General Psychology (PY110)
Chapter 4
Learning
Learning
Learning is a relatively permanent
change or modification in
behavior due to experience or
training
Why Do We Learn?
Training

Two main types of training
Behavior Training type
Innate
Classical Conditioning
Acquired Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Discovered by Ivan Pavlov - a Russian physiologist
studying digestive processes in dogs
 The dogs were strapped into harnesses and had tubes
inserted into their cheeks to measure the amount of
salivation, the initial step in
the digestive process
 With time, he noticed that
the dogs started to salivate
before the meat powder
was even put in their
mouths, and wanted to know
why this was happening

Classical Conditioning
(Neutral
Stimulus)
Elements and Procedures
of Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned
Stimulus
(UCS)
Unconditioned
Response
(UCR)
Associated
Similar
Conditioned
Stimulus
(CS)
Conditioned
Response
(CR)
Principles of Conditioning

Extinction
◦ Hey where’s my food?

Spontaneous Recovery
◦ Maybe I’ll get food this time

“I don’t know about you,
but that bell is starting to
put me off my food”
Stimulus Generalization
◦ Any bell will do

Stimulus Discrimination
◦ That’s not the dinner bell
Acquisition, Extinction,
and Spontaneous Recovery
Stimulus Generalization
and Discrimination
Limitations of Classical Conditioning

Continuous
reinforcement
required

Extinction
occurs quickly
The “Little Albert” Study




John Watson conducted a study on an infant named
Albert
While Albert was looking at a little white rat,
Watson quietly sneaked behind him and made a
loud noise
Albert’s reflexive response, the UCR, was a fearavoidance response (e.g., crying and
trying to crawl away) to the loud
noise, which was the UCS
After pairing the white rat with the
loud noise only 7 times, the white
rat became a CS
Operant Conditioning
Learning to associate behaviors
with their consequences


Behaviors that are reinforced (lead to satisfying
consequences) will be strengthened, and behaviors
that are punished (lead to unsatisfying
consequences) will be weakened
Called “operant” conditioning because the organism
needs to “operate” on the environment to bring
about consequences from which to learn
Operant Conditioning
Most famous work conducted by
psychologist B.F. Skinner
 Used apparatus
known as ‘Skinner
boxes’ that are still
used in
experimentation
today

The Law of Effect

Operant conditioning is based on
E. L. Thorndike’s Law of Effect
Any behavior that results in
satisfying consequences tends to
be repeated, and any behavior
that results in unsatisfying
consequences tends not be
repeated
General Learning Processes
in Operant Conditioning

Shaping occurs when an animal is trained to
make a particular response by reinforcing
successively closer approximations to the
desired response
◦ With humans, this might mean reinforcing a child
the closer he comes to making his bed correctly
each morning
Shaping in Operant Conditioning
Imitation (or Modeling)

Albert Bandura
◦ Researched aggressiveness as a learned behavior
◦ Children exposed to aggressive adult behavior
against Bobo doll
◦ Many imitated aggressive behavior
Types of Reinforcement
Reinforcement
Punishment
Positive
Negative
A reward
Removal of something
unpleasant
Unpleasant Present
Removal of a reward
Example of Reinforcement
A psychologist considering why alcoholics drink can
consider two possible reinforcement factors
Positive Reinforcement
Social Situation +
Alcohol
Drink
Alcohol
Presentation
of pleasant
feelings
Negative Reinforcement
Stressful Situation
+ Alcohol
Drink
Alcohol
Reduction of
Unpleasant
Feelings
Types of Reinforcement
Reward
Time
Based
INTERVAL
Work
Based
RATIO
Interval Schedules of Reinforcement

Fixed Interval
◦ Reward arrives on set schedule
 Work paid with salary

Variable Interval
◦ Reward arrives sporadically
Ratio Schedules of Reinforcement

Fixed Ratio
◦ Reward arrives after performance of task
 Piece work

Variable Ratio
◦ Reward will arrive after unknown number of
repetitions of a task
 Lottery
 Resistant to Extinction
Motivation

When motivation is:

Task is accomplished to gain reward
Also referred to as Goal Oriented
(GO)
Task is accomplished for personal
satisfaction. Also referred to as
Learning Oriented (LO)

Are you learning oriented (LO) or goal
oriented (GO)?
The Motivation Process
State of
deprivation
(imbalance)
1.
Need
2.
Drive (awareness)
3.
Action (direction)
4.
Need reduction or
Need satisfaction
Theories of Motivation
Intrinsic
Factors
Extrinsic
Factors
Drive
Reduction
Theory
Incentive
Theory
Need
Satisfaction
Reward
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Difficulty of Task
High
Low
High
Low
State of Arousal
Yerkes-Dodson Law
Increased
arousal will aid
performance
up to a point,
after which
further arousal
impairs
performance