Vocabulary
• classical conditioning
• generalization
• neutral stimulus
• discrimination
• unconditioned
stimulus (US)
• extinction
• unconditioned response (UR)
• conditioned stimulus (CS)
• conditioned response (CR)
Objectives
• Describe the principles of classical
conditioning.
• Outline the techniques of classical
conditioning.
JOURNAL #1
• Recall a situation in which you taught another
person a skill or how to do a task. Write a brief
account about it in your journal.
• When teaching the skill, describe how you used
reinforcement, punishment, or modeling as part
of your teaching strategy.
9.1- Classical Conditioning
• Throughout our lives, we are always learning
• Learning is a relatively permanent change in a
behavioral tendency that results from
experience.
Classical Conditioning
• Classical conditioning is a learning
procedure in which associations are made
between a neutral stimulus and an
unconditional stimulus.
• Classical conditioning helps us adapt to our
environment
– Ivan Pavlov discovered this type of learning
accidentally while using dogs to study the process
of digestion.
Classical Conditioning
Experiment
Classical Conditioning
Experiment
Pavlov’s students used this
apparatus. The tube leading from
the dog’s mouth allowed saliva to
be measured and recorded on the
kymograph.
• Unconditioned stimulus (US)- An event that
elicits a certain predictable response
typically without previous training
– Ex.- Hungry , full bladder
• Unconditioned response (UR)- an organisms
automatic (natural) reaction to a stimulus
(aka- a reflex)
– Ex.- blushing, shivering, being started, salivating
Classical Conditioning (cont.)
• Neutral stimulus- A stimulus that does
not initially elicit any part of an
unconditioned response
Classical Conditioning
Experiment
• Conditioned stimulus (CS)- A once- neutral
event that elicits a given response after a
period of training in which it has been paired
with (occurred just before) an unconditioned
stimulus
• Conditioned response (CR)- the learned
reaction to a conditioned stimulus
Leaving class when the bell rings is
best described as what?
A. Neutral stimulus
B. Unconditioned response
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D
A
0%
A
B
C
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D
C
D. Conditioned response
A.
B.
C.
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D.
B
C. Conditioned stimulus
General Principles of Classical
Conditioning (cont.)
• Pavlov also experimented with generalization
and discrimination (using circles and ovals):
– Generalization- responding similarly to a range of
similar stimuli
–Ex.- Dog salivates when he sees a circle, and will
also salivate when he sees an oval
– Discrimination- the ability to respond differently to
similar but distinct stimuli
–Ex.- Dog receives meat powder after seeing the
circle and salivates, dog does not receive meat
powder after seeing the oval and does not salivate
General Principles of Classical
Conditioning (cont.)
• Extinction- the gradual disappearance of a
conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus
is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned
stimulus
• If a rest period is given following extinction, the CR
may reappear when the CS is presented
•Ex.- getting in a car wreak, scared to drive right
after, eventually you are ok
• Such a spontaneous recovery does not bring the
CR back to original strength, however.
Classical Conditioning and Human
Behavior
• John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner used
conditioning on a human infant in the case
of Little Albert.
• O. Hobart and Mollie Mowrer discovered a
solution to bed-wetting by using classical
conditioning.
Examples of Common
Conditioned Responses
• Classical conditioning is an example of a
behaviorist theory.
• A classically conditioned response, like any
other behavior, is subject to change.
Classical Conditioning and Human
Behavior (cont.)
• Behaviorism is the attempt to understand
behavior in terms of relationships between
observable stimuli and observable responses.
• Behaviorists are psychologists who study only
those behaviors that they can observe and
measure.
Classical Conditioning
vs. Operant Conditioning
Taste Aversions
• Classical conditioning is shown through foods
and eating quite often
• The relationship between what we eat (CS) and
our immediate behavior (CR) can help humans
and animals to adapt and survive
– Ex.- chemo patients and odd tasting candy
– Ex.- Wolves and sheep
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI
Vocabulary
• operant conditioning
• variable-interval schedule
• reinforcement
• shaping
• primary reinforcer
• response chain
• secondary reinforcer
• aversive control
• fixed-ratio schedule
• negative reinforcement
• variable-ratio schedule
• escape conditioning
• fixed-interval schedule
• avoidance conditioning
Objectives
• Outline the principles of operant
conditioning.
• Describe applications of operant
conditioning.
• Journal #2
• What do you think positive reinforcement is and
do you believe this works?
• Can you recall a time that you were punished?
Briefly explain and tell if the punishment
“worked”
• Do you think punishment has advantages,
disadvantages, or both? Explain.
Operant Conditioning
• Operant conditioning- learning in which
a certain action is reinforced or
punished, resulting in corresponding
increases or decreases in occurrence
– The term operant is used because the
subject operates on or causes some
change in the environment.
– Depending on the effect of operant
behavior, the learner will repeat or
eliminate the behavior
Reinforcement
• B.F. Skinner is the psychologist most closely
associated with operant conditioning.
• He believed that most behavior is influenced
by a person’s history of rewards and
punishments.
• B.F. Skinner actually coined the term operant
conditioning and started this whole school by
inventing the first operant conditioning chamber,
otherwise known as the Skinner Box.
• A Skinner box is used to train animals and
usually has a way to deliver food to an animal
and a lever to press or disk to peck in order to
get the food.
• The food is called a reinforcer, and the process
of giving the food is called reinforcement. A
reinforcer is anything likely to increase a
behavior. There are two types of reinforcement;
positive and negative.
Reinforcement (cont.)
• Reinforcement- stimulus or event that
follows a response and increases the
likelihood that the response will be
repeated
– ALWAYS increases the frequency of a behavior
Reinforcement
– Positive reinforcement occurs when something
the animal wants is added after an action.
– Will lead to an increase in the behavior
– Ex. Dog does trick, get a dog treat
– Negative reinforcement occurs when something
unpleasant is taken away if the animal performs
an action (think negate, or take away)
– Will lead to an increase in the behavior
– Does NOT mean punishment
– Ex.- Rock in shoe, remove rock, continue walking
Aversive Control
• Aversive (meaning unpleasant) controlProcess of influencing behavior by
means of unpleasant stimuli
• Two ways in which unpleasant events can
affect our behavior:
– Negative reinforcement
– Punishers—an unpleasant consequence
occurs and decreases the frequency of the
behavior that produced it.
– Ex.- Little girl screams and cries at dinner
table, parents punish her
• Positive punishment- Something bad is
presented (added), which decreases the
behavior
• Negative punishment- Something good Is
removed (taken away), which decreases the
behavior
Aversive Control (cont.)
• Disadvantages of punishment:
– Aversive stimuli can produce unwanted side
effects such as rage, aggression, and fear.
– People learn to avoid a person delivering the
aversive consequences.
– Punishment is likely to suppress, but not
eliminate, bad behavior.
– Punishment alone does not teach appropriate
and acceptable behavior.
Chaining
• Often times when learning how to do
something, we have to link multiple behaviors
together.
• Ex.- Swimming
• Ex.- building a house
• Response chain-learned reactions that
follow one another in sequence, each
reaction producing the signal for the
next
• Unlike classical conditioning in which the learner
is passive, in operant conditioning the learner
plays an active part in the changes in behavior
Classical Conditioning vs. Operant Conditioning
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning both involve the establishment of
relationships between two events. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning,
though, use very different procedures to reach their goals.
Do you feel that punishment has any
advantages?
A. Very much so
B. Somewhat
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D
A
0%
A
B
C
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D
C
D. Not at all
A.
B.
C.
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D.
B
C. Not very much
Vocabulary
• social learning
• cognitive learning
• cognitive map
• latent learning
• learned helplessness
• modeling
• behavior
modification
• token economy
Objectives
• Cite the principles involved in cognitive
learning and modeling.
• Identify the principles of learning used in
behavior modification.
Social Learning
• Social learning- process of altering
behavior by observing and imitating the
behavior of others
• Two types of social learning:
– Cognitive learning
– Modeling
Cognitive Learning
• Some psychologists believe that our behaviors
are not just stimuli and responses.
• Cognitive learning- form of altering behavior that
involves mental processes and may result from
observation or imitation
•Focuses on mental processes of learning
• Two examples of cognitive learning:
•Ex.- Rat in Skinner box did not just use reinforcement, he had to
think about where the food was
– Cognitive maps
– Latent learning
• Edward Tolman’s rat maze experiment
– He placed the rat in the maze and would allow it to
explore without giving any reinforcement. Then he
would place food at the end and he timed the rat to
see how long it took him to get to the end, he would
also record the path the rat took. The rat quickly
learned to take the shortest path to get to the food.
– Then, Tolman blocked the shortest route, and the rat
took the next shortest route, because he had
constructed a cognitive map of the maze in his head.
Cognitive Learning (cont.)
• Cognitive map- mental picture of spatial
relationship between events
• Latent learning- alteration of behavior that
is not immediately altered
•Which was shown by Tolman’s rat
Learned Helplessness
Learned Helplessness
•If a person has numerous experiences in which
his or her actions have no effect, he or she may be
taught a general strategy of learned
helplessness.
•Martin Seligman believes learned helplessness is
a major cause of depression.
Cognitive Learning (cont.)
• When people are unable to control events
in their lives, they respond in one of the
following ways:
– They may be less motivated to act and
thus stop trying.
– They may experience a lowered sense
of self-esteem and think negatively
about themselves.
– They may feel depressed.
Cognitive Learning (cont.)
• Three important elements of learned
helplessness:
– Stability—a person’s belief that the state of
helplessness results from permanent
characteristics.
– Globality—generalization—a student believing
he or she fails tests because he or she is
“dumb.”
– Internality—attributing undesirable outcomes
to one’s own inadequacies instead of blaming
them on external circumstance.
Modeling
• The other type of social learning is modeling.
• Modeling- learning by imitating others or
copying behaviors
• Three different types of effects of modeling:
– Copying- do not learn
– Observational learning- watch and do
– Disinhibition-can help eliminate phobias
How strongly do you feel that children
model the violence they witness on
television?
A. Very strongly
B. Somewhat strongly
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D
A
0%
A
B
C
0%
D
C
D. Not strongly at all
B
C. Not very strongly
A.
B.
C.
0%
D.
Behavior Modification (cont.)
• Classical and operant conditioning and
social learning work together to determine
what and how we learn.
Improving Study Habits
Would earning money for good grades
encourage you to work harder in school?
A. Yes
B. No
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C
A
0%
A. A
B. B
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C.
C
B
C. I don’t know
Examples of Common Conditioned Responses
If you have pets and feed them canned food, what happens when you use the can
opener? The animals may come running even when you are opening a can of peas.
Learned Helplessness
What happens when it is impossible for a learner to have an effect on the
environment? What happens when a learner is punished and cannot escape the
punishment? The learner may give up trying to learn.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
1849–1936
“While you are
experimenting, do not
remain content with the
surface of things. Don’t
become a mere
recorder of facts, but try
to penetrate the mystery
of their origin.”