Psychology of Learning
2 connection papers (choose one theory and connect to a social issue) (ex: why eat cow meat
and not cat meat?) APA style (watch YouTube video)
How to extract article? (if you can’t access, email GAs)
Upload on classroom (?) and print it and bring to class
Internal validity: Internal validity refers to how well an experiment is done, especially
whether it avoids confounding (more than one possible independent variable [cause]
acting at the same time). The less chance for confounding in a study, the higher
its internal validity is.
Systematic desensitization is a behavioral technique whereby a person is gradually
exposed to an anxiety-producing object, event, or place while being engaged in some
type of relaxation at the same time in order to reduce the symptoms of anxiety.
(exposure to treat phobia)
Ch.2
Hull:


primary drives (hunger, thirst) produced by states of deprivation),
Secondary drives
Spence: reward magnitude, the bigger the reward the quicker the learning, but it plateaus at a
certain point
The strength of the stimulus (one really bad experience with a type of food is enough to
produce aversion or phobia)
Amsel : Frustration state
Gurthie’ Contiguity view
Contiguity
No reward is necessary
Reward inhibits any other associations to occur (disproved)
Breaking up a habit:
 Fatigue: do the habit ad nausem
Tolman’s purposive Behavior (cognitive approach)
Deprivation
Cathexis
Motivation makes you do the behavior that you already learned
Ch.3 Instinctive behavior
Lorenz and Tinbergen
The energy model
Action-specific energy building up
Sign stimulus
Internal block preventing the behavior
Ch 4
-Strength of CR increases gradually until a maximum level reached
Food
Conditioning hunger:

why yellow for food?

Basolateral region of amygdala
Conditioning of fear:
Eye blink conditioning:
Conditioned emotional response (does not always match the UCS)
Suppression ratio
Flavor aversion happens very quickly (contiguity)
Delayed conditioning (strongest: Beep before shock
Trace conditioning: Beep then shock
Simultaneous: Beep with shock
Backward conditioning (Least effective): Shock before beep, might bring sense of relief
Temporal Conditioning: No distinctive CS,
Not included, other inhibitory process until the importance of arousal (81 to 88 in the book)