Chapter Five

Learning

• A relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience

• Adaptive value

Module 5.1

Classical Conditioning: Learning Through Association

Classical Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov

– 1849-1936

– Russian physician/
neurophysiologist

– Nobel Prize in 1904

– studied digestive secretions

Classical Conditioning

• Classical Conditioning

– organism comes to associate two stimuli

• lightning and thunder

• tone and food

– begins with a reflex

– a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that evokes the reflex

– neutral stimulus eventually comes to evoke the reflex

Pavlov and his associates at his lab

Pavlov’s Apparatus (Figure 5.1)

Components of Classical Conditioning

• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

– effective stimulus that unconditionally-automatically and naturally- triggers a response

• Unconditioned Response (UCR)

– unlearned, naturally occurring automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus

• salivation when food is in the mouth

Components of Classical Conditioning

• Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

– previously neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

• Conditioned Response (CR)

– learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus

Components of Classical Conditioning

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Classical Conditioning (Figure 5.2)

Let him touch but say: HOT!!!! right before he touches

Stages of conditioning

• Acquisition

– the initial stage of learning, during which a response is established and gradually strengthened

– in classical conditioning, the phase in which a stimulus comes to evoke a conditioned response

– in operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response

Other Effects

• Extinction: CR weakens and disappears when presented in the absence of the US

• Spontaneous recovery: CR returns when again exposed to the CS

• Stimulus generalization: stimuli similar to CS elicit CR

• Stimulus discrimination: stimuli similar but not identical to CS do not elicit CR

• Higher-order conditioning: previously neutral stimulus elicits CR after pairing with CS that already elicits CR

Strengthened Conditioned Responses

• Frequency of pairings

• Timing

• Intensity of US

Cognitive Perspective

• Rescorla

• Conditioning depends on the predictive information of the CS

– Predict events in the environment

– Preparedness

John B. Watson

• Watson: Little Albert

– Conditioned emotional reaction (CER)

– viewed psychology as objective science

• generally agreed-upon consensus today

– recommended study of behavior without reference to unobservable mental processes

• not universally accepted by all schools of thought today

John B. Watson

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and by my own specified world to bring
them up in and I’ll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, even

beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors (Watson, 1924, p. 30).

Examples of Classical Conditioning

• Phobias

• Positive emotions

• Drug cravings

• Conditioned taste aversion

• Immune system

Module 5.2

Operant Conditioning: Learning Through Consequences

Thorndike and the Law of Effect

Law of Effect

• Operant Conditioning

– type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by reinforcement or diminished if followed by punishment

• Law of Effect

– Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

B. F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

• Learning—consequences of a response determine the likelihood that it will be repeated

• First studied with Skinner box

– soundproof chamber with a bar or key that an animal presses or pecks to release a food or water reward

– contains a device to record responses

Principles of Operant Conditioning

• Discriminative stimulus

– Signals reinforcement is available

• Reinforcement

– Positive: reinforce by adding something pleasant

– Negative: reinforce by removing something unpleasant

• Extinction

Levels of Reinforcement

• Primary reinforcers

– Satisfy basic biological needs or drives

• Secondary reinforcers

– Reinforcement value based on association with primary reinforcers

Shaping

• Method of successive approximations

• Reinforce responses that are closer and closer to correct response

• Reinforcer

– any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

• Shaping

– conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer approximations of a desired goal

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Timing the delivery of reinforcement

• Continuous reinforcement

– reinforcing the desired response each time it occurs

– learning occurs rapidly

– extinction occurs rapidly

Partial reinforcement

– reinforcing a response only part of the time

– results in slower acquisition

– greater resistance to extinction

• Ratio schedules: fixed or variable

• Interval schedules: fixed or variable

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Fixed Ratio (FR)

– reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

– faster you respond the more rewards you get

– different ratios

– very high rate of responding

– like piecework pay

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Variable Ratio (VR)

–reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

–average ratios

–like gambling, fishing

–very hard to extinguish because of unpredictability

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Fixed Interval (FI)

– reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

– response occurs more frequently as the anticipated time for reward draws near

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Variable Interval (VI)

– reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

– produces slow steady responding

– like pop quiz

Schedules of Reinforcement

Escape and Avoidance Learning

• Escape learning: escape an aversive stimulus by performing an operant response

• Avoidance learning: avoid an aversive stimulus by performing an operant response

Punishment

• Consequence that weakens or suppresses a response

– Removal of a reinforcing stimulus

– Introduction of an aversive stimulus

Punishment

• Often confused with negative reinforcement

• Is NOT the same as negative reinforcement

• How are they different?

– Punishment

• Introduces an aversive stimulus

• Weakens a behavior

– Negative reinforcement

• Removes an aversive stimulus

• Strengthens a behavior

Drawbacks of Punishment

• May suppress but not eliminate undesirable behavior

• Does not teach new behaviors

• Can have undesirable consequences

• May become abusive

• May provide inappropriate modeling

Applications of Operant Conditioning

• Biofeedback training

• Behavior modification

– Token economy program

• Programmed instruction

– Computer-assisted instruction

Module 5.3

Cognitive Learning

• Mental processes

– Thinking

– Information processing

– Problem solving

– Mental imaging

Insight Learning

• Wolfgang Kohler (1887-1967)

– Experiment with Sultan the chimp

• Insight learning - A reorganization of the stimulus elements that yield the solution to a problem

– Typically, it occurs when we mentally work through a problem until there is sudden and often novel realization of the solution. Although it might seem as if no progress is being made, your mind may be subconsciously working to arrive at a solution.

– “Aha!” phenomenon

Latent Learning

Observational Learning

• Vicarious learning or modeling

• Learn new behaviors through imitation

• Example: learned fears

Module 5.4

Application: Putting Reinforcement into Practice

Applying Reinforcement

• Be specific

• Use specific language

• Select a reinforcer

• Explain the contingency

• Apply the reinforcer

• Track the desired behavior

• Wean from the reinforcer

Giving Praise

• Make eye contact and smile

• Use hugs

• Be specific

• Reward effort, not outcome

• Avoid repeating yourself

• Don’t end on a sour note