AP Psychology Unit: Learning Test: 12/17/2019 Behaviorism John B. Watson- “father of behaviorism,” classically conditioned Little Albert to fear small, furry things Unlearned Behaviors- innate behaviors: a) Reflexes- motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus (ex: contraction of pupils in light) b) Instincts- innate behaviors triggered by broad range of events (ex: migration, sexual activity) Learning- a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge resulting from experience: a) Associative learning- classical and operant conditioning b) Observational learning Both associative and observational are both examples of behaviorism (focus on measurable behavior). Robert A. Rescorla added a cognitive aspect to conditioning: subject must develop an expectation in order for conditioning to occur. Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning- an originally neutral stimulus paired with and association created with unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response a) Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)- brings about response without needing to be learned b) Unconditioned response (UCR)- response that naturally occurs without training c) Neutral stimulus (NS)- stimulus that normally doesn't evoke a response d) Conditioned stimulus (CS)- once neutral stimulus that now brings about a response e) Conditioned response (CR)- response that, after conditioning, follows a CS Ivan Pavlov- physiologist, surgically implanted tubes inside dogs’ cheeks to collect saliva and measured amount of saliva produced in response to food Pavlov trained his dogs to salivate in response to a bell, a stimulus that clearly has nothing to do with food, by pairing the bell tone with meat powder. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) Meat powder Unconditioned response (UCR) Salivation in response to meat powder Neutral stimulus (NS) Sound of bell Conditioned stimulus (CS) Sound of bell Conditioned response (CR) Salivation in response to sound of bell Acquisition- organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. Neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting conditioned response. a) Timing! Interval between CS and UCS should be brief. b) Contiguity- timing of the pairing Extinction- decrease in CR when UCS is no longer presented with CS until conditioned response disappears completely Spontaneous recovery- return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period Stimulus discrimination- organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similiar, demonstrates conditioned response only to conditioned stimulus Stimulus generalization- the more similar a stimulus is to the conditioned stimulus, the more likely the organism is to give the conditioned response Habituation- learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change Higher-order/Second-order conditioning- using conditioned stimulus to condition another stimulus. Third-order and above are difficult to achieve. * Point where second extinction period starts marks spontaneous recovery Counterconditioning- to remove a conditioned response through conditioning Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning- organism learns to associate a behavior and its consequence (good or bad) B.F. Skinner- saw that classical conditioning limited to reflexive behaviors (ex: salivating) and doesn’t account for new and learned behaviors (ex: bike riding). He proposed that behavior is motivated by consequences, whether good or bad--reinforcement and punishment. Skinner’s theory is based on the law of effect, proposed by Edward Thorndike. The law of effect says that behaviors followed by positive consequences are more likely to be repeated and negative consequences are less likely to be repeated. “Skinner’s box”--Skinner’s operant conditioning chamber- lever/disk for food (pigeons and rats). He used shaping- rewarding successive approximations of a target behavior a) Used in teaching a complex behavior or a chain of behaviors b) Assists in stimulus discrimination and generalization Positive- adding Negative- taking away Reinforcementincreasing a behavior Appetitive added to increase the likelihood of a behavior Aversive removed to increase the likelihood of a behavior Punishmentdecreasing a behavior Aversive added to decrease the likelihood of a behavior Appetitive removed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior * Experts favor reinforcement over punishment. Reinforcement schedule- a rule stating which instances of a behavior will be reinforced a) Continuous reinforcement- organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior b) Partial/intermittent reinforcement- organism only receives reinforcer sometimes. Four types: Reinforcement Schedule Description Example Fixed Interval Reinforcement delivered at predictable time intervals Dog gets a snack every 10 minutes Variable Interval Reinforcement delivered at unpredictable time intervals Dog gets snack after 2 minutes, then 8 minutes, then 4 minutes Fixed Ratio Reinforcement delivered after a predictable number of responses Dog gets snack after every 5 times it rolls over Variable Ratio Reinforcement delivered after an unpredictable number of responses Dog gets snack after 2 times, then 8 times, then 4 times that it rolls over In operant conditioning, speed of extinction depends on reinforced schedule: a) Most productive and resistant to extinction- variable ratio b) Least productive and resistant to extinction- continuous and fixed interval Overjustification effect- reinforcing behaviors that are intrinsically motivating causes you to stop doing them (ex: giving a child $5 for reading when they already like to read causes them to stop reading) Premack principle- opportunity to engage in a preferred activity can be used to reinforce engagement in a non-preferred activity (ex: using ice cream as a reward to get kids to eat brussel sprouts) Though experts prefer reinforcement, punishment can still be used effectively: Effective Punishment Drawbacks to Punishment Delivered immediately after offensive behavior Can produce undesirable effects such as fear, hostility, resentment, or aggression Has specific, certain punishment Often only produces temporary change Fits the crime Can lead to learned helplessness- feeling that one cannot succeed no matter what, so why bother? (Seligman) Focused on behavior, not the offender Delivered without emotion Primary reinforcer- reinforces with innate reinforcing qualities (ex: food, water, sleep, shelter, sex, affection, etc) Secondary reinforcer- only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer (ex: praise-affection, money-food/water/shelter) a) Token economies- behavior management systems where appropriate behavior is rewarded and can be exchanged for other things Classical Operant Approach UCS paired with NS NS becomes CS CS brings about CR Target behavior is followed by reinforcement or punishment so subject exhibits desired behavior in the future Stimulus Timing Stimulus occurs immediately before response Stimulus (reinforcement/punishment) occurs soon after response Observational Learning Observational/social learning- learning by watching others and modeling what they do or say Models- individuals performing the imitated behavior. Three types: a) Live- behavior in person b) Verbal- explain/describe behavior c) Symbolic- fictional characters, people in movies, shows, video games, etc. Psychologist Albert Bandura proposed the social learning theory, a brand of behaviorism that took cognitive processes into account, as pure behaviorism does not explain how learning takes place in absence of external reinforcement. Steps in Modeling Process: a) Attention- focus on observing model b) Retention- remember observations c) Reproduction- perform remembered behavior d) Motivation- decide whether to copy behavior or not If model was reinforced for behavior, observer is more motivated to copy her--vicarious reinforcement If model was punished for behavior, observer is less motivation to copy her--vicarious punishment Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment- teacher hit doll and was either punished or not punished. It was found that children imitate violent behavior when teacher was praised or their aggression ignored. a) Prosocial (positive) models- used to encourage socially acceptable behavior b) Antisocial (negative) models- used to discourage bad behavior Other Types of Learning Strict behaviorists like Watson and Skinner did not believe that cognition plays a role in learning. Edward C. Tolman found that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement. a) He placed hungry rats in maze with/without a food reward. b) Unreinforced rats developed a cognitive map even with no reward. They demonstrated latent learning, learning that occurs but is not observable until there is a reason to demonstrate it. Wolfgang Köhler’s insight learning theory proposed that some learning is through simple intuition. He observed insight learning demonstrated by chimps in crates getting bananas with a stick. Learned helplessness- proposed by Martin Seligman, says that no matter what you do, you never get a positive outcome, so you just give up. He observed learned helplessness in the dogs he shocked.
