PSY 150- Chapter 6: Learning

Reflex

response to a specific stimulus

Instinct

response to a broad range of stimuli

What do reflexes and instincts have in common?

They are both unlearned

What are the differences between reflexes and instincts?

Reflexes are simple, physical and an immediate neural reaction, instincts are complex and can be physical, cognitive, or emotional and do not have to occur immediately after the stimulus

Konrad Lorenz

imprinted on baby ducks so they would follow him around

Learning

the process of acquiring new information or behaviors through experience resulting in a relatively permanent change

More learning=

more neural pathways

more body parts involved=

more likely to learn

Associative learning

making connections between stimuli or events

classical conditioning

associate stimuli that occur together repeatedly. Automatic and outside of our conscious awareness

What is an example of classical conditioning?

Pavlov’s dogs

Operant conditioning

associate behavior with consequence (good or bad)

Observational learning

associate stimuli that occur together repeatedly or behavior and consequence through indirect experience

What is an example of observational learning?

DIY videos

Conditioning

something is learned

Ivan Pavlov is known as an…

accidental psychologist

Pavlov was actually a…

Russian physiologist studying the digestive system of dogs

John Watson

radical behaviorist who applied the principles of classical conditioning to human emotions

What experiment did Watson do?

Little Albert

What was the Little Albert experiment?

He would give baby Albert fluffy things then ring a gong, which would scare Albert and he would cry. Albert then created a conditioned emotional response and would start crying after he was handed the fluffy thing

Mary Cover Jones

applied classical conditioning techniques to behavioral therapy

What did Jones do?

used classical conditioning to reduce response in therapy so the client would have be less emotionally reactive over time by pairing aversive reactions with a neutral or positive thing

Classical conditioning

when a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditional stimulus, an automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus will occur

acquisition

learning response

extinction

decline in response to

what is an example of acquisition?

You start becoming happy when you hear the text notification from your boyfriend

what is an example of extinction?

The text notification makes you happy but you’re then confused when they’re not from your boyfriend

what is an example of recovery?

Your boyfriend finally texts back

Stimulus generalization

when we elicit a conditioned response to similar stimuli

What is an example of stimulus generalization?

Since you know your dog’s name is Dexter, you think all dogs are named Dexter

stimulus discrimination

similar stimuli don’t elicit conditioned response anymore

What is are 2 examples of stimulus discrimination?

All dogs are not named Dexter and Pavlov’s dogs salivating only at the footsteps of the research assistants

Habituation

stimulus repeatedly present without any change

Higher order/2nd order conditioning

See notebook for example

Classical vs operant conditioning

Classical is automatic and involuntary and an association between 2 stimuli. Operant is willing and voluntary and an association between behavior and consequence

Thorndike’s law of effect

stimulus that follows a particular behavior will either increase or decrease the behavior depending on whether the stimulus is pleasant or unpleasant

Skinner box

If the rat presses the lever when the blue light is on, he gets food. If the rat presses the lever when the orange light is on, there is a loud noise or a shock

positive reinforcement

something added to increase the likelihood of a behavior

negative reinforcement

something removed to increase the likelihood of a behavior

positive punishment

something added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

negative punishment

something removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

reinforcement

increases likelihood of behavior occuring again

punishment

decreases likelihood of behavior occuring again

what is an example of positive reinforcement?

putting money into a machine for candy

what is an exmple of positive punishment?

spanking a kid for doing something bad

what is an example of negative reinforcement?

taking advil for a headache, putting your seatbelt on to stop the dinging noise

what is an example of negative punsihment?

taking away phone because you got bad grades

What are the 4 major drawbacks of physical punishment?

Punished behavior is suppressed not forgotten. This temporary state may negatively reinforce parents’ punishing behavior. Punishment teaches discrimination among situations (what situations they can get away with). It can teach fear, which might lead to avoidance. It may increase aggression by modeling aggression as a way to cope with problems

continuous reinforcement happens

every time the behavior happens. Results in shorter acquisition. Not resistant to extinction

shaping

reward successive approximations toward a complex behavior

fixed interval

delivered after a predictable amount of time

variable interval

delivered after an unpredictable amount of time

fixed ratio

delivered after a predictable number of responses

variable ratio

delivered after an unpredictable number of responses

What does S-O-R stand for?

Stimulus-Organism-Response

latent learning

learning that isn’t demonstrated immediatelyo

observational learning

learning by watching others

awareness

response is influenced by information we receive about the stimulus

expectation

response is influenced by what we believe will happen

interpretation

response is influenced by our understanding of the stimulus

Latent learning

learning occurs but is not demonstrated until needed

cognitive maps

mental picture of the layout

modeling process

attention, reproduction, retention, and motivation

mirror neurons

neurons that fire when we see someone else perform a behavior