LEARNING THEORY

PSYCHIATRY I (2nd Shifting) | Dr. Aida L. Muncada | (November 08, 2021)

→ Has adaptive value because it's important to respond differently to
LEGENDS related stimuli.
→ Example: dresser drawer makes a rumbling sound rather than a
Book Powerpoint Sabi ni Important Clinical
popping sound that is why the guinea pig does not elicit an exciting
Knowledg Information Doc for Exam Importance
response.
e (OT)
● Extinction -when the conditioned stimulus is continually presented without
❒ ⌨ ♪ ★ ☤ the unconditioned stimulus -- now (CS) cannot elicit response
OUTLINE → Example: no more carrots (UCS) when opening the refrigerator (CS).
I. Classical Conditioning The guinea pig learned that the sound of the refrigerator door is not
followed by a carrot. It would gradually stop making her behave the
a. Background & Concept
same way she behaves when she receives a carrot.
b. Stages → Treatment for phobia
II. Operant Conditioning → Fear of heights - by exposing you to various height and eventually the
a. Reinforcement stimulus of heights would no longer elicit the same response of fear.
d. Punishment ● Spontaneous Recovery- the spontaneous occurrence of the previously
III. Examples & Application conditioned response. Generally, when spontaneous recovery of a
IV. References conditioned response occurs, it does not persist for very long. And usually
V. Quiz Rationale isn't quite as strong as it used to be.
I. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING → Example: Guinea pig does not respond to the sound of the
refrigerator door opening for a long period of time. One day, the
A. BACKGROUND & CONCEPT ❒ guinea pig hears the sound and spontaneously responds with some
● developed by Ivan Pavlov level of excitement
II. OPERANT CONDITIONING
Background & General Concept ❒
● Proponent is B.F. Skinner
● Skinner Box - most famous experimental arrangement where a rat presses
a lever to earn food pellets.
● Operant means that it operates on the environment.
● Reinforcer is an event that increases the strength of the behavior, thus it is
made as a consequence for that behavior.
● Behaviors and its corresponding consequence have a Reciprocal
Relationship. In which they influence each other interchangeably.
● A consequence that increases the frequency of a behavior that precedes it
is called a reinforcement,
● One that decreases the behavior is called a punishment.
● Whether a consequence is reinforcing or punishing varies according to the
person and the situation.
→ If you are hungry, strawberry ice cream is probably a reinforcement.
Table 1: Classical Conditioning But if you don’t like strawberry ice cream or if you are cold, the ice
1. The food is the unconditional stimulus (US) because it cream may serve as a punishment.
unconditionally elicits salivation ● Pavlovian and operant conditioning differ in several ways. One of the most
2. The bell is the conditional stimulus (CS) because it only elicits the fundamental differences is that the responses observed in Pavlov’s
salivary response conditional on the bell–food pairings. experiment are elicited and thus controlled by presenting an antecedent
3. The new response to the bell is correspondingly called the stimulus. In contrast, the “response” observed in Skinner’s experiment is not
conditional response (CR) elicited or compelled by an antecedent stimulus in any obvious way—its
4. The natural response to the food itself is the unconditional consequences instead control it.
response (UR) before the experiment begins. ● Another difference is that in Operant Conditioning, the behavior elicited is
● Other explanation: “voluntarily” and “freely” made.
● Neutral stimulus - is the bell at the start of conditioning. It elicits no ● In Classical, there is no choice as to how to respond to the stimulus. If it is
response from the subject. fear, then it is fear. However, in Operant, the reactions vary on the person
● Conditioned Stimulus (CS) - is the bell at the initial phase of conditioning or animal. It could be either unpleasant or pleasant to them.
which is being paired with the food. ● And mainly in Operant, it is controlled heavily by consequences. If there is
● Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - is the food which automatically causes the no longer a reward for a behavior, they could choose to freely stop the
salivation response. behavior and if there is a much larger reward, of course they would want to
● Unconditioned response (UCR) - is salivation. It is the response to the increase that behavior.
presentation of the food or the unconditioned stimulus. ● So it revolves around the Payoff from the consequences brought about by a
● Conditioned response (CR) - is salivation. It refers to the learned response continuance or halting of a behavior.
to the bell or conditioned stimulus. REINFORCEMENT
B. STAGES
FROM THE VIDEO:
● Generalization - tendency for another stimulus, similar to conditioned
stimulus to elicit a response similar to the conditioned response.
→ Example: the guinea pig gets excited (CR) on the sound when opening
the desk drawer, since its similar to the loud popping sound of the
refrigerator door opening (CS)
● Discrimination - when a human or any other type of animal learns to make
a particular response to some stimuli, but not to others. Table 2: Reinforcement vs. Punishment

S 02 // T 01 Garcia, Jugo, Valdez / MED 2025 1 of 3

 III. More Examples & Applications
→ ♪So with Positive Reinforcement, you apply something, it is reinforced,
and it is something rather pleasant for the person. And if it is something
unpleasant that was added, then it becomes Positive Punishment.
→ ♪If you remove an application or a stimulus then it leads to a pleasant
situation then it is Negative Reinforcement. If you remove something
and it leads to an unpleasant situation then it is a Negative Punishment.

Positive vs. Negative

● With positive reinforcement, the behavior increases because it is followed
by the presentation of a reward..
→ Hungry rats that receive a pellet of food every time they press a bar will
begin to press the bar frequently. Students who receive an A after
dedicated studying for a test are likely to study hard for subsequent → ♪ Reinforcement is used because the mother wants to increase the
tests tendency of the positive behavior (doing household chores) and taking
→ Example: Shaping away the unpleasant activity serves as the Negative Reinforcer.
In shaping, you reward someone when they participate or do something
you want them to do. This could be by giving tokens to children when More examples of negative reinforcement (remember, it's "reinforcement" so
they participate in class. the behavior increases, and because it's "negative," the reinforcer is removed
● We can also increase the frequency of a behavior by using negative after the response).
reinforcement, the removal or lessening of an unpleasant stimulus when
the behavior occurs. 1. Studying for an exam to avoid getting a poor grade. → Low grade as a
→ Ex: Rats that can turn off an electric shock by pulling a string will quickly negative reinforcer for studying (but.. a high grade is a positive
learn to pull the string. People whose headaches go away when they reinforcer for studying at the same time)
take a few minutes to relax will soon learn to relax. You want to take 2. Taking aspirin to relieve headache. → Headache as a negative
away the unpleasantness in order for the desired behavior to increase. reinforcer to taking medication.
(more examples in the appendix) . 3. Running from the building when the fire alarm sound.→ Fire alarm as
le
negative reinforcer for leaving the building.
PUNISHMENT 4. Rushing home in the winter to get out of the cold.And fFanning
oneself to escape from the heat. → Cold weather as negative
Positive vs. Negative
reinforcer for walking home (the colder the faster you walk..), and
Info from the video
heat as a negative reinforcer for fanning.
● A punishment decreases the tendency of an unwanted behavior to occur
again.
● A Positive Punishment is something added in an effort for the unwanted
behavior to not occur once again. The added stimulus, even though the
name suggests it is something Positive, however it is not at all pleasant, that
is why it is a Punishment
→ Ex: A speeding ticket for violators in the road. An unwanted task such
as chores.
● In Negative Punishment, something is taken away, preferably an object or
a stimulus that is Positive or dear to the person or would cause a great
inconvenience to the person when this is taken away. You take it away in
order for the negative behavior to cease.
→ Ex: Taking away the License of a violator in traffic. Being grounded and
taking away a teenager’s most beloved freedom and sometimes
accompanied by taking away their phone.

→ ♪ Positive Punishment because he does not like washing the slide so it

STIMULUS BEHAVIOR DESCRIPTION is a Punishment. And adding this unpleasant activity led to him not
being late again. So the behavior’s occurrence ceased from happening
Positive you want to add again because of an addition of the unpleasant task/ punishment.
Reinforcement
+ ↑ pleasant in order to ↑
occurrence of wanted IV. References
behavior
Dr. Muncada’s 3-page slide (lol)
Negative - ↑ you want to take away Burger, J. M. (2012). Personality (Eight Edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Reinforcement this unpleasant neg. Cengage Learning.
reinforcer in order for Boland, R., Verduin, M., & Md, R. P. (2021). Kaplan & Sadock’s Synopsis of
wanted behavior to ↑ Psychiatry (Twelfth, North American ed., Vol. 12). Wolters Kluwer.

Positive + ↓ you add an unpleasant

Punishment in order for unwanted
↓

Negative - ↓ you take away pleasant

Punishment to ↓ unwanted
behavior

Table 3: Summary of Operant

PSYCHIATRY 1 Learning Theories 2 of 3

 V. Quiz Rationale

1. Reinforcement was introduced by:

→ Skinner

2. Whenever a drug is taken, in addition to reinforcing the behavior that leads

to its ingestion, the drug constitutes an unconditioned stimulus and maybe
associated with potential conditioned stimulus that are present at the time.
The conditioning is from the theory of:
→ Pavlov

3. Access to a preferred action will reinforce any action that is less preferred.
The proponent of this principle is:
→ Premack Principle

4. Juan gets annoyed whenever his dogs barked. Whenever the dogs barked,
he gives them a treat to silence them. So Juan buys dog treats many times a
week so he does not get bothered by barking dogs. According to operant
conditioning, what is being applied?
→ Negative Reinforcement – because he wants to take away the
unpleasant stimulus which is the barking of the dogs

5. Maria is a good student in grade school. She likes getting star stickers to put
on a chart for every time she finishes her online assignment. Maria is the best
stdnet in class with the most stars. According to Skinner, how is Maria being
conditioned?
→ Positive Reinforcement – Posiitve (you give something rewarding
or pleasant) Reinforcement (in order for the desired behavior to
continue)

6. Peter’s dog keeps chewing her back because of a skin lesion. The vet gave
him medicine to rub on the dog’s back that tastes so bad. The vet says that will
make the dog stop from chewing and licking her back. According to Skinner,
how is your dog being conditioned?
→ Positive Punishment (you give something rather unpleasant in
order for the undesired behavior to stop)

7. Pedro who lives o his own, has to wash his own clothes. In the past month
there were many times that he forgot to do laundry and had to wear dirty
uniform to class. His seatmates told him he smelled like a sewer canal, which
he did not like. Hence, Pedro has been doing his laundry more. How is Pedro
being conditioned?
→ Negative Reinforcement (Negative because he wants to take away
something unpleasant which Is the teasing, and this is a
reinforcement because the continuance of a good behavior was
promoted/ reinforced)

8. In operant conditioning, a consequence that increases the likelihood that a

behavior will occur is known as:
→ Reinforcement

9. The spontaneous occurrence of the previously conditioned response is

known as:
→ Spontaneous Recovery

10. When the conditioned stimulus is reeatedly presented without the

unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus is no longer able to elicit
the uconditioned response, this is called:
→ Extinction

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