AP Psych Unit 4: Learning

Classical conditioning

Subject learns to give a response it already knows to a new stimulus

Stimulus

Change in the environment that elicits a response

Response

Reaction to a stimulus

Ivan Pavlov

Studied classical conditioning in dogs + food

Neutral Stimulus

Initially does not elicit a response

Unconditioned Stimulus

Reflexively brings about the unconditioned response

Conditioned stimulus

NS initially, when paired with UCS, it elicits the CR

Acquisition

When the US and NS are paired and the subject beings to associate them

John B. Watson + Little Albert

1. UCS: Loud noise

2. UCR: Albert begins to cry

3. NS: Albert reaches for the rat, the noise is sounded again

4. A week later, the CS was reintroduced and the CR was elicited

Classical conditioning occurring in one trial

IF

• Unconditioned stimulus is strong

• Neutral stimulus is striking or salient

Little Albert

• UCS: Loud noise

• NS: White rat

Aversive conditioning

Involving an unpleasant or harmful UCS (Little Albert)

Extinction

If the CS is presented repeatedly without the UCS, the CS loses its ability to elicit the CR

Spontaneous recovery

If the extinguished response shows up later on without repairing of the UCS and CS

Generalization

When a stimuli similar to the CS also elicits the CR without any training

Ex: Stimulus being a red circle, similar to a red square

Discrimination

When only the CS produced the CR

Occurs when the US is consistently paired with only the CS

Higher-order conditioning (second-order/secondary conditioning)

Well-learned CS is paired with an NS to produce a CR to the NS

• The old CS acts as a UCS

Ex: (Pavlov’s experiment) If you paired a light right before you rang the bell, the dog would start to salivate at the light

Applications of classical conditioning

Overcoming fears, increasing/decreasing immune functioning, increasing/decreasing attraction of people or products

Operant conditioning

Active subject voluntarily emits behaviors and can learn new behaviors

• connection made between behavior and its consequences

E. L. Thorndike + Cat experiment

1. Put cats in “puzzle boxes”

2. Placed a fish outside, and the cats had to step on a pedal to get it

3. Through trial and error, the cats got the reward of the fish by accidentally stepping on the pedal

4. Learning curve showed that the time it took for the cats to escape gradually fell

5. Instrumental learning occurred

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

Behaviors followed by satisfying/positive consequences are strengthened, while behaviors followed by annoying/negative consequences are weakened

Operant conditioning

Skinner gave this name to Thorndike’s instrumental learning

Subjects voluntarily operate on their environment in order to produce desired consequences

ABCs of behavior

A- Antecedents/stimuli that are present before a behavior occurs

B- Behavior that the organism voluntarily emits

C- Consequences that follow the behavior

Skinner boxes

Levers, food dispensers, lights, electrified grid used to perform experiments on animals

Skinner’s training procedures

• positive reinforcement

• negative reinforcement

• punishment

• omission training

Positive reinforcement

Emission of a behavior or a response is followed by a reinforcer

Negative reinforcement

Takes away an unpleasant consequence after a behavior has been given

Ex: bad headache —> aspirin

Punishment training

Learner’s response followed by aversive consequence

Ex: Child bad behavior —> gets spanked

• Punishment must immediately follow a behavior, and must be consistent

• Learner may become aggressive or give up

Omission training

Response by the learner is followed by taking away something of value, but the learner can get back the object after good behavior

Avoidance behavior

Form of negative reinforcement

• Takes away the aversive stimulus before it begins

• Ex: Dog jumps over a hurdle to avoid electric shock

Escape behavior

Form of negative reinforcement

• Takes away the aversive stimulus after it has already started

• Ex: The dog gets shocked at first, escapes by jumping over the hurdle

Learned helplessness

Feeling of futility and passive resignation that results from the inability to avoid repeated aversive events

Primary reinforcer

Something that is biologically rewarding

Ex: Food, drink

Secondary reinforcer

Something neutral, that when associated with a primary reinforcer, becomes rewarding

Ex: Money —> buy primary reinforcers

Generalized reinforcer

Secondary reinforcer that can be associated with a number of different primary reinforcers

Ex: Money, can be exchanged for any kind of primary reinforcer

Token economy

Tokens/secondary reinforcers used to increase a list of acceptable behaviors

Used in mental institutions, jails

Shaping

Positively reinforcing closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Chaining

Used to establish a specific sequence of behaviors by initially positively rewarding each behavior in a desired sequence

Continuous reinforcement

Reinforcement occurs after every response

Ex: payment after every book is read

Fixed interval

Reinforcement happens after set time

Ex: Salary payments by the week/biweekly

Results in lots of behavior as the time approaches but little behavior until the next time for reinforcement approaches

Fixed ratio

Reinforcement occurs after a set amount of responses

Ex: Payment after you have sold a certain number of pieces

Variable interval

Reinforcement happens after a varying time

Ex: Fishing (you don’t know when the fish will bite), promotion (could happen after 6 days or 6 months)

Ex: You never know when to expect pop quizzes, so you study every night

Variable ratio

Reinforcement happens after a varying amount of responses

Ex: Slot machines

More likely to exhibit the behavior until the reward

Superstitious behavior

Develop from unintended reinforcement of unimportant behavior

Contiguity Model

Pavlov’s view of classical conditioning

• Close time between the CS and US was most important for making the connection

Contingency Model

Rescorla’s view of classical conditioning

• Emphasized role of cognition and that the organism had to think about what would happen next

Blocking Effect + Leon Kamin

• Used a rat and paired a light (NS) with a tone (CS)

• The rat had already been conditioned with shock (UCS) to produce fear

• He was unable to produce conditioned fear to the light alone

• Argued that the rat had already learned to associate the signal for shock with the tone

• The conditioning effect of the light was blocked

Latent learning

Learning in the absence of a reward

Edward Tolman + Spatial/latent learning

1. Experimental group of rats did not receive a reward for going through a maze for 10 days, while another group did

2. The experimental group performed better

3. On day 11, both groups were rewarded

4. On day 12, the group that did not receive a reward did just as well as the group that did, which demonstrates latent learning

Insight

Sudden appearance of an answer or a solution to a problem

Observational Learning

Occurs by watching the behavior of a model

Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment

1. Three groups of children watched a model play violently with a bobo doll

2. One group saw the model rewarded, another saw the model punished, and last saw no consequences

3. The group that saw the model being punished played with the doll less, later when they were offered rewards, they imitated the behavior

Abstract learning

Understanding simple concepts and apply simple decision rules

Mirror neurons

Premotor cortex + temporal/parietal lobes

• Neurons are activated when you perform an action, but also when others perform an action

Conditioned taste aversion

Intense dislike and aversion of a food because of its association with a negative stimulus

• Adaptive responses of organisms to foods that could sicken or kill them

Preparedness

Through evolution, animals are biologically predisposed to easily learn behaviors related to their survival as a species

Instinctive drift

Conditioned response that drifts toward the national/instinctive behavior of the organism

• Skinner’s rats sometimes reverted to scratching/biting the lever