Learning

How do we learn?

Learning - the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors.

• Information must stick around (no cramming for test)

We expect and prepare for certain events (arrival of food) - classical conditioning

Learn to repeat actions that bring good outcomes - Operant Conditioning

Learn new behaviors by observing people and events - Cognitive Learning

But how do we learn?

• Humans learn from experience

• Nature’s most important gift is humans ability to adapt

Association we learn through habits. Habits form when we repeat behavior in a given context. As we repeat this behavior, the next time we encounter that context, we will evoke our habit. Behavior turns into habits after 66 days.

• Seals will repeat behavior (clapping) once it learns that doing so will get it treats

Associative Learning - learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning).

• since we know after lightning comes the boom of thunder, we start to brace ourselves just from the lightning, not the boom.

  • classical conditioning

Respondent Behavior - behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus. (bracing ourselves from the lightning)

Operant Behavior - behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence.

• Associate our action with a consequence. We then repeat the action in order to achieve good results (or avoid bad ones)

• Kid learns that being polite means you are more likely to get what you want

Cognitive Learning - the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.

• Lets humans learn though other’s experience

Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning - a type of learning in which we link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.

Explored by Ivan Pavlov

• Said psychology was a science and should be based in experiments

Pavlov’s Experiments

Studied Dog’s digestive system and then later on, learning

Noticed that when he put food on the dog’s tray, their mouths would begin to salivate

• Not at the taste of the food, but at the sight of it

Neutral Stimulus - in classical conditioning, a stimulus that evokes no response before conditioning.

• When you first see lightning, you don’t have a reaction (its neutral)

If these stimulus happened before the dog was given food, would the dog connect the stimulus and the food? Would the dog start to salivate?

• Yes and yes!

• A dog doesn’t learn to salivate in response to food in its mouth; food in the mouth automatically, unconditionally, triggers this response.

• The dog salivating in response to a bell is a learned response

Unconditioned Response - in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth).

• Natural response to a unconditioned stimulus

Unconditioned Stimulus - in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally — naturally and automatically — triggers a response (UR). The food for the dogs

• When you first hear a boom of thunder, you automatically respond

Conditioned Response - in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).

• The dog salivating once it heard the bell

• You connect the lightning and the boom of thunder, and you prepare for the thunder

Conditioned Stimulus - In classical conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR).

• You see lightning and know thunder will happen

• Tuning Fork/bell with Pavlov’s Dogs

If Pavlov’s research was so simply, why did he continue to study it for 3 decades?

Five Stages of Conditioning Processes:

1. Acquisition

2. Extinction

3. Spontaneous Recovery

4. Generalization

5. Discrimination

Acquisition

Acquisition - in classical conditioning, the initial stage — when we link a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. (In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.)

The point when the dogs linked the bell and the salivating

• how much time passes between the bell and the salivation (half a second)

What would happen if the food was first, then the bell?

• the conditioning would not happen. The order must go stimulus then response

Present the neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus in order to connect them together

Strengthen the response

Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

What would happen if the bell rang, but no food showed up?

• CS occurred without no US

Extinction - in classical conditioning, the weakening of a conditioned response — when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus. (In operant conditioning, the weakening of a response when it is no longer reinforced.)

• Forgetting the connection between the two stimulus

Spontaneous Recovery - the reappearance, after a pause, of a weakened conditioned response.

• The dog will learn faster the second time around

Generalization

A dog conditioned to the sound of a bell would also respond to the sound of another different bell

Called stimulus generalization

Generalization - in classical conditioning, the tendency, after conditioning, to respond similarly to stimuli that resemble the conditioned stimulus (CS). (In operant conditioning, when responses learned in one situation occur in other, similar situations.)

Can be adaptive:

• Toddlers who fear cars can learn to fear trucks/motorcycles

Can Linger:

• A journalist who was tortured in prison flinches whenever he sees black shoes (the first sight of his torturers in prison)

Discrimination

Dog’s learned to respond to the sound of one bell and not the sound of another

Discrimination - knowing the differences between one stimulus and another

• Your iPhone knows what your face looks like from multiple different angles (generalization)

• Your iPhone is able to differentiate your face from others (discrimination)

Pavlov’s Legacy

Most psychologists agree that classical conditioning is the primary form of learning

1. Many other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other creatures

2. Pavlov showed us how a process such as learning can be studied objectively

   1. Used to show how psychology might progress when experimenting

Modern neuroscience has identified neural circuits that link a conditioned stimulus (warning signal) with an upcoming unconditioned stimulus (threat)

Responses to stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other species

Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life

Medical Treatments - cancer treatments can cause vomiting. Patients develop classically conditioned nausea to sights, sounds, and smells of cancer clinics

Drug Cravings - People who formerly misused drugs often feel a craving when they are again in the drug-using context, because their brain has become conditioned to associate that context with a drug’s reward. Drug counselors tell their patients to stay away of any people/places associated with drug usage

Food Cravings - Sweet foods create cravings

John B Watson said that Pavlov’s research could help us understand our emotions

• Showed an infant a white rat (the kid was not afraid). The next times they showed the rat, a loud noise was made behind the infant’s head. This was repeated and eventually the infant started crying at just seeing the rat)

  • Super unethical

Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning - a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more probable if followed by a reinforcer or less probable if followed by a punisher

• Behavior that operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing events is called operant behavior.

Skinners Experiments

B.F Skinner was behaviorism’s influential and controversial person

His work built upon the research of Edward L. Thorndike’s Law of Effect

Law of Effect - Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

Skinner wanted to experiment that would reveal behavior control

• Can we teach a pigeon how to bowl?

• He shaped pigeons natural walking and pecking habits

• Taught pigeons how to play ping-pong, and keep a missile on track

Operant Chamber - in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking

Reinforcement - in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

• Depends on the animal

Shaping Behavior

Shaping - an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior closer and closer toward a desired behavior.

1. First observe the animals behavior in their natural habitat

2. Give rat the food whenever it gets close to the bar

3. Then give rat food the closer and closer it gets to the bar

4. finally require the rat to touch the bar to get food

Shaping allows for researchers to understand what nonverbal organisms can perceive

• If we can shape them to respond to one stimulus and not to another, then we know they can perceive the difference.

Types of Reinforcers

Positive Reinforcement - increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus, such as food. A positive reinforcer is anything that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

Negative Reinforcement - Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing an aversive stimulus, such as an electric shock. A negative reinforcer is anything that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response.

• Negative reinforcement could lead to substance abuse (drinking to avoid stress)

• Is not punishment, rather it removes a punishing stimulus

Primary and Conditioned Reinforcers

Primary Reinforcers - an event that is innately reinforcing, often by satisfying a biological need

• Unlearned

Conditioned Reinforcers - an event that gains its reinforcing power through its link with a primary reinforcer.

• If a rat learned that a light turned on means there is food, the rat would work to turn on the light

  • The light became a conditioned reinforcer that is linked with food

Immediate and Delayed Reinforcers

Immediate reinforcers helps link the behavior with the reward

• Giving the rat food as soon as it touches the bar

• If you delay giving the rat food, it won’t connect the behavior with the reward

• Immediate feedback means immediate learning

But unlike rats, Humans have the ability to respond to delayed reinforcers

• learning to control our impulses in order to achieve more valued rewards is a big step toward maturity

Sometimes, small immediate pleasures are more attractive than big but delayed rewards

• Scrolling through Instagram at night vs getting a good nights sleep

Reinforcement Schedules

Reinforcement Schedule - a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

Continuous Reinforcement - reinforcing a desired response every time it occurs.

• Learning occurs rapidly

• Extinction happens rapidly as soon as the reinforcement stops

Partial (intermittent) Reinforcement - reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

• Slot machines only reward players occasionally and unpredictably, but they still play them

Fixed-Ratio Schedule - a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

• Cafes giving us a free coffee after 10 purchases

Variable-Ratio Schedule - a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

• You never know when you will win at gambling, so you keep doing it

Fixed-Interval Schedule - a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

• People waiting for a letter check more often as the delivery date approaches

• Creates a “stop-start” pattern rather than a steady response pattern

Variable-Interval Schedules - a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

• At unpredictable times, a food pellet rewarded Skinner’s pigeons for persistence in pecking a key

• Produces steady response patterns

Response rates are higher when reinforcement is linked to the number of responses (a ratio schedule) rather than to time (an interval schedule)

responding is more consistent when reinforcement is unpredictable (a variable schedule) than when it is predictable (a fixed schedule)

Punishment

Positive Punishment - an event that decreases a behavior by administering a negative stimulus.

Negative Punishment - an event that decreases a behavior by removing a rewarding stimulus.

Criminal behavior is influenced not by the threat of severe punishments but by swift punishments

Should adults punish kids physically? The answer is no:

1. Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. This temporary state may (negatively) reinforce parents’ punishing behavior.

2. Physical punishment does not replace the unwanted behavior.

3. Punishment teaches discrimination among situations.

4. Punishment can teach fear.

5. Physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling violence as a way to cope with problems.

How should adults punish their kids → Time outs from positive reinforcement

• You hit Emma? No more Dora the explorer!

Punishment tells you what not to do; reinforcement tells you what to do.

Skinners Legacy

Skinner believed that external influences (not internal thoughts and feelings) shape behavior.

Wanted people to use operant conditionings to influence other people’s behavior

Critics said that he dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom and controlling their actions.

• Skinner’s response: External consequences already control people’s behavior. So why not steer those consequences toward human betterment?

Operant Conditioning in Everyday Life

At school:

skinner wanted “machines and textbooks” to give immediate reinforcements of correct answers

• “Students must be told immediately whether what they do is right or wrong and, when right, they must be directed to the step to be taken next.”

At work and in sports:

It is better to make reinforcement immediate

Better to reward specific, achievable behaviors

Managers can praise workers for good work

In Video Games:

Game developers use reinforcement principles to create computer programs that mimic human learning.

In Parenting:

If parents give into whining and complaining, they reinforce that behavior. If the adult yells and that makes the kid comply it will lead to a strained relationship.

Notice people doing something right and affirm them for it. Give children attention and other reinforcers when they are behaving well

In Changing your own Behavior:

1. State a realistic goal in measurable terms and announce it.

2. Decide how, when, and where you will work toward your goal.

3. Monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior.

4. Reinforce the desired behavior.

5. Reduce the rewards gradually.

Contrasting Classical and Operant Conditioning

Biology, Cognition, and Learning

Biological Limits on Conditioning

Charles Darwin proposed Natural Selection aid in survival

There are limits on classical conditioning

• Humans are biologically prepared to learn some things, rather than others

Species are predisposed to learn things needed in its survival

Biological Limits on Classical Conditioning

Rats avoid certain tastes that are linked with rat poison

• not the sights or sounds that accompanied the rat poison

  • Taste aversion

• In one study, wolves were fed sheep carcass filled with a sickening drug. The wolves would avoid sheep meat and sheep all together

Humans are biologically prepared to learn some certain things rather than others

• our ancestors learned to avoid food that made us sick

Biological Limits on Operant Conditioning

It is easier to learn and retain behavior that reflects our biological and psychological predispositions

• You can use food to make a hamster dig (they are used to digging for food)

• You cannot use food to make a hamster wash its face (food is not connected to this type of behavior

Cognitive Influences on Conditioning

Cognition and Classical Conditioning

Behaviorism - the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

• John B Watson said “Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior.”"

Underestimated two influences:

1. is the way that biological predispositions limit our learning

2. is the effect of our cognitive processes — our thoughts, perceptions, and expectations — on learning.

Early Behavioralists thought that dogs and rats’ learned behavior were mindless mechanisms

• no need to learn cognition

Animals can learn predictability

If a shock is always preceded by a tone, a rat will learn to react with fear to the tone, because the tone reliably predicts the shock. What would happen if a tone always comes before the shock, but a light sometimes accompanies the tone? A rat will react with fear to the tone, but not to the light.

• Tone is a better predictor

People being treated for alcoholism are given alcoholic drinks with a vomit-inducing drug. But if they know that it is the drug making them sick, not the alcohol, it weakens the association with drinking and getting sick

Cognition and Operant Conditioning

Skinner resisted the idea that cognition was needed in psychology

• he died 8 days later

Cognitive Map - a mental image of the layout of one’s environment.

• Rats running around a maze are able to memorize it

Latent Learning - learning that is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.

• kids who have their parents dive them to school are able to walk to school later

Excessive rewards can destroy intrinsic motivation

• People who focus on their work’s meaning and significance do better work and earn extrinsic rewards

Learning By Observation

Observational Learning - learning by observing others.

• You cannot learn how to be a good basketball player simply by watching LeBron James

Modeling - the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior.

• the physical practice of basketball

Kids who watch adults beat up a blow up clown are then more likely to beat up a blow up clown

By observing models, we vicariously (in our imagination) experience what they are experiencing.

Mirrors and Imitations in the Brain

A monkey had electrodes on its head that would allow researchers to see activity in the frontal lobe (planning and acting out movements)

• when the monkey put peanuts in its mouth, the machine would buzz because there would be activity

• One day the monkey saw a scientist eating an ice cream cone, and the machine buzzed

  • as if the monkey itself was making that motion

Mirror Neurons - neurons that some scientists believe fire when we perform certain actions and when we observe others performing those actions; a neural basis for imitation and observational learning.

Humans mirror catchphrases, ceremonies, food, traditions, morals, fads, by copying one another

Emotions are contagious. We unconsciously mimic people’s posture, faces, voices, writing styles and we understand what the person is feeling

• When a loved one is in pain, our brains light up the same way as theirs

Observational Learning in Everyday Life

People look, they listen, they mentally imitate, and they learn

Pro-Social Effects

Prosocial Behavior - positive, constructive, helpful behavior. The opposite of antisocial behavior.

After observing someone helping people, we become more helpful subconsciously

Kids observe and replicate their parent’s behavior

• If parents have moral behavior, their kids are more likely to be moral

• Kids are more likely to be religious if their parents practice with them

Anti-Social Effects

Anti-social Behavior - negative, destructive, harmful behavior. The opposite of prosocial behavior

Can explain why abusive parents have abusive kids

Aggressiveness can have a genetic link, and it can be environmental

If people are constantly hearing hate speech, they are desensitized to hateful language

TV shows can promote violent behavior, making people desensitized