Learning

1. Learning Chapter 7

2. Learning • Classical conditioning • Classical conditioning in real life • Operant conditioning • Operant conditioning in real life • Learning and the mind

3. Watson’s Extreme Environmentalism • “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own special world to bring them up in, and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to be any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief, and yes, beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.” • John Broadus Watson, 1928

4. Classical Conditioning • Defining learning, behaviourism, and conditioning • New reflexes from old • Principles of classical conditioning • What is actually learned in classical conditioning?

5. Defining Learning, Behaviourism and Conditioning • Learning • A relatively permanent change in behaviour (or behaviour potential) due to experience. • Behaviourism • Research on learning has been influenced by this approach to psychology that emphasizes the study of observable behaviour and the role of the environment as a determinant of behaviour. • Conditioning • The association between environmental stimuli and the organisms responses.

6. Social-Cognitive Learning Theories • Do not omit mental processes from explanations of human learning. • Learning is not so much a change in observable behaviour as a change in knowledge that has the potential for affecting behaviour. • Emphasize learning by observation and imitation, positive consequences, and cognitive processes such as plans, expectations, and beliefs.

7. Classical Conditioning • The process by which a previously neutral stimulus acquires the capacity to elicit a response through association with a stimulus that already elicits a similar or related response.

8. Pavlov’s Apparatus • Harness and fistula (mouth tube) help keep dog in a consistent position and gather uncontaminated saliva samples. • They do not cause the dog discomfort.

9. New Reflexes from Old • Unconditioned stimulus (US) • Elicits a response in the absence of learning. • Unconditioned response (UR) • The reflexive response to a stimulus in the absence of learning.

10. New Reflexes from Old • A neutral stimulus is then regularly paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

11. New Reflexes from Old • Conditioned stimulus (CS) • An initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus. • Conditioned response (CR) • A response that is elicited by the conditioned stimulus. • Occurs after the CS is associated with the US. • Is usually similar to US.

12. Principles of Classical Conditioning • Extinction • Higher-order conditioning • Stimulus generalization • Stimulus discrimination

13. Extinction • The weakening and eventual disappearance of a learned response. • In classical conditioning, it occurs when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus.

14. Acquisition and Extinction

15. Higher-Order Conditioning • A neutral stimulus can become a conditioned stimulus (CS) by being paired with an existing conditioned stimulus (CS).

16. Stimulus Generalization • In classical conditioning, occurs when a new stimulus that resembles the conditioned stimulus, elicits the conditioned response.

17. Stimulus Discrimination • The tendency to respond differently to two or more similar stimuli. • In classical conditioning, it occurs when a stimulus similar to the condition stimulus (CS) fails to evoke a conditioned response (CR).

18. What is learned in classical conditioning? • For classical conditioning to be most effective, the stimulus to be conditioned should precede the unconditioned stimulus. • We learn that the first event (stimulus) predicts the second.

19. Classical Conditioning in Real Life • Learning to like • Learning to fear • Accounting for taste • Reacting to medical treatments

20. Learning to Like • Where do sentimental feelings come from? • Objects have been associated in the past with positive feelings.

21. Learning to Fear • Research suggests we can learn fear through association. • Watson and Raynor conditioned “Little Albert” to be afraid of white rats by pairing the neutral stimulus (rats) with a unconditioned stimulus (loud noise). • Within days, Albert was not only afraid of the rats, his fear had generalized to other furry objects.

22. Unlearning Fear • Counterconditioning • The process of pairing a conditioned stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response that is incompatible with an unwanted conditioned response. • Another child’s fear of rabbits was removed by pairing the stimulus which elicited fear with a stimulus that elicited happiness.

23. Accounting for Taste • Classical conditioning can also explain how we learn to like and dislike many foods and odours. • Researchers have taught animals to dislike foods or odours by pairing them with drugs that cause nausea or other unpleasant symptoms. • Humans also quickly learn to associate illness with food even when the food is not the cause of becoming sick.

24. Reacting to Medical Treatments • Stimuli associated with drug treatments that produce nausea can become conditioned stimuli, creating problems for cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. • Non-drug treatments, such as placebos, are a beneficial application of classical conditioning, through association with real drugs.

25. Operant Conditioning • Defining operant conditioning • The consequences of behaviour • Reinforcers and punishers • Principles of operant conditioning • Schedules of reinforcement • Shaping • Operant conditioning in real life

26. Operant Conditioning • The process by which a response becomes more or less likely to occur depending on its consequences.

27. Consequences of behaviour • A neutral consequence neither increases or decreases the probability that the response will recur. • Reinforcement strengthens the response or makes it more likely to recur. • Punishment weakens a response or makes it less likely to recur.

28. Reinforcement • A stimulus strengthens or increases he probability of the response that it follows. • Primary reinforcers are inherently reinforcing and typically satisfy a physiological need. • Secondary reinforcers are stimuli that have acquired reinforcing properties through associations with other reinforcers.

29. Types of Reinforcement • Positive reinforcement • when a pleasant consequence follows a response, making the response more likely to occur again. • Negative reinforcement • when a response is followed by the removal of something unpleasant, making the response more likely to occur again.

30. Punishment • The process by which a stimulus weakens or reduces the probability of the response that it follows. • Primary punisher • Something that is inherently punishing such as electric shock. • Secondary punisher • A stimulus that has acquired punishing properties through an association with other punishers.

31. Types of Punishers • Positive punisher • When something unpleasant occurs after a behaviour. • Negative punisher • When something pleasant is removed after a behaviour.

32. The Skinner Box

33. Principles of Operant Conditioning • Extinction • In operant conditioning, it occurs when a response is no longer followed by a reinforcer. • Stimulus generalization • Stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus are more likely to trigger a response. • Stimulus discrimination • The tendency of a response to occur in the presence of one stimulus but not another.

34. Schedules of reinforcement • Continuous • A particular response is always reinforced. • Intermittent (Partial) • A particular response is sometimes but not always reinforced. • Fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed interval, and variable-interval. • Best choice for response to continue.

35. Schedules of Reinforcement • Simple reinforcement schedules produce characteristic response patterns. • Steeper lines mean higher response rates. • Ratio schedules produce higher response rates than interval schedules.

36. Partial Reinforcement

37. Shaping • To teach complex behaviours, may need to reinforce successive approximations of a desired response. • For example, training animals, getting children to make their beds.

38. Biological Limits on Learning • All principles of operant conditioning are limited by an animal’s genetic dispositions and physical characteristics. • During operant learning, organisms tend to revert to instinctive behaviour, called instinctive drift.

39. Operant Conditioning in Real Life • Behaviour modification • the application of conditioning techniques to teach new responses or to reduce or eliminate undesirable ones. • The pros and cons of Punishment • When punishment works. • When punishment fails. • The problems with reward

40. When Punishment Works • Immediately punishing a self-destructive behaviour eliminates it. • Milder punishments appear to work as well as harsh ones. • Consistency is important.

41. When Punishment Fails • People often administer punishment inappropriately or mindlessly. • The recipient often responds with anxiety, fear, or rage. • The effectiveness is often temporary. • Most misbehaviour is hard to punish immediately. • Punishment conveys little information. • An action intended to punish may instead be reinforcing.

42. Extrinsic and Intrinsic Reinforcers • Extrinsic reinforcers. • Reinforcers that are not inherently related to the activity being reinforced. • Intrinsic reinforcers • Reinforcers that are inherently related to the activity being reinforced. • Extrinsic reinforcers may undermine intrinsic reinforcers.

43. Why Rewards Can Backfire • Preschoolers played with felt-tipped markers and observed • Divided into 3 groups: • Given markers again and asked to draw • Promised a reward for playing with markers • Played with markers, then rewarded

44. Learning and the Mind • Latent learning. • Social-Cognitive learning theories.

45. Latent Learning(Tolman) • Rats: one maze trial/day. • One group found food every time (red line). • Second group never found food (blue line). • Third group found food on Day 11 (green line). • Sudden change, Day 12. • Learning isn’t the same as performance.

46. Social-Cognitive Learning • Social cognitive theories emphasize how behaviour is learned and maintained: • through observation and imitation of others, • positive consequences, • cognitive processed such as plans, expectations, and beliefs. • Observational learning involves learning new responses by observing the behaviour of another rather than through direct experience; sometimes called vicarious conditioning.

47. Bandura, Ross and Ross, 1963. • Nursery school children watched a film of 2 men (Johnny and Rocky) playing with toys. • Johnny refuses to share and Rocky hits him, ending up with all the toys. • Children who watched the video were significantly more violent than children in a control group.

48. The Case of Media Violence. • The greater the exposure to violence in movies or television, the stronger the likelihood of a person’s behaving aggressively. • This is not true for all children. • Effects of violence are worse for children and adults already predisposed to aggressive behaviour.