Chapter 6: Conditioning and Learning

Learning

A relatively permanent change in knowledge and/or behavior that results from experience

Associative learning

Simple association among stimuli, behaviors, or both

• Classical conditioning

• Operant conditioning

Classical conditioning

A form of learning in which reflex responses are associated with new stimuli

• This type of learning occurs when associations are formed between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus

  • Ex: common cause of phobias

    • scared of birds,

  • a way that tastes and preferences develop

  • Advertisements often work by associating products with positive emotions

    • a dog being adopted and being taken with his family in a Jeep

Pavlov’s Dog Experiment Breakdown

1. Neutral stimulus → Bell

2. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) → Food

3. Unconditional response (UCR) → Salivation

4. Conditioned stimulus (CS) → Bell

5. Conditional response (CR) → Salivation

Unconditioned stimulus

Elicits a response without prior experience

Unconditioned response

Response to stimulus without previous experience, naturally occurring response without intervention

Neutral stimulus

Does not produce a specific response (indifference)

Conditioned stimulus

Neutral stimulus that, through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to elicit a learned response

Conditioned response

Learned reaction by pairing the original neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus

Extinction

• Weakening the connection between the conditioned and the unconditioned stimulus

• Unconditioned stimulus stops following the conditioned stimulus

Spontaneous Recovery

• Return of learned response after apparent extinction

• The original association remains linked in the brain, even after extinction

Stimulus Generalization

• After conditioning, similar stimuli may trigger a response 

• As the stimuli become less like the original CS, responding decreases

  • Ex: a baby is scared of a white rat, but is then scared of anything white: white rabbit, white dog, white pillow, etc. 

Stimulus Discrimination

• The learned ability to respond differently to a variety of similar stimuli

• Creates more selective responses

  • Ex: Different bell sounds for different commands for a dog

Douglas Merritte

Albert Barger

Operant conditioning

Associative learning based on positive or negative consequences of responding

Ex: if there is a reward

Thorndike’s law of effect

Responses that lead to desirable effects are repeated; those that produce undesirable results are not repeated or repeated less. 

Ex: place a hungry cat in a puzzle box

the cat could escape by pressing a panel, opening a catch, or pulling on a string

if the cat escaped, it received a food reward

Positive Reinforcement

Adding something good

Ex: giving money to a kid whose does chores, giving treats to your dog

Negative Reinforcement

Taking away something bad

Taking chores away because a boy did a good score on test

Positive Punishment

adding something bad

whipping a kid

more chores because you did bad on test

Negative Punishment

taking away something good

Take cellphone if they got a bad test grade

Reinforcer

Punisher

Intensity

Those that are more intense will be more likely to result in behaviors being repeated in the future

Timing

Reinforcement and punishment are most effective when they rapidly follow a response

Continous reinforcement

follows every correct response

Partial reinforcement

Does not follow every response

• Responses acquired by partial reinforcement are highly resistant to extinction

Token econmies

Primary reinforcer

Produces comfort, ends discomfort, or fills an immediate physical need

• Ex: food, water, materialistic prizes, service, or privileges)

Secondary reinforcer

Value in the ability to exchange tokens for a primary reinforcer. 

• Money, grades, praise

Classical Conditioning

• Involuntary, reflex

• Occurs before response

• Passive

• Neutral stimulus becomes a CS through association with US

Operant Conditioning

• Voluntary, spontaneous

• Occurs after response (trial and error)

• Active (choice-centered)

• The probability of making a response is altered by the consequences that follow it (reinforced or punished)

Modeling

The process of learning through observation and imitation

Simple

A child learning to tie their shoe by watching their parent do it

Therapeutic

A therapist modeling appropriate behaviors or skills for the client to learn by imitation

Social

Conforming to a large group of people (standing ovations, class dynamics,etc)

ex: someone stands up and clap and you join

Approaches to Cognitive Learning

Ability to acquire behaviors, skills, and information with memory, thinking, and problem-solving solving

Bloom’s Taxonmoy

A system for classifying knowledge and learning

Direct Instruction

• Information presented by lecture or demonstration

• Students often learn through guided practice

• Teacher-led

• “Traditional” teaching, and more in lower-level courses

Discovery Learning

• Learning based on deeper insight and understanding

• Students engage with the material on their own or in small groups

• Student-led

• More common in CBE teaching or higher-level courses

Growth mindset 

Intelligence and talents can be developed through hard work and effort

Fixed mindset

Intelligence and talents are inborn and cannot easily be changed

Learning styles

The idea that people have a preferred means of receiving and processing information do not appear to have a real effect on the measure of learning

Learning strategies

Include spaced learning, being reflective, self-testing, and metacognitive strategies