Learning : a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience

1. Learning: a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience Myers Chapter 7

2. Two Forms of Learning • Associative learning: our mind naturally links two events that occur in sequence • two stimuli • a response and its consequence • Observational learning: we learn from viewing others’ experience

3. Associative Learning • Classical Conditioning • Operant Conditioning

4. Classical Conditioning • Learning in which organisms learn to associate stimuli and thus anticipate events

5. Classical Conditioning

6. Classical Conditioning • Unconditioned response (UR): the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US) • Salivation in response to food in mouth

7. Classical Conditioning • Unconditioned stimulus (US): a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response • Food in the mouth

8. Classical Conditioning • Conditioned response: the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus • Salivation in response to the the metronome

9. Classical Conditioning • Conditioned stimulus (CS): an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus, triggers a conditioned response • The sound of the metronome • Before conditioning, this was the neutral stimulus

10. Classical Conditioning • Unconditioned = unlearned • Conditioned = learned

11. Acquisition • The initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship • Ideal circumstances • 1/2 second b/t neutral stimulus and US • CS before US

12. Higher-Order Conditioning • Occurs when the conditioned stimulus from one conditioning procedure is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second, often weaker, conditioned stimulus • Also referred to as second-order conditioning

13. Extinction • The diminishing of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus occurs repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus

14. Extinction

15. Spontaneous Recovery

16. Generalization The tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS Adaptive - extends a learned response to other stimuli in a given category Discrimination The learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other irrelevant stimuli Adaptive - limits our learned responses to appropriate stimuli Generalization & Discrimination

17. Cognitive Processes in Learning • Thoughts and perceptions are important in the conditioning process • Understanding the critical relationship between the US & CS • An “accepting” attitude

18. Biological Dispositions and Learning • Each species is biologically prepared to to learn associations that enhance its survival (help them adapt) • Human taste aversions • Rats more readily learn to avoid tastes, not sights or sounds

19. Pavlov’s Legacy • Principles of learning apply across species • Classical conditioning is one way virtually all organisms adapt • Objective study of psychological phenomena • Conditioning principles have important applications

20. John B. Watson • Behaviorism • “Little Albert”- classic conditioning may underlie specific fears

21. Operant Conditioning • The organism learns associations between its behavior and resulting events • The organism operates on the environment • In classical conditioning, the organism’s response is respondent (automatic)

22. Thorndike’s Law of Effect • Rewarded behavior is likely to occur • Basis of Skinner’s work

23. B.F. Skinner • Psychology’s most influential figure??? • Skinner box (operant chamber): a device that delivers rewards for responses and records these responses

24. Shaping • Reinforcers are used to guide an animal’s natural behavior toward a desired behavior • Successive approximations: behaviors closer and closer to the desired behavior • Ignore all other responses • Immediacy is important

25. Reinforcement • Reinforcer: any event that increases the frequency of a preceding response • Positive: presenting a pleasant stimulus after a response • Negative: reducing or removing an unpleasant stimulus after a response

26. Reinforcement • Primary reinforcers: innately satisfying • Food when we are hungry • Conditioned reinforcers: satisfying because we have learned to associate them with more basic rewards • Cash

27. Reinforcement • Continuous reinforcement: the response is rewarded every time it occurs • Learning is rapid, but so is extinction • Partial (intermittent) reinforcement: the response is not rewarded every time it occurs • Learning is slower than with continuous, but more resistant to extinction

28. Reinforcement Schedules • Ratio schedules: based on number of responses • Interval schedules: based on passage of time

29. Reinforcement Schedules • Ratio schedules: based on number of responses • Fixed ratio: reinforce after a set number of responses • Variable ratio: reinforce after an unpredictable number of responses

30. Reinforcement Schedules • Interval schedules: based on passage of time • Fixed-interval: reinforce the first response after a fixed period of time • Variable-interval: reinforce the first response after varying time intervals

31. Reinforcement

32. Punishment • Attempts to decrease the frequency of a behavior • Distinguished from reinforcement - attempts to increase the frequency of a behavior • Administration of an undesirable consequence

33. Punishment • Administration of an undesirable consequence • Negative punishment: removal of a favored object or activity • Fighting over a toy….Toy taken away • Positive punishment: administer an undesirable consequence • Fighting over a toy….Spanking

34. Punishment • Suppressing rather than changing behavior • Teaches discrimination and fear • Increases aggressiveness

35. Cognitive Processes in Operant Conditioning • Latent learning: we learn from experience with or without reinforcement, but sometimes learning is only demonstrated when we have some incentive to demonstrate it

36. Cognitive Processes in Operant Conditioning • Cognitive map: a mental representation of an environment

37. Intrinsic: the desire to perform a behavior for its own sake Extrinsic: the desire to perform a behavior to receive external rewards oravoid threatened punishment Motivation

38. Operant Conditioning and Biology • An animal’s natural predispositions constrain its capacity for operant conditioning • Naturally adaptive associations (teaching a cat to jump high)

39. Skinner’s Legacy • Critics argue he dehumanized people • Applications • Web-based schoolwork • Sports • Employee productivity • Parenting • Bad habits

40. Operant Conditioning in Our Own Lives • State your goal • Monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior • Reinforce the desired behavior • Reduce the rewards gradually

41. Classical & Operant Conditioning • Similarities • Associative learning • Involve acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, & discrimination • Influenced by cognitive and biological dispositions

42. Classical & Operant Conditioning • Differences • Classical: organism associates different stimuli they do not control and respond to those automatically • Operant: organism associates own behaviors with the consequences of those behaviors

43. Observational Learning • Modeling: the process of observing and imitating a behavior • Mirror neurons: biological basis for observational learning • Frontal lobe • Underlie our social nature

44. Observational Learning • Albert Bandura • We imitate because of rewards and punishments received by the model and the imitator • We learn to anticipate those consequences in similar situations • We tend to imitate models we perceive as similar to us, successful, or admirable

45. Prosocial Modeling • People who show nonviolent, helpful behavior prompt similar behaviors in others • Most consistent when actions & words are consistent