Learning

 What is learning?
 Process of acquiring through experience new information or behaviors

How do we learn?
 Through associative learning: Certain events occur together (classical conditioning);
stimuli that are not controlled are associated and the response becomes automatic
(respondent behavior) - primary, baby time, first form of learning
 Through consequence1s: Association between a response and a consequence is learned
(operant behavior)
 Through acquisition of mental information that guides behavior: Cognitive learning

Classical Conditioning – Hard to get rid off habits

Pavlov
 Studied digestive system; won Russia’s first Nobel Prize (1904)
 Demonstrated associative learning via salivary conditioning
Watson
  Influenced by Pavlov
 Believed the theoretical goal of the science of psychology is prediction and
control of behavior
Behaviorism
 Psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without
reference to mental processes.
 Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

Acquisition
 Initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so
that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response
 In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response
Higher-order conditioning
 A procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is
paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker)
conditioned stimulus
 An animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light
predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone.
 Also called second-order conditioning – develop attachment to condition stimulus
2, getting pover of association with condition 1.
Parent give wrong idea=correct idea, child will learn and follow, in rare condition,
relearn in school

 Extinction
 Diminishing of a conditioned response
 Occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not
follow a conditioned stimulus (CS)
 Spontaneous recovery
 Reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response reading 1
time, 2 time is more familiar,

Idealized Curve of Acquisition, Extinction, and Recovery - response

 Generalization – bell – change to sound, similar, same response even if the sound is
different, closely associated, миша дитина заєць
  Tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the
conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
 Pavlov demonstrated generalization by attaching miniature vibrators to various
parts of a dog’s body.
 After conditioning salivation based on stimulation of the dog’s thigh, he
stimulated other areas.
 The closer a stimulated spot was to the dog’s thigh, the stronger the conditioned
response. (From Pavlov, 1927.)

 Discrimination – природньо різні звуки, асоціації не буде

 Learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus (which predicts the
US) and other irrelevant stimuli

Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Legacy

 Most psychologists agree that classical conditioning is basic learning form.
 Many other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in
many other organisms.
 Pavlov demonstrated how a learning process can be studied objectively.
 Classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that applies to all species.
 Pavlov’s principles are used to influence human health and well-being.
 Areas of consciousness, motivation, emotion, health, psychological disorders,
and therapy
 Addicts are counseled to avoid stimuli that may trigger cravings.
 Pairing a particular taste with a drug that influences immune responses may
eventually lead to response to the taste alone.
 Pavlov’s work provided a basis for Watson’s ideas that human emotions and behaviors,
though biologically influenced, are mainly conditioned responses. – можемо
конрлюлюва бажання
 Watson and Rayner applied classical conditioning principles in the studies of “Little
Albert” to demonstrate how specific fears might be conditioned.
 A white rat and a frightening noise were paired.
 After the pairing was repeated 7 times, the 11-month-old child cried at the sight
of the rat alone.
 Five days later, the child’s startled fear reaction was generalized to the sight of a
rabbit, a dog, and a sealskin coat.

- Calm down= you wont do it – revers reaction.

- Associate smth with through up (wine, food, situation, устриці)
- Pleasant sound does not alert – upleasent does

Operant Conditioning
  Edward L. Thorndike
 Law of effect: Principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences
become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences
become less likely.
 B. F. Skinner
 Operant chamber (Skinner box): A chamber containing a bar or key that an
animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices
record the animal’s rate of bar pressing.

 Behavior operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli.

 Organisms associate their own actions with consequences.
 Actions followed by reinforcement(do again,again, more) increase; actions followed by
punishments often decrease.

 Skinner
 Expanded on Thorndike’s law of effect
 Developed behavioral technology and principles of behavior control
 Designed and used the Skinner box for experiments and recorded responses
 Everyday behaviors are continually reinforced and shaped.
 Reinforcement: Any event that strengthens a preceding response
 Shaping: Reinforcers gradually guide behavior toward closer and closer
approximations of the desired behavior. Привчити ходити на унітаз, хвалиш-
даєш нагороду за це. Сам одягаєшся, приносиш книжку, пробув сам без
батьків.

Types of Reinforcers
Behavoiur stretheng
 Positive reinforcement
 Increases behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers
 Any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response
 Negative reinforcement
 Increases behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli
 Any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response

 Primary: Unlearned, innately reinforcing stimuli – biologicaly attracted, smile, позіхання

 Conditioned (secondary): Gains power through association with primary reinforcer –
money associate with things you can get
 Immediate: Occurs immediately after a behavior -
 Delayed: Involves time delay between desired response and delivery of reward – не
з’їси зараз, потім отри аєш юільше/насоложишся з друзями коли прийдуть

Reinforcement Schedules
  Reinforcement schedule
 A pattern defines how often a desired response will be reinforced.

Continuous reinforcement schedule – Every time X happens – each time reward

 Reinforces the desired response every time it occurs.
 Partial (intermittent) reinforcement - – longest to learn, hardest to forget – get rid off
 Reinforces a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a
response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous
reinforcement.
 Don`t give treat every time, from time to time = gambling (winnin)
Intermittent Reinforcement Schedules
 Skinner’s (1961) laboratory pigeons produced four reinforcement schedules.
(Reinforcers are indicated by diagonal marks.)

  Fixed Variable

Ratio Every so many: reinforcement after After an unpredictable number: reinforcement after
every nth behavior, such as buy 10 a random number of behaviors, as when playing
coffees, get 1 free, or pay workers per slot machines or fly fishing
product unit produced

Interval Every so often: reinforcement for Unpredictably often: reinforcement for behavior
behavior after a fixed time, such as after a random amount of time, as when checking
Tuesday discount prices our phone for a message

Operant Conditioning

Punishment administers an undesirable consequence or withdraws something

desirable in an attempt to decrease the frequency of a behavior (a child’s disobedience). – main
purpose – decrease behavoiur, never positive, suppress behavior. Take away TV – listen to me
 Positive punishment
 Presenting a negative consequence after an undesired behavior is exhibited,
making the behavior less likely to happen in the future
  Negative punishment
 Removing a desired stimulus after a particular undesired behavior is exhibited,
making the behavior less likely to happen in the future

Four Major Drawbacks of Physical Punishment

 Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. This temporary state may (negatively)
reinforce parents’ punishing behavior.
 Punishment teaches discrimination among situations.
 Punishment can teach fear.
 Physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling aggression as a way to cope
with problems. – bullies, way to handle things – you learned by being punished

Skinner’s Legacy: Applications of Operant Conditioning

 At school: Computer and adaptive learning software used in teaching and learning
 In sports: Behavioral methods implemented in shaping behavior in athletic performance
 At work: Rewards successfully used to increase productivity
 In parenting: Basic rules of shaping used in parenting

Reinforcing Desired Behavior and Extinguishing Undesired Ones

 State a realistic goal in measurable terms.
 Decide how, when, and where you will work toward your goal.
 Monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior.
 Reinforce the desired behavior.
 Reduce the rewards gradually.

  Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning

Basic idea Learning associations between events we Learning associations between our
do not control. behavior
and its consequences.

Response Involuntary, automatic. Voluntary, operates on environment.

Acquisition Associating events; NS is paired with US Associating a response with a

and consequence
becomes CS. (reinforcer or punisher).

Extinction CR decreases when CS is repeatedly Responding decreases when

presented alone. reinforcement stops.

Spontaneous The reappearance, after a rest period, of The reappearance, after a rest period, of
recovery an extinguished CR.
an extinguished response.

Generalization The tendency to respond to stimuli similar Responses learned in one situation
to the CS. occurring in other, similar situations.

Discrimination Learning to distinguish between a CS and Learning that some responses, but not
other others,
stimuli that do not signal a US. will be reinforced.

Biological Constraints on Conditioning

 Limits on classical conditioning
 Garcia and Koelling’s taste-aversion research
 Animals and humans seem biologically prepared to learn some associations
rather than others. – more attention to fear stumulus- safely, then happy
 Conditioning is stronger when the CS is ecologically relevant.
 The genetic predisposition to associate a CS with a US that follows predictably
and immediately is adaptive.
 Limits on operant conditioning
 Nature limits species’ capacity for operant conditioning.
 Biological constraints predispose organisms to learn associations that are
naturally adaptive.
 Instinctive drift occurs as animals revert to biologically predisposed patterns.

Nausea Conditioning in Cancer Patients

Cognition Processes and Classical Conditioning

 Mental information that guides behavior is acquired through cognitive learning.

 Animals’ learning of the predictability of an event (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972)
 British children’s conditioning based on ice-cream–associated characters (Field,
2006)
  Adults’ gut-level liking for characters associated with positive stimuli (Olson &
Fazio, 2001)
 Stronger likes and dislikes observed when notice and awareness of associations
are learned (Shanks, 2010)
 Skinner
 Discounted the importance of cognition
 Evidence of cognitive processes
 Animal’s responses to a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule
 Development of a cognitive map in rats (latent learning)
 Destruction of intrinsic motivation by excessive rewards
  Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning

Biological influences Natural predispositions Organisms most easily learn behaviors

constrain what stimuli and similar to their natural behaviors;
responses can easily be unnatural behaviors instinctively drift
associated. back toward natural ones.

Cognitive influences Organisms develop an Organisms develop an expectation that

expectation that CS signals a response will be reinforced or
the arrival of US. punished; they also exhibit latent
learning, without reinforcement.

Learning by Observation

 Observational learning
 Higher animals learn without direct experience by watching and imitating others.
 Bandura
 Pioneer researcher of observational learning
 Modeling: The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior
 Bobo doll experiment focused on vicarious reinforcement and vicarious
punishment
Bodo doll experiment – watch video
Watch violence/read = think more it`s okay

Mirrors and Imitation in the Brain

 Mirror neurons
 Include frontal lobe neurons, which some scientists believe fire when performing
certain actions or when observing another person doing so
 Brain’s mirroring of another’s action
 May enable imitation and empathy
Experienced and Imagined Pain in the Brain
 Brain activity related to actual pain (left) is mirrored in the brain of an observing loved
one (right).
 Empathy in the brain shows up in emotional brain areas, but not in the somatosensory
cortex, which receives the physical pain input.

Applications of Observational Learning

 Prosocial effects
 Behavior modeling enhances learning of communication, sales, and customer
service skills in new employees.
 Modeling nonviolent behavior prompts similar behavior in others.
 In a study conducted across seven countries, viewing prosocial media increased
later helping behavior.
 Socially responsive toddlers tend to have a strong internalized conscience as
preschoolers.
 Antisocial effects
 Abusive parents may have aggressive children.
 Watching TV and videos may teach children some unwanted lessons:
 Bullying is an effective tool for controlling others.
 Free and easy sex has few later consequences.
 Men should be tough; women should be gentle.
Chance happen – active life
Chance happen- personsl characteristic, можливості потікуть
Catarsis theory – decrease aggression, whenвиміщаєш на чомусь
Symbolic environment – shape infkuence
social cognitive learning–
Confront problems, remove phobia, change dream activity
Self- efficiency theory -

Terms

 Classical conditioning: Type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli
and anticipate events.
 Neutral stimulus (NS): A stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—
triggers an unconditioned response (UR).
 Conditioned response (CR): A learned response to a previously neutral, but now
conditioned stimulus (CS).
 Conditioned stimulus (CS): An originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an
unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR).
 Unconditioned response (UR): An unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as
salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth).
 Unconditioned stimulus (US): A stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and
automatically—triggers an unconditioned response (UR).