Learning

1. Learning

2. What is Learning? • A change in knowledge or behaviour as a result of experience. • Most human thought and behaviour is a result of learning. • THINK WHERE does learning take place?

3. Which of these are learned behaviours? • Sneezing when dust gets in your nose • Blinking your eye when a puff of air hits it • Riding a bike • Drooling when you taste a lemon • Increasing heart rate when you see a spider • Playing an instrument

4. What is NOT “learning?” • Instincts: behaviors that occur as a result of the organism’s genotype (inborn complex patterns of behaviour) e.g. eat and drink • Reflexes: behaviors that occur as a result of an automatic reaction to some environmental change or condition (something in the outside environment triggers it) e.g. a yawn Are instincts and reflexes learned behaviours? What are some of our primitive reflexes? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JVINnp7NZ0

5. What is a stimulus ? Stimulus  — something that causes a reaction because of a change in the environment that is recognized by the senses. e.g. an alarm clock

6. Classical Conditioning= how an individual learns how to transfer a natural response from one stimulus to another e.g. puff of air eye blink reflex did not have to be taught or conditioned • The puff of air then, is the Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) • The eye blink is the Unconditioned Reflex (UCR) • The UCSUCR reflex requires NO LEARNING

7. BUT if you… Behavioral or Environmental Theories of Learning: Classical Conditioning • Begin to associate the UCS (unconditioned stimulus), with SOMETHING ELSE to produce the UCR (the unconditioned response) then you have CLASSICAL CONDITIONING • e.g. UCS– puff of air begins to be associated with a CS (conditioned stimulus) such as a machine click this will begin to result in a CR (conditioned response) which would be the eye blink

8. Classical Conditioning • The machine click did not initially elicit an eye blink. • The tone eye blink connection was neutral at the onset of the conditioning • Following the conditioning trials, the machine click was conditioned to elicit the eye blink • The tone became the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) and the eye blink the Conditioned Response (CR). • CS (machine click)  CR (eye blink).

9. Famous Examples and Experiments of Classical Conditioning? Ivan Pavlov’s experiment and his legacy Pavlov’s Dog John Watson’s experiment Little Albert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NSeYRanbbU

10. Classical Conditioning • Alex has a startled reaction to the sound of a loud “pop.” immediately before the loud pop, a light flashes. After several times, Alex has a startled reaction to the flash of light. • What is the UCS? • What is the UCR? • What is the CS? • What is the CR?

11. Classical Conditioning • Sam fed his dog, Olga, each morning. He would pour food from the container into her food bowl and Olga would smell the food and come to the kitchen to eat. Soon, the noise made by the food when Sam poured it into the bowl would bring Olga to the kitchen to eat her food. • What was the UCS? • What was the UCR? • What was the CS? • What was the CR?

12. Classical Conditioning • Terminating the behavior—Extinction • When the Conditioned Stimulus is presented repeatedly without the Unconditioned Stimulus, the Conditioned Response ceases to occur. • If Sam made the sound of Olga’s food being poured into the bowl and did not put food into the bowl Olga would stop running to the kitchen when she heard the sound.

13. Classical Conditioning • Recovering the behavior—Spontaneous Recovery • If the CS is withheld for some time and reintroduced, the CR returns at some level • If Sam stops making the noise of Olga’s food dropping in her food bowl for some days and they makes the noise again, Olga is likely to come. She will most likely return more slowly and perhaps only look into the kitchen to check for food.

14. Classical Conditioning • Stimulus Generalization: the elicitation of the Conditioned Response by similar but different stimuli • In Alex’s example above, if Alex had a startle reaction to a different light he would be demonstrating stimulus generalization. This now means that ANY type of light is making him feel startled. …Poor Alex.

15. Classical Conditioning • Stimulus Discrimination: the organism produces the Conditioned Response to one Conditioned Stimulus but not to a similar but different stimulus. • Alex (see above) startles to a flash of red light (CS) but not to another light of similar intensity but different color.

16. Classical conditioning can also be used to reduce or unlearn people’s fears or phobias. This is referred to as desensitization. Desensitization was first developed by a woman named Mary Cover Jones in 1924 with her famous study of "Little Peter". (pg. 54 in textbook)

17. Operant Conditioning: Learning New Behaviors • B.F. Skinner’s “Radical Behaviorism: • The factor controlling an organism’s behavior was the consequence of that behavior. • There was no need to hypothesize internal processes (the mind). • The only appropriate object of study is overt, observable behavior • The laws governing “learning” via operant conditioning were the same for all organisms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUwCgFSb6Nk

18. Operant Conditioning: Learning New Behaviors • Key concepts in Operant Conditioning • Reinforcement: “Any condition that follows and strengthens a behavior.” (Zimbardo, et al., 2006, pg. 236) • Positive Reinforcement: an event that occurs after a response that increases the likelihood of that response occurring again • Negative Reinforcement: removal of an aversive condition that increases the likelihood of that response occurring again • Extinction: similar to Extinction in Classical Conditioning—removing the reinforcement tends to terminate the behavior

19. Reinforcement • Jennifer’s father decided to give her a trip to Paris if she made the dean’s list. She made the dean’s list and received the trip to Paris. • Is this positive or negative reinforcement? • Why do you think so?

20. Reinforcement • David had a habit of leaving his keys in his car when he filled up with gasoline. Once he locked his keys in his car. He had a buzzer installed such that it sounded when the keys were in the car and the engine was turned off. When he removed the keys, the buzzer stopped. • Is this positive or negative reinforcement? • Why do you think so?

21. Reinforcement Contingencies For operant conditioning to work… • The reinforcement must be meaningful to the organism (e.g. food for a dog) • The reinforcement must follow the behavior…

22. Reinforcement Contingencies: Timing and Schedules of Reinforcement • Continuous reinforcement: the reinforcement is administered following each behavior; • Excellent for initial learning of new behaviors; • Problems: • Habituation to the reinforcer: the reinforcement loses its reinforcing qualities • Satiation: the organism becomes glutted with the reinforcer.

23. Food and Money: Primary and Secondary Reinforcers • If the reinforcer is based on a natural biological need or drive it is a primaryreinforcer • Food, Water, Sex, Oxygen • If the reinforcer is a related to but in reality not based on a natural biological need, it is a secondary or conditionedreinforcer • Money, Praise, Grades

24. Doing what I like for Doing what I Do Not Like to Do • The Premack Principle: • Using a desired or high frequency behavior to reinforce a less desirable or lower frequency behavior • If you do your chores, you can go to the movies with your friends; • If you complete your paper assignment early, you can enjoy the weekend before it is due.

25. Using the Stick instead of the Carrot: Punishment • Punishment: any condition that follows and reduces the likelihood of a behavior • Positive Punishment: a condition that occurs following a behavior and reduces the likelihood of that behavior • Negative Punishment: removal of a desirable condition following a behavior that reduces the likelihood of that behavior. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imkbuKomPXI

26. Using the Stick instead of the Carrot: Punishment • Alison’s parents take away her instant messaging service to get her to study and improve her grades. • Is this positive or negative punishment? • Simone was placed on restriction for violating her parents’ curfew. • Is this positive or negative punishment?

27. Punishment vs. Reinforcement • Punishment does not usually result in long term behavioral change; • Punishment does not provide a vehicle for building a more desirable behavior; • Reinforcement gives the reinforcing individual more control over others’ behavior; • Punishment typically leads to escape behavior;

28. Something to help you remember: • Reinforcement always increases the likelihood of the behavior; • Punishment always decreases the likelihood of the behavior; • Positive means doing or giving something following the behavior • Negative means stopping or taking something away.

29. Problems for thought: • Jamal wanted his dog to learn to walk on a leash. In order to train the dog Jamal bought a “choke” collar that constricted the dog’s neck when the dog ran too fast. • Is this an example of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, or negative punishment? • Why?

30. Problems for thought • Aaron’s parents wanted him to improve his grades. They decided they would allow him to stay out an extra hour on Saturday night if he made the A-B honor roll. • Is this an example of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, or negative punishment? • Why?