Chapter Six Summary
6.1 How Do We Learn?
Learning Results from Experience: Learning is a relatively enduring change in behavior
that results from experience. Learning enables animals to better adapt to the environment,
and thus, it facilitates survival.
There Are Three Types of Learning: The three major types of learning are nonassociative,
associative, and observational. Nonassociative learning is a change in behavior after
exposure to a single stimulus or event. Associative learning is the linking of two stimuli,
or events. Observational learning is acquiring or changing a behavior after exposure to
another individual performing that behavior.
Habituation and Sensitization Are Simple Models of Learning: Habituation is a decrease
in behavioral response after repeated exposure to a stimulus. Habituation occurs when the
stimulus stops providing new information. Sensitization is an increase in behavioral
response after exposure to a repeated stimulus. Sensitization may occur in cases where
increased attention to a stimulus may prove beneficial, such as in dangerous or exciting
situations.
6.2 How Do We Learn Predictive Associations?
Behavioral Responses Are Conditioned: Pavlov established the principles of classical
conditioning. Through classical conditioning, associations are made between two stimuli,
such as the clicking of a metronome and the presence of food. What is learned is that one
stimulus predicts another. Acquisition, second-order conditioning, extinction,
spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination, and blocking are processes
associated with classical conditioning.
Classical Conditioning Involves More Than Events Occurring at the Same Time: Not all
stimuli are equally potent in producing conditioning. Animals are biologically prepared to
make connections between stimuli that are potentially dangerous. This biological
preparedness to fear specific objects helps animals avoid potential dangers, and thus it
facilitates survival.
Learning Involves Expectancies and Prediction: The Rescorla-Wagner theory describes
how the strength of association between two stimuli depends on how unexpected or
surprising the unconditioned stimulus is. Positive prediction error results when an
unexpected stimulus is presented. Positive prediction error leads to high levels of
learning. Negative prediction error results when an expected stimulus is missing.
Negative prediction error promotes the extinction of learning. The neurotransmitter
dopamine provides one neurobiological basis for prediction error. The release of
dopamine increases after positive prediction error and decreases after negative prediction
error.
Phobias and Addictions Have Learned Components: Phobias are learned fear
associations. Addictions are learned-reward associations. Classical conditioning and
second-order conditioning can explain not only how people learn to associate the fearful
stimulus or drug itself with the fear or reward but also a host of other “neutral” stimuli as
well. In the case of drug addiction, addicts often inadvertently associate environmental
aspects of the purchase and use of the drug with the pleasurable feelings produced by the
drug. These learned associations are major factors in relapse, as seemingly innocuous
stimuli can trigger cravings even years after drug use is discontinued.
6.3 How Does Operant Conditioning Change Behavior
Reinforcement Increases Behavior: Reinforcement describes how consequences make
behaviors more likely to occur. Shaping is a procedure in which successive
approximations of a behavior are reinforced, leading to the desired behavior. Reinforcers
may be primary (those that satisfy biological needs) or secondary (those that do not
directly satisfy biological needs). Both positive and negative reinforcement increase the
likelihood that a behavior will be repeated. In positive reinforcement, a pleasurable
stimulus is delivered after a behavior (e.g., giving a dog a treat for sitting). In negative
reinforcement, an aversive stimulus is removed after a behavior (e.g., letting a puppy out
of its crate when it acts calmly).
Operant Conditioning Is Influenced by Schedules of Reinforcement: Learning occurs in
response to continuous reinforcement and partial reinforcement. Partial reinforcement
may be delivered on a ratio schedule or an interval schedule. Each type of schedule may
be fixed or variable. Partial reinforcement administered on a variable-ratio schedule is
particularly resistant to extinction.
Punishment Decreases Behavior: Punishment decreases the probability that a behavior
will repeat. Positive punishment involves the administration of an aversive stimulus, such
as a squirt of water in the face, to decrease behavior. Negative punishment involves the
removal of an appetitive stimulus, such as money or the opportunity to drive the car, to
decrease behavior. Positive punishment has been shown to be generally ineffective for
changing behavior, since it can produce fear, anxiety, and inappropriate imitation of the
punishing behavior. Behavior modification involves the use of operant conditioning to
eliminate unwanted behaviors and replace them with desirable behaviors. Behavior
modification programs work by reinforcing appropriate behaviors and ignoring
inappropriate behaviors. Punishment, especially positive punishment, is not used in
behavior modification programs because it rarely stops undesirable behavior.
Biology and Cognition Influence Operant Conditioning: An animal’s biological makeup
restricts the types of behaviors the animal can learn. Latent learning takes place without
reinforcement. Latent learning may not influence behavior until a reinforcer is
introduced.
Dopamine Activity Underlies Reinforcement: The brain has specialized centers that
produce pleasure when stimulated. Behaviors that activate these centers are reinforced.
The nucleus accumbens has dopamine receptors, which are activated by pleasurable
behaviors. Through conditioning, secondary reinforcers can also activate dopamine
receptors.
6.4 How Does Watching Others Affect Learning?
Learning Can Occur through Observation and Imitation: Observational learning is a
powerful adaptive tool. Humans and other animals learn by watching the behavior of
others. The imitation of observed behavior is referred to as modeling. Vicarious learning
occurs when people learn about an action’s consequences by observing others being
reinforced or punished for their behavior.
Watching Violence in Media May Encourage Aggression: Media violence has been found
to increase aggressive behavior, decrease prosocial behavior, and desensitize children to
violence. Nonetheless, laboratory research may not simulate real-life exposure to
violence in the media, and so further research is warranted.
Fear Can Be Learned Through Observation: Monkeys have learned to fear snakes (but
not flowers) by watching other monkeys react fearfully. These findings suggest that
monkeys can learn by observation if the behavior is biologically adaptive. People also
learn fear by observation, such as in learning to avoid a neighborhood because of news
reports about crime in the area. People observing other people receive a painful shock
experience activation in the amygdala—a brain area important for processing emotional
responses, including fear—even though they themselves did not receive any shocks.
Mirror Neurons Are Activated by Watching Others: Mirror neurons become activated
when we observe others engaging in actions. In fact, the same neurons that become active
when we observe another person engaging in a task become active when we perform the
same task. Mirror neurons may be involved in learning about and predicting what others
are thinking. They may also form the basis of empathy, the ability to understand the
perspective of other people.