PSYCH: unit 4 - conditioning and learning

psych definition of learning

- the process of acquiring thru experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

- emphasis on enduring, learning is diff from cramming

- to TRULY learn is to OWN the knowledge, skill or idea

behaviorism's view of learning

- according to John B. Watson, the science of psych shld study how organisms respond to stimuli in their environments

- psych's "goal is the prediction + control of behavior. introspection forms no essential part of its methods."

- simply said, psych shld be an objective science based on observable behavior

ways we learn

- classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning and cognitive learning

observational learning

we learn by observing events and people

cognitive learning

we learn things we have neither experienced or observed

associative learning

- learning that certain events occur together

- events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response + consequence (as in operant conditioning)

- associations may be pos or neg

How is classical conditioning defined?

- type of associative learning that involves learning involuntary responses

associate stimuli that we do not control, and respond automatically (exhibiting respondent behavior)

- involuntary responses include salivation, blinking, sweating, and cringing or the automatic bodily reactions to strong emotions such as fear

two types of associative learning

- classical conditioning: we learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events. stimuli are things we don't control and that we respond automatically (involuntary responses)

- operant conditioning: learn to associate a response (our behavior) and its consequence. the behavior is voluntary, we operate on the environment to produce a consequence

how does classical conditioning occur? ex

two related events

ex. stimulus 1: lightning

stimulus 2: thunder

response: startled reaction; wincing

- we learn that a flash of lightning signals an impending crack of thunder. two events typically occur tgth and in sequence so we associate thunder bolts w lightning... very, very, frightening

result after repetition: stimulus: lightning--> response: anticipation of booming thunder; wincing

- upon seeing lightning, we respond by tensing (anticipating) the loud thunder boom

how is operant conditioning defined?

- we learn to associate a response (our voluntary behavior and its consequence

- thus we (nd other animals) learn to repeat voluntary acts followed by good results and avoid voluntary acts followed by bad results

- these associations produce operant behaviors (which operate on the environment to produce a consequence)

how does operant conditioning occur?

we learn that a voluntary behavior or response of politeness, for example, is associated w/ consequence of receiving a cookie

- (a) response: being polite, then consequence is getting treat, then behavior strengthened

- the next time the opportunity presents itself, we repeat the voluntary behavior that had the pos consequence the last time

--we associate the behavior w the consequence

respondent behaviors

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

- like someone tensing for thunder boom

operant behaviors

behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences

- like boy saying please

both types of associative learning

equals learning to anticipate the immediate future

ivan pavlov and contribution to psych

- spent 2 decades studying dogs' digestive system + earned the Nobel prize

- his experiments on learning prod classical conditioning

pavlov's initial work

pavlov attached a tube in dog's cheek to collect saliva (measured in cylinder outside the chamber

pavlov's accidental discovery

w/o fail, putting food in dog's mouth caused saliva

- but dog began salivating not js to taste but also to mere SIGHT of food or the food dish, or the person delivering food or even sound of person's footsteps

- he then realized this behavior pointed to a simple yet fundamtal form of learning

concepts of classical conditioning

- before conditioning

--unconditioned stimulus produces an unconditioned response

--neutral stimulus prod NO salivation response

- during

--US repeatedly presented js after NS

-- US cont to prod a UR

- after

--the previously NS alone now prod conditioned response CR, thereby becoming CS conditioned stimulus

unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned response relation

- food in mouth automatically triggers a dog's saliva reflex. no training req for automatic involuntary response

this reflex is called unconditioned resp and food is uncondit stim

what is neutral stimulus

tone or bell when activated produces no response. pavlov called the bell/tuning fork/buzzer the _____

what happ in a conditioning trial

pavlov conducted mult trials pairing the NS of tone with US of food. the US of food tho is what cont to prod the UR of drool/saliva

What are conditioned response and conditioned stimulus

saliva in response to tone is learned. it is conditional upon dog's associating tone w food. resp is the CR. NS that now triggers salivation is the condit stim

what is acquisition

in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links NS and US so that NS begins triggering the conditioned involuntary resp

name the four acquisition schedules

delayed conditioning, trace conditioning, simultaneous conditioning, backward conditioning

delayed acquisition

trace acquisition

simultaneous acquisition

backward acquisition

what is higher-order conditioning

a procedure in classical conditioning where the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning exp is paired with a new NS, creating a second (usually weaker) conditioned stim

ex: animal that learned that tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and beg responding to light alone

how does extinction occur?

when uncondit stim doesn't follow a condit stim

what is spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished condit resp

what is generalization?

the tendency, once resp has been condit, for stimuli similar to conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

what is discrimination?

the learned ability to distinguish bet a condit stim and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

applications/limitations of classical conditioning

pavlov taught that signif psych phenomena can b studied objectively, + that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that applies to all species

how does classical conditioning supp reprod?

- js b4 presenting an approachable female quail, researchers turned on a red light. over time, the red light signaled the male quail to become aroused

- conditioning helps an ani survive + reprod--by responding to cues that help it gain food, avoid dangers, locate mates, and prod offspring

little albert experiment

- learned to fear rats after 7 repeats of seeing the rat and hearing the frightening noise, Alb burst into tears at mere sight of rat

- generalized startled fear rxn to sight of rabbit, dog, sealskin coat but not to dissimilar objects like toys after 5 days

lil alb acquisition of phobias as ex of classical conditioning

pavs work provided basis for watson's idea that all human emotions and behavs though bio influenced, are mainly bundle of conditioned responses

what did john garcia and robert koelling do?

exposed a group of rats to a particular taste, sight, or sound and later also to radiation or drugs that led to nausea + vomiting

concept of preparedness

each species' predispositions prepare it to learn the associations that enhance its survival -- an evol phenomenon called _____

findings of garcia and koellings study

- 1st, even if sickened as late as several hrs after tasting a part novel flav the rats thereafter avoided that flav

- 2nd, the sickened rats dev conditioned aversions to tastes but not sights or sounds. this made adaptive sense.

what is taste aversion

- for rats, eziest way to identify tainted food is taste; if sickedned after new food, avoid called ____

- learning occurs readily bc our bio preps us to learn _____ to toxic foods

how do cognitive processes affect classical conditioning

in dismissal of "mentalistic" concepts such as consciousness, Pavlov + watson underestimated the imptance of the effects of cog processes (thoughts, perceptions and expectations)

what is operant conditioning?

a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher

operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment to prod rewarding or punishing stimuli is called ________

thorndike's law of effect

thorndike's princip that behavs followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behavs followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

- cats perf tended to improve w successive trials, illus thorndike's law of effect

what did skinner design?

4 his pioneering studies on operant conditioning skinner designed an operant chamber popularly known as skinner box

what is an operant chamber

in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

what does the skinner box allow researchers to investigate

the skinner box creates stage on which rats and other anis act out skinner's concept of reinforcement: any event that strengthens (incr freq of) a preceding resp

- reinforcers are all different depending on animal and conditions, not all created equal either

what makes a reinforcer a reinforcer

it is impt to note that reinforcer is defined by impact on behavior

- a reinforcer incr likelihood that behavior will increase

how is behavior shaped thru operant conditioning

shaping is an operant conditioning proced wherein reinforcement guides behav toward closer and closer approxs of the desired behavior

- also called reward by successive approxs

how wld skinner shape a rat's behavior to press a bar to get food?

1st, researchers watch how animal naturally behaves to build on its existing behavs

-- rat wld be given a bit of food (reinforcement) each time it approaches bar

- Once the rat is approaching regularly, food would only be given when it moves close to the bar, then closer still

- Finally, experimenters wld req the rat to acc touch the bar to get food

What is a discriminative stimulus?

a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated w reinforcement)

what is pos reinforcement?

_______________is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response

what is negative reinforcement

increasing behavs by stopping or reducing aversive stimuli

- _________ is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response

what is a primary reinforcer?

innately reinforcing stimuli such as those that satisfy a biological need

ex: food, pain relief

what are conditioned (secondary) reinforcers?

stimuli that gain their reinforcing power through their learned association with a primary reinforcer

ex: money, good grades, a pleasant tone of voice

What are reinforcement schedules?

___________ are patterns that define how often a desired response will be reinforced.

two types of reinforcement schedules

- continuous reinforcement sched: reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

- partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule: reinforcing a response only part of the time

reinforcement schedules impact to learning

continuous: learning rapidly, extinction occurs rapidly, when cont reinforcement

partial: persistence typical in which responses are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not. learning is slower to appear but resistance to extinction is greater

what are examples of the four types of partial reinforcement?

- fixed ratio sched: reinforcement occurs after a set # of responses

- fixed interval: reinforcement occurs after set length of time

- variable ratio: reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable # of responses

- variable interval: reinfor occurs after an unpredictable length of time

what is punishment?

punishment is event that tends to decr the behav it follows. behav that is punished is less likely to occur again. ______ adds an aversive stimulus or removes a pleasant stimulus

- neg reinfor incr the likelihood that the behav will occur again, removes aversive stim

- punishment says what NOT to do, reinforcement says what TO DO

positive punishment

- adds something negative (administer an aversive stimulus)

negative punishment

takes away smthn pos, withdraw a rewarding stimulus

drawbacks of phys punishment

- punished behav suppressed NOT forgotten

- punishment teaches discrimination among situations, can teach fear, may incr aggression by modeling violence as a way to cope w problems

what is instinctive drift

tendency of learned behav to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns

overjustification effect

when promising ppl a reward for a task they already enjoy can backfire

what do excessive rewards destroy/ define it

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: the desire to perform a behavior effectively and for its own sake

extrinsic motivation

desire to perform a behav to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

what is learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or person acquires when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

- no longer escaping even if possible

external locus of control

perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal direction determine our fate

internal locus of control

the perception that we direct and create our own fate

what is latent learning

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

what is a cognitive map?

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment

- ex: after exploring a maze rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it

What is insight learning?

a sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

ex: suddenly understanding that one cld use sticks to get food

What is observational learning?

higher animals, esp humans, learn w/o direct experience by watching and imitating others.

what is modeling?

we learn our native languages and various other specific behaviors by observing and imitating others, a process called _________

Bandura Bobo Doll Study research design

preschool child works on a drawing. an adult in another part of the room builds with tinkertoys. as the child watches, the adult gets up and for nearly 10 mins pounds, kicks and throws around the room a large inflated bobo doll, yelling "sock him in the nose...hit him down...kick him"

bobo doll study what happ

the child then taken to another room with appealing toys. soon experimenter returns and tells the child she has decided to save these good toys "for the other children." she takes the now-frustrated child to a third room containing a few toys, including bobo doll, what does child do?

result of bobo doll study

- compared w children not exposed to the adult model, those who viewed the model's aggressive actions were more likely to lash out at doll

- observing aggressive outburst apparently lowered their inhibitions

- but something more was also at work, for the children imitated the very acts they had observed and used the very words they had heard

take away of bobo doll study

by watching models, we experience vicarious reinforcmenet or vicarious punishment, and we learn to anticipate a behavior's consequences in situations like those we are observing

- we are esp likely to learn from ppl we perceive as similar to ourselves, as successful, or as admirable

what is prosocial modeling and what it its impact?

- ________ is positive, constructive, helpful behavior

- ppl who exemplify nonviolent, helpful behavior can also prompt similar behav in others

- watching others help pick up spilled books or coins, or viewing positively-themed television programming can prod pos helping behavs in others

antisocial modeling

observational learning may also have antisocial effects. helps us understand why abusive parents might have aggressive children