Post on 25-Feb-2016
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LearningHow do we learn?
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Biology, cognition, and learning
Learning by Observation
How Do We Learn?
LearningThe process of acquiring, through experience, new and relatively enduring information or behaviors
Associative learningLearning that certain events occur together—the events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)
Cognitive learningAcquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language
How Do We Learn?
Association is one way of learning.
Conditioning is the process of learning
associations.
There are two main forms of conditioning.• Classical• Operant
Learning also occurs through cognitive and observational
learning.
Learning
Classical conditioningType of learning in which we learn to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events
Operant conditioningType of learning in which we learn to associate a response and its consequence
Thus, we learn to repeat acts followed by good results and to avoid acts followed by bad results
Let’s take a closer look.
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Conditioning is not the only form of learning
Through cognitive learning we acquire mental information that guides our behavior
Observational learning, another form of cognitive learning, facilitates learning from others’ experiences
Why are habits, such as having something sweet with that cup of coffee, so hard to break?
Classical Conditioning
Pavlov’s experiments
Pavlov’s legacy
Classical ConditioningPavlov’s experiments
He and his associates explored five processes: acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.
IVAN PAVLOV “Experimental investigation should lay a solid foundation for a future truescience of psychology” (1927).
PAVLOV’S CLASSIC EXPERIMENT
After studying this experiment, let’s make sure all the definitions are clear.
Can you define each of these more completely?
Neutral stimulus (NS)In classical conditioning, a stimulus that evokes no response before conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus (US)In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a response (UR)
Unconditioned response (UR)In classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth)
Conditioned stimulus (CS)In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR)
Conditioned response (CR)In classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)
An experimenter sounds a tone just before delivering an air puff to your blinking eye.
After several repetitions, you blink to the tone alone. What is the NS? The US? The UR? The CS? The CR?
Classical Conditioning
AcquisitionFirst stage in classical conditioning
Place where link between the NS and US is learned
A quail taleRecent research on Japanese quail shows how their capacity for classical conditioning gives them a reproductive edge
How did the researchers develop the quail’s preference for their cage’s red-light district?
AN UNEXPECTED CS
Psychologist Michael Tirrell (1990) recalled: “My first girlfriend loved onions, so I came to associate onion breath with kissing. Before long, onion breath sent tingles up and down my spine. Oh what a feeling!”
In horror movies, sexually arousing images of women are sometimes paired with violence against women. Based on classical conditioning principles, what might be an effect of this pairing?
Classical Conditioning
Extinction and spontaneous recoveryExtinction
In classical conditioning, the weakening of a conditioned response when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus
In operant conditioning, the weakening of a response when it is no longer reinforced
Spontaneous recoveryReappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response
The rising curve (simplified here) shows that the CR rapidly grows stronger as the NS becomes a CS as it is repeatedly paired with the
US (acquisition). The CS weakens when it is presented alone (extinction). After a pause, the CR reappears (spontaneous recovery).
ACQUISITION, EXTINCTION, AND SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY
The first step of classical conditioning, when an NS becomes a CS, is called________. When a US no longer follows the CS, and the CR becomes weakened, this is called ________ .
Classical Conditioning
GeneralizationThe tendency, after conditioning, to respond similarly to stimuli that resemble the conditioned stimulus
Can be adaptive
DiscriminationLearned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other irrelevant stimuli
Is also adaptive
Pavlov’s Legacy
Pavlov showed how a scientific model can be used to objectively study the learning.
Many responses to many stimuli can be classical conditioned. This is true for every species tested.
If the aroma of cake baking makes your mouth water, what is the US? The CS? The CR?
Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life
Pavlov’s principles influence human health and well- being in a variety of waysExamples
Patients can develop classically conditioned side-effects to drugs given as cancer treatments
Former drug users often feel a craving when they are again in the drug-using context
In Watson and Rayner’s experiments, “Little Albert” learned to fear a white rat after repeatedly experiencing a loud noise as the rat was presented. In this experiment, what was the US? The UR? The NS? The CS? The CR?
Archives of the History of American Psychology, The University of Akron
Operant Conditioning
Skinner’s experiments
Skinner’s legacy
Close-up: Using operant conditioning to build your own strengths
Contrasting classical and operant conditioning
Differences: Classical and Operant Conditioning
Classical• Involves learning
associations between events that are not controlled by learner
• Respondent behavior: Automatic responses to stimuli
Operant• Involves learning
associations between behavior and resulting events
• Association with one’s own actions with consequences
With ________ conditioning, we learn associations between events we do not control. With ________ conditioning, we learn associations between our behavior and resulting events.
Operant Conditioning
Skinner’s experimentsBuilt on Thorndike’s law of effect: Rewarded behavior is likely to be repeated
Developed to reveal principles of behavior control
Shaping behavior (successive approximation)Operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide actions closer and closer toward a desired behavior
Used as we continually reinforce others’ behavior
CAT IN A PUZZLE BOXThorndike used a fish reward to entice cats to find their way out of a puzzle box (right) through a series of maneuvers. The cats’ performance tended to improve with successive trials (left), illustrating Thorndike’s law of effect. (Adapted from Thorndike, 1898.)
Types of Reinforcers
Positive reinforcementIncreases behaviors by presenting positive stimuli
Is anything that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response
Negative reinforcementIncreases behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli
Is anything that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response
Is not punishment
WAYS TO INCREASE BEHAVIOR
A SKINNER BOX Inside thebox, the rat presses a bar or button for a food reward. Outside, a measuring device (not shownhere) keeps records of the animal’s responses.
Operant Conditioning; Types of Reinforcers
Primary reinforcersUnlearned; innate
Conditioned reinforcers (secondary reinforcers)Learned associaitions with primary reinforcers
Immediate reinforcersImmediate rewards
Delayed reinforcersDelayed
Can you think of examples for each of these?
Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement scheduleIs a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced
Reinforcement schedules vary and influence our learning
Continuous reinforcementIs good for behavior mastery; extinction can occur
Partial (intermittent) reinforcementIs slower but extinction is less
6-7 How do continuous and partial reinforcement schedules affect behavior?
Operant Conditioning
Fixed-ratio schedulesReinforce behavior after a set number of responses
Variable-ratio schedulesReinforce after an unpredictable number of responses
Fixed-interval schedulesReinforce the first response after a fixed time period
Variable-interval schedulesReinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses
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Telemarketers are reinforced by which schedule? People checking the oven to see if the cookies are done are on which schedule? Airline frequent-flyer programs that offer a free flight after every 25,000 miles of travel are using which reinforcement schedule?
Punishment
Ways to decrease behavior
Major drawbacks of physical punishmentPunished behavior suppressed; punishing behavior reinforced
Discrimination among situations taught
Generalization occurs; fear taught
Aggression may be increased by modeling
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Skinner’s Legacy
B. F. Skinner “I am sometimes asked, ‘Do you think of yourself as you think of the organisms you study?’ The answer is yes. So far as I know, my behavior at any given moment has been nothing more than the product of my genetic endowment, my personal history, and the current setting” (1983).
• Urged people to use operant principles to influence the behavior of others
• Criticized for neglecting people’s personal freedom and advocating for external control of others
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Applications of Operant Conditioning
At schoolMany of the ideas for education are used today
Electronic adaptive devices are often Skinnerian
At workMany organizations used reinforcers to influence productivity
At homeReinforcement is used and abused in many parenting situations
Reinforcement can be used effectively to help children change and manage their behavior
Ethan constantly misbehaves at preschool even though his teacher scolds him repeatedly. Why does Ethan’s misbehavior continue, and what can his teacher do to stop it?
Contrasting Classical and Operant Conditioning
Classical• Form of associative
learning• Associate different events
that one cannot control• Respond automatically
Operant• Form of associative
learning• Links behaviors to act on
the environment to produce rewarding or punishing events
Using Operant Conditioning to Build Your Own Strengths
State your goal in measurable terms and announce it
Decide how, when, and where you will work toward your goal
Monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior
Reinforce the desired behavior
Reduce the rewards gradually
Salivating in response to a tone paired with food is a(n) behavior; pressing a bar to obtain food is a(n) behavior.
Biology, Cognition, and Learning
Biological limits on conditioning
Cognitive influences on conditioning
Biology, Cognition, and Learning
Biological limits on conditioning
Humans are biologically prepared to learn some things rather than others
Humans are naturally disposed to learn associations favored by natural selection
Garcia and Koelling’s taste aversionresearch ended the belief that environments rule out behavior.
Findings help disprove the belief that almost any stimulus could serve equally well as a conditioned stimulus.
How did Garcia and Koelling’s taste aversion studies help disprove the belief that almost any stimulus (tastes, sights, sounds) could serve equally well as a conditioned stimulus? Explain.
Biology, Cognition, and Learning
Limits on operant conditioning
Each species has a limit on their capacity for operant conditioning
Our biology predisposes us to learn associations that are naturally adaptive
ROMANTIC RED In a series of experiments that controlled for other factors (such as the brightness of the image), men found women more attractive and sexually desirable when framed in red (Elliot & Niesta, 2008).
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Cognitive Influences on Conditioning
WatsonRejected mentalistic concepts
Maintained that the basic laws of learning are the same for all animals
Contended that psychology should be objective science based on observable behaviors
Watson’s view of learning underestimated two sets of influences:• Way biological predispositions
limits learning• Effect of cognitive processes
on learning
Cognitive Influences on Conditioning
Cognition and operant conditioning
Skinner rejected the premise that cognitive processes are integral to learning
Cognitive maps
Latent learning
LATENT LEARNING Animals, like people, can learn from experience, with or without reinforcement.
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Cognitive mapMental image of the layout of one’s environment
Latent learning Learning that is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it
Intrinsic motivationDesire to perform a behavior for its own sake
Extrinsic motivationDesire to perform a behavior to gain a reward or avoid a punishment
Learning by Observation
Thinking critically about: Does viewing media violence trigger violent behavior?
Learning by Observation
Observational learning Learning by observing others
ModelingThe process of observing and imitating a specific behavior
Vicarious reinforcement or punishment
Learning to anticipate a behavior’s consequences in situations like those being observed
ALBERT BANDURA “The Bobo doll follows me wherever I go.”
Learning by Observation
Mirrors and imitation in the brainMirror neuron
Fires when we perform certain actions and when we observe others performing those actions
Provides a neural basis for imitation and observational learning
EXPERIENCED AND IMAGINED PAIN IN THE BRAIN
Brain activity related to actual pain (left) is mirrored in the brain of an observing loved one (right). Empathy in the brain shows up in areas that process emotions, but not in the areas that register physical pain.
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Applications of Observational Learning
Prosocial effectsProsocial behavior models can have a prosocial effect
Effectiveness is related to consistency in actions and words
Antisocial effectsObservational learning can have adverse effects
Early childhood environments with high levels of aggression, TV, and videos are powerful sources of observational learning
Correlational studiesIn U.S. and Canada, homicide rates doubled as TV was introduced and spreading
Elementary schoolchildren exposed to media violence fought more and had a greater risk for violent behavior as teens.
Experimental studiesViolence-viewing effect stems from two factors
Media models prompt imitation
Prolonged exposure to violence desensitizes viewers
DOES VIEWING MEDIA VIOLENCE TRIGGER VIOLENT BEHAVIOR?