LEARNING
HOW DO YOU LEARN BEST??
Ivan Pavlov and the role of
Serendipity
• Russian physiologist
studying the digestive
system
• Focusing on what
substance helped to
break food down
• One notable
substance studied
was saliva
• Developed method to
measure saliva
production
Components of Classical
Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov termed this type of learning as
classical conditioning (a.k.a. Pavlovian
conditioning)
UCS –
UCR –
NS –
CS –
CR –
Classical Conditioning
UCS ->->->->UCR
UCS naturally causes or:
Then, we pair the NS (which becomes the
CS) with the UCS enough times to create
the CR
CS ->->->->->CR
Salivary Conditioning Apparatus
Pupils dilating at the sound of a
bell..
UCS – lights off -> -> -> UCR – pupil dilation
NS – Bell
CS – Bell
-> -> -> CR – pupil dilation
The tale of Little Albert….
• Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner
(okay, there is a scandal there with these
two) trained Little Albert to be afraid of a
white rat
• UCS –
• NS –
• CS-
-------- UCR –
------------------ CR –
•
In delayed conditioning, the CS is
presented:
• This is considered the most effective form
of conditioning
• The CS is presented and terminated:
• This is the procedure of trace conditioning, which can be
very effective if:
• Less effective than delayed conditioning
• In simultaneous conditioning the CS and the UCS are
presented:
• Pavlov found that conditioning was very weak when:
• One explanation is that there is no time for the subject to
anticipate the UCS and thus the CS does not take on the
properties of the UCS.
• In the procedure sometimes called
backward conditioning, the UCS is
presented and terminated:
• Most psychologists argue that it does not
work.
Generalization vs. Discrimination
• Response
generalization – when
the subject responds
to:
• Response
discrimination – when
the subject responds:
What would happen if you….
• Kept presenting the CS without the presence of
the UCS?
• Reintroduced the pairing of the CS and the
UCS?
Taste-Aversion Learning
• When one associates a
particular sensory cue
(smell, taste, sound or
sight) with getting sick and
thereafter avoiding that
particular sensory cue in the
future
Behavior therapy using classical
conditioning
• Aversive therapy-pair up bad behavior
(acts as a CS) with some type of negative
stimulus (acts as a UCS) to create a
negative CR
• e.g. – you can pair up smoking with
making a person really sick. They will
then associate smoking with getting sick
and usually just the thought of smoking will
make them nauseous
Phobias…….so now you know
how they occur
• Ways to deal with a phobia:
– Systematic desensitization
– Flooding
Operant Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
– Response ->
– Subject
response
• Classical Conditioning
– Stimulus ->
a
– Subject knows they
are responding for
stimulus
– Subject has response
– Subject does not know
that learning is taking
place
Skinner
• Created the
Skinner
box, which
showed
how
behavior
could be
shaped
Shaping
• Shaping – a system of quickly and
systematically teaching animals/humans
behavior
• Successive approximations –
Reinforcers
• Skinner held that our behavior is learned
through the use of reinforcers – that is, any
stimulus that will increase the likelihood that the
behavior will occur again
• Primary reinforcers – unlearned biological
needs/drives –
• Secondary reinforcers – learned needs/drives
such as –etc.
Extinction and
Spontaneous Recovery
• In operant conditioning, the response can
be weakened and eventually extinguished
by no longer presenting the reinforcer
• The response can be spontaneously
recovered by reintroducing the reinforcer
Positive vs. negative
reinforcement
Positive reinforcers –
In order for the reinforcer to be considered
positive, it must be one which the subject
considers to be positive – that is, if a subject
does not like chocolate, offering this as a
positive reinforcer will not work.
• Negative reinforcement – when a
response is strengthened • With punishment, the behavior should
decrease, while with negative
reinforcement the behavior should
increase
Examples of negative
reinforcement
• Parent picking up baby to remove
the aversive stimulus of baby crying
• Child cleaning room to stop parent nagging
• Child being moved near teacher to stop them
from talking – if the child does not talk again,
then they have been punished – however, if the
child was seeking attention, they will talk again
to get the teacher’s attention
Escape and avoidance learning
• Negative reinforcement leads to 2 kinds of
behaviors:
• 1) Escape learning –
• 2) Avoidance learning –
Continuous vs. intermittent
reinforcement
• Continuous reinforcement: when the
subject receives a reinforcer every time
they do the response
• Intermittent: more variable
– Schedules of reinforcement
Schedules of Reinforcement
Office
Class vs
Operant
cond
1.
It should be
2.
Should
3.
Explain why the person
is being punished
4.
Explain an
5.
Be consistentconsistent punishment
6.
Use physical
punishment :
Punishment
Negative effects of punishment
• Suppression of
• Triggers
• May lead to
Some suggestions
• Reinforce positive desirable behavior and
ignore undesirable behavior (within
reason)
• Praise children around the child for
desirable behavior (vicarious learning –
ripple effect)
• Reinforce behaviors as they get closer to
the desired behavior-esp. with small
children (shaping – successive
approximations)
Learning
• Learning and learned helplessness
• Learning and the self-fulfilling prophecy
Observational Learning
When learning takes
place via modeling –
that is “monkey see,
monkey do”
Albert Bandura – social
learning theory
Bobo doll