Dr. M. Davis-Brantley
 Learning
is the process that produces a
relatively enduring change in behavior or
knowledge as a result of an individual’s past
experience
• Ex: Why don’t we touch hot stoves?
• As a result of experience, we acquire new behaviors
or modify our old behaviors.
 Conditioning
is the process of learning
associations between environmental events
and behavior responses
• Conditioning is reflected in everyday behavior such
as simple habits, emotional reactions, and skills
What’s this about
LEARNING?
 Ivan
Pavlov
 1849-1936
 Russian physiologist
 Studied digestive
processes
 Lecture--Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936)
Digestive
reflexes
and
salivation
Psychic
secretion
NEUTRAL STIMULUS
will
elicit
NO REACTION
UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS
will
elicit a
REFLEX ACTION
will
elicit a
REFLEX ACTION
will
elicit a
CONDITIONED
RESPONSE
UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS
NEUTRAL STIMULUS
CONDITIONED
CONDITIONEDSTIMULUS
STIMULUS
Does
not normally elicit a
response or reflex action by
itself
• A bell ringing
• A color
• A furry object
Always
elicits a reflex action: an
unconditioned response
• Food
• Blast of air
• Noise
A
response to an unconditioned
stimulus--naturally occurring
• Salivation at smell of food
• Eye blinks at blast of air
• Startle reaction in babies
The
stimulus that was originally
neutral becomes conditioned
after it has been paired with the
unconditioned stimulus
Will eventually elicit the
unconditioned response by itself
The
original unconditioned
response becomes
conditioned after it has been
elicited by the neutral stimulus




Extinction is the gradual weakening and
apparent disappearance of conditioned
behavior.
Spontaneous recovery is the
reappearance of a previously
extinguished response after a period of
time without exposure to the conditioned
stimulus
Stimulus Generalization is the
occurrence of a learned response not
only to the original stimulus but to other,
similar stimuli
Stimulus Discrimination is the
occurrence of a learned response to a
specific stimulus but not to other, similar
stimuli
Figure 5.4 Classically Conditioned Drug Effects: Does Just the Smell of a Starbucks Coffee Grande Perk You Up?
Hockenbury: Psychology, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Worth Publishers
Little Albert Video
Little Albert Video-#2
Figure 5.3 A Classically Conditioned Fear Response
Hockenbury: Psychology, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Worth Publishers
 Watson
was hired by an advertising agency
 Applied the principles of classical conditioning
to advertising
 “To make your consumer react, tell him
something that will tie up with fear, something
that will call out an affectionate or love
response, or strike at a deep psychological or
habit need”
 See page 198
Operant Conditioning
B.F. Skinner





Keep in mind that classical conditioning involves
reflexive behaviors that are automatically elicited by a
specific stimulus, most everyday behaviors don’t fall in
this category
Dr. Edward Lee Thorndike
Studied animals to see if they utilized reasoning to
solve problems
He determined that a cats’ learning is based on a trial
and error bases
Law of Effect—learning principle proposed by
Thorndike that proposes that responses followed by a
satisfying effect become strengthened and are more
likely to recur, while responses followed by a
dissatisfying effect are weakened and less likely to
recur
Did
not like Thorndike’s term
“satisfying state of affairs”
Interested in emitted behaviors
Operant—voluntary response
that acts on the environment to
produce consequences
Operant Conditioning
•Reinforcement—the occurrence of
a stimulus following a response
that increases the likelihood of the
response being repeated
•Parenting
 Primary—a
stimulus that is inherently
reinforcing for a species (biological
necessities)
 Conditioned (also referred to as a
secondary reinforcer)—a stimulus that
has acquired reinforcing value by being
associated with
a primary reinforcer
Presentation of a stimulus following a
behavior that acts to decrease the
likelihood that the behavior will be
repeated
 Does
not teach or promote alternative,
acceptable behavior
 May produce undesirable results such as
hostility, passivity, fear
 Likely to be temporary
 May model aggression
Shaping
Extinction
Spontaneous
Recovery
Discriminative Stimuli
Schedules of Reinforcement
 Fixed-Ratio
(FR)
 Variable-Ratio (VR)
 Fixed-Interval (FI)
 Variable-Interval (VI)
 Ratio
schedules are based on number
of responses emitted
 Fixed ratio (FR)—a reinforcer is
delivered after a certain (fixed)
number of correct responses
 Variable ratio (VR)—a reinforcer is
delivered after an average number of
responses, but varies from trial to trial
 Interval
schedules are based on time.
 Fixed interval (FI)—reinforcer is
delivered for the first response after a
fixed period of time has elapsed
 Variable interval (VI)—reinforcer is
delivered for the first response after an
average time has elapsed, differs
between trials
CLASSICAL
 Stimulus
precedes the
response and
elicits it
 Elicited
responses
 Learning as a
result of
association
OPERANT
 Stimulus
follows
the response and
strengthens it
 Emitted
responses
 Learning as a
result of
consequences
 Skinner
Classical conditioning
• elicits response as a result of associating
 unconditioned stimulus
 neutral stimulus
Operant conditioning
• emitted response
• learning is a result of consequences
 reinforcers
 punishment
Specific
skills and general
behavioral styles
Bandura’s cognitive theory
 Observation
 Modeling
 Imitation
 Albert
Bandura and the Bobo doll study
Famous last words???
Do what I say, not what I do—
This will teach you to hit your
brother—
Why do you do that, you know you
get in trouble for it—