Learning

What is learning?

a process through which experience produces lasting changes in behavior or mental processes

Behavioral learning

described in terms of stimuli and responses

Classical conditioning beginnings

Ivan Pavlov; studied digestive processes of dogs; wanted to find out how the dogs associated food with the lab assistant who fed them

Neutral stimulus

any stimulus that produces no conditioned response prior to learning (ex: ring of bell or tone)

Acquisition

initial or first learning stage in classical conditioning; conditioned response becomes elicited by conditioned stimulus (ex: ringing tone or bell with the food)

Unconditioned stimulus

elicits an unconditioned response (ex: drooling bc of food)

Unconditioned response

elicited by an unconditioned stimulus that comes to elicit the conditioned response

Conditioned stimulus

previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit the conditioned reponse

Conditioned response

elicited by a previously neutral stimulus that had become associated with unconditioned stimulus

Pavlov experiment

1. prior to conditioning:

   • tone or bell rang and dog didn’t salivate, just looked (neutral)

   • food presented after bell rung, causing salivation (unconditioned stimulus)

2. conditioning

   • pavlov rings bell/tone, brings out food, dog smells and salivates, and allowed to eat

   • done for breakfast, lunch, and dinner repeated throughout week (association)

   • if tone/bell rings w/o food, conditioned response of salivation appears even though there’s no food presented

3. after conditioning

   • the bell/tone becomes a conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response of salivation is activated even with no food presented

Extinction

weakening of a conditioned association in the absence of an unconditioned stimulus/reinforcer (ex: ring tone/bell overtime but don’t reinforce dog with food, dog will stop salivating eventually bc it doesn’t see food after bell/tone anymore)

Spontaneous recovery

reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a time delay (ex: after 3 days of not ringing tone/bell, coming back and doing it again will cause dog to salivate bc of prior learning)

Stimulus generalization

involves giving a conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimuli (ex: dog conditioned at 500 volume tone still responds to 600, 550, 490 volume bc it generalizes)

Stimulus discrimination

involves responding to one stimulus but not to stimuli that are similar (ex: dog conditioned at 2000 volume bell/tone wont respond to 500, 550, 600, 490 volume bc of the different intensity of the volumes)

What is the result of conditioning?

humans likes and preferences

Confusing stimuli can cause what?

experimental neurosis (ring bell 3 times, shock dog; dog flinches when bell heard 3 times; bell now rung 5 times then shocked then 7 times, then moved back to 3; dog becomes very neurotic)

Taste-aversion learning

biological tendency in which an organism learns to avoid food with a certain taste after a single experience if eating is followed by illness

Operant conditioning

consequences of behavior, such as rewards and reinforcements, influence the chance that out behavior will occur again

Trial and error learning

learner gradually discovers the correct response by attempting many behaviors and noting which ones produce the desired consequences

Who came up with the concept of Operant conditioning?

B.F. Skinner

What did B.F. Skinner beleive?

the most powerful influences on behavior are its consequences

Positive reinforcers

stimulus presented after a response that increases probability of that response (ex: receiving money for cleaning room)

Negative reinforcers

removal of an unpleasant stimulus, contingent on a particular behavior (ex: putting on a seatbelt in car to stop the beeping)

B.F. Skinner Box

1. rat would press lever, food comes out, eats it, door opens, and rat escapes

2. rat put into box with electrical charges, rat presses lever, electrical charges turned off

Ratio schedules

provide reward after a certain number of repsonses

Interval schedules

provide reward after a certain time interval

What is the most popular schedule of reinforcement in society?

Payday

Fixed ratio

rewards appear after a certain set number of responses (ex: factory workers getting paid every 10 cases of product completed)

Variable ratio

rewards appear after a certain number of responses but number varies (ex: slot machine)

Fixed interval

rewards appear after a certain fixed amount of time, regardless of number of responses (ex: weekly paychecks)

Variable interval

rewards appear after a certain amount of time but amount varies (ex: random visits from boss who delivers praise)

Punishment

an aversive stimulus which diminishes the strength of the response it follows

Difference between punishment and negative reinforcer?

Punishment: no noise → press lever → loud noise

Negative reinforcement: loud noise → press lever → noise removed

What does punishment often trigger and inhibit?

triggers aggression and inhibits learning new and better responses

Alternatives to punishment

• extinction (ignore children temper tantrums)

• reinforcing preferred activities (reward when doing good in school at varied interval)

• prompting and shaping (start at early age)

Cognitive psychology

some forms of learning must be explained ad changes in thinking processes, rather than changes in behavior alone

Insight learning

problem solving occurs by means of sudden reorganization of perceptions (a-ha! moment)

Cognitive maps

a mental representation of physical space (finding alternative route when there’s an accident on normal route)

Observational learning

form of cognitive learning in which new responses are acquired after watching others behavior and the consequences of their behavior (ex: speeding and seeing someone else get pulled over, you slow down and may go slower when on that same street another day)

Who’s in charge of the social cognitive theory?

Albert Bandura