Recording-2025-02-17T17:00:45.694Z

Introduction to Learning

Learning is often linked to behavioral psychology.
Three types of learning:
- Classical Conditioning
- Operant Conditioning
- Observational Learning
Conditioning: process of learning associations.

Originated from Pavlov's studies on dog's salivation in response to food.
Key Concepts:
- Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally elicits a response without prior learning.
- Unconditioned Response (UCR): The natural reaction to the UCS without any learning (e.g., salivation in response to food).
- Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A neutral stimulus that becomes associated with the UCS after repeated pairings and eventually elicits a learned response.
- Conditioned Response (CR): The learned response to the conditioned stimulus (e.g., salivation to the bell).

Pavlov rang a bell (neutral stimulus) before giving food (UCS).
After several pairings, the dogs began to salivate (CR) when they heard the bell (CS), demonstrating classical conditioning.

Conducted by John B. Watson & Rosalie Rayner in 1919 with a baby named Albert.
Paired a white rat (CS) with a loud noise (UCS), leading to fear (UCR).
Resulted in generalization; Albert feared not just the rat, but other similar stimuli (e.g., rabbits).

Biopreparedness: Biological predisposition to learn some associations more easily than others (e.g., fear of snakes rather than cars).
Conditioned Taste Aversion: Quick learning to avoid foods associated with illness, often occurring after just one pairing of food and sickness.
- More applicable to novel foods than familiar ones.
- CS and UCS can be hours apart and still form an association.

Stimulus Generalization: Tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS (e.g., fearing all dogs after being bitten by one).
Stimulus Discrimination: Learning not to respond to stimuli similar to the CS when they do not predict the UCS (e.g., learning which dogs are safe).

Decreasing the frequency of a conditioned response by repeatedly presenting the CS without the UCS (e.g., birds stopping to visit a feeder without food).

Learning that involves associating behavior with its consequences.
Key Concepts:
- Involves voluntary behaviors, unlike classical conditioning which is reflexive.
- Behaviors leading to reinforcement are likely to be repeated, while those leading to punishment are avoided.

A dog learns to obey commands to receive treats.
A child learns to avoid misbehaving to keep video game privileges.
Understanding of actions and their consequences is critical in operant conditioning.

Differences between classical and operant conditioning to be discussed in future sessions.