LEARNING

1. LEARNING

2. Learning • Relatively permanent change in a behavior that occurs as a result of experience • Changes can’t be explained by • Native response tendencies • Maturation, or • Temporary states (e.g. fatigue, drugs, etc)

3. How do we learn? • Associative learning – learning certain events occur together • Ex: Seeing salt will trigger the thought of pepper • Habituation- an organism’s decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it • Ex: Tuning out traffic sounds if you live on a busy street

4. Observational Learning • New behaviors are acquired by watching the behaviors of others • Use of prosocial models – positive, helpful • Albert BanduraBobo doll experiment • Implications: • Violence on TV • Providing kids w/appropriate role models

5. Classical Conditioning Learning that takes place when an originally neutral stimulus comes to produce a conditioned response because of its association with an unconditioned response Studied by Ivan Pavlov

6. Unconditioned stimulus (US) - naturally and automatically triggers an unconditioned response • Meat • Unconditioned response (UR) - unlearned, naturally occurring response to the US • Salivation (in response to meat) • To test if a behavior is a UR, ask yourself if every member of the species would exhibit that reflexive behavior from birth

7. Conditioned stimulus (CS) - originally irrelevant; comes to trigger a conditioned response • Tone • Conditioned response (CR) - learned response to a previously neutral stimulus • Salivation (in response to tone) • The UR and CR are typically the same but occur in response to different stimuli

9. Identify the US, UR, CS and CR • People undergoing chemotherapy often vomit during or shortly after the procedure. After several chemo sessions, people begin to feel sick at the sight of the treatment. • In the spring, the pollen from the flowers cause you to sneeze. Soon you are sneezing every time you see a flower.

10. Acquisition - initial stage when one links a neutral stimulus and a UR so the neutral stimulus begins triggering the CR • Moment when the tone began to cause salivation • Higher-order conditioning – the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus • Dog may learn a light predicts a tone and being to respond to the light alone

11. Extinction – gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of a conditioned response • Occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US • Ex: A dog normally salivates at the sound of a can opener. If the sound of the can opener is repeatedly presented w/out food, eventually the dog would stop salivating to the sound of the can opener • Spontaneous recovery - reappearance of a weakened CR after a rest period • Can only occur after extinction

12. Generalization - tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit similar responses • Dog salivates to doorbell • Discrimination - learned ability to distinguish between a CS and stimuli that don’t signal a UR • Dog salivates to doorbell but not to alarm clock • Becomes more difficult the more similar the stimuli are to the CS • Discriminating a circle from a square is easier than discriminating a circle from an ellipse

13. Applications of classical conditioning • Advertising • Taste aversions

14. Little Albert

15. Dwight and Jim • What is the US, UR, CS and CR? • How will the behavior become extinct? • What is spontaneous recovery as it relates to this example? • What else might result in the same conditioned response from Dwight? What is the term for this?

16. Instrumental Learning • An organism’s behavior is instrumental in producing an environmental change that in turn affects the organism’s behavior • Primarily based on the type of consequences that occur after the behavior • Based on the work of Edward Thorndike • Law of Effect – behaviors are encouraged when followed by satisfying consequences and discouraged when followed by annoying consequences

17. Operant Conditioning Type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or weakened if followed by a punisher Studied by B.F. Skinner

18. Shaping – technique in which successive approximations of a behavior are reinforced • Behaviors that come closer and closer to the final target are reinforced during training • Makes it possible to condition behaviors that aren’t likely to happen otherwise • Reinforcing a child for writing a letter of the alphabet and then only when they can write it neatly

20. Rats playing basketball • Sheldon Conditions Penny

21. Discriminative stimulus – stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement • Reinforcer – any event that strengthens a preceding response

22. Positive reinforcement - increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimulus • Makes the behavior more likely to occur • Ex: Getting money for good grades • Negative reinforcement – a behavior prevents or removes an aversive (undesired) stimulus • Ex: changing a baby’s diaper (behavior) to stop it from crying (aversive stimulus) • Ex: Buckling seat belt to remove dinging

23. Identify the aversive stimulus and the behavior being strengthened by its removal Taking aspirin to relieve a headache. Hurrying home in the winter to get out of the cold. Giving in to an argument or to a dog’s begging. Fanning oneself to escape the heat. Leaving a movie theater if the movie is bad. Smoking in order to relieve anxiety. Following prison rules in order to be released from confinement. Feigning a stomachache in order to avoid school. Turning down the volume of a very loud radio. Putting up an umbrella to escape the rain.

24. Reinforcement Schedules • Continuous reinforcement - reinforcement every time a behavior occurs • Quickest way to train new behavior • Ex: When training a dog to sit, reinforce the behavior w/a treat every time the dog sits • Partial (intermittent) reinforcement - reinforcement only part of the time • Most effective in maintaining behaviors that have already been learned • Examples follow

25. Fixed-ratio schedule – there must be a fixed (unchanging) number of target responses before a reinforcement is given • Produces a high rate or responding following brief pauses by the organism after obtaining reinforcement • Ex: Every 100 coins in Super Mario World results in an extra life

26. Variable-ratio schedules – the number of target responses required for reinforcement varies, and the organism never knows exactly how many responses are required for the next reinforcement • Produces a consistent, high rate of response very resistant to extinction • Ex: Slot machines, lottery tickets

27. Fixed-interval schedules - reinforces a response after a specified amount of time has passed • Responses increase toward the end of the interval • Ex: Monthly paycheck • Variable-interval schedules - reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals • Responses tend to be steady and at a moderate rate • Ex: Checking e-mail

29. Punishment • An event that decreases the behavior that it follows • Makes a behavior less likely to occur • Positive Punishment - application of an aversive stimulus after a behavior • Ex: Touching a hot stove (behavior= touching stove, stimulus = heat) will make you less likely to touch the stove next time

30. Negative Punishment - removal of a reinforcer after a behavior • Ex: Parents taking away car keys after coming home late from curfew • Punishment vs. Negative Reinforcement: • Punishment decreases behavior • Negative reinforcement increases behavior

31. Problems of Punishment • Power disappears when threat of punishment is removed • Following the speed limit • Punishment may trigger aggression and/or fear • Often applied unequally and inconsistently

32. Proper Punishment • Swift and certain • Limited in time and intensity • Target behavior, not character • No mixed messages • Most effective = negative punishment

33. Operant Conditioning and Cognition • Latent learning – learning that occurs but isn’t apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it • Child learns how to make a sandwich from observing his parents, but doesn’t demonstrate this until later

34. Motivation • Intrinsic motivation - desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake • Extrinsic motivation - desire to perform a behavior to receive a reward or avoid punishment • Can lead to overjustification effect – external rewards undermine the intrinsic satisfaction of performing a behavior

35. Applications of operant conditioning • Use of pop quizzes to increase student preparation • Behavior modification techniques • Combining punishment and reinforcement to prevent bad habits • Ex: Painting fingernails with a bitter-tasting chemical paired with a free manicure • Use of behavior therapy for psychological disorders • Reinforcing weigh gain for patients with eating disorders