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6/LEARNING:
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HOW NURTURE CHANGES US
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LECTURE GUIDE
Classical Conditioning (p. 208)
Operant Conditioning (p. 211)
Cognitive Models of Learning (p. 215)
Biological Influences on Learning (p. 218)
Learning Fads: Do They Work? (p. 219)

FULL CHAPTER RESOURCES

Learning Objectives (p. 220)
Rapid Review (p. 221)
Lecture Launchers and Discussion Topics (p. 223)
Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises (p. 231)
Handout Masters (p. 240)
Web Resources (p. 251)

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LECTURE GUIDE
I. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (Text p. 200)

Lecture Launchers
Learning Chapter Classroom Discussion Topics
Consumer Psychology

Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises

Applying Classical Conditioning
Classical Conditioning in Humans
Identifying Components of Classical Conditioning
Classical Conditioning and TV Advertisements
Classical Conditioning and the Pupil Dilation Response

Web Resources
Association for Applied Behaviour Analysis: http://www.abainternational.org/
Operant and Classical Conditioning:
http://www.brembs.net/learning/drosophila/general_introduction.html
Using Classical vs. Operant Conditioning:
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/svinicki/ald320/CCOC.html
Classical (Respondent) Conditioning—Valdosta State University:
http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/behsys/classcnd.html
Conditioned Emotional Reactions: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/emotion.htm

A. Learning and Habituation

1. Learning—a change in an organism’s behaviour or thought as a result of experience.
2. Habituation—the process by which we respond less strongly over time to repeated
stimuli (Figure 6.1, text p. 200)
B. Pavlov’s Discoveries
1. Ivan Pavlov’s main research interest was digestion in dogs (work that earned him a
Nobel Prize!).
2. Pavlov’s understanding of classical conditioning emerged from a serendipitous set of
observations unrelated to his main research interests.
3. Classical conditioning—a form of learning in which animals come to respond to a
previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an
automatic response.
4. Pavlov’s initial observations were anecdotal and needed to be subjected to rigorous
testing.
5. The Classical Conditioning Phenomenon (Figure 6.2, text p. 202)
a. Presented initially neutral stimulus
i. Conditioned stimulus (CS)—initially neutral stimulus that you
learn to respond to. Originally called a conditional stimulus.
b. Paired CS with an unconditioned stimulus repeatedly, each time resulting in
an unconditioned response.
i. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)—stimulus that elicits an automatic
response.
ii. Unconditioned response (UCR)—automatic response to a
nonneutral stimulus that does not need to be learned.
a. UCR is a product of biology; not experience.

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c. After repeatedly pairing the CS with the UCS, when Pavlov presented the CS
alone, the dog would produce a conditioned response.
i. Conditioned response (CR)—response previously associated with a
nonneutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through
conditioning.
ii. CRs are similar, but rarely identical, to the UCR (e.g., dogs salivated
less to the metronome than to the food powder).
C. Principles of Classical Conditioning
1. Acquisition (Figure 6.3a, text p. 203)
a. In general, acquisition is the learning phase during which a conditioned
response is gradually established.
b. In classical conditioning, acquisition is the repeated pairing of UCS and CS,
increasing the CR’s strength.
c. The closer the pairing of the UCS and the CS, the faster learning occurs.
2. Extinction—gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response
after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned
stimulus (Figure 6.3b, text p. 203).
a. According to classical conditioning, the extinguished CR doesn’t vanish
completely; the new behaviour merely overshadows the old CR.
b. This notion contrasts with traditional views of forgetting, which suggest that
the memory itself disappears.
3. Spontaneous recovery—sudden reemergence of an extinct conditioned response
after a delay in exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
4. Stimulus generalization—process by which conditioned stimuli similar, but not
identical to, the original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned response (Figure
6.4, text p. 204).
a. Stimulus generalization occurs along a stimulus gradient.
b. Stimulus gradient—the more similar a new CS is to the old CS, the stronger
the CR will be.
c. Stimulus generalization allows us to transfer what we’ve learned to new
things.
5. Stimulus discrimination—displaying a less pronounced conditioned response to
conditioned stimuli that differ from the original conditioned stimulus.
a. Stimulus discrimination helps us to understand why we can enjoy scary
movies.
b. We’ve learned to discriminate between a televised stimulus and the real-world
version of it.
D. Higher-Order Conditioning
1. Higher-order conditioning—developing a conditioned response to a conditioned
stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus.
2. Higher-order conditioning allows us to extend classical conditioning to a host of new
stimuli.
3. Second-order conditioning, where a new CS is paired with the original CS, tends to
be weaker than standard classical conditioning.
4. Higher-order conditioning also helps to explain some surprising findings concerning
addictions to cigarettes, heroin, and other drugs.
a. Addictions can be shaped in part by higher-order conditioning, with the
context in which people take the drugs serving as a higher-order CS.
b. Behaviourists refer to these higher-order CSs as occasion setters, because they
refer to the setting in which the CS occurs.

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E. Applications of Classical Conditioning to Daily Life

1. Classical Conditioning and Advertising
a. By repeatedly pairing the sights and sounds of products with photographs of
beautiful people, advertisers try to establish classically conditioned
associations between their brands and positive emotions.
b. Some researchers have reported that there was little evidence that pairings
between products (e.g., Coke, Colgate toothpaste) with stimuli that people
found pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral affected participant preference for the
ads.
c. A rival hypothesis for this is latent inhibition—difficulty in establishing
classical conditioning to a conditioned stimulus we’ve repeatedly experienced
alone, that is, without the unconditioned stimulus.
2. The Acquisition of Fears and Phobias: The Strange Tale of Little Albert
a. John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner set out to demonstrate that Freud’s view
of the development of fear was wrong.
i. Watson and Rayner first allowed Little Albert to play with a rat.
ii. Only seconds afterward, Watson snuck up behind Albert and struck a
gong with a steel hammer, creating a loud noise and startling the
infant.
iii. After several such pairings of rat (CS) and loud noise (UCS), Little
Albert displayed fear (CR) to the rat alone.
iv. Little Albert showed stimulus generalization—he feared a rabbit, a
dog, a furry coat, and even Watson’s hair.
v. Little Albert also showed stimulus discrimination by not displaying
much fear toward cotton balls or Watson’s assistant’s hair.
b. Little Albert represents only a case study, with the limitations of a case study.
c. We can’t generalize from Little Albert’s case to other children.
d. But Little Albert’s case provides existence proof that classical conditioning
can produce phobia-like states in humans.
e. Phobias—irrational fear of specific stimuli (see Table 6.1, text p. 206)
i. Higher-order conditioning allows our learning to be remarkably
flexible.
ii. If classical conditioning can create fears, it can also contribute to
conquering them.
iii. Mary Cover Jones treated Little Peter’s fear of rabbits by gradually
introducing him to a white rabbit while giving him a piece of his
favourite candy.
iv. Modern psychotherapists use similar practices to eliminate phobias.
3. Fetishes—sexual attraction to nonliving things.
a. Domjan and colleagues classically conditioned fetishes in Japanese quail.
b. Classical conditioning may contribute to the development of fetishes.
i. In some cases, fetishes do develop after repeated pairings of neutral
objects with sexual acts.
4. Disgust Reactions
a. Humans acquire disgust reactions very easily.
b. In many cases, disgust reactions are tied to stimuli biologically important to
us (e.g., animals or objects that are dirty or potentially dangerous).

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II. OPERANT CONDITIONING (Text p. 209)

Lecture Launchers
Pigeon Overhead: Bombs Away!
Superstitious or Playing It Cautious?
The Cat’s Out of the Bag! ... er, Box!
Applied Learning
Neural Mechanisms in Classical and Operant Conditioning
Punishment

Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises

Reinforcement vs. Punishment
Shaping the Professor’s Behaviour
Conditioning a Student “Rat”

Web Resources
B. F. Skinner Foundation: http://www.bfskinner.org/
Negative Reinforcement University: http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/
Positive Reinforcement: A Self-Instruction Exercise:
http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/prtut/
What is Clicker Training?: http://www.clickertrain.com/whatis.html
Animal Cognition Web Site: http://www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/psych26/
Animal Trainer’s Introduction to Operant and Classical Conditioning:
http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/
Animal Training at Sea World: http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/Training/home.html

A. Distinguishing Operant Conditioning from Classical Conditioning (Table 6.2, text 210)
1. Operant conditioning—learning that is controlled by the consequences of the
organism’s behaviour; an organism’s behaviour is shaped by what comes after it, the
reward.
a. Instrumental conditioning—another term for operant conditioning; used
because the organism’s response serves as an instrumental function.
b. Behaviours emitted by the animal to receive the reward are called operants
because the animal operates on its environment to get what it wants.
2. Operant conditioning differs from classical conditioning in three important ways:
a. In classical conditioning, the organism’s response is elicited, whereas in
operant conditioning, the organism’s response is emitted in a seemingly
voluntary fashion.
b. In classical conditioning, the animal’s reward is independent of what it does,
whereas in operant conditioning, the animal’s reward is contingent on what it
does.
c. In classical conditioning, learning involves changes in heart rate, breathing,
perspiration, and other bodily systems, whereas in operant conditioning,
learning involves changes in voluntary motor behaviour.
B. The Law of Effect
1. The law of effect—principle asserting that if a stimulus followed by a behaviour
results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to elicit the behaviour in the future.
2. According to S-R theorists, most of our complex behaviours reflect the accumulation
of associations between stimuli and responses.
3. This is best illustrated using Thorndike’s puzzle box, where a cat attempts to flee a
cage by any means necessary, but (by trial and error) comes to pull a string which opens

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the door (see Figure 6.5, text p. 210)

4. Insight—grasping the nature of a problem.
a. Individuals often learn by insight, the moment when we figure out the answer
suddenly, and then almost always get the correct answer after that (Figure 6.6,
text p. 211).
C. B. F. Skinner and Reinforcement
1. Skinner developed “the Skinner box” because he found Thorndike’s methods
unwieldy.
2. Skinner box—small animal chamber constructed by Skinner to allow sustained
periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviours to be recorded
unsupervised via electrical records.
a. A Skinner box typically contained a bar that delivered food when pressed, a
food dispenser, and often a light that signaled when reward was forthcoming
(Figure 6.7, text p. 211).
b. By allowing a device to record behaviour without any direct human
observation, Skinner ran the risk of missing some important behaviours that
the box was not designed to record.
3. Despite limitations of recording conditions, Skinner’s findings were very important
to the field.
D. Terminology of Operant Conditioning
1. Reinforcement—outcome or consequence of a behaviour that strengthens the
probability of the behaviour.
a. Positive reinforcement—the addition of an outcome or a consequence of a
behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour, e.g., giving a child
a Hershey’s kiss for picking up his toys (Table 6.3, text p. 212).
b. Negative reinforcement—removal of a negative outcome or consequence of a
behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour (e.g., ending a
child’s time-out for bad behaviour once she’s stopped whining).
2. Punishment—outcome or consequence of a behaviour that weakens the probability
of the behaviour.
a. Punishment, like reinforcements, can be either positive or negative depending
on whether they involve administering a stimulus (positive) or taking one
away (negative).
i. Positive punishment administers a stimulus an organism wishes to
avoid (e.g., physical shock, spanking or unpleasant social outcome).
ii. Negative punishment involves the removal of a stimulus that an
organism wishes to experience (e.g., favourite toy).
b. Punishment should not be confused with the disciplinary practices often
associated with it.
i. Important to distinguish between punishment (which weakens
behaviour) and reinforcement (which strengthens behaviour). We may
think we are inflicting punishment, but our actions may actually
strengthen the undesired behaviour.
c. Punishment has several disadvantages:
i. Punishment tells organisms only what not to do, not what to do.
ii. Punishment often creates anxiety, which in turn interferes with future
learning.
iii. Punishment may encourage subversive behaviour, prompting people
to become sneakier about situation in which they can and can’t
display the forbidden behaviour.
iv. Punishment from parents may provide a model for children’s

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aggressive behaviour.
d. Numerous researchers have reported that the use of physical punishment by
parents positively correlated with aggressive behaviour in children.
e. However, the association between physical punishment and childhood
behaviour problems may depend on race and culture.
i. Spanking and other forms of physical discipline are correlated
positively with behaviour problems in Caucasian families, but
correlated negatively in African American families.
f. Punishment seems effective when it is delivered consistently and follows the
undesired behaviour promptly.
i. Delayed punishment is often ineffective.
3. Discriminant Stimulus
a. Discriminant stimulus—any stimulus that signals the presence of
reinforcement.
4. Same Song, Second Verse (Table 6.4, text p. 214)
a. Acquisition—the learning phase during which a conditioned response is
established.
b. Extinction—the gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned
response after a conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the
unconditioned stimulus.
i. Extinction occurs when we stop delivering reinforcement to a
previously reinforced behaviour
c. Spontaneous recovery—the sudden reemergence of an extinguished
conditioned response after a delay in exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
d. Stimulus discrimination—discriminating between stimuli that resemble and
those that do not resemble the conditioned stimulus and varying the
conditioned response accordingly.
e. Stimulus generalization—elicitation of a conditioned response to stimuli that
are similar to but not identical to the conditioned stimulus.
E. Schedules of Reinforcement
1. It seems logical to assume that the more consistent the reinforcement, the more
consistent will be the resulting behaviour.
a. Evidence doesn’t support this assumption.
2. Partial Reinforcement
a. Partial reinforcement—only occasional reinforcement of a behaviour,
resulting in a slower extinction than if the behaviour had been reinforced
continually.
b. Skinner noted that continuous reinforcement allows animals to learn new
behaviours more quickly, but that partial reinforcement leads to a greater
resistance to extinction.
i. e.g., some people remain in dysfunctional relationships because
spouse treats them well on rare occasions.
3. Schedule of reinforcement—pattern of reinforcing a behaviour (Figure 6.8, text p.
216).
a. Principal reinforcement schedules vary along two dimensions:
i. Consistency of administering reinforcement
a. Fixed—reinforcers are provided on a regular basis
b. Variable—reinforcers are provided on an irregular basis
ii. Basis of administering reinforcement
a. Ratio—animal is reinforced based on the number of
responses

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b. Interval—animal is reinforced based on the amount of time

elapsed since last reinforcer
b. Four major reinforcement schedules
i. Fixed ratio (FR) schedule
ii. Fixed interval (FI) schedule
iii. Variable ratio (VR) schedule
iv. Variable interval (VI) schedule
c. Skinner discovered that different reinforcement schedules yield distinctive
patterns of responding (Figure 6.9, text p. 217).
i. Ratio schedules yield higher rates of responding than do interval
schedules.
ii. Variable schedules tend to yield more consistent rates of responding
than do fixed schedules.
iii. Fixed interval schedules are associated with a “scalloped” pattern of
responding.
iv. Variable ratio schedules generally yield the highest rates of
responding of all.
d. Two other features of reinforcers:
i. Fixed interval schedules are associated with a scalloped pattern of
responding.
a. The animal waits to increase its response rate until the
interval is almost up; it anticipates the response.
ii. Variable ratio schedules usually yield the highest rates of response
(e.g., slot machines at casinos).
F. Applications of Operant Conditioning
1. Animal Training
a. Shaping by successive approximations—conditioning a target behaviour by
progressively reinforcing behaviours that come closer and closer to the target
behaviour.
i. Typically, they shape an organism’s response by initially reinforcing
most of all responses that are close to the desired behaviour, and then
gradually fading the reinforcement for the unwanted behaviours over
time.
ii. Through operant conditioning, behaviourists train rats and other
organisms to develop learned habits through shaping.
iii. Typically they also combine shaping with chaining, in which they
link a number of interrelated behaviours to form a longer series; each
behaviour in the chain becomes a cue for the next behaviour in the
chain.
2. Overcoming Procrastination
a. One way to overcome procrastination is to use the Premack principle.
i. The Premack principle—a less frequently performed behaviour can
be increased by reinforcing it with a more frequent behaviour.
3. Superstitious Behaviour
a. In his 1948 study, Skinner placed food-deprived pigeons in a Skinner box and
gave them food independent of their behaviour.
b. After several days, Skinner found that six of the eight birds had acquired
behaviour patterns he found striking.
c. According to Skinner, his pigeons had developed superstitious behaviour,
which is behaviour linked to reinforcement by sheer coincidence.

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d. Skinner argued that operant conditioning accounts for many human

superstitions.
e. While not all studies have been able to replicate these findings, one study
showed that operant conditioning can produce superstitious behaviour in
children.
f. Athletes are prone to superstitious behaviour.
i. As would be predicted by Skinner, the prevalence of superstitions in
sports depends on the extent to which the outcomes are due to
chance.
4. Therapeutic Uses of Operant Conditioning
a. Token economies—systems for reinforcing appropriate behaviours and
extinguishing inappropriate ones.
i. Secondary reinforcer—neutral objects that patients can trade in for
primary reinforcers; Primary reinforcer—things that are naturally
pleasurable, such as a favourite food or drink.
ii. Often used in psychiatric facilities.
iii. Depend on secondary reinforcers.
iv. Staff members reinforce patients who behave in a desired manner
using secondary reinforcers (e.g., tokens, chips, or points).
v. Psychologists who establish token economies begin by identifying
target behaviours, that is, actions they hope to make more frequent. vi.
Research suggests that token economies are often effective in
improving behaviour in hospitals, group homes, and juvenile detention
centres.
G. Putting Classical and Operant Conditioning Together
1. Some theorists argue that these two forms of learning aren’t as different as some
psychologists believe.
2. Brain imaging studies demonstrate that these two forms of learning are associated
with activations in different brain regions.
a. Classically conditioned fear reactions are based largely in the amygdale.
b. Operantly conditioned responses are based largely in areas linked to reward.
3. These two types of learning appear to interact.
4. The two-process theory provides an explanation of fear acquisition.
a. People acquire phobias by means of classical conditioning.
b. Once phobic, people begin avoiding their feared stimulus, leading them to
experience a reduction in anxiety, which negatively reinforces their fear.
III. COGNITIVE MODELS OF LEARNING (Text p. 222)
Lecture Launchers

Bear Boys, Swine Girls, Wolf Children

Consumer Psychology
Role Models: Who and Why

Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises

Applying Behavioural Principles
Human Cognitive Maps
Tie Your Shoes
Learning Theory Comparison
Conditioning in Everyday Life
Behaviour Modification Project

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Web Resources
Transmission of Aggressions Through Imitation of Aggressive Models:
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bandura/bobo.htm
A. S-O-R Psychology: Throwing Thinking Back into the Mix
1. Psychology has moved from a S-R model to an S-O-R model of psychology with O
being the organism.
2. Organisms must interpret stimuli before responding.
3. An organism’s response to a stimulus depends on what the stimulus “means” to it.
a. Our learning histories refer to how we have been trained to respond. This
concept may explain the “meaning” that we attribute to stimulus, which then
determines our response.
4. S-O-R theorists propose that classical and operant conditioning usually depend on
thinking.
5. Cognitive conditioning—refers to the notion that our interpretation of a situation
affects conditioning. It suggests that conditioning is more than an automatic process.
B. Latent Learning
1. Contrary to Watson and Skinner, Edward Tolman suspected that reinforcement failed
to completely account for learning.
2. Latent learning—learning that is not directly observable (Figure 6.10, text p. 223).
a. We learn many things without showing evidence of learning.
b. The distinction between competence, what we know, and performance,
showing what we know, is important because it implies that reinforcement is
unnecessary for learning.
c. Tolman and Honzik’s study randomly assigned three groups of rats to go
through a maze.
i. Group 1 always received reinforcement (cheese) when it reached the
goal box; Group 2 never received reinforcement when it reached the
goal box; Group 3 received no reinforcement for the first 10 days,
then received reinforcement on the 11th day when it reached the goal
box.
ii. Group 1 made fewer errors than Group 2.
iii. Group 3 showed an abrupt drop in errors after receiving their first
reinforcement.
d. Tolman and Honzik believe this finding means that rats in the third group were
learning all along, but hadn’t shown it because they had nothing to gain.
e. Tolman claimed the rats had developed cognitive maps—spatial
representations—of the maze.
f. Latent learning research of Tolman and others challenged strict behavioural
models of learning, because the work demonstrated that learning could occur
without reinforcement.
g. To many psychologists, this research falsified the claim that reinforcement is
necessary for all forms of learning.
h. Also, this research suggested that thinking, in the form of cognitive maps,
plays a central role in at least some forms of learning.
C. Observational Learning
1. Observational learning—learning by watching others; often models, those who are
influential to us (e.g., parents, teachers, peers).
2. Many psychologists regard observational learning as a form of latent learning
because it allows us to learn without being reinforced directly.

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3. Observational Learning of Aggression

a. In the 1960s, Albert Bandura and colleagues demonstrated that children can
learn to act aggressively by watching aggressive role models.
b. Bandura’s team asked preschool children to watch adults interact with a large
Bobo doll.
c. Half of the children watched the adult play quietly and ignore the doll; the
other half watched the adult model behaving violently towards the doll.
d. Next, the children were brought to a room filled with appealing toys, but were
then interrupted and asked to move to a different room. This was done to
frustrate the children, something thought to spark aggression.
e. After being placed in a room with a Bobo doll, children who watched the adult
act aggressively toward the doll were significantly more aggressive towards
the doll than the other children.
4. Media Violence and Real-World Aggression (Figure 6.11, text p. 225)
a. Psychologists have addressed the question of whether exposure to media
violence contributes to real-world violence.
b. Hundreds of researchers using correlational designs have reported that
children who watch many violent television programs are more aggressive
than other children.
c. We can’t draw causal conclusions from this type of research.
d. Investigators have tried to resolve this methodological problem by conducting
longitudinal research, which track individual behaviour over time.
i. In these studies, children who viewed media violence were more
likely to commit aggressive acts later.
e. While findings from this research may be more compelling, it still doesn’t rule
out third variables or allow for causal conclusions.
f. Most psychological scientists agree that media violence contributes to
aggressive behaviour in some circumstances. But this is only one piece of a
multifaceted puzzle.
g. We can’t explain aggression by means of media violence alone because the
substantial majority of individuals exposed to high levels of such violence
don’t become aggressive.
D. Mirror Neurons and Observational Learning
1. Mirror neurons—Cells in the prefrontal cortex that become activated by specific
motions when an animal both performs and observes that action.
E. Insight Learning
1. Köhler posed various problems to chimpanzees in the Canary Islands off the coast of
Africa.
2. According to Köhler, his chimpanzees appeared to experience an “aha reaction” and
didn’t seem to engage in trial and error.
a. Köhler’s reports were anecdotal and he didn’t measure them systematically.
b. He filmed only some trials, so the chimpanzees may have engaged in trial
and error off camera.
c. Because the chimpanzees were socially housed, they may have engaged in
observational learning.
3. Good evidence demonstrates that humans solve problems through insight.

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IV. BIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON LEARNING (Text p. 227)

Lecture Launchers
Chemical Alarms

A. Our biology influences the speed and nature of our learning in complex ways.
B. Conditioned Taste Aversions
1. Conditioned taste aversion refers to the fact that classical conditioning can lead us to
develop avoidance reactions to the taste of food (see Figure 6.12, text p. 228)
2. Conditioned taste aversion contradicts classical conditioning principles.
a. Most classically conditioned reactions require repeated pairings between CS
and UCS, while conditioned taste aversions typically require only one trial.
b. In traditional classical conditioning, a very short interval between CS and UCS
produces maximal learning, while large delays between CS and UCS can
occur in conditioned taste aversions.
c. Conditioned taste aversions tend to be remarkably specific and display little
evidence of stimulus generalization.
3. Conditioned taste aversions are adaptive—food poisoning often affects us in the
hours, rather than seconds, after eating toxic foods.
4. Conditioned taste aversions are particularly problematic for cancer patients
undergoing chemotherapy.
a. Food becomes paired with nausea and vomiting and as a result, they begin to
avoid any food that preceded chemotherapy.
b. Health psychologists ask patients to eat scapegoat food—novel food that they
aren’t fond of—prior to chemotherapy. This creates an aversion to the
scapegoat food rather than preferred food.
5. Garcia and colleagues demonstrated biological influences on learning in rats.
a. Rats who had been exposed to X-rays, which make them nauseated, developed
conditioned aversion to a specific taste but not to a special visual or auditory
stimulus presented after the X-rays.
6. Animals more easily develop conditioned aversions to stimuli that tend to trigger
nausea in the real world.
7. This finding contradicts the assumption of equipotentiality.
a. Equipotentiality—claim that any conditioned stimulus can be associated
equally well with any unconditioned stimulus.
C. Preparedness and Phobias
1. Research on phobias also challenges the assumption of equipotentiality.
2. The most widespread phobias are of things like the dark, height, snakes, or blood,
which most people have little experience with.
3. Few people fear things such as razors, edges of furniture, ovens, and electrical
outlets, although many people have been cut, bruised, or burned by them.
4. Preparedness—evolutionary predisposition to learn some pairings of feared stimuli
over others owing to their survival value.
5. Preparedness may render us likely to develop illusory correlations between fear-
provoking stimuli and negative consequences.
6. Evidence suggests that this fear can be learned through observation, but we are
predisposed to learn some fears more readily than others.
7. However, laboratory evidence for preparedness isn’t consistent.

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D. Instinctive Drift
1. Instinctive drift—tendency for animals to return to innate behaviours following
repeated reinforcement.
2. Instinctive drift suggests that we can’t fully understand learning without taking
biological factors into account.

V. LEARNING FADS: DO THEY WORK? (Text p. 230)

Classroom Activities, Demonstrations, and Exercises

Learning Self-Test
Crossword Puzzle
Fill-in-the-Blanks Chapter 6

A. Sleep-Assisted Learning—learning new material while asleep

1. Some people claim that sleep-assisted learning is a valid means of learning.
2. Early reports, although promising, neglected to rule out a crucial alternative
explanation: The tape recordings may have awakened the subjects.
3. Most studies fail to monitor subject electroencephalograms to ensure that they were
actually asleep during the trials.
4. Better controlled studies that monitored subject EEGs showed little evidence for
sleep-assisted learning.
B. Accelerated Learning—learning new material many times faster than normal
1. This technique relies on a mixture of several techniques including setting
expectations for accelerated learning, visualizing the information, listening to
classical music during learning and breathing in a regular rhythm while learning.
2. Evidence for effectiveness has not matched the claims.
C. Discovery Learning—giving students experimental materials and asking them to figure out
the scientific principles on their own.
1. Direct instruction, in which we simply tell students how to solve problems, is often
more effective and efficient than discovery learning.
2. In the long term, discovery learning may encourage students to learn how to pose
scientific questions on their own.
3. This method may be more effective for advanced students.
D. Learning Styles—individual’s preferred or optimal method of acquiring new information.
1. There is a widespread belief that all individuals have their own distinctive learning
style.
2. It is difficult to assess learning style reliably.
3. Studies have generally revealed that tailoring different methods to people’s learning
styles doesn’t result in enhanced learning.

Copyright © 2017 Pearson Canada Inc.

219
Instructor’s Manual for Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding, 3ce

CHAPTER 6
Learning Objectives

On completion of this chapter, students should be able to

6.1 describe Pavlov’s model of classical conditioning and discriminate conditioned stimuli and
responses from unconditioned stimuli and responses (text p. 200);
6.2 explain the major principles and terminology associated with classical conditioning (text p.
201);
6.3 explain how complex behaviours can result from classical conditioning and how they emerge
in our daily lives (text p. 205);
6.4 distinguish operant conditioning from classical conditioning (text p. 209);
6.5 describe Thorndike’s law of effect (text p. 210);
6.6 describe reinforcement and its effects on behaviour and distinguish negative reinforcement
from punishment (text p. 211);
6.7 identify the four schedules of reinforcement and the response pattern associated with each (text
p. 215);
6.8 describe some applications of operant conditioning (text p. 217);
6.9 outline the evidence that supports latent learning and observational learning (text p. 223);
6.8 identify evidence of insight learning (text p. 226);
6.9 explain how biological predispositions can facilitate learning of some associations (p. 227);
6.10 evaluate popular techniques marketed to enhance learning (p. 230).

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220
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