HOW DO WE LEARN?

LEARNING
ANY RELATIVELY PERMANENT
CHANGE IN THE BEHAVIOR,
THOUGHTS OR FEELINGS OF
AN INDIVIDUAL THAT
RESULTS FROM EXPERIENCE
Types of Learning

Classical conditioning

Operant/ instrumental conditioning

Social Learning
Classical Conditioning
The learning process whereby an originally
neutral stimulus becomes associated with a
particular physiological or emotional
response that the stimulus did not originally
produce.
ELEMENTS OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING

WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANT

CONCEPTS OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING?
Unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned stimulus
 Stimulus Generalization

THE TENDNCY TO RESPOND TO

A STIMULUS THAT IS ONLY
SIMILAR TO THE ORIGINAL
CONDITIONED STIMULUS
WITH THE CONDITIONED
RESPONSE.
Stimulus
discrimination

To stop
making a
generalized
responses to a
stimulus that
is similar to
the original
conditioned
stimulus
 Extinction

DISAPPEARANCE OR
WEAKENING OF A
LEARNED RESPONSE
FOLLOWING THE REMOVAL
OR THE ABSENCE OF THE
UNCONDITIONED
STIMULUS
 Spontaneous Recovery

THE REAPPEARANCE OF
A LEARNED RESPONSE
AFTER EXTINCTION HAS
OCCURRED
Operant conditioning
Reinforcement
ANY CONSEQUENCE
THAT INCREASES
LIKLIHOOD OF
BEHAVIOR
 Reinforcer

THE TERM RE FERS TO ANY

E VENT THAT STRE NGTHENS
OR INCRE ASES THE
LIKELIHOOD OF A BEHAVIOR.
Primary reinforcer includes stimuli that
are naturally preferred or enjoyed by the
organism, such as food, water, and relief
from pain.

Secondary reinforcer is a neutral event

that has become associated with a primary
reinforcer through classical conditioning.
 Schedules Of
Reinforcement
Continuous reinforcement schedule,
in which the Desired response is reinforced
every time it occurs.

Partial reinforcement schedulea

schedule in which the responses are
sometimes reinforced, and sometimes not.
 Types of Partial Reinforcement
Schedules

Fixed-interval schedule, reinforcement occurs for

the first response made after a specific amount of time
has passed.

Variable-interval schedule, the reinforcers appear

on an interval schedule, but the timing is varied
around the average interval, making the actual
appearance of the reinforcer unpredictable.
Fixed-ratio schedule, a behavior is
reinforced after a specific number of
responses.

Variable-ratio schedule provides

reinforces after a specific but average
number of responses.
Any event
or object
that , when
following a
response,
makes that
response
less likely to
happen
again Punishment
Positive punishment or Punishment

by application:

weakens a response by presenting something

unpleasant after the response.
Negative punishment or
punishment by removal:

weakens a response by reducing or

removing something pleasant.
The High Risks of Punishment

Punishment does not teach the correct/desired behavior

Harsh punishment teaches aggression

Harsh punishment often ineffective at producing behavior

changes
Harsh punishment leads to negative emotional reactions

like anger, fear, and anxiety

Physical punishment should be avoided
How to make punishment
more effective
1. Punishment should immediately follow the
behavior it is meant to punish.

2. Punishment should be consistent.

3. Punishment of the wrong behavior should

be paired, whenever possible, with the
reinforcement.
Other forms of Behavior Modification

Aversion conditioning: the use of

punishment as a means of encouraging an
individual to try to escape from or to avoid a
situation.

The goal of aversion conditioning is to make an

individual stay away from something.
 Social Learning or
Modeling/
Observational learning
Albert Bandura and the Bobo Doll
Experiments
Social learning theory

Bobo doll experiments

Children watched film in which adult beat up doll then were
observed interacting with own Bobo doll

three conditions: adult rewarded, adult punished

or no consequences for beating doll
Children who saw rewards or no consequences more likely to be
aggressive
Four steps to modeling

Attention must attend to behavior of model

Retention must retain cognitive representation or
memory of models behavior
Reproduction of behavior use memories to
reproduce behavior; have physical abilities to do so
Motivation must be motivated to execute behavior