Basic Processes of Learning
Chapter 4
Gray, Psychology, 6e
Worth Publishers © 2010
Quick Question
What is something that you have learned:
– As a child
– As a teenager
– Last week
What Is Learning?
• Relatively permanent change to an organism’s
behavior
• Based on previous experiences the organism
has had
Contrasting Major
Learning Theories
Classical
Conditioning
Operant
Conditioning
Observational
Learning
Type of
Behavior
Learned
Simple,
reflexive
behaviors
Complex
behaviors
Behaviors useful
in a social
setting
Process of
Learning
Pairing stimuli
(that produce a
response)
Pairing a
Observing the
consequence
actions of others
with a response
Overview of
Classical Conditioning
Classical
Conditioning
Can Help Us
Understand:
Type of
Behavior
Learned
Simple,
reflexive
behaviors
Process of
Learning
Pairing stimuli
(that produce a
response)
•
•
•
•
Emotional responses
Hunger
Sexual arousal
Substance abuse
Classical Conditioning in the City
(Midnight)
(Subway noise)
(Midnight)
(Midnight, even in new location)
(Wake up)
(Subway noise)
(Wake up)
(Wake up)
Advanced Concepts in
Classical Conditioning
• Extinction - without the UCS, eventually the
CS will no longer produce the CR
– If you move away from the subway (UCS),
eventually you will no longer wake up at midnight
(CS)
• Spontaneous recovery - after time, the
conditioned response might recur
– Occasionally, you might awake at midnight in your
new country home
Advanced Concepts in
Classical Conditioning
• Generalization - the CR occurs in response to
similar conditioned stimuli
– All loud sounds wake you up - the subway, your
neighbors yelling, your dog barking, your alarm
clock
• Discrimination - the CR occurs only in
response to one specific CS (requires
discrimination training)
– Only your alarm clock wakes you up, you learn to
sleep through the rest!
Using the Principles of Classical
Conditioning, Could You:
• Teach a baby to fear books?
• Teach a toddler to ride a tricycle?
• Help your friend stop smoking cigarettes?
How?
Overview of
Operant Conditioning
Operant
Conditioning
Type of
Behavior
Learned
Complex
behaviors
Process of
Learning
Pairing a
consequence
with a response
Can Help Us
Understand:
•Animal training
•Overjustification effect
•School success
•To Skinner, the sky was the
limit!
Reinforcement vs. Punishment
Positive (+)
Negative (-)
Result
Reinforcement
Punishment
Addition of desired
stimulus after response
Addition of aversive
stimulus after response
Example: Money for good
grades
Example: Spanking for bad
grades
Subtraction of aversive
stimulus after response
Subtraction of desired
stimulus after response
Example: A weekend away
from bratty brother for
good grades
Example: No TV for bad grades
Increased likelihood of
response
Decreased likelihood of
response
Reinforcement Schedules
Interval
Ratio
(time between responses) (number of responses)
Fixed
(set
reinforcement
schedule)
Reinforce a response after Reinforce a response after
a set amount of time has a set amount of responses
elapsed
occur
Variable
(slightly altered
reinforcement
schedule)
Reinforce a response
around but not at the
same time period
Reinforce a response
around but not after the
same number of responses
Advanced Concepts in
Operant Conditioning
• Shaping
– Reinforcing responses that are increasingly
close to the response you desire
• Overjustification effect
– When a reward is given for a response that was
not needed to produce the response
Help Train Fido!
• How could you use operant conditioning to
train a dog to:
– Sit
– Stop jumping on people
– Jump through a hoop
Overview of
Observational Learning
Observational
Learning
Type of
Behavior
Learned
Skills useful in a
social setting
Process of
Learning
Observing the
actions of others
Can Help us
Understand:
•Skills that cannot be
learned by trial and error
•Prosocial and antisocial
behavior
Evolutionary Perspective
• Species appear predisposed to learn certain
things relevant to their past environment
– Example: Food preferences - if we get ill after
eating a new food, we learn to associate that food
with illness and avoid it
– Example: Fear - different species are predisposed
to fear certain objects that posed a threat in the
past (such as snakes for humans and monkeys)
Something You’ve Learned
What is something that
you have learned:
– As a child
– As a teenager
– Last week
Turn to your neighbor and
work together:
– What learning theory
best explains what you
learned at each age?
Assessment
• What are the three major types of learning?
• Come up with something specific a person
might learn using one of these theories of
learning