Unit VI Outline

I. How Do We Learn?

-Learning-A relatively permanent change in an organisms behavior due to experience

-Habituation-An organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it.

-Associative Learning-Learning that certain events occur together.  Two stimuli?

-Response and Consequences?

II. Classical Conditioning

-Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

-Laid the foundation for John B. Watson

-Behaviorism (Objective Science/Studies behavior without reference to mental processes)

-Classical conditioning is a basic form of learning by which all organisms adapt to their environment

A. Pavlov’s Experiments

-Medical degree at 33

-Earned Russia’s first Nobel Prize in 1904 for research on digestion

-Harnessed the dog

-Apparatus for capturing saliva

-Paired neutral events with the delivery of food

-Tone, buzzer, light, touch on the leg, and sight of a circle

-Unconditioned Response-(UR) Food in the mouth

-Unconditioned Stimulus-(US) Salivation

-Conditioned Response-(CR) The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

-Conditioned Stimulus-(CS) Originally irrelevant stimulus that comes to trigger a conditioned response

i. Acquisition

-How much time must lapse between the neutral stimulus and the US?

-NOT MUCH

-Conditioning doesn’t happen when the CS follows the US

-Deer in the forest

-Dogs with their food

-Higher Order Conditioning-Adding a light to the tone… 

ii. Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

-Continuous sounding of the tone without paring it with presentation of food resulted in less salivation

-Extinction suppresses the CR but doesn’t eliminate it

iii. Generalization

-Generalization-The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

-Cars, Truck, Motorcycles

iv. Discrimination

-Discrimination-In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

-A guard dog may frighten you while a guide dog may not…

B. Extending Pavlov’s Understanding

-Pavlov and Watson underestimated the importance of cognitive processes

-Thoughts, perceptions, expectations

-Also underestimated biological constraints on an organisms learning

i. Cognitive Processes

-Animals can learn the predictability of an event…

-Higher order conditioning (Tone and Light with rat)

-Dogs in harness-learned helplessness

ii. Biological Predispositions

-Species are predisposed to learn associations that enhance survival

-Taste aversion

C. Pavlov’s Legacy

-WHY DO WE CARE?!?!?!?!

-Every species tested can be classically conditioned

-Showed how learning could be studied objectively

i. Applications of Classical Conditioning

-John B. Watson and Little Albert

III. Operant Conditioning

-Both classical and operant conditioning are forms of associative learning

-Respondent behavior-Automatic responses to stimuli

-Operant behavior-Behaviors followed by rewards increase.  Behaviors followed by punishments decrease.

A. Skinner’s Experiments

-Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect-behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

-Operant chamber (skinner box)

i. Shaping Behavior

-Shaping-A procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

ii. Types of Reinforcers

-Reinforcer-Anything that strengthens the behavior it follows

-Positive Reinforcement-Increases behavior by presenting a positive stimuli

-Negative Reinforcement-Increases behavior by stopping or reducing negative stimuli (NOT PUNISHMENT!)

a. Primary and Conditioned Reinforcers

-Primary Reinforcer-An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

-Conditioned (Secondary) Reinforcer-A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through association

b. Immediate and Delayed Reinforcers

-Rats do not respond to delayed reinforcers, but humans do…  Sometimes…

-A little now or a lot later?

iii. Reinforcement Schedules

-Continuous vs Intermittent

-Fixed-Ratio: Coffee Shop

-Variable-Ratio: Slot Machine

-Fixed-Interval: Checking the Mail at Delivery Time

-Variable-Interval: Checking for Email Randomly

iv. Punishment

-Reinforcement increases a behavior, punishment does the opposite

-Positive Punishment and Negative Punishment

-Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten

-Punishment teaches discrimination

-Punishment can teach fear

-Physical punishment may increase aggressiveness by modeling aggression

B. Extending Skinner’s Understanding

i. Cognition and Operant Conditioning

-Skinner died in 1990

-Believed thoughts and emotions were behaviors that are learned

a. Latent Learning

-A rat exploring a maze

-Developed a cognitive map

-Latent learning-only becomes apparent when there is some incentive to demonstrate what was learned

b. Insight Learning

-The light bulb turning on!

-Even after puzzling for a long time, sometimes we are struck with the solution

c. Intrinsic Motivation

-Excessive rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation

-The desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

-Intrinsic vs Extrinsic

ii. Biological Predispositions

-Biological constraints predispose organisms to learn associations that are naturally adaptive

-Instinctive drift…

C. Skinner’s Legacy

-Insisted that external influences shaped behavior

-Are reinforcers more humane than punishments?

-School?

-At Home?

-In Prisons?

i. Applications of Operant Conditioning

a. At School

-According to Skinner…

-Computers or Robots might make the best teachers

-Allowing students to work at their own pace through the material

-Gives immediate feedback

b. In Sports

-Putting in golf

-Small victories important

-5 yards, 10 yards, 15 yards

-Small incremental increases

c. At Work

-Rewards increase productivity

-Stocks

-IBM-Thomas Watson-Wrote checks on the spot for a job well done

d. At Home

-Notice something right

-Affirmation is key!

-Attention and reinforcers when behaving well, not just punishment

e. For Self-Improvement

-State your goal

-Monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior

-Reinforce the desired behavior

-Reduce the rewards gradually

D. Contrasting Classical and Operant Conditioning

-Both involve acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination…

-Respondent vs Operant

IV. Learning by Observation

-Social learning

-Imitation

-Modeling

-Catch phrases, clothing styles, food, vices, fads

A. Mirrors in the Brain

-Mirror Neurons-Frontal lobe neurons  that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so.  This mirroring may enable imitation.

-Theory of Mind-Ability to empathize

B. Bandura’s Experiments

-Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiments

-1^st room

-2^nd room

-3^rd room

C. Applications of Observational Learning

-We look, we learn

-Job training

i. Prosocial Effects

-Ghandi

-MLK Jr.

-“Do as I say, not as I do…”

-Positive, constructive, helpful behavior

ii. Antisocial Effects

-Lessons learned are not easily forgotten

-Violence in film and video games

-Correlation vs Causation