Psych of learning

INTRODUCTION TO LEARNING

  • Learning is a relatively permanent change in thinking and behavior.

  • Involves gaining knowledge/skills by study, experience, or teaching.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

  • Learning via association of unrelated stimuli, causing a conditioned response.

  • Involuntary responses are involved.

  • Discovered by Ivan Pavlov through experiments with dogs.

IVAN PAVLOV

  • Neutral stimulus (NS) becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) through association with an unconditioned stimulus (US).

  • Example: Bell (NS) paired with food (US) leads to salivation (conditioned response).

WATSON & RAYNOR - LITTLE ALBERT

  • Experiment demonstrating classical conditioning of fear in a child (Little Albert).

  • Conditioned fear response developed through pairing a white rat (NS) with a loud noise (US).

KEY TERMS IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

  • Neutral Stimulus (NS): Initially has no effect.

  • Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Causes an unconditioned response (UR) naturally.

  • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Formerly neutral stimulus that elicits a conditioned response (CR).

  • Conditioned Response (CR): Learned response to a CS.

OPERANT CONDITIONING

  • Learning process modified by behavior's consequences (reinforcement or punishment).

  • Pioneer: B.F. Skinner.

ELEMENTS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING

  • Reinforcer: strengthens the likelihood of a behavior.

  • Punisher: weakens the likelihood of a behavior.

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT

  • Positive Reinforcement: Adding a pleasant stimulus post-behavior.

  • Negative Reinforcement: Removing an unpleasant stimulus post-behavior.

  • Punishment: Following a behavior with an unpleasant stimulus.

SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT

  • Continuous: Reinforcement after every behavior.

  • Partial: Reinforcement after some behaviors (fixed interval, variable interval, fixed ratio, variable ratio).

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

  • Learning through observing and imitating others.

  • Pioneers: Albert Bandura and Walter.

  • Factors include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.

PERSONAL DIFFERENCES IN LEARNING

  • Individual variance in learning rates and styles based on demographics, academic, social-emotional, and cognitive characteristics.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY (CBT)

  • Utilizes principles of conditioning to treat phobias and anxiety.

  • Focuses on unlearning maladaptive behaviors and learning new ones.

LEARNED HELPLESSNESS

  • State where repeated failures lead to a passive acceptance of an aversive condition, primarily researched by Martin Seligman.