Vocabulary that we will use
 Stimulus (Plural: Stimuli): an agent (as an environmental change) that directly
influences the activity of a living organism or one of its parts
 Response: The behavior or cognitive process that occurs in reaction to a stimulus
Learning
 Unlike most animals, we do not have a genetic blueprint for life.
 E.g., migrating birds know where they are supposed to go and how to go there
 Much of our behaviors are learned through experience.
 Learning is our way of adapting to our environment
Definiton of learning
 Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as the result of
experience.
 Produced by experience not because of maturation (neuromuscular
development).
 Learning is hope:
 What is learned can be taught
 What is learned can be corrected through new learning
We learn by association
 We (and virtually all organisms) naturally connect events that occur in sequence
 Associative Learning (Learning associations): learning that two events occur together
 two stimuli
 a response and its consequences
 Conditioning
 is the process of learning associations.
LEARNING
1. Classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning
• Associate two stimuli
• E.g. lightning and thunder
• E.g. mosquito buzz and itching
2. Operant conditioning
• Associate a response and its consequence: repeat actions followed by rewards
and avoid actions followed by punishments
3. Observational learning
• We learn from others’ experiences and examples (e.g., a child modeling his
father using a cell phone at dinner time)
•
 In all these ways of learning, we adapt to our environments
Module 18: Classical Conditioning
A basic form of learning associations
Behaviorism
 An approach to psychology that emphasizes:
 That psychology should be an objective science.
 That psychology should concern itself ONLY with studying observable
behaviors.
 That psychology should not be concerned with studying mental processes.
 A lot of what we know about learning was first studied by behaviorists.
Classical Conditioning
 Ivan Pavlov
 Russian physiologist
 Nobel prize winner
 Conditioning was just an accident: dogs salivating before food was given
Pavlov’s Classic Experiment
Classical Conditioning: Terminology
 Unconditioned Stimulus (US or UCS)
 stimulus that unconditionally--automatically and naturally--triggers a response
 Unconditioned Response (UR or UCR)
 Non-learned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus
 salivation when food is present
 Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
 originally irrelevant (neutral) stimulus that, after association with an
unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a specific conditioned response
 Conditioned Response (CR)
 learned response to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus (e.g., salivating
to tone after learning)


Classical Conditioning
Organism associates two stimuli
A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus begins to produce a response
that is reserved for the unconditioned stimulus
Conditioning Process
Timing of CS before UCS
Processes of Conditioning
 Acquisition
 Extinction
 Spontaneous Recovery
 Stimulus Generalization/ Discrimination
Acquisition
 the initial stage in classical conditioning
 the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an US so that the neutral stimulus comes
to elicit a conditioned response
Extinction
 diminishing of a CR
 in classical conditioning, when a US does not follow a CS
 E.g., ring the bell but do not present the food  less and less salivation
Spontaneous recovery
 Reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished CR
More on Classical Conditioning
 Generalization
 tendency for stimuli similar to CS to elicit similar responses
 Can be adaptive- as children taught to fear moving cars on street to
respond similarly to trucks and motorcycles on the street
 Discrimination
 in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and
other stimuli that do not signal a US
 E.g., fear pitbulls but not golden retrievers
 Lightning but not flashing disco lights
Updating Pavlov’s understanding
 Role of mental processes
 Thought/expectation of the CS-US link matters for conditioning
 Consistent link between the CS and US matters
 Role of biological dispositions
 Each species’ biological dispositions prepare it to learn the associations that
enhance its survival
 Taste aversion (rather than sight) in rats - they are biologically prepared
to learn associations between the taste of a particular food and the onset
of an illness, but not between sights and sounds and an illness.
Classical Conditioning: Key Points
 Can explain a wide range of behavior
 Advertising, food aversion, phobias
 Focuses on naturally occurring behavior
 Any naturally occurring behavior (or response) can be conditioned to neutral
stimulus
 Eye blink— bell
 Sexual arousal — perfume
Review
 Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as the result of
experience.
 Associative Learning: learning that two events occur together
 Conditioning: the process of learning associations
 Classical conditioning
 Unconditioned stimulus (food) is paired with a neutral stimulus (bell) 
conditioned stimulus (bell)
 Unconditioned response (saliva) becomes conditioned response (saliva)
 Acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination
Classical Conditioning: Important Limitation
 Focuses on naturally occurring responses
 Any naturally occurring behavior (or response) can be conditioned to neutral
stimulus
WHAT ABOUT THOSE BEHAVIORS THAT ORGANISMS DO NOT NATURALLY
PERFORM?
Module 19 - Operant Conditioning
Learning that behaviors are associated with their consequences
The Principle of Operant Conditioning
 Learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer and weakened
if followed by a punisher
 What is a reinforcer?
 What is a punisher?
Skinner’s (late 20th century) behavioral technology
 Operant chamber / Skinner box: A highly controlled environment where reinforcers
are carefully administered.
Teaching complex behaviors: Shaping
 A procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior towards gradually closer
approximations of the desired behavior.
 Build on existing behaviors that occur by chance
 Make rewards contingent on closer approximations
How to strengthen behavior: Reinforcement
 Provide a reward = positive stimulus
 If presented AFTER a response, it strengthens the response
 E.g., food, pleasurable sensation, …
 Take away something that is undesirable or unpleasant = reduce negative stimulus
 If removed AFTER a response, it strengthens the response
 E.g., A whining child being quiet, seat belt warning sound not beeping, alarm
clock going quiet, reduction of feeling of guilt after you call your grandmother
Types of Reinforcers
 Primary Reinforcer
 innately satisfies a biological need
 Food, security, positive feelings
 Conditioned (secondary) Reinforcer
 stimulus that is reinforcing because it is associated with a primary reinforcer
 Money, good grades, words of praise, pleasant tone of voice
When should we reinforce? How soon after the behavior should we reinforce?
 Immediate reinforcers are the only ones that work with most animals.
 Immediate reinforcers are more powerful than delayed reinforcers.
 Ability to sustain motivation for delayed reinforcers requires cognitive
engagement.
How often should we reinforce? All the time or some of the time?
 Continuous Reinforcement
 reinforcing the desired response each time it occurs
 learning occurs rapidly
 Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement
 reinforcing a response only part of the time
 results in slower acquisition but greater resistance to extinction
Reinforcing some of the time
Number of times the behavior is performed Fixed Ratio Variable Ratio
Some duration of time after the behavior is performed Fixed Interval Variable Interval
Schedules of Intermittent Reinforcement based on frequency of behavior
 Fixed Ratio Schedule:
 faster you respond the more rewards you get (e.g. piecework pay, frequent
flyer programs)
 very high rate of responding because resting reduces rewards
 Variable Ratio:
 very hard to extinguish because of unpredictability
 very high rate of responding because resting reduces rewards (e.g. gambling,
fishing)
Schedules of Intermittent Reinforcement based on time interval
 Fixed Interval:
 response occurs more frequently as the anticipated time for reward draws near
(e.g. Monthly payments, checking to see if the cake is baked, studying hardest
before the mid term)
 Variable Interval:
 produces slow steady responding (e.g. pop quiz, checking for email from a
loved one)
How to weaken a behavior: Punishment
 A punisher decreases the frequency of the preceding behavior
 An unpleasant or undesirable stimulus will powerfully reduce unwanted
behavior
 How can we punish?
 Positive punishment: Provide an unwanted stimulus
 Negative punishment: Take away a desired or wanted stimulus
Problems inherent in punishment
 Punishment teaches to suppress unwanted behavior – does not teach WHY it is
unwanted
 Difficult to generalize
 Punishment results in discriminative learning
 It is OK to cheat in a test but not in a PSYC100 test
 Punishment may result in fear
 Of the unwanted behavior and the person administering the punishment
 Punishment only teaches what not to do
 Reinforcements teaches what to do
Important: Reinforcers and punishers are defined by their effects on behavior, not by your
intentions
 At bedtime the parents tell the child it is time to turn off the TV and go to bed.
 The child starts screaming and throwing a temper tantrum.
 The mom is worried about the racket and does not want to deal with the temper
tantrum. She scolds the child for being noisy and grabs him by the arms and says to
stop right now.
 Child carries on the screaming.
 Mom says fine, he can watch for another 15 minutes but only this once!
 The next evening, it is bedtime again…
Is there a role of cognition in operant conditioning? YES!
 Animals and people also learn through experience, without reinforcement
 Rats develop a cognitive map of a maze  if a reward, rat finds it quickly
 Latent Learning: learning that occurs, but is not apparent until there is an
incentive to demonstrate it
 Rewards may not work
 If intrinsic motivation exists, rewards may diminish the response
 What is intrinsic v.s. extrinsic motivation?
Are biological predispositions important? YES!
 It is much easier to teach a behavior that is in the repertoire of an animal’s natural
behaviors.
 It is harder or impossible to teach a behavior that is not even similar to the behaviors
that are in the repertoire of an animal.
Current applications of operant conditioning
 At school: computerized learning programs
 At work: employee reward programs
 At home: helping children behave
 Do not cave in to negative behavior: temper tantrums, whining, protests
Module 20: Learning by Observation
Learning by observing and imitating others
=
Learning by modeling
Physiological basis of observational Learning
 Observational learning is a function of mirror neurons
 Neurons in the frontal lobe that are activated when we perform certain actions
OR when we observe someone else performing them
 Athletes already know this
 Mirror neurons also help develop empathy (theory of mind)
 Seeing a loved one’s physical or emotional pain
Albert Bandura’s work with observational learning (1925- )
 First set of experiments with children on social (observational) learning
 Observing aggression lowers inhibition
 Observing aggression leads to an imitation of aggression
 We observe behavior AND its consequences (rewards and punishments)
 We are especially likely to imitate the behavior of “relevant” models
 Those who are similar
 Those who are successful or admirable
Types of observational learning
 Positive observational learning: learning of prosocial behaviors
 Learning of morality and conscientious behavior
 Negative observational learning: learning of antisocial behaviors
 Intergenerational transmission of violence
 Media and gender roles
 Media and aggression  There is a CAUSAL relation between exposure to
media violence and being violent or accepting violence.
Media and violence
 Very high exposure to media models
 9 years of your life before age 75
 6 of 10 TV programs feature violence
 74% of violence goes unpunished
 58% does not show the victim’s pain
 50% documented “justification”
 50% had an attractive perpetrator
 By the age of 12, children watch 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of assorted
violence
 We become desensitized to seeing violence
 We have less sympathy for the victims of violence (rape and abuse)
 We have less moral reaction against the perpetrators
Module 21 - Information Processing
The Phenomenon of Memory
What is “hyppocampus”?
 Learning
 Retaining
 Answer: Hyppocampus is the part of the old brain that processes memory and helps
organize new memories.
Memory
 Persistence of learning over time through the storage and retrieval of information
 Study of memory: How do we
 Encode
 Store, and
 Retrieve
information.
 Memory loss – loss of recent memory
 Outstanding memory: The case of Shereshevskii
How do we process Information?
Encoding Storage Retrieval
the processing
of information
into the memory
system --extracting
meaning
Encoding: the short trip from sensory to working memory
Sensory MemoryWorking Memory
 Automatic
 Space, time, frequency
 Some processing becomes automatic through practice  interaction with long
term memory
 Effortful – through conscious effort
 Rehearsal
WHAT do we encode: Herman Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) and Bahrick (1993)
 Conscious repetition of information
 More repetition  more time spent rehearsing  better recall
 Additional repetition  better recall and retention
 Longer the time between rehearsals  better retention
 Important implications for your mid-terms!
What is a mnemonic device?
 Memory aid
 Those techniques that use vivid imagery and organizational devices
 Hasan iki salak osman dört (H2SO4)
How do we organize information for encoding?
 Chunking
 organizing items into familiar, manageable units
 like horizontal organization—1776145318121923
 often occurs automatically
 Which is easier to remember?
 2123381513
 212 338 1513
 Hierarchies
 Grouping information into few broad concepts divided and subdivided into
narrower concepts of facts.
How and where do we store information?
1. Sensory Memory: preserves fleeting impressions of sensory stimuli
 We have an excellent but fleeting photographic memory: iconic memory
 We have an excellent but fleeting auditory memory: echoic memory
How and where do we store information?
2. Working / Short Term Memory: a small fraction of information receives attention and
effortful encoding
 STM is limited in duration (a few seconds)
 STM is limited in capacity (about 7 bits of information)
 Better echoic (auditory) than iconic (visual)
 Short term recall for about as many words as you can speak in 2
seconds.
 Working memory interacts with long-term memory
 Unless we meaningfully encode or rehearse that information – it can
disappear quickly