Learning Theories
But not like you and I normally think about learning - there is nothing
“inside”
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1. Assumption of Learning
Theorists
 Attitudes are basically learned (acquired)
 The key is the LINK between behavior and the environment
 Attitudes can change by relearning relinking
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2. Classical Conditioning
 Pavlov’s dogs
 Conditioned Stimulus/Response is linked to
Unconditioned Stimulus/Response ucr cr
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“Bee” cs
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3. Staats & Staats
Experiments
 Things Paired Repeatedly
 Slogan Study
 Free Lunch
 Unpleasant Odor
 Neutral Setting
 Shock Study
 Word Study
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4. Critique of Staats &
Staats
 Without people’s awareness
 Learned experimenter's wishes (demand characteristics)
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5. Vicarious Classical
(Cont’d)
 Watch Models
Model in Pain You Experience It
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6. Instrumental
Conditioning
 Responses become more (or less) likely because of consequences
 Assumption - People tend to maximize rewards and minimize negative consequences
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7. Operant Conditioning
Process
 “Plural Nouns” Study
 Doob’s “black box” Idea
S R S R
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8. Observational Learning
 Positive Models
 Negative Models
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9. Radical Behaviorism
 No such thing as an “attitude
 Our attitudes are determined by what we do
 We infer our internal states
 Uses backwards reasoning process
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Bem
 There is now sufficient evidence to suggest that under certain conditions, one of the most effective ways “to change the hearts & minds of men” is to change their behavior.
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10. Critique
 What about the negative?
 What about an attitude?
 What about thought?
 How do we define reward & punishment without a brain?
 Isn’t this all too simple?
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