Classical and Operant Conditioning

Learning

A long lasting change in behavior due to experience.

Who came up with the idea of Classical Conditioning?

Ivan Pavlov

Describe the experiment used by Pavlov to study Classical Conditioning.

• He studied the digestion of dogs and when they salivate.

• Found that dogs would salivate before they were given food using sensory triggers, but they need to be learned when to salivate.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning where a neutral stimulus eventually triggers a response after repeatedly being paired with a stimulus that naturally causes that response.

Neutral Stimulus

A stimulus that doesn’t cause any type of bodily response by itself.

Unconditional Stimulus

Refers to any natural stimulus that automatically triggers a response without any learning.

Unconditional Response

It’s the automatic natural reaction to the Unconditional Stimulus.

Unconditional relationship

The connection between an Unconditional Stimulus & Unconditional response.

Conditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that used to be a neutral stimulus but triggers a learned response after being paired with an unconditional stimulus.

Conditional Response

It’s the learned response to the Conditional Stimulus.

What are the steps (or things you need) to create a Classical Conditioning between 2 stimulus?

1. Start with an unconditional relationship.

2. Introduce a neutral stimulus to the unconditioned stimulus repeatedly.

3. After a lot of repetition, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus and the reaction to the stimulus becomes a conditioned response.

Acquisition

The process where the body begins to link the neutral stimulus with the Unconditional Stimulus to create the Conditioned Stimulus.

Does Acquisition last forever?

No, its only temporary.

Extinction

When the Conditioned Stimulus’s connection with the Unconditional Stimulus is removed.

Spontaneous Recovery

A chance that a Conditioned Response could appear when the Conditioned Stimulus is presented, even when Extinction already occurred.

Generalization

When a Conditioned Response spreads to stimuli similar to the Conditioned Stimulus.

Discrimination

When an organism learns to spot the difference between a Conditioned Stimulus and other stimulus that’s similar to it.

Describe the Baby Albert Experiment.

1. Little Albert wasn’t afraid of white rats initially, with the white rats being the neutral stimulus.

2. A steel bar with a hammer was struck behind Albert’s head whenever he touched the rat.

3. After doing this multiple times, Albert began to cry just from seeing the white rats.

In the Baby Albert Experiment, what was the Unconditional Stimulus, Unconditional Response, Conditioned Stimulus, and Conditioned Response?

• Unconditional Stimulus: The loud noise whenever Albert touched a white rat.

• Unconditional Response: The fear & startling Albert experiences.

• Conditioned Stimulus: The white rats.

• Conditioned Response: Albert’s fear towards the rats.

Higher-Order Conditioning

A type of learning where a new neutral stimulus with no previous association to a Conditioned Stimulus becomes linked to it, allowing for organisms to react to the new neutral stimulus.

Biological Preparedness

We are naturally wired to learn certain fears more easily than others because they helped our ancestors survive.

Learned Taste Aversion

When an organism learns to avoid a certain type of food once they get sick from it after just one experience of eating it, even if the sickness occurs a long time later.

What’s the main takeaway from the Garcia & Koelling Study?

Organisms are biologically prepared to learn some associations much more easily than others, relating to Learned Taste Aversion.

Operant Conditioning

A type of learning where behavior is shaped by its consequences, which are rewards and punishments.

Law of Effect

States that behaviors followed by rewards are more likely to occur while behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to occur.

Who came up with the Law of Effect?

Edward Thorndike

What did Skinner believe regarding Behavioral Perspective?

Behavior is learned through consequences, primarily reinforcement and punishment.

Skinner Box

A controlled chamber used to study Operant Conditioning where animals learn behavior by receiving rewards or punishments.

Shaping

A learning method where small steps towards a desired behavior are reinforced as a build up to that final behavior.

Cumulative Recorder

A device attached to the Skinner Box that graphs an organism’s response rate.

Describe what these slopes on a Cumulative Recorder mean:

• Steep Slope

• Shallow Slope

• Faster response rate.

• Slower response rate.

Reinforcement

A technique used to strengthen a behavior.

Positive Reinforcement

Adding something pleasant like praise or rewards to strengthen behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

When you do a behavior to get rid of unpleasant stimuli so you don’t need to encounter it again.

Punishment

A technique that decreases behavior.

Positive Punishment

Adding something unpleasant to motivate you to not do that behavior again.

Negative Punishment

Removing something pleasant to force you to change out of that behavior.

What are 2 things that allow punishments to work their best?

• They must be performed immediately after some unpleasant behavior.

• It cannot be overly harsh.

Chaining Behaviors

Linking a series of small behaviors together to create a complex behavior.