Conditioning &

Learning
Class Plan
• Classical conditioning
• Operant conditioning
• Classical & operant conditioning combined
• Observational learning
• Classical meet Operant, Operant meet Classical
Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus (US) – A stimulus that elicits a particular response without prior training. Ex:

Unconditioned Response (UR) – A response that occurs to a stimulus without prior training. Ex:
flinching from popping ballon

Conditioned Stimulus (CS) – A stimulus that does not elicit a particular response initially, but comes
to do so as a result of CC (classical conditioning)
Ex: arm movement that previously led to ballon pop

Conditioned Response (CR) – The response that is eventually elicited by the conditioned stimulus
after repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus
Ex: arm movement led to flinch… even when no arm movement
Hunger when u smell cookies… UR
Cookies baking…US
Everytime you go to yo grandmas, she gives you cookes… CS
Classical Conditioning
Always. No matter what
US UR
US & CS UR
If u want this... U must pait US & CS
CS CR
Classical Conditioning
Classical Conditioning

US UR

CS CR
The office: Jim giving Dwight mint after computer sound
US: mint
UR: parched mouth/ hand gesture
CS: computer sound
CR: Parched mouth/ hand gesture
 Conditioned Emotional Response
Teacher giving out test
 Originally
 CS (Instructions)  Nothing
 US (Quiz)  UR (Anxiety)

 Many trials
 CS (Instructions) : US (Quiz)  UR (Anxiety)

 Eventually
 CS (Instructions)  CR (Anxiety)
Classical Conditioning in Everyday
Life
• Food aversions
• Most people report at least 1: most CC require multiple trials… food aversions
can have it after one trial… for ex: you get fuuucked up off of tequila, then you
stop having tequila. US: too much drinking. UR: sickness. CS: tequila. CR:
sickness
• Food & chemotherapy
• Fear
• Excitation at sight of friends
Not always a good thing… For ex spider example
US: spider bite.  UR: Fear
CS: any spider.  CR: fear
In exposer therapy, it’s a positive experience. Through repetiton, if you remove the CR enough
times after the CS… it will then disappear. This is called extinction
 Extinction
Not always a good thing… For ex spider example
US: spider bite.  UR: Fear
CS: any spider.  CR: fear
In exposer therapy, it’s a positive experience. Through repetition, if you remove the US enough
times after the CS… it will then disappear. This is called extinction
Smoking is another example…
Extinction takes longer than initial conditioning
Extinction suggests that it inhibits rather than extinctions due to spontaneous recovery and
renewal effect

Spontaneous Recovery
US UR
Renewal Effect

CS CR
The response to the CS can be eliminated if the CS is presented repeatedly without the US

Spontaneous recovery: even after extinction has occurred, they could go back. Out of no where
Blocking

US UR

CS1 CR

CS2
If you add a new CS on top (light on top of the bell ring). And then if you just do the light… there wont
be the same CR.
Blocking
Occurs when a previous association prevents another
association from being formed.

US
CS1 UR
CS2
CS2 ?
Prediction error: Learning depends on such a surprise, or a discrepancy between what occurs on a
conditioning trial and what is already predicted by cues that are present on the trial. To learn
 Blocking
Jim’s a new manager and has to announce pay cuts
Pay Cut
Announcement
😫
Steve
😫
How should Jim make the announcement?
Jim should bring steve along, when making the announcement
4 Things to Know about Classical
Conditioning (CC)
Ex you go into mcdeas. Many different stimulus .
1. CC generates multiple responses. In the dog ex… the dogs didn’t just have salvations… also had waggling ta

2. CC establishes preferences AND aversions.

Food aversions: a phenomenon called taste aversion conditioning… Ex: not being able to drink
tequila again
Preferences for foods
Fear Conditioning
 conditioned compensatory responses : decrease the impact of the drug on the body—because the
body has become more sensitive to pain.

Anxiety, phobias, addiction, fear

3. CC underlies various psychological conditions.

Doesn’t
4. Pairing the US and CS is NOT sufficient always lead
for conditioning to to classical conditioning… perhaps
occur.
there's a a blockage. Perhaps not enough trials.
 conditioning occurs when a behavior (as opposed to a stimulus) is associated with the occurrence of a significant event
wn example, a rat in a laboratory learns to press a lever in a cage (called a “Skinner box”) to receive food. Because the r
ral” association between pressing a lever and getting food, the rat has to learn this connection. At first, the rat may sim
ts cage, climbing on top of things, burrowing under things, in search of food. Eventually while poking around its cage, th
ally presses the lever, and a food pellet drops in. This voluntary behavior is called an operant behavior, because it “oper
ronment (i.e., it is an action that the animal itself makes). 

Take
Take
Add
Add Something
Something Something
We reinforce or punish behaviors... This is Something Away
Away
Operant conditioning
• Reinforcement Negative
Increase Positive Negative
Reinforcement
• Intended to increase behaviour Behaviour Reinforcement
Reinforcement Reinforcement
Positive (a negative + a
Reinforcement
Positive negative)
Negative
• Punishment Increase
(positive + Taking advil to
Decrease Positive
positive) Negative
take away the
• Intended to decrease behavior. Taking Behaviour
Behaviour PunishmentPunishment
Punishment
away something to reinforce that
Getting treat headache
for doing Run into the
behavior. Ex: rat has to press a button
homework house during
Reinforcement tend to have a greater effect storm.
 Give candy to clean house
Positive reinforcement

Boo bad dancing… maybe they will stop

Negative reinforcement
Operant Conditioning
• Shaping: is taking baby steps leading to a more complex goal
Reinforcement Schedules
• Continuous
• Partial
• Random vs. interval

Different time frames. Continues reinforcement… for ex you get money everytime
you study
Partial: you get reinforcement sometimes. 2 types: random and interval
Which is better? For continuous… if they stop giving you money… youll stop studying
Random is the best. The behavior is gonna persist for longer
Partial: better than continues youre gonna build expectations
Interval not as good as interval cause you can catch on the pattern
Gambling is random… that's why its addicting
 3 Things to Know About
rat Operant (Instrumental) They can become

Conditioning
n),
nt
ice

1. Instrumental responses can occur under stimulus control.

g Ex: personality around your grandparent vs. around your friends. Yo granparents gonna punish
but yo friends wont. In this case your grandparents are the stimulus control
of
Ex: instead of studying and receiving money…
ally
you could just watch Netflix
for 2. Operant conditioning involves choice.
e, if
will
• Quantitative law of effect: The more reinforcements they have… the value
decreases
n

3. Reinforcers are not made equal.

e? Whether the expect to get the reward AND if
𝐵𝑒h𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙
  𝑃𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙=𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑦 + 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 they actually value it (maybe the dog doesn’t
like the treat)
 learn novel responses via observation of key others’ behaviors. Observational learning does not necessarily requir
reinforcement, but instead hinges on the presence of others, referred to as social models. Social models are
typically of higher status or authority compared to the observer, examples of which include parents, teachers, and
police officers. In the example above, the children who already know how to play the game could be thought of as
being authorities—and are therefore social models—even though they are the same age as the observer. By
observing how the social models behave, an individual is able to learn how to act in a certain situation. Other
examples of observational learning might include a child learning to place her napkin in her lap by watching her
parents at the dinner table, or a customer learning where to find the ketchup and mustard after observing other
customers at a hot dog stand.
Also called Social Learning Theory
Four Parts or Stages
1. Attention: one must pay attention to what s/he is observing in order to learn.
More likely to pay attention to familiar people and models
2. Retention: to learn one must be able to retain the behavior s/he is observing in
memory
3. Initiation: acknowledges that the learner must be able to execute (or initiate)
the learned behavior
4. Motivation: to engage in observational learning. If they don’t want to do it, they
Integrating it All
Classical
Conditioning

Stimulus Outcome
Occasion
Setting

Habit
Operant Operant
Conditioning Conditioning

Response
Integrating it All
Classical Feeling good
Place or person u drink w/
Conditioning
Person/Place Occ
Feeling
asio
n setti
ng r
e info
rces

Ha
bit Operant
Conditioning

Drinking
beer