Module 7: Learning

Behaviorism: learning only has to do with observable behavior

Habituation: the decline in an organism’s response to a stimulus once the stimulus had become familiar, serves the function of helping you ignore old information

Dishabituation: an increase in responding caused by a change in something familiar, serves the function of calling attention to newly arriving and potentially useful information

Classical Conditioning: an experiment credited with the discovery of classical conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus: it elicits an unconditioned response

Conditioned Stimulus: produces a conditioned response, a signal that has no importance to the organism until it is paired with something that does have importance

Second-Order Conditioning: a procedure in which a neutral stimulus is paired with some already established conditioned stimulus

Stimulus Generalization: similar enough stimuli will elicit the conditioned response

Organisms are also able to discriminate between different stimuli

Extinction: conditioned responses diminish without reconditioning

Spontaneous Recovery: sometimes, long after extinction, re-exposure to the conditioned stimulus evokes the conditioned response

Operant Conditioning: a type of conditioning or learning that occurs when a behavior is associated with the occurrence of a significant event

Thorndike’s Law of Effect: when a behavior has a positive effect, it is likely to be repeated / when a behavior has a negative consequence, it is less likeyl to be repeated in the future

Reinforcers: increase behaviors

Punishers: decrease behavior

Extinction, Stimulus Generalization, Spontaneous Recovery, and Stimulus Discrimination all apply to both Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning

Life = Partial or Intermittent Reinforcements, that occur only sometimes

Fixed Ratio Schedules: reinforce behavior after a set of repeated responses

Variable Ratio Schedules: reinforce behavior after an unpredictable number of responses

Fixed Interval Schedules: reinforce the first response after a fixed time period

Variable Interval Schedules: reinforce the first response after an unpredictable time period

Response rates are higher for ratio schedules

Responding is more consistent for variable schedules

Operant Conditioning Behavior requires something called shaping

Cognitivism: learning also has to do with inner mental activity

Observational Learning: a component of Albert Bandora’s social cognitive learning theory, which suggests that individual’s can learn novel responses by observing the behavior of others

Constructivism: learning is more than an acquisition it is an active process

Moving along the Behaviorist Cognitivist Constructivist Continuum, the focus of instruction shifts from teaching to learning

From the passive transfer of facts and routines to the active application of ideas to problems, both Cognitivists and Constructivists view the learner as being actively involved in the learning process

Constructivists look at the learner as more than just an active processor of information, the learner elaborates upon and interprets the given information—meaning is actually created by the learner

Humanism: learning is a personal act to fulfill one’s potential, it focuses in human freedom, dignity and potential