AP PSYCHOLOGY Lecture Notes Module 3.7-3.9 (Unit II) Learning Professor L. Gilbert

  1. What is learning?

Relatively permanent change in immediate or potential behavior that results from experience

Behavioral perspective identifies behavior as something that is observable and measurable (today the perspective does also involve cognitive processes)

1.    Behavioral Change

Is immediate or potential

2.    Permanency

Relatively long lasting

3.    Due to experience

NOT due to maturation, drugs, or illness

B.  CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Learning that results from association (type of association learning) of two stimuli in the environment; accidentally discovered by Ivan Pavlov-Russian psychologist-1900’s -Studying dogs’ digestive system using meat powder to cause salivation

  1. Reflex

Specific, involuntary response to a stimulus

NO need for learning

Natural

  1. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

Causes a reflex/behavior naturally

Unlearned behavior (NOT learned...natural)

Ie. the meat powder

  1. Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The reflex

Unlearned behavior (NOT learned natural)

Ie. salivating to meat powder

  1. Neutral stimulus

Natural causes NO response

  1. Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Once a neutral stimulus that through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, NOW elicits the Response

Ie. The bell ringing

  1. Conditioned Response (CR)

Behavior that results from the pairing of the Unconditioned Stimulus (US) and the now Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

  1. Acquisition

Learning a new response

After a number of pairings of the UCS and the Neutral Stimulus, a CS is “acquired”

IF Neutral/CS then the UCS---Forward Conditioning

IF UCS then the Neutral/CS---Backward Conditioning---takes longer

  1. Generalization

Reaction to similarities

Similar stimuli to CS will produce the CR

Ie. Bit by a dog, now fears ALL dogs

  1. Discrimination

Reaction to differences

Organisms learn to respond to certain stimuli but not to others

Bit by a dog, does not fear cats

  1. Extinction

CR gradually disappears when US is removed

Ie. stops salivating to bell when food is no longer given over time

  1. Spontaneous Recovery

CR returns after apparent extinction

Ie. Desires cigarette after a meal, years after quit and hadn’t smokedIe. Salivating to the bell ringing

  1. Higher order conditioning

Conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus

Ie.  animal learns that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone…dog bites you, sound of bark scares you

Aka Second-order conditioning

  1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING IN HUMANS/EMOTIONAL RESPONSES

Ie. Dentist drills, Jaws music, drug addiction, allergic reactions

a.    John Watson & Little Albert

Came up with term “Behaviorism”

ONLY observable, measurable behavior should be studied

With Rosalie Rayner in 1920 at John Hopkins University

9 month old boy

Originally no fear of white rat

Was then conditioned to fear the rat

b.    Foundation for behavior therapy

Showed that phobias (emotional reaction) are learned...therefore, feeling calm and relaxed around those items can also be learned…process of counter conditioning

14. BIOLOGY AND CONDITIONING

a.    Martin Seligman/Preparedness

1970-There are certain associations that organisms are best suited to make-Natural selection- built in genetic bias

b.    Biological Preparedness

From Seligman’s studies

Allow to learn associations quicker that impact survival

Ie. People and horses vs snakes or heights

Predisposed to learn certain stimulus -response pairings quickly

c.    Taste-aversion

Thirsty rat with saline drink

Measured how much they drank

Given high amounts of x-rays which caused nausea

Offered saline again, 12 hours later--now drank very little

Illness associated with drink-learned in 1 trial

Taste associated quickly-Built in bias-Preparedness (to keep from death)

d.    One-trial learning

Learning that takes place in a single pairing of a response an stimulus and is not strengthened over time by repeated exposure to a stimulus

                  h. Habituation

                        Decreasing responsiveness with repeated exposure/stimulation (baby

                        sleeps through vacuuming sound after repeated exposure)

 

C. OPERANT CONDITIONING

     Another type of association learning-associating behavior with a consequence

     Key is consequences--associating behavior with consequences (a reinforcement or

     punishment)  Produce consequences by “operating” on one’s environment

      AKA...INSTRUMENTAL LEARNING

  1. LAW OF EFFECT

E. L.Thorndike studied cats (motivated by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, how animals adapt to their environment

Developed a “PUZZLE BOX” for cat to escape from and receive food

Successful behaviors of the cat are “stamped in” meaning that they are more likely to occur again

Unsuccessful behaviors of the cat are “stamped out” meaning that they are less likely to occur again

  1. B.F. Skinner

Coined term/concept of Operant Conditioning

Developed the Operant Chamber, aka the Skinner Box for rats & pigeons

  1. Reinforcement=increases behavior

a.    Primary reinforcers=Innate ie. food, pain relief

b.    Secondary/conditioned reinforcers=learned=associated with primary

Ie. money

c.    Generalization & Discrimination can also occur with associations made to consequences of behavior

  1. Positive reinforcement

Positive=getting something..something being added (+) to you

Reinforcement=increases likelihood of behavior happening again

Ie. Student gets sticker for an A, more likely to work for another A/sticker in future

  1. Negative reinforcement

Negative=losing something...something is being taken (-) from you

Reinforcement=increases likelihood of behavior happening again

Removal of an aversive stimulus increases the probability that organisms will repeat the behavior

Ie. Seat buzzer sound goes away once you buckle up

a.    Escape Learning

Increases behavior to terminate or escape from aversive stimulus

Ie. Likely to buckle up after hearing annoying sound to stop the sound

b.    Avoidance Learning

Increases behavior to AVOID the aversive stimulus all together

Ie. Likely to buckle up before put key in ignition… never have to hear annoying buzzer

  1. Punishment=decreases behavior (generalization & discrimination can also occur with associations made to consequences of behavior

  2. Positive punishment

Positive=getting something..something being added (+) to you

Punishment=decreases likelihood of behavior happening again

Ie. Smacked upside the head when child drops F-bomb...less likely to say the F-bomb in the future

  1. Negative Punishment

Negative=something is being taken away (-) from you

Punishment=decreases likelihood of behavior happening again

Ie. Cell phone taken away when child drops F-bomb...less likely to say F-bomb in the future

  1. How is punishment effective?

Stimulus MUST be intense AND should immediately follow the behavior that one wants to decrease

BEST if then reinforce the actual desired behavior

  1. Undesirable results of punishment

Behavior is not forgotten...just repressed

Increases aggression, fear, and withdrawal

  1. SHAPING

Reinforcing behaviors increasingly similar to the desired goal behavior until that final behavior finally occurs

Ie. How to get a pigeon to spin around

  1. INSTINCTIVE DRIFT

Tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns  ie. Birds tend to peck for food, pigs push with their snouts, dogs bark when excited

Certain behaviors easier/can be shaped

  1. CHAINING

Used to produce a series of complex sequences of responses/behaviors

Last behavior is learned first

Ie. Animal show

  1. Superstitions

Developed through associations of a behavior (wearing certain socks) with a consequence (winning the game)

  1. Learned helplessness

Occurs when organism senses NO CONTROL over their environment

Seligman and Maier-1967-two-way shuttle box

3 groups of dogs

1-restrained, given shock, escape with button push

2-helpless, couldn’t escape/stop the shock

3-restrained with no shock

Groups 1 & 3 learn to avoid shock and shuttle away

Group 2 never learns

●     Human study-loud noise, told could stop with push of button but doesn’t stop it, later it will stop it but they didn’t even try

D.  SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT

  1. Continuous

Desired response is reinforced EVERY time it occurs

Rapid learning

Rapid extinction

  1. Partial

Intermittent

Sometimes desired response is reinforced, sometimes it’s not

Learning is slower but more resistant to extinction

  1. Ratio

Number of responses/executions of the behavior

  1. Interval

Amount of time

  1. Fixed

SET...same every time

  1. Variable

Differs each time

  1. Fixed-ratio

Reinforced behavior after after a SET number of responses

Ie. Paid for piece work, paid for every 100 envelopes stuffed

  1. Variable-ratio

Reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses

Ie. Gambling (slot machine pulls), fishing

Hard to extinguish

  1. Fixed-interval

Reinforced after first response following a SET amount of time

Ie. Paycheck every 2 weeks, Baking cookies

Behavior/responses increase as time approaches

  1. Variable-interval

Reinforced first response after varying amounts of time

Ie. Pop quizzes

Slow steady responding

 Notice the “scalloped graph” of responses

 

E. Social Learning Theory

  1. Bobo doll experiment--Albert Bandura-vicarious reinforcement-modeling-see a behavior and then the mimicking of the behavior of others

  2. Observational Learning aka

Modeling--results from watching behaviors of others and observing consequences the other receives, will encourage or discourage behavior of the individual watching

  1. Modeling

Watching someone do a behavior AND copying/mimicking that behavior

More likely the more similar one is to the initial model doing the behavior

Ie. Daughter models mom’s behavior of cooking

Thorndike’s cats had NO observational learning

Doesn’t support that all learning is automatic stimulus-response process

Cognitive association is involved

  1. Vicarious conditioning

            Individual watches someone else get reinforced or punished after a behavior,

now makes individual watching more or less likely to conduct same behavior

 

F. COGNITIVE APPROACH TO LEARNING

            Learning is not simply an automatic process

            Mental processes must occur between stimulus and response

“All organisms are capable of thinking---take in information and use information to adapt to environment”

  1. Memory and expectancy

Organism comes to “expect” a reinforcer

Cognitive power of remembering

Tinklepaugh-1928-monkey, banana, cup, lettuce--expected banana, got lettuce, visibly upset

Demonstrates cognition since monkey “remembered” a banana

  1. Insight Learning

Identified by Wolfgang Kohler-German spy in Africa,1920s-German spy in Africa, studied monkeys studied monkeys

“Aha” experience-realization/knowledge/problem solving comes in a flash

Chimps with boxes, bamboo sticks, bananas

Demonstrated cognitive learning in animals

  1. Latent Learning

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it Ie. baby learns to eat with a fork after watching parents and siblings

  1. Cognitive Map

A mental representation of the layout of one’s environment

Ie. rat explores a maze, they maneuver through it faster, seeing the path in your mind to your next class