Example: Flash a light (NS) then produce a puff of air (US) that causes blinking repeatedly (UR). Repeating this will make the flashing light (CS) lead to blinking (CR)

5.2 Little Albert

Little Albert Experiment: Classically conditioning a baby to fear a white rat by presenting the rat accompanied by a loud metal pipe clanging

-Phobias have been treated with classical conditioning

5.3 Conditioning factors

Acquisition phase: The time where the neutral stimulus comes to cause the conditioned response

-Ex: Pavlov pairing the food and the metronome

-Strongest when the neutral stimulus is presented immediately before the unconditioned stimulus

Extinction: When the conditioned stimulus no longer elicits the conditioned response

Spontaneous recovery: A short lived effect where when a conditioned stimulus isn’t presented, there’s still a conditioned response

Stimulus generalization: When the conditioned response is elicited in response to similar stimuli to the conditioned stimulus

Stimulus discrimination: When the conditioned response is elicited in response to a specific conditioned stimulus and doesn’t occur in response to similar stimuli

Higher-order conditioning: When a conditioned stimulus eventually acts as an unconditioned stimulus in a second round of conditioning

-Some stimuli are easier to associate to responses than others

Taste aversion: a classically conditioned dislike of a certain food following illness

Biological preparedness: our predisposition to develop associations between certain types of stimuli and survival based responses

5.4 Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning: Learning that occurs after we voluntarily engage in a behavior

-Based on consequences that occur after a particular behavior

Law of effect: If a response produces a satisfying effect, the response is likely to occur again

Skinner believed in radical behaviorism (all behaviors resulted from environmental factors)

5.5 Reinforcement

Reinforcers increase or strengthen a behavior

Primary reinforcer: satisfies a basic need (hunger, thirst, etc)

Secondary reinforcer: Something that becomes satisfying through its association with primary reinforcers (money, praise, etc)

Immediate reinforcement: the behavior and delivery of reinforcement occur very close in time, typically more preferable

Delayed reinforcement: When there is a significant delay in time between the behavior and reinforcement

Positive reinforcers: adding pleasurable consequence

Negative reinforcers: Removing an undesirable consequence

(Ex: Rocking a baby to sleep to stop it crying)

5.6 Punishment

Punishment decreases or weakens a behavior

Positive punishment: adding something undesirable after a behavior

Negative punishment: removing something desirable after a behavior

Punishment isn’t as effective as reinforcement for changing behavior

Punishment can be effective if:

It’s immediately applied after the behavior
Consistently applied every time the behavior occurs

5.7 Reinforcement Schedules

Continuous reinforcement: The desired response is reinforced every time it occurs

-Results in rapid learning, but if the reinforcement stops, extinction is rapid

Extinction burst: A burst of responding after the removal of a reinforcement

Partial reinforcement: When responses are occasionally reinforced

-Slower initial learning, but it’s more resistant to extinction

-Rate is either fixed (on a set schedule) or variable (random schedule)

-Reason is either ratio schedule or an interval schedule

-Specific schedules of reinforcement involve all four possible combinations of variables

Fixed-ratio schedules: Reinforce behavior after a set number of responses

Variable ratio schedules: Reinforce behavior after varying and unpredictable numbers of responses

Fixed-interval schedules: Behavior is reinforced after a fixed time period

Variable interval schedules: Reinforces behavior after variable periods of time

-Fixed ratio is most effective

5.8 Shaping

Shaping: Using reinforcers to guide actions toward a desired behavior

-Done by using successive approximations (behaviors incrementally closer to the overall desired one)

Chaining: A combination of responses performed in a particular order, with the reward being tied to the full sequence of behaviors

5.9 Applied Behavior Analysis

Applied behavior analysis: the systematic extension of the principles of operant psychology to problems/issues of social importance

Premack principle: people are more likely to engage in a low probability activity if they know it’ll be followed by a high probability activity they enjoy

-Basically promising a reward for completing a task someone isn’t excited to do can motivate them to finish the task quickly

Token economy: A conditioned reinforcer, using tokens that can be cashed in for a reward

5.10 Observational Learning

Modeling: the act of observing and imitating others

Imitation: copying others actions

Emulation: reproducing the end results of others through different means

Mirror neurons: fire not only when engaged in a specific action, but also when observing someone doing the same action

-Your brain simulates actions of others it sees

-Allows us to imitate actions and infer intentions behind actions

-Also linked to empathy

5.11 Bandura’s Experiments

-In the experiment, Bandura was evaluating the nature of observational learning in children with respect to aggressive behavior