Learning

1. Learning How do we change our behaviors? How do we cause others to change their behaviors?

2. Associationism • Fundamentally, all learning involves the creation of associations between stimuli we perceive and the appropriate responses. • The study of learning is the study of how those associations are created and changed.

3. Types of learning • Habituation • Classical conditioning • Operant condition • Cognitive learning

4. Habituation • Habituation is where we become so used to a stimulus that we no longer consciously process it: We learn to ignore it • Noises near your apartment • Smells near your house • The annoying behaviors of children and animals

5. Classical Conditioning • Learn a direct association between a stimulus (S) and a response (R) • Responses are unconditioned reflexes (UR) brought about by an unconditioned stimulus (US). • We pair the conditioned stimulus (CS) with the US so that the UR is brought about by the CS, at which point we say it is a conditioned response (CR)

6. Operant Conditioning • We learned the association between a behavior and an effect - reinforcement. • Positive: The introduction of something good • Negative: The removal of something good • Punishment: The introduction of something bad • Escape: The removal of something bad

7. Law of Effect • As an organism undergoes operant conditioning, its tendency to make the proper response will increase. • Shaping: Molding a desired series of behaviors through successive approximation

8. Reinforcement schedules • How do you get an animal to do something repeatedly? • Fixed ratio • Variable ratio • Fixed interval • Variable interval

9. Conditioned reinforcement • Certain things that we covet, like grades or money, have no intrinsic value. • Why do we covet these things? • Second-order reinforcement