Chapter 7 Conditioning and Learning

1. Chapter 7Conditioning and Learning

2. Some Key Terms • Learning: Relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience • Does NOT include temporary changes due to disease, fatigue, injury, maturation, or drugs, since these do NOT qualify as learning, even though they can alter behavior

3. Motivation • Reinforcement: Any event that increases the probability that a response will recur • Response: Any identifiable behavior • Internal: Faster heartbeat • Observable: Eating, scratching

4. Learning: More Key Terms • Antecedents: Events that precede a response • Consequences: Effects that follow a response

5. Discuss Why Does Your: • a. dog drool when you open the can of food before the food is given to him? • b. friend flinch when you tickle him or her? • c. little sister tremble at the sound of a dentist’s drill? • d. fellow student begin blushing before he or she is called on to give a speech? • e. stomach churn when the teacher says, “Take out a piece of paper and put your name at the top”?

6. Classical Conditioning and Ivan Pavlov • Russian physiologist who studied digestion • Used dogs to study salivation when dogs were presented with meat powder • Also known as Pavlovian or respondent conditioning • Reflex: Automatic, non-learned response

7. Fig. 7-1, p. 220

8. Video: Basics of Classical Conditioning

9. Pavlovian Terms • Neutral stimulus: Stimulus that does not evoke a response • Conditioned stimulus (CS): Stimulus that evokes a response because it has been repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus • Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A stimulus innately capable of eliciting a response

10. More Pavlovian Terms • Unconditioned response (UCR): An innate reflex response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) • Conditioned response (CR): A learned response elicited by a conditioned stimulus

11. Fig. 7-2, p. 220

12. Fig. 7-3, p. 221

13. Principles of Classical Conditioning • Acquisition: Training period in conditioning when a response is strengthened • Higher-order conditioning: A conditioned stimulus (CS) is used to reinforce further learning; the CS is used as though it were a UCS • Expectancy: Expectation about how events are interconnected

14. Extinction • Weakening of a conditioned response through removal of reinforcement

15. Spontaneous Recovery • Reappearance of a learned response following apparent extinction

16. Video: Features and Phases of Classical Conditioning

17. Fig. 7-4, p. 222

18. Fig. 7-5, p. 222

19. More Principles of Classical Conditioning • Stimulus generalization: A tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to a conditioned stimulus (e.g., responding to a buzzer when the conditioning stimulus was a bell) • Stimulus discrimination: The learned ability to respond differently to similar stimuli (e.g., Anya will respond differently to various bells: alarms, school, timer)

20. Discuss • What is the relationship between stimulus generalization and discrimination, gender, ethnic, or racial stereotyping, or/and prejudice? In what ways are these processes similar or different?

21. Fig. 7-6a, p. 223

22. Fig. 7-6b, p. 223

23. Classical Conditioning in Humans • Phobia: Fear that persists even when no realistic danger exists (e.g., arachnophobia; fear of spiders) • Conditioned emotional response (CER): Learned emotional reaction to a previously neutral stimulus

24. Fixing Phobias • Desensitization: Decreasing fear or anxiety by exposing phobic people gradually to feared stimuli while they stay calm and relaxed • Vicarious classical conditioning: Learning to respond emotionally to a stimulus by observing another’s emotional reactions

25. Fig. 7-7, p. 224

26. Video: Classical Conditioning and Emotional Responses

27. Video: Watson and Rayner's Research with Little Albert

28. Operant Conditioning (Instrumental Learning) • Learning is based on the consequences of responding; we associate responses with their consequences • Law of effect (Thorndike): The probability of a response is altered by the effect it has: responses that lead to desired effects are repeated; those that lead to undesired effects are not

29. Operant Reinforcer • Any event that follows a response and increases its likelihood of recurring

30. More Operant Conditioning Terms • Conditioning chamber (Skinner box): Apparatus designed to study operant conditioning in animals • Response-contingent reinforcement: Reinforcement given after a desired response occurs

31. Fig. 7-8, p. 226

32. Fig. 7-9, p. 226

33. Video: Rat in a Skinner Box

34. Timing of Reinforcement • Operant reinforcement most effective when given immediately after a correct response • Response chain: A linked series of actions that leads to reinforcement • Superstitious behaviors: Behaviors that are repeated because they appear to produce reinforcement, even though they are not necessary

35. Shaping • Molding responses gradually in a step-by-step fashion to a desired pattern • Successive approximations: Ever-closer matches

36. Operant Extinction • When learned responses that are NOT reinforced gradually fade away • Negative attention seeking: Using misbehavior to gain attention

37. Reinforcement • Positive reinforcement: When a response is followed by a reward or other positive event • Negative reinforcement: When a response is followed by the removal of an unpleasant event (e.g., the bells in Fannie’s car stop when she puts the seatbelt on); ends discomfort

38. Punishment • Any event that follows a response and decreases the likelihood of it recurring (e.g., a spanking) • Response cost: Removal of a positive reinforcer after a response is made (e.g., Bob losing Xbox360 privileges)

39. Operant Reinforcers • Primary reinforcer: Non-learned and natural; satisfies physiological needs (e.g., food, water, sex) • Intracranial stimulation (ICS): Natural primary reinforcer; involves direct activation of brain’s “pleasure centers” • Secondary reinforcer: Learned reinforcer (e.g., money, grades, approval, praise); gains reinforcing properties by associating with a primary reinforcer

40. Other Types of Reinforcers • Token reinforcer: Tangible secondary reinforcer (e.g., money, gold stars, poker chips) • Social reinforcer: attention and approval (reinforcers) provided by other people

41. Fig. 7-11, p. 228

42. Video: B. F. Skinner Shaping a Pigeon

43. Fig. 7-12, p. 230

44. Fig. 7-13, p. 231

45. Fig. 7-14, p. 231

46. Feedback • Information about the effect of a response • Knowledge of results (KR): Informational feedback; almost always improves learning and performance • (Grades are a form of feedback)

47. Programmed Instruction • Any learning format where information is presented in small amounts, gives immediate practice, and provides continuous feedback • Computer-assisted instruction (CAI): Learning is aided by computer-presented information and exercises • Educational simulations: Explore imaginary situations or “microworld” that simulates real-world problems (e.g., The Sims)

48. Fig. 7-15, p. 232

49. Fig. 7-16, p. 234

50. Reinforcement Concepts • Schedules of reinforcement: Plans for determining which responses will be reinforced • Continuous reinforcement: A reinforcer follows every correct response • Partial reinforcement: Reinforcers do NOT follow every response • Partial reinforcement effect: Responses acquired with partial reinforcement are more resistant to extinction