Learning

  • Acquiring new skills through experience

  • leads to a permanent change in the learner

    • Permanent suggests it will be in your mind for a certain period of time, but you can unlearn some things

Simple Learning

  • habituation: repeated exposure to a stimulus — less responding

    • ex: being in a room for long enough to forget it smells like weed in your room, but someone who just walked in the room will be able to smell it

  • sensitization: repeated exposure to a stimulus — more responding

    • ex: being sensitive to a smell that reminds you of something

Theories of Learning

  • Classical conditioning

  • operant conditioning

Classical Conditioning

  • conditioning: training a person/animal to behave a certain way (teaching)

  • classical conditioning: a once-neutral stimulus produces a learned response

    • AFTER repeatedly paired with a second stimulus that naturally produces said response

    • learner learns an association between stimuli (ex: if I smell this, I will be expected to see this)

  • Pavlov: physician

    • ringing bell — no salivation

    • food — salivation

    • ringing bell + food — salivation

    • learned response to a stimulus that was once neutral (built up an association between the ringing bell and food)

  • NEUTRAL STIMULUS — CONDITIONED STIMULUS

  • Little Albert Study:

    • BEFORE conditioning:

      • bunny rabbit (NS) = no response

      • loud crashing noise = response

    • DURING conditioning:

      • showing both = no response

    • AFTER conditioning:

      • bunny rabbit = response

      • bunny rabbit is now scary to the baby

  • John B. Watson:

    • our environment is the biggest influence on behavior

      • not unconsiousness

      • not childhood experiences

      • not personality

      • FREUD: fear/anxiety was a result of unconscious processes

        • Watson: fear is a learned response!

Extinction

  • extinction:

    • gradual reduction of the learned response

    • CS repeatedly presented without the US

  • learned response: bell (CS) - salivation (CR)

    • present the bell without food many, many times

    • dogs will stop salivating to the bell alone

Spontaneous Recovery

  • spontaneous recovery: learned response may recover from extinction after a period of time

  • Months later, Little Albert may again flinch at bunnies

    • very brief

    • Responding will again decline

Generalization Discrimination

  • generalization: CR is produced by a stimulus that is very similar to the original CS

  • Discrimination: CR is NOT produced by a similar stimulus

Taste Aversion

  • Learned dislike of a taste

  • quickly learned adaptive

Clinical Applications

  • Fear is often a learned response (see obs. learning)

    • spiders vs butterflies

    • PTSD veteran loud noises

  • Extinction can help reduce the learned response

Operant Conditioning

  • Learning that is influenced by the consequences of a behavior

  • Law of Effect:

    • wanted consequences — repeated behavior (e.g., a squirrel digs into the ground and finds a nut, so they will be inclined to repeat that behavior)

    • unwanted consequences — not repeat behavior

Reinforcement and Punishment

  • Reinforcement: stimulus or event following a behavior that is going to increase the behavior that led to it

    • wanted consequence (getting a good grade because you studied

  • Punishment: stimulus/event that decreases the behavior that led to it

    • unwanted consequence (blowing off studying and getting a bad test grade)

Positivity and Negativity

  • does not mean positive is good and does not mean negative is bad!!!

  • Positive: ADDING a stimulus

  • Negative: TAKING AWAY a stimulus

EX: Paula’s daughter Poppy keeps picking her nose. Paula wants Poppy to stop repeating this behavior. Every time Poppy picks her nose, Paula yells the word “NO!” very loudly, which is unpleasant for Poppy. In the scenario, yelling this word is….

-POSITIVE PUNISHMENT

Edward Thorndike

  • studied animals’ abilities to solve problems:

    • Thorndike puzzle box (he would put cats in the box, and they would try to figure out how to escape the puzzle box)

  • Two levers opened the box:

    • cats discovered this by random trial and error

  • reinforced for pressing levers:

    • positive reinforcement: food!

    • negative reinforcement: no longer trapped!

B. F. Skinner

  • operant behavior: behavior by an animal that changes/impacts their environment

    • animals activity engage

  • Skinner Box

Primary vs. Secondary Reinforcers

  • primary reinforcers: satisfy biological needs

  • secondary reinforcers: are satisfying because of their association with something else

    • money — food, shelter, warmth, safety (we can’t eat money, but it can provide us with food)

    • sticker — happiness (basically can’t keep us alive but can provide happiness)

    • trophy — pride

Effectiveness of Reinforcement

  • present the reinforcer/punisher immediately

    • closer in time — more effective

  • reinforcement — more effective than punishment

    • reinforcement = easier to understand

    • punishment leads to avoiding the punisher

    • give the child a different outlet!

Context

  • context is super important!

    • behaviors were reinforced/punished in specific contexts (there’s no consequence, but rolling into class hungover can be your own consequence)

Shaping

  • shaping: reinforcement is the steps towards the final behavior

  • desired behavior is rolling over for a dog

    • reinforcement: lay down

    • reinforcement: laying her on her side

    • reinforcement: flip over and then provide a treat

Superstition

  • superstitious behavior: animal misunderstands what particular behavior is being reinforced

    • mistaken assumption that a behavior has a certain outcome

    • opening an umbrella inside — bad luck (mistaken assumption)

What Did Sheldon Get Wrong?

  • Negative reinforcement is NOT spraying her with water or shocking her; it is REMOVING something as a consequence (like taking her phone instead)

Learned By Observing

  • observational learning: learning by watching the actions of others

  • observation of a task = strong learning

    • mirror neurons

  • highly social in nature

  • children learn from adult models

  • media

Development Psychology

  • study of the continuous change in humans across their life spans

Prenatal Stage

Germinal stage (2 weeks)

  • zygote: fertilized egg

    • main job is combining chromosomes

    • “Free-floating” zygote needs to attach to the uterus; if it does not attach to the wall or doesn’t attach to the right place, it cannot develop correctly

Embryonic stage (2 weeks - 9 weeks)

  • Embryo: attached to the uterine wall

  • arms, legs, “heartbeat”

Fetal Stage (9 weeks - birth)

  • fetus: skeleton and muscles, fat

  • capable of movement

  • myelination: development of myelin sheath around axons

Prenatal Environment

  • pregnant person — fetus!

  • teratogen: substance passed along that impairs development

    • alcohol and tobacco

Perceptual Development

  • infancy: birth - 18 months

  • low range of vision - 12 in.

  • can make out shapes/lines

  • faces: mimicry (adaptive)

Motor Development

  • born with certain motor reflexes

  • rooting: touch cheek — turn head

  • sucking: suck on anything entering mouth

  • motor control follows the cephalocaudal rule:

    • head — arms — mid-body — legs

Cognitive Development

  • Jean Piaget: there are 4 distinct stages of cognitive development

  • sensorimotor stage (birth - 2 years): preoccupied with movement and sensations

    • explore with mouth

    • develop schemas of the world

      • theories about the way the world works

      • “If I pull something, it gets closer”

    • assimilation: applying a schema to a new situation

    • accommodation: adapting a schema to fit a new situation

    • example: schema of a chicken being white, brown, and having wings but can’t fly

  • lack of object permanence: (infants)

    • objects still exist even if I can’t see them (if you put an object behind your back, an infant can’t conceptualize where it went)

  • preoperational stage (2 years - 6 years): rough understanding of the physical world

    • do have object permanence

    • understanding of the world is still not perfect

    • fails the conservation task (there are 2 glasses that have the same amount of juice in each glass, and if you change one of the glasses into a taller glass, it is still the same amount of juice, but the 6-year-olds don’t pick that up)

  • Conservation task: the quantitative property of an object doesn’t change just because its visual appearance changes

    • Appearance does not always equal reality

  • preoperational children exhibit egocentrism:

    • failure to understand that different people have different consciousnesses than us and experience the world differently

    • different emotional reactions

    • different bodies of knowledge

  • theory of mind: I have a mind; it influences my behavior

    • others have their own minds different from mine

  • deficits in theory of mind: autism spectrum

  • concrete operational stage (6 - 11 years):

    • solid logical understanding of their physical world

  • formal operational stage (11+):

    • abstract and hypothetical thinking

Childhood: Social Development

  • a healthy social environment is critical!

    • even with proper care (food, shelter, etc.), lack of social support can be harmful

    • Romanian orphanage studies

      • Withdrawal coping with negative emotion, low self-esteem, poor academic achievement, tantrums, stealing, etc.

Social Development

  • Harlow and Harlow, 1965:

    • 2 artificial monkeys

    • wire + food

    • cloth/warm + NO food

Attachment

  • Baby sends out signals (smiles, coos, cries)

    • Whoever responds quickest: primary caregiver

  • Child + primary caregiver (PC) relationship is crucial

    • forms an attachment (emotional bond)

Attachment Styles

  • Attachment styles differ

  • Strange situation (Mary Ainsworth):

    • child + PC enter room with toys

    • PC leaves child (reaction?)

    • PC returns (reaction?

  • SECURE ATTACHMENT (60%):

    • PC leaves — distressed; PC returns — child seeks PC for comfort

    • PC leaves — not distressed; PC returns — child greets PC before exploring room

  • AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT (20%):

    • PC leaves — not distressed

    • PC returns — does not greet

    • Lack of care for PC, but there is still an attachment there

  • ANXIOUS (15%):

    • PC leaves — child distressed

    • PC returns — cannot be calmed down by PC

    • may squirm away from PC

  • DISORGANIZED ATTACHMENT (5%):

    • no consistent response pattern

Origin of Attachment Styles

  • attachment styles may change over time

    • relatively stable

    • can predict friend and s/o attachment

  • result of:

    • biological temperaments (emotional patterns)

    • primarily, PC response pattern (Friedman and Boyle)

  • secure: I’m certain my PC will respond to me

  • avoidant: I’m certain my PC will NOT respond to me

  • anxious: I’m uncertain of how my PC will respond

  • disorganized: confused about my PC ☹

    • may arise from abuse

Effects of Attachment Styles

  • securely attached children are more likely to have:

    • higher academic achievement

    • better cognitive functioning

    • better psychological well-being

    • better social relationships

Parenting Styles

  • 4 primary parenting styles

  • AUTHORITARIAN:

    • focus: obedience and punishment

    • “my way or the highway”

    • no room for a child to problem-solve

    • possible effect: obedient but low self-esteem

      • high aggression

  • AUTHORITATIVE:

    • focus: positive relationship w/ child; value child’s opinion

    • adult still has final say

    • fair discipline

    • possible effect: success, happiness, better decision-making skills

  • PERMISSIVE:

    • focus: set rules but doesn’t enforce them

    • friend role over parent role

    • possible effect: behavioral issues, sadness, health problems, and difficulty with hygiene

  • UNINVOLVED:

    • focus: lack of focus

    • no oversight, no time spent with child

    • few rules, no guidance

    • child’s physical or emotional needs not met

    • possible effect: low self-esteem, sadness, poor school performance