Chapter 6:Learning
Essential Question:What are the principles of
classical conditioning?
Thoughts on Learning“Learning is not compulsory.
Neither is survival.”W. Edwards Demming
“Education is what survives when what has been learned has been
forgotten.”B.F. Skinner
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn
how to do it.”Pablo Picasso
What is Learning?
A relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience
Why do grades matter?• Why does a letter or number mean
something to you? • Why do we try to avoid certain numbers
and letters? • When you listen to old songs, do you
have certain “rushes” of emotion from the time period that that song was popular?
• The song, the letters, the numbers all have associations with certain amount of experiences.
StimulusStimulusSomething that produces a
reaction
ResponseResponseReaction to a stimulus
ConditioningConditioningLearning
Classical ConditioningClassical ConditioningSimple form of learning, in which one stimulus comes to call forth the response usually called forth
by another stimulus.
Types of Learning• Classical conditioning• Operant conditioning• Cognitive Factors in
Learning–Latent Learning–Observational Learning
Ivan Pavlov• Russian Scientist• Studied the
digestive tracks of dogs
• Noticed that dogs began to salivate when they heard the people coming with their supper
• Decided to investigate further into this reaction
Letters of Learning• (US) Unconditioned Stimulus -a
stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without any prior conditioning (no learning needed for the response to occur).
• (UR) Unconditioned Response -an unlearned reaction/response to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without prior conditioning.
Letters of Learning• (CS) Conditioned Stimulus - a
previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response.
• (CR) Conditioned Response - a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of prior conditioning.
Adapting to the environment
• Have you ever eaten something and gotten sick on it and you cannot eat this again because of this bad experience?
• This is an example of taste aversion• Taste Aversion is defined as learned
avoidance of a particular food
Food Aversion
• US is the food • UR is nausea• Through pairing (maybe only
once)• CS is the food• CR is nausea
• Food-grade taste Food-grade taste aversion agent aversion agent made from bitter, made from bitter, smelly part of smelly part of concord grapes concord grapes (active ingredient (active ingredient methyl anthranilate), methyl anthranilate), renders fruit and renders fruit and foliage unpalatable foliage unpalatable to birds.to birds.
What would happen if Pavlov kept ringing the bell and not giving the dog the food? (that is after the dog was conditioned to the bell)
ExtinctionExtinction
What if Pavlov’s dog was fed normally (without the bell) and in a month later, he hears the bell…what
would he do?
Spontaneous Recovery
What if Pavlov’s dog was conditioned to the tuning fork (CS) and then Pavlov switched to a hand held
bell?
Generalization
What if the tuning fork (CS) was switched with
a doorbell?
Discrimination
Little Albert (call DFACS)pg 134• Let us read….• Now write a quick write
on “My childhood fears: How extinction changed these fears. Discuss the fact that as we mature, changing circumstances, recondition us. How does this relate to classical conditioning.