Learning Perspective Outline
Learning – A relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs through experience
Associative Learning – Learning in which a connection is made between two events
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Learning by which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus and
acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response.
Ivan Pavlov wished to know why the dog salivated to certain sights and sounds before
eating the meat powder. He observed the dog’s behavior including learned and unlearned
components. The bell that Pavlov rang became a conditioned stimulus and salivation was
now a conditioned response
BEFORE CONDITIONING
Unconditioned Stimulus  Unconditioned Response
Food
Dog salivates
Neutral Stimulus  No response
Bell
No salivation
CONDITIONING
Neutral stimulus + Unconditioned Stimulus  Unconditioned Response
Bell
Food
Dog salivates
AFTER CONDITIONING
Conditioned Stimulus  Conditioned Response
Bell
Dog salivates
John Watson and Rosalie Rayner demonstrated classical conditioning’s role in phobias
with an infant known as “Little Albert.” Albert played with a white rat and then a loud
noise was sounded behind his head. This led Albert to fear the white rat, which he had
associated with the loud noise. Albert’s fear was generalized to a rabbit, a dog, and a
sealskin coat. Watson’s experiment violated many ethical guidelines.
Mary Cover Jones used counter conditioning, a classical conditioning procedure for
weakening a conditioned response by associating the fear-provoking stimulus with a new
response that is incompatible with the fear. To eliminate young Peter’s fear of rabbits,
Jones brought a rabbit into Peter’s view but far enough away so that it did not upset him.
Peter was fed crackers and milk and on each successive day the rabbit was brought closer
to Peter. Eventually Peter’s fear of the rabbit was extinguished.
Acquisition –initial learning of stimulus-response link, which involves a neutral stimulus
being associated with an unconditioned stimulus and becoming a conditioned stimulus
that elicits the conditioned response.
Generalization – tendency of new stimulus that is similar to the original stimulus to
elicit a response that is similar to the conditioned response.
Discrimination – the process of learning to respond to certain stimuli and not others.
Extinction – the weakening of the conditioned response in the absence of the
unconditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous recovery – the process by which a conditioned response can recur after a
timed delay without further conditioning.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Also called instrumental conditioning; a form a learning in which the consequences of
behavior change the probability of the behaviors occurrence.
B.F. Skinner strongly believed that the mechanisms of learning are the same for all
species. Skinner used pigeons and rats (like Sniffy!) to display how positive rewards lead
to the repetition of specific behaviors.
E. L. Thorndike placed a hungry cat inside a box and a piece of fish outside. The cat had
to learn how to open the latch inside the box. On subsequent trials the cat made fewer and
fewer random movements and mistakes.
Law of Effect – Concept that behaviors followed by positive outcomes are strengthened,
whereas behaviors followed by negative outcomes are weakened.
Shaping - process of rewarding approximations of desired behavior.
Reinforcement – process by which a stimulus or an event strengthens or increases the
probability of an event that it follows.
Positive Reinforcement – the frequency of a behavior increases because it is followed
by a rewarding stimulus.
Negative Reinforcement – the frequency of a behavior increases because it is followed
by the removal of an aversive (unpleasant) stimulus.
Primary Reinforcement – the use of reinforcers that are innately satisfying.
Secondary Reinforcement – the use of reinforcers that are learned or conditioned.
Schedules of Reinforcement – “Timetables” that determine when a behavior will be
reinforced.
Generalization – giving the same response to similar stimuli.
Discrimination – the tendency to respond to stimuli that signal whether a behavior will
or will not be reinforced.
Extinction– a previously reinforced behavior that is no longer reinforced and there is a
decreased tendency to perform the behavior.
Punishment – a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur.
Positive Punishment – a behavior decreases when it is followed by an unpleasant
stimulus.
Negative Punishment – a behavior decreases when a positive stimulus is removed from
it.
Applied Behavior Analysis (Behavior Modification) - application of operant
conditioning principles to change human behavior.
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
Learning that occurs when a person observes and imitates another’s behavior.
Albert Bandura developed the social-cognitive theory, which stresses that behavior is
determined not only by environmental conditions, but also by how thoughts modify the
impact of environment on behavior. Bandura developed a model of observational
learning, which included attention (in order to reproduce a model’s actions, one must
attend to what the model is saying or doing), retention (to reproduce actions one must
have a memory of those actions), production (the process of imitating the model’s
actions), and reinforcement or incentive conditions (incentive given for repeating model’s
actions). In Bandura’s famous Bo Bo Doll experiment, children observed an adult beating
an inflatable doll. He then placed each child in a room with their own doll and watched
their behavior. Many children imitated the adults’ actions and beat the doll.
COGNITIVE FACTORS IN LEARNING
E.C. Tolman believed that much of behavior is goal-directed, and that it was necessary to
study entire behavioral sequences in order to understand why people engage in certain
actions. Tolman believed that when classical and operant conditioning occur, the
organism acquires certain expectations. Tolman developed the concept of cognitive
maps, which is an organism’s mental representation of the structure of physical space.
He believed the cognitive maps are made up of expectancies about which actions are
needed to attain a goal. He concluded that rats in a maze used cognitive maps to find food
at the end.
Latent Learning – unreinforced learning that is not immediately reflected in behavior.
Wolfgang Kholer (a Gestalt psychologist) used a “stick problem” and a “box problem”
with chimps that needed to master the problem to reach food.
Insight Learning – a form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden
insight into or understanding of the problem’s solution.
BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS IN LEARNING
Instinctive Drift – the tendency of animals to revert to instinctive behavior that interferes
with learning.
Preparedness – the species-specific biological predisposition to learn in certain ways.