Exploring Learning Theories: From Observational to Operant Conditioning

1. LearningChapter 7

2. Learning • Behavior • You learn by observing • Change • Connections between neurons are formed • Relatively permanent • Change is usually permanent • Practice and experience • Reinforces

3. Learning • Stimulus – produces activity in an organism • Anything perceived by the senses – smell, touch, taste, sight, hearing • Response – reaction of an organism to a stimulus • Stimulus: Bright light • Response: Close/cover your eyes

4. Aristotle • Greek philosopher • 4th Century B. C. • Laws of Association • Associations are mental connections between two stimuli

5. Ivan Pavlov • Russian psychologist • Won the Nobel Peace Prize • Classical Conditioning • Studied the role of the salivary glands in digestion

6. Natural Response • Unconditioned Response (UCR) • unlearned, occurs naturally, no conditioning or training are needed in order to produce this response • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) • the stimulus that causes the UCR

7. Conditioned Stimulus and Response • Conditioned response (CR) • Learned response • Conditioned stimulus (CS) • A stimulus presented that wouldn’t normally cause a certain response

8. Pavlov’s Experiment • What happens when a dog is given food ? • He begins to salivate • What happens when you ring a bell? • Nothing • What happens if every time you give a dog food you rang a bell? • The dog will salivate • What happens now if you ring the bell? • The dog will salivate

9. Pavlov’s Experiment • UCS • Food • UCR • Salivation • CS • Bell • CR • Salivation • Why does the dog now salivate to the sound of the bell? • The dog has learned to associate the bell with food – he learned something!

10. Pavlov’s Observations • The following 4 areas play a role in classical conditioning • Time between CS and UCS • Repetition • Extinction • Generalization and discrimination

11. Applications of Classical Conditioning • 1. Counterconditioning • Changing a negative response to a positive one • 2. Flooding • Having a person face their fear continuously • 3. Desensitization • Gradually exposing a person to something the fear

12. Operant Conditioning • A behavior is learned in connection with a reward or punishment

13. E.L. Thorndike • Operant conditioning • Placed a cat in a “puzzle box” • One lever in the box would open the door • The cat would claw around and eventually find the lever • Once the door opened the cat was able to get out and received a reward (food) • The cat was put back in the box, it would claw around again and find the lever, get out of the box and receive the reward • After a number of trials the cat new exactly where to go to get his reward

14. B.F. Skinner • Behavior psychologist • Respondent behavior • The response that is involuntary, it doesn’t have to be learned, it happens automatically • Operant behavior • Voluntary behavior, choosing to do something • Reinforcement • Encourages or discourages a behavior

15. Principles of Operant Conditioning • Any response followed by a reinforcing stimulus tends to be repeated • A stimulus is considered reinforcing when it increases the rate of an operant behavior

16. Primary and Secondary Reinforcements • Primary • A stimulus that is tied to some aspect of survival (food, water) • Secondary • A stimulus that is not necessary for survival, (money, praise)

17. Changes in Operant Conditioning PAGE 103-104 • Generalization • Discrimination • Extinction

18. Shaping • A method of refining a behavior by reinforcing behaviors that are close to the desired behavior • Eventually the reinforcements will lead to the actual desired behavior

19. Chaining • Teaching steps to a desired behavior separately • Once each behavior is linked together you get the actual desired behavior

20. Schedules of Reinforcement • How often must a person receive reinforcement for a behavior to continue? PAGE 105 • Fixed Interval Schedule (FI) • Variable Interval Schedule (VI) • Fixed-ratio Schedule (FR) • Variable-ratio Schedule (VR)

21. Biology of Conditioning • Taste Aversion • Develop a dislike for a particular food if it resulted in an illness (biological preparedness) • Adaptive behavior • Instinctual Drift • Instincts • We drift towards certain things because of inborn tendencies

22. Latent Learning • Edward Tolman • Individuals interact with the environment • Form associations between two different stimuli • Cognitive maps – associations made previously that can be used at a later time • Latent learning – using a previously learned behavior at a later time, but when you learned it, it wasn’t obvious that you could use it for something else

23. Insight Learning • Wolfgang Kohler • Figuring out a method or behavior • Placed chimpanzees in cages with bananas hanging from the ceiling • In the cages were several boxes • Chimps tried jumping and climbing to get to the bananas • After a while they studied the boxes • They then stacked the boxes, climbed on top and got the bananas

24. Cognitive Theories • Cognition • Thinking • Memory formation • Learning • Problem solving

25. Jean Piaget • French psychologist • Mental abilities develop as a function of biological development & experience • Schemas contain info. About • Objects • Actions • Events • Relationships • Example: Morning routine

26. Jean Piaget • Children are already born with certain schema • Suck • Reach • Look • Grasp

27. Factors Affecting Learning • Meaningfulness • Words or ideas that have personal meaning • Transfer • Learning new information, but being able to use it in real world situations • Chemical Influence • Stimulants – caffeine, soda, coffee – inc. brain chemicals and may allow for more rapid learning • Depressants – alcohol – reduce nerve firing and the potential for learning

28. Social or Observational Learning • Albert Bandura • Direct experience • Vicarious experience - observing

29. Processes in Observational Learning • Attention • Retention • Motor Reproduction Processes • Motivation

30. Violence in the Media • Observational Learning • Media violence can encourage violent behavior • Children brought up in a home where there is no aggressive behavior or punishment are usually less likely to exhibit violent behaviors seen in the media.

31. Current Approaches • Individual differences in cognitive processes • The big picture • Minor details • Hands-on • Think or reasoning

32. Factors that Influence Learning • Emotional • Advantageous to learning • If emotions are overwhelming, little learning takes place • Evolutionary • Processes are inborn and are turned on by situations we face each day

33. Factors the Influence Learning • Culture • Values – learning depends on your family values • Perceptual Processes – how do you perceive what you come into contact with • Intelligence – varies among people