Unit 6

learning

permanent changes in behaviour that results from experience

what types of learning are there (2)

explicit: you are aware your behaviours changed
implicit: you don't notice you are doing something different

what does learning specifically look at? what is it not concerned with?

behaviour, not your thoughts and understanding

what is a common misconception

that we seek to manipulate the behaviours of others, occurs everyday in nature life (bi/trans-directional in every interaction we have)
-not evil (parents do it out of love, therapies)

Adaptation

sensory adaptation, we become more or less sensitive

what are the 2 ways to get adaptation ?

1.habituation: desensitization to something over time which is not dangerous, informative or interesting (consciousness doesn't pick up, i.e smell of your house)
2.sensitization: become more aware of thins over time which are dangerous, informative or interesting (new ring tone)

Conditioning

the process of learning associations (hard-wired to detect patterns in the environment)

what does conditioning require (3)

connecting the dots, correlations, antecedents and consequences

unconditioned stimulus (UCS/US)

something that produces a physic reflex without conditioning
-meat

unconditioned response (UCR/UR0

response that occurs from physic reflex without conditioning
-drool
-pain response to sting (high heart rate, cry)

neutral stimulus (NS)

something that prior to learning/ conditioning does not naturally elicit a response
-infant not afraid of insect prior to
-sound of foot steps

conditioned stimulus (CS)

match pairing, this was the neutral stimulus but now it evokes a response
-pairing of sting and wasp (now wasp is the CS)

conditioned response (CR)

learned response to a previously neutral, but now CS
-hear bell and now drool
-see wasp and now get a CR (no pain like the UCR but more likely to have high heart rate and fear)

aquistion

when UCS and NS are paired together through an acquisition trial "acquiring conditioning"
-initial period of learning

what does acquisition pair and what is the result?

pairs UCS and NS to create a CR

extinction: define, what it involves and results in

conditioning (CR) weakens/goes away by means of an extinction trial
-NS without UCS, reduction of CR

what is an unwanted outcome that impedes extinction ? what is the bright side

spontaneous recovery (memory in nervous system tries to protect us) but it is a weaker response than the initialc

example of extinction trial (wasp and pavlov dogs)

-show only the NS (bell) or the UCS (meat) without the other present
-see wasp (NS) through a mesh net to prevent UCR

generalization

respond to other NS that weren't the original NS but are similar (similar NS to CS)

example of generalization for Pavlov dogs

hear a high pitch noise (NS) similar to a bell ringing (CS) and now respond to it even though it was never paired

higher order conditioning

pairing CS1 with an additional NS2 so that the NS2 becomes a second CS (CS2)

example of higher order conditioning Pavlov's dog

meat (UCS), door is the original (NS1) which became CS1 but now the footsteps leading up to the bell (NS2) become CS2

example of higher order conditioning: wasp

wasp (NS) after sting (UCR) becomes a CS, but it stung you around a barn (NS1) so now the barn is CS2

what did John B Watson do for conditioning (explain the experiment and its outcomes)

phobia development: little Albert
experiment: friendly rats (NS), startle response (UCS), alarm reflex/cry (UCR), pair the 2 antecedents (NS and UCS) to turn the rat into (CS)
outcome: acquisition of phobia
-no extinction trials offered (never helped him)
-generalization (scared of all white fluffy, santa)
-discrimination (not brown rats, teddy bear)

what are the applications of conditioning (7)

phobias, taste aversion (if make nauseous associate the drink and not the food as a CS), music appreciation, drug addictions (bathroom becomes CS) adrenaline rush, fetishes (tv shows), brand personalities (truck commercials)

example of conditioning being around grandma and smell lavender perfume, when she is gone and you smell it, it make you happy

UCS: grandma UCR: happy NS: lavender scent CS: lavender scent CR: happiness/feel safe

example of conditioning: jillian allergy to seafood, ate at wharf and now when sees wharf her throat tightens

UCS: seafood UCR: anaphylactic shock (immune system reacting) NS: wharf CS: wharf CR: tight throat due to panic response

Jillian began to notice that her throat tightens when she thinks of the ocean and the seaside what is happing? if she relapses what happened?

higher order conditioning or generalization, spontaneous recovery

Rob only feels sad when he listens to specific types of rock music but not all, what is happening?

discrimination (certain vocals, artists, etc.)

how can Rob stop feeling sad when he listens to rock music?

extinction conditioning (listen to rock when he is doing his taxes, unrelated tasks)

different between operant conditioning and classical conditioning

classical: Antecedents and Behaviour (AB), relatively involuntary
operant: Behaviours and Consequences (BC), more voluntary control

properties of operant conditioning

-consequences of actions
-reinforcement and punishment
-conscious and unconscious
-voluntary

B.F. Skinner and Edward Thorndike

-radical behaviourists
-no free will
-law effect

What is the law of effect?

behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Skinner box (operant chamber)

when rat interacts with a button it can get shocked or receive food, rat learns what leads to food (+) and should repeat, and what leads to shock (-) and should avoid

reinforcement

appetitive/pleasant
-something you enjoy, evokes pleasurable reflex
-tangible or intangible
-encourages behaviour
** increasing a behaviour

is reinforcement synonymous with reward

no, not all rewards are reinforcing (might not encourage behaviour)
-i.e an awkward smile accomplishes the opposite of its intent
-present might not sway you

punishment

aversive consequence
-evokes unpleasant reflex (disgust, desire to avoid)
-tangible or intangible
-discourages behaviour
**decreasing a behaviour

is discipline and punishment the same

yes

what does positive mean?

adding a stimuli (can be pleasant or unpleasant)

what does negative mean?

removing a stimuli (can be pleasant or unpleasant)

positive reinforcement: define + characteristics + examples

adding a stimuli to encourage behaviour
-role of novelty, appetitive stimuli, pleasurable consequence
ex.allowance, high fives, eye-contact

positive punishment: define + characteristics + examples

adding an aversive stimuli to discourage behaviour
-unpleasant consequence
ex.frown, go to jail, scowl, spank, verbal abuse

negative punishment: define + characteristics + examples

remove an appetitive stimuli
-remove something you like to discourage a behaviour, unpleasant consequence
ex.take away freedom in jail, silent treatment, take away toys

negative reinforcement: define + characteristics + examples

removing an aversive stimuli
-pleasurable consequence, encourages a behaviour
ex.turn off alarm clock, criticism stops once you do the task, beep stops when put seatbelt on, horse reigns loosen when do good

overlap in dog with shock collar example

bark shock (PP) avoiding the shock (NR)

overlap in go to jail and lose freedom example

loss of freedom (NP), being in jail with stabby roommate (PP)

overlap in escaping the cold and going inside to warmth

escaping the cold (NR) being in the warmth (PR)

overlap in studying to keep your scholarships

keep scholarship (PR) lose scholarship (NP)

escape

behaviour removes an aversive stimuli
-experience it first and then have to remove

avoidance: define + example

behaviour prevents the aversive stimuli
-don't experience to react
-wake up before alarm clock goes off

how do phobias relate to avoidance

result in a chain reaction of early avoidance
-often irrational (avoid peers and skip class because don't want to take the elevator)

what are superstitions based on

early avoidance

Components of Classical Conditioning

-involuntary, reflexive (psychic reflexes which were autonomic)
-pairing of antecedents (things before the response)

the 4 phases of Pavlov's conditioning

unconditioned: meat (UCS) --> drool (UCR)
unconditioned: bell (NS)--> nothing
conditioning: bell (NS) meat (UCS) --> drool (UCR)
conditioned: bell (CS) --> drool (UCR)

difference between classical and operant conditioning

classical: pair UCS and NS, involuntary, stimuli proceeds the behaviour
operant: encourage/discourage a behaviour, mostly voluntary, consequences that follow

Acquistion (OC)

the strengthening of a reinforced operant response (have to shock dog more than once)

Generalization (complex conditioning)

multiple behaviours result in the same consequence

discrimination (complex conditioning)

i.e you tell your child not to draw on the walls but they then draw on the floor

shaping

we are actually training- we can stack skills (education, pigeon with missiles, BF train pigeon to play ping pong)
reward successive approximations of a target behavior (not just the target behaviour)

is there extinction for complex conditioning?

no, it is messy especially when try to extinguish a PR, because when take away a PR we try to have a neutral, but it actually feels like NP

what is latent learning

when you are learning but don't yet see it manifested in behaviour (don't show behaviour until have reason to demonstrate it)

example of latent learning- Tolman's maze

1. rat with food in box: in 10 days learned how to get out
2.no food in box, just wandered
3.no food in box until day 7 (were just as good as group 1, but days 1-7 looked like group 2)- made a mental (cognitive) map
showed latent learning

example of latent learning for uni

studying but it doesn't click until one day (learning throughout but doesn't manifest until later)

instrumental learning

don't need teachers to learn, just learn due to life experiences/ elements of the environment
-why can't have wild animals as pets

discriminant stimulus example

i.e Pavlov's dog, can add stimulus of light bulb
--light bulb and bell: food
--no light and bell: no food
know that light bulb being on is the discriminant stimulus

discriminant stimulus

something that will change your behaviour only when its around and its consequence is in play (parents attention: know to only fool around when gone)

continuous reinforcement

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
-expected consequence (rely on it)
-quickest way to teach a behaviour

partial reinforcement (intermittent)

reinforcing a response only part of the time --> slower acquisition of a response & greater resistance to extinction than continuous reinforcement
-why extinction doesn't happen right away

fixed ratio: define + example + graph

every Nth attempt/ winner
-post reinforcement pause
ex. every 5th time press button get pellet, coffee stamp card
graph: pause, less step, quick between

fixed interval: define + example

first attempt after a passage of time (daily, week)
-post reinforcement pause
ex. reward in video game everyday you log in, free coffee at start of every month
graph: scalloping effect, long pause, less steep

variable interval: define + example + graph

reinforcement after random passage of time, most addictive and related to superstition
-unpredictable, random
ex.coffee gives out one free coffee a day randomly, roulette, waiting for crush to text back
graph: moderate rate, no pause

why is a variable interval the most addictive reinforcement schedule

moderate rate sustains us, makes us less likely to quit

What did Albert Bandura do?

bodo doll experiment: punch, kick, hug doll based on what observed adult doing prior (vicarious learning/ modelling aggression)
-social learning theory (cognition is involved)

reflex

motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment

associative learning

organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment

conscious processes involved in classical, operant and observational learning

unconscious, conscious, both

what is jumping at the flash of lightning an example of

classical conditioning, associate lightning with boom of thunder

what is observational learning

watching others (models) and imitating what they do

classical conditioning

process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events

Moisha diagnosed with cancer and vomits after every chemotherapy. Now after being cured when she visits the oncologists she gets nauseous: list all UCS, UCR, etc

UCS: chemotherapy drugs
UCR: vomitting
NS: oncologist office
CS: oncologist office
CR: nausea

higher-order conditioning/ second-order conditioning

using conditioned stimuli to condition another neutral stimulus (can elicit a response without the initial CS after a while)

spontaneous recovery

return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period

stimulus generalization

an organism demonstrates the CR to stimuli that are similar to the CS (opposite of discrimination, i.e feel sick when visit other oncologists or doctors in same building)

John B watson: theory, how differs from freud

behaviourism, reasons for behaviour are not hidden in the unconscious (it can be seen as stimulus response reaction that does not require mental processes that cannot be measured)- focus on outward behaviour

phobia

a persistent, excessive fear of a specific object or situation

operant conditioning definition

organisms learn to associate a behaviour and its consequence

classical conditioning vs operant conditioning: conditioning approach

classical: UCS is paired with NS --> CS -->CR
operant: target behaviour is followed by a reinforcement or punishment to strengthen/weaken it

classical conditioning vs operant conditioning: stimulus timing

classical: stimulus occurs immediately before the response
operant: stimulus (reinforcement/punishment) occurs soon after response

Psychologist __________ saw that _______ _________ is limited to existing behaviors that are reflexively elicited, and it doesn't account for new behaviors such as riding a bike

B. F. Skinner, classical conditioning

what are the steps in shaping? (5)

1. reinforce any response that resembles desired behaviour
2. reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired (do not reinforce the previously reinforced response)
3.reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the desired
4. continue to go closer and closer to desired
5.only reinforce the desired

primary reinforcer: define + examples + scenario

reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities (these reinforcers are not learned)
ex.water, food, shelter, sleep, sex, touch (pleasure)
-jumping into a cold lake to cool you

secondary reinforcer: define + examples + scenario

no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer
ex. praise (linked to affection), money (to buy primary reinforcers or other secondary)
-stickers on a behaviour chart

token economies

a behavioral technique in which desirable behaviors are reinforced with a token, such as a small chip or fake coin, which can be exchanged for privileges (operant conditioning)

what is the best way to teach a person or animal (negative, positive, reinforcement, punishment)

positive reinforcement

Examples of schedules: identify each
1. hospital patient uses doctor timed pain relief
2.gambling
3.worker gets payed every x number of items they make
4.checking social media

1. fixed interval 2.variable ratio 3.fixed raio 2.variable interval

identify the ratio: service control person comes every once and while and if restaurant clean all employees get a $20 bonus

variable interval

identify the ratio: Carla gets commission for every time she sells a pair of glasses, she optimizes quantity output

fixed ratio

Who was a radical behaviourist? why

Skinner, thought cognition didn't matter only behaviours