Psychology Chapter 6 & 7

What is learning?

a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge due to experience

What is the main benefit of learning?

Leaning allows you to anticipate future events to better control your environment

What are the three methods of learning?

Classical conditioning

Operant conditioning

Observational learning

Subject

whomever/whatever is doing the learning (you, a baby, an animal, etc.)

Stimulus

something that happens in the environment and affects the subject

Response

an observable behavior, what the subject does as a reaction to a stimulus

Neutral

something that doesn’t cause a particular response

Unconditioned

NOT learned. Something that happens spontaneously, NOT caused by experience

Conditioned

LEARNED. Something that ONLY happens as a result of experience

Positive

adding something- It DOES NOT mean “something good”

Negative

removing something- It DOES NOT mean “something bad”

Ivan Pavlov

Experiments on animals

Russian physician/ neurophysiologist

Nobel Prize in 1904

Started by studying the digestive process

By accident, ended up studying the process by which associations are established, modified, and broken.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

stimulus that unconditionally--automatically and naturally-- triggers a response

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (REFLEX)

Aquisition

the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response

Repetition

The idea that most learning takes place after several trials.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

Conditioned Response (CR)

learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus (LEARN)

Classical Conditioning

It’s automatic and often unintentional

Its effectiveness doesn’t depend on the number of repetitions pairing the neutral with the unconditioned stimulus

Conditioning is most effective when:

The conditioned stimulus (the bell) comes BEFORE the unconditioned stimulus (the food)

The unconditioned stimulus IMMEDIATELY follows the conditioned stimulus

The unconditioned stimulus RELIABLY follows the conditioned stimulus

Extinction

The CS occurs repeatedly without the UCS

The CS no longer provides accurate information about the appearance of the UCS

Eventually there is no response to the stimulus

Spontaneous recovery

The reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response

Generalization

the tendency for a conditioned response to be elicited by stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus

A child was bitten by a small bulldog and is now afraid of all small dogs

Discrimination

the learned ability to distinguish stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus and not produce a conditioned response

My dog can discriminate between the sound of my car (CS) and any other vehicles

How does classical conditioning make sense from an evolutionary standpoint?

help “predict the future” and prepare for good or bad events sooner →Survival advantage

The Little Baby Albert Experiment

John Watson and Rosalie Rayner

Baby Albert was instinctively scared of loud noises but not animals, fire, fuzzy objects (neutral stimulus)

Watson paired a rat (neutral stimulus) with a loud noise (unconditioned stimulus). After several trials, Albert cried when he saw the rat

Generalization Albert cries when presented with any fuzzy object

Taste Aversion

Aversion to a specific taste due to a negative experience. It causes avoidance of that taste to prevent future negative consequences (spoiled milk)

Acquisition phase occurs with NO REPITITION!

What are we predisposed to associate digestive discomfort/nausea with?

flavors, rather than other types of stimuli (like lighting)

Study of women undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer

After several chemo sessions, patients’ immune systems were weakened when they entered the hospital

Hospital setting became a conditioned stimulus, inhibiting cellular activity in the immune system in anticipation of the treatment.

Phobia

An exaggerated and irrational fear of objects or situations

Intense fear reactions often develop through classical conditioning

How can phobias be treated?

Extinction (exposure to the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus) (Desensitization)

Thorndike’s Law of effect

Behaviors that are followed by desirable outcomes are more likely to be repeated in the future

Behaviors that are followed by undesirable outcomes are less likely to be repeated in the future

Operant Conditioning

basic principle that underlies operant conditioning

Subjects operate on (make changes to) their environment in order to produce desired consequences

A behavior is strengthened if it’s followed by reinforcement and weakened if it’s followed by punishment

Who performed early studies in Operant Conditioning?

B.F. Skinner

Characteristics of Operant Conditioning

voluntary

goal directed

controlled by its consequences

Operant conditioning is a different learning mechanism from classical conditioning

Operant chamber/ Skinner box

The speaker and light allow the experimenter to manipulate visual and auditory stimuli.

The rats could press the levers to get a reward (food) or punishment (electrical shocks).

The levers are connected to devices that record the animal’s response

The rat was conditioned to press the bar when it sees the light (after which it receives a food pellet)

Reinforcer

any stimulus or event that increases the likelihood that the behavior that occurred just before it will be repeated

A consequence is a reinforcer ONLY if it increases the behavior that came before it

What is the key to determining rewards vs punishments?

You need to find out what is rewarding/ isn’t rewarding for each individual

Primary reinforcer

innately reinforcing because it satisfies a biological need

Food, water, warmth, sex, physical activity, attention, novel stimulation, and sleep

Secondary reinforcer

learned and becomes reinforcing by being associated with a primary reinforcer

Money, grades, trophies,, praise, a “safety blanket”

How does classical conditioning generate secondary reinforcers?

Through classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (in our case, a secondary reinforcer) by being repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus (the primary reinforcer) that naturally evokes an unconditioned response

Money (secondary) buys food (primary)

Positive reinforcers

strengthen a response by presenting a desirable stimulus after a behavior (candy, compliment, etc.)

participating more in class after teacher compliments what you said

Negative reinforcer

strengthen a response by removing an undesirable stimulus after a behavior (seat belt beeper in car)

Procrastination is also the result of negative reinforcement: delaying work on a task decreases anxiety about that task

parent gives candy to a child at a checkout line to avoid tantrums that have happened in the past

Punishment

the process by which a stimulus decreases the probability of the behavior it follows

Positive punishment

weakens response by adding an adverse stimulus aft

Negative punishment

weakens response by removing stimulus after a behavior

What are the 3 conditions of effective punishment?

1. must be immediate

2. must be enough in severity so the behavior stops

3. must be consistently applied

Downsides of punishment:

1. punishment does not teach what should be done, simply teaches what should be avoided

2. punishment does not generalize well

3. suppresses rather than extinguishes behavior

4. may evoke hostility or passivity

Why is physical punishment ineffective?

physical punishment may teach and encourage copying of aggressive behavior (observational learning)

Alternatives to punishment

Extinction of behavior: allow undesirable actions to continue without positive or negative punishment until they are extinguished (pay no attention to the behavior)

Time-out: misbehaving child is removed for a short period of time from sources of positive reinforcement

Continuous

Happens every time

Partial

Happens only some times

Fixed

Predictable (specified number)

Variable

Unpredictable

Ratio

Number of occurrences

Interval

Period of time

Continuous reinforcement

reinforces the desired response each time it occurs

behavior extinguishes very quickly (if vending machine does not give soda after inserting money, you will not keep putting money in)

this for that (for every occurance)

Partial reinforcement

reinforces a response only part of the time

slower acquisition at first, but greater to resistance to extinction later on

2 types of partial reinforcement

Fixed or Variable Schedules (Predictable vs Unpredictable )

Ratio or Interval Schedules (Number of Occurrences vs. Time Period)

Fixed-ratio schedule

Reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

• Rewards cards

• Frequent flier miles

Variable-ratio schedules

Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

• Slot machine (lever pulls)

• Scratch cards

• Fishing (number of casts)

• Panning for gold

Both reinforcers and punishments are defined by what?

Their actual consequnces

fixed-interval schedule

per time period

reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

ex. weekly paycheck, mid-term grades

variable-interval schedule

reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals, resulting in slow, steady responses

ex. pop quizzes, checking email, and speed traps

Superstitious behavior

behavior learned simply because it happened to be followed by a reinforcer, even though this behavior was not the cause of the reinforcer

accidental reinforcement

a reinforcer that unintentionally increases the probability of the behavior that precedes it

works as a partial reinforcement schedule- occasional rewards strengthen conditioning

What underlies obsessive compulsive disorders?

accidental reinforcement

Shaping or successive approximation

teaching a new behavior by reinforcing closer and closer approximations to a desired behavior

How does shaping work?

Break the desired behavior into small sub-steps

Successively reinforcing each approximation to the desired behavior

Once the subject masters a simpler step, bump up difficulty (get closer to full desired behavior)

Learned helplessness

the passive resignation produced by repeated exposure to aversive events that cannot be avoided

emotions in order: anger and anxious, helpless, depressed

Observational learning

learning by observing and imitating the behaviors of others

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

People learn social behaviors mainly through observation and cognitive processing of information, rather than through direct experience

Vicarious learning

learning the consequences of an action by observing the consequences of that action for someone else

Bobo doll experiment

(Albert Bandura) demonstrates the power of observational learning in eliciting aggression

families that use violence yield violent children

communities where violence is a sign of manhood yield violent men

What can early exposure to violent content lead to?

emotional blunting or desensitization

What do violent video games lead to?

aggressive thoughts, emotions, and behavior

violent video games are not the primary cause of aggressive behavior, but they are the most controllable factor

How can aggression be controlled?

an authoritative figure condemns aggression and violence

diminish exposure to violence

Observational version of the law of effect:

You are most likely to imitate a model whose actions you see rewarded, and you are least likely to imitate behavior that is punished

Impacts of violent music:

acceptance of antisocial behavior

enter an emotional mindset that makes aggressive responses more likely

What kind of memory deficit did Clive Weaning have?

he could not remember what happened even a few seconds ago or create new memories, but he could recognize his wife, speak, and recall old memories

Clive Weaning had a deficit with encoding information, but he could retrieve information from long term memory

Memory

the mental process by which information is encoded and stored in the brain and later retrieved

Information processing model

similar to a computer

encoding→ storage → retrieval

Encoding

Taking short term memories and converting them into long term memories

Incoming information is organized & transformed so that it can be entered into memory

Storage

Information is entered & maintained in memory for a period of time

Retrieval

Retrieving long term memories and putting them into short term memory temporarily

Recovering stored information from memory so it can be used

Atkinson and Shriffin’s Modal Model (1968)

3 components of memory that constantly interact:

sensory memory

short-term memory

long-term memory

Sensory memory:

Initially stores all incoming information for fractions of a second

preserves a large amount of information in its original form for a brief time

quickly replaced by new incoming information

Short-term memory

stores 5-9 items for 20-30 seconds before they are either thrown out or stored in long-term memory

Long-term memory

stores large amounts of information for years and even decades

Functions of sensory memory

collects information

holds information for initial processing

fills in the blanks (such as missed words in a conversation)

Persistence of vision

between frames, we see the sensory memory of the previous picture (movies)

must be at least 24 frames/second to avoid jerky movement

Iconic memory

visual sensory memory

less than 0.4 seconds

circle shape from sparkler- the circle is simply the memory of where the sparkler just was

Echoic memory

auditory sensory memory

3-4 seconds

Why is iconic memory so much shorter than echoic memory?

Selective attention

the filtering out of irrelevant information- this information is lost (never encoded)

Serial position effect/curve

the tendency to recall the first and last items in a list

implies the existence of 2 memory subsystems

Recency effect

memory better for stimuli presented last because they are still in STM (limited capacity, 20-30 seconds)

Primacy effect:

memory better for stimuli presented first because they are encoded into LTM (durable, immense capacity, long periods of time)

Which way does information flow?

Information flows both ways

Encoding: short term→ long term

Retrieving: long term→ short term

Old view of STM

STM was a passive repository to hold information before sending it to LTM