Chapter 8: Learning

Adaptability: the capacity to learn new behaviors that enable us to cope with
changing circumstances
Learning: a relatively permanent change in an organisms behavior due to
experience
Associative learning: learning that certain events occur together. The events
may be two stimuli (classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences
(operant conditioning).
o Positive associations of upward flexion infused stimuli with more positive
overtones
Conditioning: process of learning associations
Classical conditioning: learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate
events

i.e. lightning=impeding crack of thunder, thus brace ourselves when lightning

flashes;

operant conditioning: learn to associate a response and its consequence

i.e. repeat acts with rewards; avoid acts with punishment

observational learning: learn from others experiences and examples

Behaviorism: the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that
(2) studies behavior without references to mental processes. Most agree with (1)
not (2).

Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning (pavlovian conditioning): a type of learning in which
one comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned
stimulus (UCS) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for
the unconditioned stimulus.
Pavlovs Experiments

Unconditioned response (UCR): the unlearned, naturally occurring response

to the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), such as salivation when food is in the
mouth
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that unconditionallynaturally and
automaticallytriggers a response
Conditioned response (CR): the learned response to a previously neutral
conditioned stimulus
Conditioned stimulus (CS): an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after
association with an UCS, comes to trigger a conditioned response
Before conditioning
o UCS (food in mouth)UCR (salivation)
o Neutral stimulus (tone) no salivation
During conditioning
o Neutral stimulus (tone) + UCS (food in mouth) UCR (salivation)

After conditioning
o CS (tone) CR (salivation)

Acquisition

Acquisition: The initial stage in classical conditioning

o the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an UCS so that the neutral
stimulus comes to elicit a CR.
o In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response
Conditioning seldom occurs when CS comes after the UCS
o Supports that classical conditioning is biologically adaptive
o Helps organisms prepare for good or bad events
Sexual arousal
o Before
UCS (passionate kiss)UCR(sexual arousal)
o During
Neutral stimulus (onion breath) + UCS (passionate kiss) UCR
(sexual arousal)
o After
CS (onion breath) CR (sexual arousal)

Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

Extinction: the diminishing of a conditioned response

o Occurs in classical conditioning when an UCS does not follow a CS
o Occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced
i.e. dogs salivate less and less when food isnt there with tone
Spontaneous recovery: the reappearance, after a rest period, of an
extinguished conditioned response
i.e. after several hours, the tone initiated salivation again

Generalization

generalization: the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for

stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
automatic and submissive
o i.e. child bitten by one dog may fear all dogs

Discrimination

discrimination: in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish

between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal an UCS
o i.e. dogs respond to particular tones and not other tones

Updating Pavlovs Understanding

Cognitive Processes

idea that rats and dogs exhibit cognition seemed unnecessary

Rescorla & Wagner argued that when two significant events occur close together
in time, an animal learns the predictability of the second event

The more predictive the association, the stronger the conditioned response
Expectancy: an awareness of how likely it is that the UCS will occur
Explains why classical conditioning treatments that ignore cognition often have
limited success

Biological Predispositions

Gregory Kimble believed that responses could be conditioned to any stimulus

that an organism could perceive
He was proven wrong because animals capacity for conditioning is constrained
by its biology
o Garcia & Koelling noticed rats avoided drinking water from bottles in
radiation chambers
(1) violate notion that UCS must follow CS immediately
(2) contradict idea that any perceivable stimulus could serve as a
CS
Biological predispositions of each species dispose it to learn the particular
associations that enhance its survival
Learning enables animals to adapt to their environments

Pavlovs Legacy

Many other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in

many other organisms
Showed how a process such as learning can be studied objectively

Applications of Classical Conditioning

Drug counselors advise addicts to steer clear of settings associated with the
euphoria of drugs
Taste of a drug may produce an immune response
Watsonbelieved that behavior is a bundle of conditioned responses
o Watson & Rayner little albertconditioned to cry at the sight of a
white rate
Respondent behavior: behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some
stimulus
o Skinners term for behavior learned through classical conditioning
Operant Conditioning

Operant behavior: behavior that operates on the environment, producing

consequences
Learning associations between events that it doesnt control (classical) or
learning associates between its behavior and resulting events (operant)

Skinners Experiments

Edward L. Thorndike
o Law of Effect: rewarded behavior is likely to recur

Operant chamber (skinner box): a chamber containing a bar or key that an

animal can manipulate to obtain a good or water reinforce, with attached
devices to record the animals rate of bar pressing or key pecking

Shaping

Shaping: an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior

toward closer and closer approximations of a desired goal
o i.e. food guides animals toward desired behavior
successive approximationsreward responses closer to desired behavior and
ignore all other responses

Principles of Reinforcement

reinforcement: any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

o positive presenting a stimulus after a response (food & money)
o negative reducing a removing an adverse stimuli (aspirin relieves
headache)
o i.e. billys tantrums reinforced when parents give in; parents behavior will
be reinforced when billy stops screaming
Primary Reinforcer: an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies
a biological need
o i.e. getting food or being relieved of an electric shock
conditioned reinforcer: a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its
association with a primary reinforcer
o learned
o i.e. pleasant tone of voice, good grades
immediate and delayed reinforcers
o with rates, less likely to learn
o but humans do respond to delayed reinforcers
Reinforcement Schedules
o Continuous reinforcement: reinforcing the desired response every time
it occurs
learning and extinction occur rapidly
o partial intermittent reinforcement: reinforcing a response only part of
the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater
resistance to extinction
Four schedules by Skinner
Fixed-ratio schedules: a response is only reinforced after a
specified number of responses
Variable-ratio schedule: a response is reinforced after an
unpredictable number of responses
Fixed-interval schedule: a response is only reinforced after
a specified amount of time has passed
Variable-interval schedule: a response is reinforced after
at unpredictable time intervals

Punishment

Punishment: an event that decreases the behavior it follows

Punisher: any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding
behavior
Larzelerefound problem with human punishment studies
o Spanking should be combined with reasoning and positive parenting
Punished behavior is suppressed
Punishment may increase aggressiveness by demonstrating that aggression is a
way to cope with problems
Punishment is better when combined with reinforcement

Updating Skinners Understanding

Skinner granted the existence of private processes and the biological

underpinnings of behavior

Cognition and Operant Conditioning

Skinner resisted that cognitive processes have a necessary place in the science
of psychology and in the understanding of conditioning
Latent learning: learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an
incentive to demonstrate it
o Cognitive map: a mental representation of the layout of ones
environment
i.e. after exploring a map, rates act as if they have learned a
cognitive map of it
o learning can occur without reinforcement
overjustification effect: the effect of promising a reward for doing what one
already likes to do
o the person may not see the reward, rather than the intrinsic interest, as
the motivation for performing the task
o Grolnick & Ryan children taught in a less controlling manner learned as
much and found a passage more interesting that children who were taught
in a more controlling manner
Biological Predispositions

Natural predispositions constrain animals capacity for operant conditioning

i.e. difficult to use food as a reinforcer to shape hamster behaviors that arent
normally associated with food or hunger
Brelandscircus animals

Skinners Legacy

External influences shape behavior

Urged use of operant principles to influence peoples behavior
Objection: Skinner dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom
and by seeking to control their actions

Applications of operant Conditioning

School
o Teaching machines and textbooks that would shape learning in small steps
and provide immediate reinforcement for correct responses
o Computers to pace material
o Athleticsreinforce small successes & increase the challenege
Work
o Desired performance is well-defined and achievable
o Reward is given for specific, not vague behaviors
o Animal trainers use food as reinforcement
Home
o Spending behavior controlled by consequences
o Parents
Reinforce good behavior
Ignore whining
Do not yell or hit
o Ourselves
State our goal
Monitor how often we engage in the behavior
Reinforce the desired behavior
Reduce the incentiveness

Learning by Observation

Modeling: the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Banduras Experiments

Children imitated the words and acts they observed with the bobo doll

Applications of Observational Learning

Understand abusive relationships

Prosocial behavior: positive, constructive, helpful behavior
o Opposite of antisocial beahavior
o i.e. MLK & Ghandi
models are effective when actions and words are consistent