Question of the Day

Question of the Day • What color means the most to you? (10 sent)

Learning Chapter 9

Classical Conditioning Ch. 9.1 p. 241-248

Classical Conditioning • Attaching an old response to a new stimulus • Pioneered by Ivan Pavlov (behaviorist) • Part of learning • Permanent change in behavioral tendency resulting from experience Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

Classical Conditioning & Humans • John B. Watson: Little Albert experiment • Used 11 month old to test emotional responses • Initially Albert played with a rat • Watson then made a loud sound when the rat was near, creating a sense of fear in Albert • Whenever a rat was near, even without a loud sound Albert became scared

Before Conditioning… • Neutral Stimulus • A stimulus that does not initially elicit (bring out) any part of an unconditioned response • Unconditioned Stimulus (US) • A stimulus that automatically and naturally triggers a response; predictable response • Unconditioned Response (UR) • A unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus; a reflex

Conditioning • Conditioned Stimulus (CS) • Originally a neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response • Conditioned Response (CR) • A learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus.

Pavlov’s Experiments Before conditioning, food (Unconditioned Stimulus, US) produces salivation (Unconditioned Response, UR). However, the tone (neutral stimulus) does not.

Pavlov’s Experiments During conditioning, the neutral stimulus (tone) and the US (food) are paired, resulting in salivation (UR). After conditioning, the neutral stimulus (now Conditioned Stimulus, CS) elicits salivation (now Conditioned Response, CR)

Science & Songs • Listen to the two songs • Which one do you have a stronger response to? • Why?

Acquisition Acquisition is the initial learning stage in classical conditioning in which an association between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus takes place. In most cases, for conditioning to occur, the neutral stimulus needs to come before the unconditioned stimulus. The time in between the two stimuli should be about half a second.

Acquisition The CS needs to come half a second before the US for acquisition to occur.

Generalization & Discrimination • Responding to a second stimulus similar to the original CS without previous training • Example: Originally responding to blue lights, but create the same response when green lights come on. • Explanation: The subject was never trained to respond to green lights, but has the same response and blue lights • The ability to respond differently to different stimuli • Example: Being able to differentiate between people’s voices before reacting

Extinction When the US (food) does not follow the CS (tone), CR (salivation) begins to decrease and eventually causes extinction.

Spontaneous Recovery • Following a period of extinction, the conditioned response (CR) may reappear when the conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented again • The strength/intensity of the CR is not as strong as it originally was • Example: • A baby learns to stop crying when her mother comes into the room. Then, even when her mother does come into the room, she continues to cry. Eventually, the original response of stopping the crying when the mother enters the room returns.

Taste Aversion • Feeling of sickness typically attributed to some new food that a person ate • Actual cause may have nothing to do with what was eaten • Turns people off to that food (or drink) for future times

Class work/Homework • P. 248 #1, 3, 4, 5

ACTIVITY • Give each student a cup of powder, then choose some neutral stimulus to serve as a conditioned stimulus. The Cogans use the word “Pavlov.” • Instruct your students to moisten the tip of their index finger and to watch for your signal (for example, you will raise your arm) to dip their finger into the powder and then put it into their mouth. Also inform them that from time to time you will say the words “test trial” instead of giving the signal; when they hear those words, they should not dip into the powder but close their eyes and concentrate on their experience.

Present the CS and, after a small delay (0.5 to 1.5 seconds), give the signal for your students to dip into the lemonade powder. • Repeat trials at 10- to 15-second intervals, with a test trial after every 10 conditioning trials. • After each test trial ask for a show of hands of those who salivated. • When all or most of the students have demonstrated conditioning, begin extinction using the same test-trial procedure (in which you state on successive trials, “Pavlov . . . test trial”). Extinction should be completed during the same class period.

Journal • How do consequences affect your decisions? (minimum 6 sentences, Happy Thursday!)

Operant Conditioning Ch. 9.2 p. 250-258

Operant Conditioning describes learning that is controlled and results in shaping behavior through the reinforcement of stimulus-response patterns.1 • In other words: • Rewarding the desired behavior will make the behavior more likely to happen. What is It?

Pioneered by B.F. Skinner (1904 – 1990). He conducted experiments in which he rewarded the desired behavior of the subjects and therefore saw them behaving in the desired manner. • For example: Skinner placed a rat in a box with a lever. As the rat moved about the box, and the rat would move the lever, a food pellet would immediately fall into the box. The rat soon learned that by moving the lever, a food pellet would be expelled. The reinforcement represented by the food pellet assured that the rat would move the lever again and again.

Students benefit under this theory because they are motivated to do well. • Students are going to want free time/phone time during classroom time and without knowing it, they are going to try harder to get that A and going to want to do it again and again. How does this affect students?

Social Learning Chapter 9.3

Social Learning • Altering behavior by observing and imitating the behavior of others • Split into: • Cognitive learning • Modeling

Cognitive Learning • HOW information is obtained, processed, and organized • LATENT LEARNING • Not demonstrated by immediate observable change in behavior at the time of learning • Create a COGNITIVE MAP (mental map)

Learned Helplessness • Repeated attempts to CONTROL a situation FAIL thinking situation is UNCONTROLLABLE • If rewards come without effort, a person never learns to work • Potential cause of depression

Elements of Learned Helplessness • Stability • Helplessness comes from a permanent characteristic • Globality • Overall generalization of a problem • Internality • Finding fault in oneself • Internalizing situations leads to longer bouts of depression or self-guilt

Modeling • Learning by imitating/copying other people’s behavior • Behavior of others will increase the chances we will do the same thing • Perform old responses that otherwise would not be used at that time • Observational learning (imitation) • Perform a behavior that can later be reproduced

Modeling (cont) • Disinhibition • Seeing someone engage in threatening activity without punishment increases the likelihood of that person participating in the same risky behavior

Journal • Pancakes, French toast, or Belgian waffle? • Turkey bacon, beef bacon or sausage? • Hashbrowns, french fries, tator tots, or potato cubes? • Orange juice, apple juice, milk, water, tea or coffee? • Please state why you chose each one. (min. 6 sent)

Question of the Day