Learning
Warm Up: From the test, what type of learner are you?
Was this accurate about how you learn? How can you use
that knowledge to perform better in school?
Standards
 IVA-1.1 Discuss learning
from a psychological
viewpoint.
 IVA-2.1 Describe the
classical conditioning
paradigm.
 IVA-3.1 Describe the operant
conditioning paradigm.
Objective
 Students will be able to
compare the differences
between classical and
operant conditioning through
a compare and contrast
chart.
Learning
 Definition: a relatively permanent change in organism
behavior due to experience.
 Three forms of learning
 Classical Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
 Observational learning
 We repeat certain actions through habitual behaviors
 Examples – whenever I go to the movies, I eat popcorn, I
take the same way to school everyday
 Associative Learning
 Learning that certain events occur together. Conditioning is
the process of learning associations.
From your knowledge, explain what is
happening to Snoopy in this comic
strip.
Classical Conditioning
 Definition: a type of learning in which one learns to link two
or more stimuli and anticipate events.
 Created by Ivan Pavlov
 Laid the foundations for John B. Watson’s behaviorism
 The view that psychology should be an objective science that
studies behavior without reference to mental processes.
 Most psychologist believe in the former (objective science) but
reject the latter (without mental processes)
 Watson and Pavlov did not believe in the human
consciousness, believed that all animals learned in the same
fashion.
Classical Condition Explained
 Hypothesis – If he was to ring a bell, the dog would salivate
regardless if the dog saw or smelled the food.
 Method
 They put a dog in an isolated room on a leash so that there
were no external variables.
 They would slide food from another room to the dog and let him
eat, later replacing the food with meat powder and blowing the
powder in his vicinity.
 He added a bell to this event to see if the dog would learn
 The dog would originally salivate with food in its mouth
Predication! Hypothesize!
 How do you think the bell affects the dog in Pavlov’s
experiment? Explain it in as much detail as possible.
 Also! List the different parts of Pavlov’s experiment.
 For example: The Dog! (what else was in the
experiment?)
Stimulus and Response
 Neutral Stimulus (NS)
 A stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning
 Unconditioned stimulus (US)
 A stimulus that unconditionally, naturally and automatically, triggers a
response.
 Unconditioned response (UR)
 The unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned
stimulus
 Conditioned stimulus (CS)
 A previously neutral stimulus, that after association with an
unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response
 Conditioned response (CR)
 The learned response to a preciously neutral but now conditioned
stimulus
Retrace! Label!
 Go back to recalling Pavlov’s experiment. Label what
the different stimulus and responses were for each of
the different steps.
 Forgot the steps? Here they are below




Dog sees food, salivates
Bell is rung
Bell is rung when dog sees food, salivates
Bell is rung, dog salivates
The Office Clip
 Dissect the clip of Jim and Dwight, what are the neutral
stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus, the unconditioned
response, the conditioned stimulus, and the
conditioned response?
Warm Up: List and describe the different types of
stimuli and response in a classical conditioning
experiment.
Standards
 IVA-1.1 Discuss learning
from a psychological
viewpoint.
 IVA-2.1 Describe the
classical conditioning
paradigm.
 IVA-3.1 Describe the operant
conditioning paradigm.
Objective
 Students will be able to
compare the differences
between classical and
operant conditioning through
a compare and contrast
chart.
Check For Understanding
Q: How does a neutral stimulus become a conditioned
stimulus?
A: First the neutral stimulus, a tone, is paired with an
unconditioned stimulus such as food which is already paired
with an unconditioned response, salivation. Over time, the
neutral response becomes associated with the unconditioned
response and eventually is taken over becoming the
conditioned stimulus. Now that the tone is taken over as the
conditioned response, the subject has learned that whenever it
hears the tone, he/she/it will exhibit the associated
conditioned response, salivating without food.
5 Major conditioning
processes
 Acquisition
 Extinction
 Spontaneous Recovery
 Generalization
 discrimination
Acquisition
 Definition: the initial stage in classical conditioning, the
phase associating a neutral stimulus with an
unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus
comes to elicit the conditioned response.
 Main question: how much time should elapse between
presenting the NS and the US?
 Would conditioning occur if the US appears before the
CS?
 This can be done with most things such as emotions,
attitudes, or any of the senses
Extinction and Spontaneous
Recovery
 Definition- the diminishing of a conditioned response, occurs
when an US does not follow the CS
 Example – bell rings, teacher does not say or do anything for
weeks. Bell rings, student gets up.
 Spontaneous recovery – the appearance of an
extinguished CR after a duration of time
 Extinction does not eliminate the CR but rather represses it
(reconditioning back to the UR)
 Through extinction, memories of the once CR can be
remembered.
 Example: the smell of her perfume sexually arouse you, now
when you smell the same scent, you are not aroused, but recall
the times that we you were aroused.
Generalization
 Definition – the tendency, once a response has been
conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned
stimulus to elicit similar responses.
 This can be learned to be adaptive.
 Example: toddler told to watch out for cars, thus they are
afraid of anything that moves fast on wheels (trucks and
motorcycles)
 Emotion is tied into generalization of a certain stimuli.
Something that may be in the form of something
naturally disgusting (dog poo and poo shaped fudge)
will illicit similar response.
Discrimination
 Definition – the learned ability to distinguish between a
conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal the
unconditioned stimulus
 Basically the opposite of generalization.
 Example: seeing a pit bull will make your heart race, but
seeing a Chihuahua will make you laugh.
Check for Understanding!
Q: Name the 5 different forms of classical conditioning
processes, explain each form and give an example of
each.
A:
Acquisition
Extinction
Spontaneous Recovery
Generalization
Discrimination
Understanding Pavlov’s
Findings
 J. Garcia creates a test and dispels the notion that the US
must be immediately followed by a CS.
 Example – you eat seafood, get food poisoning, you smell
seafood, you will avoid it.
 Conditioning be limited to a certain sense or emotion but not
others.
 Drinking water which gets you sick because of the way it tastes
may not get a response from the sight of water, but only taste.
 Darwin’s principle that natural selection favors traits that aid
in our survival.
 Learn not to do things that harm our physical body.
Applications of Classical
Conditioning
 Conditioning feeble minded high school psychology students
to doing whatever their teacher wants them to do, like write
down this slide.
 If addicted to drugs and are trying to get clean, to stay away
from areas which the person will associate with the highs
 A drug which tastes like something else, the body might
think it is getting the drug, and produce an immune
response.
 Can partially explain trauma in victims and why they
response certain ways.
Operant Conditioning
 Definition – a type of learning in which behavior is
strengthen if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if
followed by a punishment.
 Includes acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery,
generalization and discrimination just like classical
conditioning.
 Difference is that classical conditioning associates
through the stimulus while operant conditioning is
through operant behavior
 Behavior that operates on the environment, producing
consequences
B.F. Skinner and His
Experiment
 One of the most influential and controversial
Behaviorist
 Law of effect (created by Edward Thorndike)
 Thorndikes’ principle that behaviors followed by a reward
are become more likely to be repeated than ones
followed by punishments
 Skinner creates the Operant chamber
 Better know as Skinner box
 A small box which has a lever where the subject receives
a reward when the lever is pulled
 Basis of learning (refer to notes on classical conditioning)
Skinner Shapes Behavior
 Shaping
 An operant conditioning procedure which reinforcers (a
reward or punishment) guide behavior toward close and
close approximation of desired behavior
 example: a student who is failing the class says a good answer, teacher
compliments him/her. Next time the teacher will want them to add more to their
answer or receive a passing grade before the compliment occurs again.
 This can be applied to animals not just humans.
 Question: How is whining shaping and how as
adults do we deal with people who whine?
Types of Reinforcers
 Reinforcement
 Any event that strengthens or
increases the frequency of
preceding response.
 Positive Reinforcement
 Increasing behaviors by
presenting positive stimuli, such
as food or compliments. A
positive reinforcer is any stimulus
that strengthens the response.
 Negative Reinforcement
 Increasing behaviors by stopping
or reducing negative stimuli, such
as a smoking a cigarette. This is
not a punishment.
 Primary Reinforcer
 A naturally reinforcing stimulus
such as one that satisfies a
biological need
 Conditioned Reinforcer
 A stimulus that gains its
reinforcing power through its
association with a primary
reinforcer (a.k.a secondary
reinforcer)
 Immediate Reinforcer
 An immediate response to the
desired behavior (press a
lever, food immediate
delivered)
 Delayed Reinforcer
 A delay in the response but
still the behavior is reinforced
 Would have a 1 dollar now or
20 dollars in a week?
Marshmallows and Milgram
 Watch the clip on Milgram’s experiment. How is
operant conditioning applied to this video? Explain.
 Watch the marshmallow clip. What type of
reinforcement is shown? Explain.
Check For Understanding
Q: What is the difference between positive and negative
reinforcement. Provide an example of each to illustrate
the difference.
A: A positive reinforcement is a reinforcer which positively
affects the subject, such as a reward or food. A negative
reinforcement is a reinforcer which deals with a negative
response, such as a smoker who has a craving (the
negative stimuli) so they smoke.
Reinforcement Schedules

Continuous Reinforcement
 Reinforcing the desired response every time behavior occurs

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement
 Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but
much greater resistance to extinction that does continuous reinforcement

Fixed-ratio schedules
 A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of
times

Variable-ratio schedules
 A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of
responses

Fixed-interval schedule
 A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified amount of time

Variable interval schedule

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.
The Big Bang Theory Clip
 Watch the clip on the Big Bang Theory. Write down all
the different reinforcement Sheldon uses on Penny to
condition her. Also, list any that he uses on Leonard.
Does any one else use conditioning in the clip?
Explain.
Warm Up: Read the handout on punishment. What do you believe is
the best form of punishment? Why do you believe that way is the
best? Remember, if you state that you have been physically abused,
by CA state law, I must report it.
Standards
 IVA-1.1 Discuss learning
from a psychological
viewpoint.
 IVA-2.1 Describe the
classical conditioning
paradigm.
 IVA-3.1 Describe the operant
conditioning paradigm.
Objective
 Students will be able to
compare the differences
between classical and
operant conditioning through
a compare and contrast
chart.
Cognition and Operant
Conditioning
 Latent Learning
 Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive
to demonstrate it.
 In rats learning a maze, they develop a cognitive map of the
course, learning where there are dead ends
 A mental representation of the layout of one’s environment.
 Give 1 example of a cognitive map from your own experience.
 Motivation
 Intrinsic
 Desire to perform a behavior for your own sake.
 Extrinsic
 Desire to perform a behavior due to a promised reward or threat of
punishment.
Applications of Operant
Conditioning
 State your goal – when you have a goal, you can obtain
something rather than to just go life with no goal
 Monitor yourself – see how many times you are doing the
desired behavior (log it to see if you are wasting time or
using it wisely)
 Reinforce the desired behavior – giving yourself occasional
rewards as you progress through to your goal.
 Reduce incentives gradually – stop giving yourself a
physical reward and make the drive more mental.
Observational Learning
 Definition – learning by observing others and imitating them
as well.
 Example – you see your mom cut herself with a knife chopping
vegetables, you will probably not make the same mistake
 This is done usually through modeling
 The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior
 Can you name some ways in which we model in society?
 Mirror Neurons in the frontal lobe can explain why we
exhibit modeling
 Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions
when observing others doing the activity.
 Can explain imitation, language learning, and empathy
 This also helps us explain the Theory of Mind
Bandura’s Experiment
 Albert Bandura is consider the father of observational
learning
 Children are more likely to imitate those they trust (adults)
 Watch the video on Bandura’s Experiment. What are your
thoughts about it, do you believe that people are more likely
to follow what we see? Why was it ok for the child to do what
the adult did?
 Why do we follow these models?
 We see whether they are reinforced or punished and act
accordingly.
Applications of Observational
Learning
 Positive observation learning
 Prosocial models can have a positive effect
 Positive, constructive, helpful behavior
 Parents who exhibit prosocial behavior are more likely to have
children who do the same.
 Example – European Christians who promoted good family
values were more likely to save the Jews from the Nazis.
 How to be the most positive? Be consistent.
 Television
 Learning about life and what is ok and not from TV programs
(such as Sesame Street or prime time TV shows)
 Is there a correlation between watching violent acts and the act
of violent behavior?