus
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
Escape conditioning: The training of an organism to remove or terminate an unpleasant stimulus
Consider the case of a child who hates liver and is served it for dinner-thoroughly repulsive experience. She whines about food and gags while eating it. At this point, her mother removes the liver. The gagging and whining behavior has been thus negatively reinforced, and the child is more likely to gag and whine in the future when given an unpleasant meal.
Escape learning because the behavior has enabled the child to escape the liver meal
ESCAPE CONDITIONING
Avoidance Conditioning: The training of an organism to remove or withdraw from an unpleasant stimulus before it starts
If the girl’s past whining and gagging behavior had stopped the mother from even serving the liver, we would identify the situation as avoidance conditioning; the child would have avoided the unpleasant consequences in advance.
AVOIDANCE CONDITIONING
Most obvious form of aversive control is not negative reinforcement, but punishment!
EX: If you want to stop a dog from pawing at you when it wants attention, you should loudly say “No!” when it paws at you.
EX: Sending a child to his/her room every time he harassed you would be an appropriate punisher; this unpleasant stimulus would have discouraged him from repeating the behavior
PUNISHMENT
In punishment, an unpleasant consequence occurs and decreases the frequency of the behavior that produced it…
Negative reinforcement and punishment operate in opposite ways
In negative reinforcement, escape or avoidance behavior is repeated, and increase in frequency
In punishment, behavior that is punished decreases or is not repeated
PUNISHMENT VS. NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
Who you gonna call? (Although more for obedience Stanley Milgram’s
experiment)
PUNISHMENT
Read page 38-40
Learning strategies, learning to learn, learned helplessness
LEARNING STRATEGIES
Shaping: A technique of operant conditioning in which the desired behavior is “molded” by first rewarding any act similar to that behavior and then requiring closer and closer approximations to the desired behavior before giving the reward
Read 40-42
LEARNING COMPLICATED SKILLS
Read page 42-43
Modeling
Observation learning
Disinhibition
MODELING
Top Related