Myers’ Psychology for AP*
Unit 6:
LEARNING
David G. Myers
Some PowerPoint Presentation Slides
by Kent Korek
Germantown High School
Worth Publishers, © 2010
*AP is a trademark registered and/or owned by the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.
OBJECTIVES:
The student will know and understand
the Learning demonstrates how we make changes in our
behavior through experience with the environment, usually
focusing on classical conditioning, instrumental
conditioning, and cognitive learning. After completing their
study of this chapter, students should be able to:
1)discuss the importance of learning and the process of
learning associations
2) describe the general process of classical conditioning as
demonstrated by Pavlov’s experiments
3) explain the processes of acquisition extinction,
spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination
4) discuss the importance of cognitive processes and
biological predispositions in classical conditioning
5) explain the importance of Pavlov’s work, and describe
how it might apply to an understanding of human health and
well-being
6) describe the process of operant conditioning, including
the procedure of shaping, as demonstrated by Skinner’s
experiments
7)identify the different types of reinforcers, and describe the
major schedules of partial reinforcement
8) discuss the effects of punishment on behavior
9) discuss the importance of cognitive processes and
biological predispositions in operant conditioning
10) explain why Skinner’s ideas were controversial, and
describe some major applications of operant conditioning
11) describe the process of observational learning as
demonstrated by Bandura’s experiments, and discuss
the impact of antisocial and prosocial modeling.
Introduction
z Learning
z Habituation
z Associative learning
y Classical conditioning
y Operant conditioning
y Observational learning
Learning
Learning
relatively
permanent
change in an
organism’s
behavior due
to experience
experience
(nurture) is
the key to
learning
Habituation
an organism’s decreasing response to a
stimulus with repeated exposure to it.
Prairie dogs will sound an
alarm when large mammals
or snakes approach.
However, when they are
located near humans they do
not sound alarms as it would
be a waste of energy. They
have become habituated to
humans.
http://www.animalbehavioronline.com/habituation.html
Associative Learning
learning that certain events occur together.
The events may be two stimuli (as in
classical conditioning) or a response and
its consequence (as in operant
conditioning).
Association
We learn by association
Our minds naturally connect events that
occur in sequence
Aristotle 2000 years ago
John Locke and David Hume 200 yrs ago
Association
Event 1
Event 2
Learning to
associate
two events
Sea snail associates splash with a tail shock
Seal learns to expect a snack for its showy antics
Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning
We learn to
associate two
stimuli
Operant
Conditioning
We learn to associate a
response and its
consequence
Classical
Conditioning
a type of learning in
which one learns to
link two or more
stimuli and
anticipate events.
Classical Conditioning
 Ivan Pavlov
 1849-1936
 Russian physician/
neurophysiologist
 Nobel Prize in 1904
 studied digestive
secretions
**discovered the process of classical
conditioning by accident while
conducting research on digestion.
The core of classical conditioning
stems from reflex responses.
A REFLEX is an unlearned
response that is naturally elicited
by specific stimuli that are
biologically relevant for the
organism.
A stimulus that elicits a reflexive
behavior is called an UNCONDITIONED
STIMULUS (UCS).
The behavior elicited by the
unconditioned stimulus is called
the UNCONDITIONED
RESPONSE (UCR).
The neutral
stimulus paired
with the
unconditioned
stimulus is called
the
CONDITIONED
STIMULUS
(CS).
After several trials, the
CS will produce a response
called the CONDITIONED
RESPONSE (CR).
NOTE: Prior to the experiment the “tone”
used had no prior meaning for the dogs.
This was a NEUTRAL STIMULUS and
elicits no effect.
* The UCS naturally elicits the UCR.
Dogs were placed in a restraining harness.
At regular intervals, a tone (NS) sounded
and the dogs were given food (UCS). With
repeated pairings of the NS and UCS, the
neutral stimulus becomes the CS and dogs
began salivating (CR).
The CS (tone) can now be sounded
and elicit the CR (salivation)
without food being present.
Pavlov’s Experiments
Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning
Pavlov’s
device for
recording
salivation
Classical Conditioning
Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
organism comes to associate two stimuli
lightning and thunder
tone and food
begins with a reflex
a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus
that evokes the reflex
neutral stimulus eventually comes to evoke
the reflex
Classical Conditioning
Conditioning
Acquisition
the initial stage of learning,
during which a response is
established and gradually
strengthened
in classical conditioning, the
phase in which a stimulus
comes to evoke a conditioned
response
in operant conditioning, the
strengthening of a reinforced
response
Pavlov’s Experiments
Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
Extinction
diminishing of a
CR
in classical
conditioning,
when a UCS does
not follow a CS
in operant
conditioning,
when a response
is no longer
reinforced
Pavlov’s Experiments
Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
Spontaneous Recovery
reappearance, after a rest period, of an
extinguished CR
Strength
of CR
Acquisition
(CS+UCS)
Extinction
(CS alone)
Spontaneous
recovery of
CR
Extinction
(CS alone)
Pause
Higher-order Conditioning
a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in
one conditioning experience is paired with a
new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often
weaker) conditioned stimulus. For example, an
animal that has learned that a tone predicts food
might then learn that a light predicts the tone
and begin responding to the light alone. (Also
called second-order conditioning.)
Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning
Pavlov’s Experiments
Generalization
Generalization
tendency for a stimuli
similar to CS to evoke
similar responses
Pavlov’s Experiments
Discrimination
Discrimination
in classical conditioning, the ability to distinguish
between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal an
UCS
in operant conditioning, responding differently to
stimuli that signal a behavior will be reinforced or will
not be reinforced
Classical Conditioning
Nausea Conditioning in
Cancer Patients
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)
CS
(waiting
room)
UCS
(drug)
UCR
(nausea)
CS
(waiting
room)
CR
(nausea)
Extending Pavlov’s Understanding
Cognitive Processes
Learned helplessness:
the helplessness and passive
resignation an animal or human
learns when unable to avoid
repeated aversive events.
Biological
Predispositions
Conditioned
taste aversion
Biopsychosocial Influences on
Learning
Behaviorism
(applying classical conditioning)
the view that psychology (1) should be an
objective science that (2) studies behavior
without reference to mental processes.
Most research psychologists today agree
with (1) but not with (2).
Behaviorism
John B. Watson
viewed psychology
as objective
science
generally
agreed-upon
consensus
today
recommended study of behavior
without reference to unobservable
mental processes
not universally accepted by
all schools of thought
today
It is widely known that
human beings are born
with only two natural
fears. One is the fear of
falling and the second is
the fear of loud noises.
Where, then, do all of our
other fears come from?
Overgeneralization
John B. Watson in his experiment with Little Albert,
an 11 month old baby, studied how emotions are
learned. He presented (A) a white rat (CS) and (B) a
loud noise (US) to Little Albert. After several
pairings, Albert showed fear (CR) of the white rat.
Later, Albert generalized the fear to stimuli that were
simular to CS, such as (C) a beard.
Operant Conditioning
a type of learning in which
behavior is strengthened
if followed by a reinforcer
or diminished if followed
by a punisher.
Operant Conditioning
Skinner’s Experiments
B.F. Skinner
Behavioral technology
Behavior control
Operant Conditioning
type of learning in which
behavior is strengthened
if followed by
reinforcement or
diminished if followed
by punishment
Law of Effect
Edward Thorndike’s
principle that behaviors
followed by favorable
consequences become
more likely and behaviors
followed by unfavorable
consequences become
less likely
Thorndike's Puzzle Box, used a cat solving
the puzzle of how to escape from the box.
However, unlike Skinner's experiment with
rats, the cat did not show any systematic
strategies in learning. He simply scrambled
around in the box until he stepped on the
lever.
From this, Thorndike proposed the Law of
Effect which says that an animals learned
response that results in rewarding
consequences are strengthened, and the
responses with punishing consequences are
weakened.
Operant Conditioning
B.F. Skinner
(1904-1990)
Harvard University
elaborated
Thorndike’s Law
of Effect
developed
behavioral
technology
Operant Chamber
Skinner Box
soundproof chamber
with a bar or key
that an animal
presses or pecks to
release a food or
water reward
contains a device to
record responses
Skinner’s Experiments
Operant Chamber (Skinner Box)
Operant Conditioning
Operant Behavior
complex or voluntary behaviors
push button, perform complex task
operates (acts) on environment
produces consequences
Respondent Behavior:
=>behavior that occurs as an automatic
response to some stimulus.
=>behavior learned through classical
conditioning
B.F. Skinner was a
prolific researcher
whose work was central
to modern behaviorism.
He was especially
successful in his studies
dealing with operant
conditioning, which is
how we learn to make a
response because it
leads to a reinforcing
effect, or how not to
make a response because
of the punishing effect.
In one experiment,
Skinner placed a rat
inside a box with two
levers, one that
issued a reward when
pulled and the other
that issued a
punishment. Over
time, the rat began
to stop pulling the
lever that shocked
him and just focused
on the lever that
gave him food.
As a result, Skinner was
able to show the effects
of reinforcement and
punishment in operant
conditioning.
Skinner’s Experiments
Shaping Behavior
Shaping:
an operant conditioning procedure
in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer
and closer approximations of the desired
behavior.
Successive approximations
Discriminative stimulus
Skinner’s Experiments
Shaping Behavior
Shaping:
Successive
approximations:
reward behaviors that
increasingly resemble
desired behavior
Discriminative
stimulus
Skinner’s Experiments
Shaping Behavior
Shaping:
Successive approximations
Discriminative stimulus: in operant
conditioning, a stimulus that elicits a response
after association with reinforcement (in contrast
to related stimuli not associated with
reinforcement).
SHOW:
Psych in Life, ver 2, #8, Meet the Parents
Principles of Reinforcement
Primary Reinforcer
innately reinforcing stimulus
satisfies a biological need
Secondary Reinforcer
conditioned reinforcer
learned through association with
primary reinforcer
Operant Conditioning
Schedules of Reinforcement
Continuous Reinforcement
reinforcing the desired response each time
it occurs
learning occurs rapidly
extinction occurs rapidly
Partial Reinforcement
reinforcing a response only part of the time
results in slower acquisition
greater resistance to extinction
Schedules of Reinforcement
1) Fixed Ratio (FR)
reinforces a response only after a specified number of
responses
faster you respond the more rewards you get
different ratios
very high rate of responding
like piecework pay
2) Variable Ratio (VR)
reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of
responses
average ratios
like gambling, fishing
very hard to extinguish because of unpredictability
Schedules of Reinforcement
3) Fixed Interval (FI)
reinforces a response only after a specified time
has elapsed
response occurs more frequently as the
anticipated time for reward draws near
4) Variable Interval (VI)
reinforces a response at unpredictable time
intervals
produces slow steady responding
like pop quiz
In essence, if one's actions
make the thing happen it is
a ratio; if time
must pass then it is an
interval.
Schedules of Reinforcement
Number of
responses
1000
Fixed Ratio
Variable Ratio
Fixed Interval
750
Rapid responding
near time for
reinforcement
500
Variable Interval
250
Steady responding
0
10
20
30
40
50
Time (minutes)
60
70
80
Operant vs Classical Conditioning
Classical
Conditioning
Operant
Conditioning
The Response
Involuntary, automatic
“Voluntary,” operates on
environment
Acquisition
Associating events;
CS announces UCS.
Associating response with a
Consequence (reinforcer or
punisher).
Extinction
CR decreases when CS is
Responding decreases when
repeatedly presented alone.
reinforcement stops.
Cognitive
processes
Subjects develop expectation
that CS signals the arrival of
UCS.
Subjects develop expectation that
a response will be reinforced or
Punished; they also exhibit latent
learning, without reinforcement
Biological
predispositions
Natural predispositions
contain what stimuli and
responses can easily be
associated.
Organisms best learn behaviors
similar to their natural behaviors;
unnatural behaviors instinctively
drift back toward natural ones.
Punishment
Punishment
aversive event that decreases the
behavior that it follows
powerful controller of unwanted
behavior
Problems with Punishment
Punished behavior is not forgotten, it's
suppressed- behavior returns when
punishment is no longer eminent
Causes increased aggression- shows that
aggression is a way to cope with problemsExplains why aggressive delinquents and
abusive parents come from abusive homes
Punishment
Problems with Punishment
Creates fear that can generalize to desirable
behaviors, e.g. fear of school, learned
helplessness, depression
Does not necessarily guide toward desired
behavior- reinforcement tells you what to do-punishment tells you what not to doCombination of punishment and reward can be
more effective than punishment alone
Punishment teaches how to avoid it
SHOW:
Psych in Life, ver 2, #1, The War.
Show
Dr. Phil: Focus on Family
Cognition and Operant
Conditioning
Latent Learning
learning that occurs, but is not apparent
until there is an incentive to demonstrate it
Latent Learning
Latent Learning
Average
errors
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Days
Cognition and Operant
Conditioning
Overjustification Effect
the effect of promising a reward for
doing what one already likes to do
the person may now see the reward,
rather than intrinsic interest, as the
motivation for performing the task
Martin Seligman’s
LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
Taught dogs that they were helpless to
escape from an electric shock by
placing a barrier in the cage to prevent
dogs from escaping when they were
shocked.
Removed the barrier but the dogs made
Father of Positive
no effort to escape.
Psychology
Univ. Pennsylvania
This “learned helplessness” has been compared to people
who are depressed. They feel past/future events are out of
their control and they are helpless = depression.
Cognition and Operant
Conditioning
 Intrinsic Motivation
 Desire to perform a behavior for its
own sake and to be effective
 Extrinsic Motivation
 Desire to perform a behavior due to
promised rewards or threats of
punishments
Observational Learning
Observational Learning
learning by observing and imitating others
Modeling
process of observing and imitating behavior
Prosocial Behavior
positive, constructive, helpful behavior
opposite of antisocial behavior
Observational Learning
Mirror Neurons
 frontal lobe neurons that fire when
performing certain actions or when
observing another doing so
 may enable imitation, language
learning, and empathy
Albert Bandura (1925- )
University of British Columbia in 1949.
University of Iowa, Ph.D. in 1952
1953, teaching at Stanford University
Bandura wanted to study aggression in adolescents. He
suggested that environment causes behavior, true; but
behavior causes environment as well. He labeled this
concept reciprocal determinism: The world and a
person’s behavior cause each other.
The bobo doll studies:
*made of film of one of his students, a young woman,
essentially beating up a bobo doll.
*showed his film to groups of kindergartners who, as you
might predict, liked it a lot.
*when they were let out to play, the little kids started
beating the daylights out of the bobo doll.
He called the phenomenon observational learning or
modeling, and his theory is usually called social
learning theory.
SHOW:
Psych in Life, ver 2, #19, Dazed
and Confused.
Lev S. Vygotsky (1896-1934)
*humans use various symbols and items that
help us to develop cultures
*we change, interact and go through
development within our cultures
*higherﾊthinking skills depend on the
internalization of the items we used to
develop within our culture and communicate.
*used blocks to distinguish children's
mastery of the concept from simple
memorization
**His work was suppressed by Marxist
Russian authorities for over 20 years after his
death.
Born in Russia
(Jewish)
Law degree
Unive of
Moscow
PhD Literature
& Linguistics
Lev S. Vygotsky (cont)
Several theories regarding learning and development.
1) Theory of Value: what knowledge and skills are worth
learning? (varies--past experiences and prior
knowledge important to create new ideas--language,
culture and social interactions important)
2) Theory of Knowledge: how is knowledge different from
belief? (intellectual abilities are specific to the
culture in which the child was reared)
1) Incoherent coherence: making mistakes is crucial
to child development.
Lev S. Vygotsky (cont)
3) Theory of Human Nature: how do humans differ from
other species? (we develop as humans through the
ways we interact with those around us--ability to
develop psychological tools that are "used to gain
mastery over one's own behavior and cognition")
4) Theory of Learning: how are knowledge and skills
acquired? (through social interaction and language-learning is what leads to the development of higher
order thinking) (IMPORTANT CONCEPTS: Zone of
Proximal Development (ch 4), Scaffolding (ch 4, ))
Lev S. Vygotsky (cont)
5) Theory of Transmission: who is to teach? methods?
curriculum? (defined those who are to teach as the
"More Knowledgeable Other." (MKO) includes
parents, teachers, peers, siblings et.al.--jigsaw
method, teacher as collaborator)
6) Theory of Society: what institutions are involved?
(allows the learner to develop cognitively through
social interactions--language and environment
important---learning takes place in ANY
environment)
Lev S. Vygotsky (cont)
7) Theory of Opportunity: who is to be educated?
(socialization is the process of cultural
transmission, both unintentional and deliberate-children w/ disabilities should not be separated)
8) Theory of Consensus: why do people disagree?
(because they are engaged in class struggle for
dominance among competing social groups--the
most powerful members of dominant groups create
the rules for success and opportunity in society,
often denying subordinate groups such success and
opportunities)
MODERN THEORIES
The Gregorc Mind Styles
Take test
"The Gregorc model is a cognitive model
designed to reveal two types of abilities:
perception and ordering. Perceptual abilities, the
means through which information is grasped,
translate into two qualities: abstractness and
concreteness. Ordering abilities are the ways the
learner organizes information, either sequentially
(linearly) or randomly (non-linearly). Gregorc
couples these qualities to form four learning
categories: concrete/sequential (CS),
abstract/sequential (AS), abstract/random
(AR), and concrete/random (CR).
By combining the two ides, Gregorc builds the following
four quadrants:
Concrete
Concrete/Sequential
Abstract/Sequential
Concrete/Random
Abstract/Random
Abstract
Concrete-Sequential: Practical and well organized. They
like to plan their work and work their plan
• Thinking processes are logical, instinctive and
deliberate.
• Strive for perfection and have an eye for detail.
• Focus on material reality and physical objects.
• Creativity lies not with originality but with making it more
effective than the original.
• Prefer an environment that is ordered, practical, quiet,
and stable.
Concrete-Random: Practical and live in the
physical world, but they like to learn by trial and
error. Rather than a plan, they want options.
• Thinking processes are instinctive, intuitive, and
impulsive.
• Events affected by outside variables.
• Focus on practical applications, methods, and
processes.
• Creativity is original, inventive, and unique.
• Prefer an environment that is stimulus rich and
competitive.
Abstract-Sequential: Like to develop ideas in a logical
way. How someone feels about something does not
change reality.
• Thinking processes are intellectual, analytical,
correlative, fluid, and quick.
• Loves books.
• Focus attention on knowledge, concepts, and ideas.
• Creativity lies within models, theories, and
synthesizing.
• Prefer an environment that is ordered, quiet,
independent, and mentally stimulating.
Abstract-Random: Work from the heart, not the
head. How someone feels about it makes a great deal
of difference.
• Thinking processes are based in feelings, which makes
this type of person good at establishing a rapport with
people
• Make sense of the world using feelings and emotions.
• Focus on emotional attachments, relationships, and
memories.
• Creativity is imaginative and often expressed through
music and art.
• Prefer an environment of emotional experiences, active
and colorful, and physical freedom.
Concrete/Sequential
Concrete/Random
Likes: - Order, predictability - Logical
sequence - Following directions
Likes: - Experimenting - Take risks Independent problem solving
Learns best with: - Structured
environment
Learns best with: - Trial-and-error
approaches
Dislikes: - Incomplete or unorganized Questions without right/wrong
Dislikes: - Restrictions and
limitations - No options
Makes sense - Step-by-step - A
schedule to follow
Makes sense: - Try it - Concrete
examples
Abstract/Sequential
Abstract/Random
Likes: - Their points to be heard Analyzing before deciding - Applying
logic
Likes: - Listen to others - Group
harmony - Healthy relationships
with others
Learns best with: - Able to work alone
Learns best with: - Group
activities
Dislikes: - Expressing their emotions Too little time to be thorough
Makes sense: - Well researched
information - Work through ideas
thoroughly
Dislikes: - Criticism - Focusing on
one thing at a time
Makes sense: - From the heart not
the head - Personal examples
Components of
Thought
CONCEPTS: Mental representations of
categories of items or ideas, based on
experience.
*building blocks of thinking
*allow organization in systematic ways
CONCEPTS: Might be
*classes of objects (chairs, birds,
birthday parties)
*properties (red, large)
*abstractions (truth, love)
*relations (smarter than….)
*procedures (how to tie your shoes)
*intentions (intention to break into a
conversation)
CONCEPTS: TWO KINDS
Natural concepts: mental classifications
that develop out of everyday experiences
in the world. (birds, mother’s face,
artichokes, Statue of Liberty)
Artificial concepts: defined by a set of
rules or characteristics (dictionary
definitions, mathematical formulas)
NOTE: Cognitive psychology is an artificial
concept; so is the concept of a “concept”.
We organize much of our memory into
CONCEPT HIERARCHIES.
Animal
Level 1
Level 2
Bird
Fish
Level 3
Canary
Ostrich
Shark
Salmon
SCHEMA: like a file folder that contains all I know about
something. …….also includes mental images and
propositions….. (ex: BIRDS)
CONCEPT: collection of objects that are part
of the schema. (ex: ROBINS, BLUE JAYS, PELICANS
et.al.)
PROTOTYPE: one of the members of the concept the most
typical member. (ex: ROBIN)
IMAGES: mental images of members of the concept.
PROPOSITIONS: statements I can make about the subject
of the schema. (ex: Cardinals are red. An eagle is the
symbol of the US. Mom has a parakeet. Birds fly.
Birds have feathers.)
CULTURE, CONCEPTS AND THOUGHT
Most research done on concept formation is
done with cultural specificity. For example,
not all words mean the same thing in all
parts of the globe.
One big cultural difference is the use of
logic. Some groups do not value the use
of logical reasoning the same as
Europeans or North Americans. A greater
emphasis is placed on “common sense”
or “intuition.”
……and in Asian cultures, more emphasis
is placed on the relationship between the
concepts, not on the precise definitions of
the concepts.
Imagery
Question: What are the shape of a
German Shepard’s ears?
You probably consulted a visual image of
a German Shepard stored in your memory.
You have not intentionally learned the
shape--it is latent learning.
Cognitive Maps
Mental, visual representation of the layout
of one’s environment
example- after exploring a maze, rats act
as if they have learned a cognitive map of it
Cognitive maps help you get to psychology
class or drive your mom to the theatre or
help you walk around your house.
Take a look
at this
cognitive
map of how
we get up
in the
morning.
Cognitive maps also reflect our impressions of physical
reality. The maps we have in our mind regarding the world
are reflected in our cultural upbringing.
STUDY: 4000 students in 71 cities in 49
countries were asked to draw a map of the
world.
Most maps were Eurocentric, but
many placed their own country in
center with others surrounding it.
The most accurate maps came from students in
former Soviet Union and Hungary. The most
inaccurate came from American students.
SCHEMAS
Schema: Cluster of related concepts that
provides a general conceptual framework for
thinking about a topic, an event, an object,
people or a situation in one’s life. (Zimbardo)
*provide contexts
*provide expectations
*provide features likely to be found
when encountering familiar people or
situations.
For example, take the word, TERMINAL.
Are you in:
*an airport?
*a hospital?
*an auto shop?
How does the meaning change?
We also have SCHEMAS about persons,
roles, and ourselves. An event schema is
called a SCRIPT.
We have scripts for
going to restaurant,
Culture influences our
going to church, going
scripts. U.S. servicewomen
to the library, or
in the middle east had to
change many behaviors
making love.
taken for granted at home,
such as walking unescorted
in public or driving a car or
wearing clothing that
showed their faces and legs,
when they went into Arab
countries.
Conflicting scripts can make people
awkward and difficult to understand.
Sometimes it can be so uncomfortable,
they don’t want to play the scene again.
Read the following passage carefully:
Chief Resident Jones adjusted his face mask
while anxiously surveying a pale figure secured
to the long gleaming table before him. One swift
stroke of his small, sharp instrument and a thin
red line appeared. Then the eager young
assistant carefully extended the opening as
another aide pushed aside glistening surface fat
so that the vital parts were laid bare. Everyone
started in horror at the ugly growth too large for
removal. He now knew it was pointless to
continue.
Now write down which of the following
words appeared in the passage:
Patient
Cancer
Scalpel
Nurse
Blood
Tumor
Disease Surgery
In the original study, most of the subjects
circled the words patient, scalpel, and tumor,
however, none of the words were there.
PROBLEMSOLVING
INDUCTIVE REASONING: form of thinking
using individual cases or particular facts to
reach a general conclusion.
The ice is cold = all ice is cold
DEDUCTIVE REASONING: form of
thinking in which conclusions are inferred
from premises, the conclusions are true if
the premises are true (if this, then that)
All men are mortal & Socrates is a man
= Socrates is mortal
What abilities do good thinkers possess?
a) Identify the problem
b) Select a strategy
IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM:
Good problem solvers considers ALL the
possibilities.
If your car sputters out on the road, your action may
include getting to the gas station to get gas.
However, you may have failed to notice the loose
battery cable that interupts the electricity and causes
the gas gauge to read “empty.”
A mnemonic used to problem solve is IDEAL.
I = identify
D = define
E = explore
A = act on best strategy
L = look back and revise
SELECT A STRATEGY:
a) Trial and error (for simple problems)
b) Algorithms
c) Heuristics
ALGORITHMS: formulas or procedures. If
applied correctly, algorithms will always
work.
*balance checkbook, figure gas mileage, calculate
gradepoint average.
HEURISTICS: simple, basic rules or “rule
of thumb”.
(i.e.) “feed a cold, starve a fever”
Heuristics do not guarantee a solution, but
they give us a good start. Useful
heuristics include:
a) Working backward
b) Searching for analogies. (if the new problem
is similar to the one you’ve faced
previously)
c) Breaking a big problem into smaller pieces
SHOW:
Psych in Film, ver 2,
#5, Apollo 13
#6, Apollo 13
#7, Apollo 13
OBSTACLES TO
PROBLEM-SOLVING
Obstacles to problem-solving include:
a) Mental set
b) Functional fixedness
c) Self-imposed limitations
d) others
Say this word 3 times.
SILK
What do cows drink?
Did you say milk?
They actually drink water. . . . But this is
an example of mental set.
Obstacles to problem-solving: Mental set
The tendency to approach a new problem in the same
way you approached a similar problem previously.
See if you can unscramble the following words:
nelin
frsca
raspe
tnsai
ensce
peshe
klsta
epslo
sdlen
nitra
nolem
naoce
lecam
macre
dlsco
tesle
slfal
elwha
hsfle
maste
Most people, whether they realize it or not,
eventually solve the scrambled word problem with
an algorithm by rearranging the order of the letters
in all the words in the same say using the formula
3-4-5-2-1.
Nelin
12345
becomes
linen
34521
However, if you use the algorithm, your answers
for the last 2 columns won’t agree with the
“correct” ones.
Correct answers:
Linen
scarf
pears
stain
scene
sheep
talks
poles
lends
train
melon
canoe
camel
cream
colds
steel
falls
whale
shelf
meats
Obstacles to problem-solving: functional
fixedness
The function of a familiar object becomes so set, or fixed,
in you mind that you cannot see a new function for it.
Ex: Your psych prof has offered you $5 if you can tie
together two strings dangling from the ceiling
without pulling them down. But when you grab the
end of one string and pull it toward the other one,
you find that you cannot quite reach the other string.
The only objects available to you in the room are on
the floor: a ping-pong ball, five screws, a
screwdriver, a glass of water, and a paper bag. How
can you reach both strings and tie them together?
Did you realize that you could use the
screwdriver as a pendulum weight to
swing one of the strings toward you?
Obstacles to problem-solving: Self-imposed
limitations
The idea that we impose unnecessary limitations to
ourselves.
Can you connect all
the dots with four
connecting lines
without lifting your
pencil from the
paper?
Two Solutions
Obstacles to problem-solving: Other
obstacles
a) Lack of specific knowledge
b) Lack of interest
c) Low self-esteem
d) Fatigue
e) Drugs (even legal drugs)
f) Stress
g) Bias
BIAS
a) Confirmation bias: finding fault with
information that doesn’t confirm your belief.
b) Hindsight bias: people overestimate their
ability to have predicted an event
c) Anchoring bias: faulty heuristic caused by
basing an estimate on a completely unrelated
quantity.
1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8=?
8x7x6x5x4x3x2x1=?
When these equations
are given to 2 separate
groups of people to
ESTIMATE, the average
answer for #1 was 512,
and #2 was 2250.
d) Representativeness bias: faulty heuristic
strategy based on the presumption that once
people or events are categorized, they share
all the features of other members in that
category.
e) Availability bias: faulty heuristic strategy that
estimates probabilities based on information
that can be recalled from personal
experience.
Effects of Multitasking
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/view/
MARZANO’S
STRATEGIES
Robert J. Marzano is
cofounder and CEO of
Marzano Research
Laboratory in Englewood,
Colorado.
•speaker, trainer, and author
dealing with instruction,
assessment, writing and
implementing standards,
cognition, effective
leadership, and school
intervention.
BA, Iona College
(New York)
MA, Seattle University
PhD, University of
Washington.
Marzano outlined 9 strategies most likely to
improve student achievement:
1. Identifying similarities and differences
2. Summarizing and note taking
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
4. Homework and practice
5. Nonlinguistic representations
6. Cooperative learning
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback
8. Generating and testing hypotheses
9. Cues, questions, and advance organizers
1. Identifying similarities and differences
a. Venn diagrams
b. Charts used to compare and classify terms
2. Summarizing and note taking
a. double or triple column notes
b. clarify questions and predict what will
happen next
3. Reinforcing effort and providing recognition
a. share stories about people
b. keep a log of weekly efforts and
successes
4. Homework and practice
a. homework policy
b. feedback
c. timed quizes
5. Nonlinguistic representations
a. words and images to represent relationships
b. physical models
c. physical movement
6. Cooperative learning
a. group by common experience/interests
b. vary sizes and objectives
c. base activities on
1. social skills
2. face to face interaction
3. group processing
4. positive interdependence
5. individual accountabiliey
6. group accountability
7. Setting objectives and providing feedback
a. set core goal (essential question)
b. encourage students to personalize the goal
c. how will student meet the goal?
8. Generating and testing hypotheses
a. ask about how things could change if….
b. ask student to build something
9. Cues, questions, and advance organizers
a. pause after asking a question
b. vary style of advanced organizer
1. tell a story, graphic image, skim text
Benjamin Bloom created a
taxonomy to categorize the
level of abstraction of
questions that commonly
occur in educational
settings. The taxonomy
provides a useful structure
in which to categorize test
questions.
•
•
easy to comprehend but
difficult to apply
focus was on mastery
BA, MA Penn State
Univ
PhD, Univ of
Chicago
Following the 1948 Convention of the American
Psychological Association, B S Bloom took a lead in
formulating a classification of "the goals of the
educational process".
Three "domains" of educational activities were
identified.
• Cognitive Domain
• Affective Domain
• Psychomotor Domain
Bloom and his co-workers established a hierarchy of
educational objectives, (Bloom's Taxonomy), which
divide cognitive objectives into subdivisions ranging
from the simplest behaviour to the most complex.
BLOOM’s TAXONOMY
High school students are rarely asked higher level
questions:
Level 1:
Level 2:
Level 3:
Level 4:
Level 5:
Level 6:
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
BLOOM’s TAXONOMY
Level 1:
Knowledge
• observation and recall of information
• knowledge of dates, events, places
• knowledge of major ideas
• mastery of subject matter
• Question Cues: list, define, tell, describe,
identify, show, label, collect, examine,
tabulate, quote, name, who, when, where,
etc.
BLOOM’s TAXONOMY
Level 2:
Comprehension
• understanding information
• grasp meaning
• translate knowledge into new context
• interpret facts, compare, contrast
• order, group, infer causes
• predict consequences
• Question Cues: summarize, describe,
interpret, contrast, predict, associate,
distinguish, estimate, differentiate, discuss,
extend
BLOOM’s TAXONOMY
Level 3:
Application
• use information
• use methods, concepts, theories in new
situations
• solve problems using required skills or
knowledge
• Questions Cues: apply, demonstrate,
calculate, complete, illustrate, show, solve,
examine, modify, relate, change, classify,
experiment, discover
BLOOM’s TAXONOMY
Level 4:
Analysis
• seeing patterns
• organization of parts
• recognition of hidden meanings
• identification of components
• Question Cues:
analyze, separate, order, explain, connect, classify,
arrange, divide, compare, select, explain, infer
BLOOM’s TAXONOMY
Level 5:
Synthesis
• use old ideas to create new ones
• generalize from given facts
• relate knowledge from several areas
• predict, draw conclusions
• Question Cues: combine, integrate, modify,
rearrange, substitute, plan, create, design,
invent, what it?, compose, formulate,
prepare, generalize, rewrite
BLOOM’s TAXONOMY
Level 6:
Evaluation
• compare and discriminate between ideas
• assess value of theories, presentations
• make choices based on reasoned argument
• verify value of evidence
• recognize subjectivity
• Question Cues: assess, decide, rank,
grade, test, measure, recommend, convince,
select, judge, explain, discriminate, support,
conclude, compare, summarize
QUESTIONS FOR
REVIEW
RECALL
1) Classical conditioning is especially useful for
understanding which one of the following examples
of learning?
a) A child who, after a painful dental visit, has learned
to fear the dentist
b) A dog that has learned to “sit up” for a food reward
c) An executive who is afraid that she will lose her job
d) A rat that has learned to run a maze
e) A psychology student who is learning how memory
works
RECALL
2)The responses in classical conditioning were originally
a) New behaviors
b) Premeditated behaviors
c) Random acts
d) Trained reflexes
e) Innate reflexes
APPLICATION
3) If you learned to fear electrical outlets after getting a
painful shock from plugging in a light, what would be
the CS?
a) The time period between seeing the outlet and
getting the shock
b) The prong on the light cord
c) The electrical outlet
d) The painful shock
e) The fear
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
4) Which of the following would be most likely to be an
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) involved in classical
conditioning?
a) praise
b) money
c) music
d) a flashing light
e) food
RECALL
5) Thorndike’s law of effect said that an organism will
learn to perform responses that are
a) Preceded by a conditioned stimulus
b) reflective
c) prompted
d) Preceded by a neutral stimulus
e) rewarded
APPLICATION
6) Which one of the following is an example of negative
reinforcement?
a) Taking away a child’s favorite toy when the child
misbehaves
b) Making a child watch while another child is punished
c) Giving a child a toy for misbehaving
d) Going to the dentist and having a toothache relieved
e) Spanking a child for swearing
APPLICATION
7) Suppose that you have taught your dog to roll over for
a reward of a dog biscuit. Then one day you run out
of dog biscuits. Which schedule of reinforcement
would keep your dog responding longer without a
biscuit?
a) Noncontingent reinforcement
b) Positive reinforcement
c) Negative reinforcement
d) Intermittent reinforcement
e) Continuous reinforcement
RECALL
8) Which one of the following is a conditioned reinforcer
for most people?
a) A sharp pain in the back
b) water
c) money
d) sex
e) food
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
9) Operant conditioning in contrast with classical
conditioning emphasizes events (such as rewards
and punishments) that occur
a) After the behavior
b) Concurrently with another response
c) At the same time as another stimulus
d) During the behavior
e) Before the behavior
RECALL
10) When their goal path was blocked, Tolman’s rats
would take the shortest detour around the barrier.
This, said Tolman, showed that they had developed
a) Observational learning
b) Operant behavior
c) Trial-and-error learning
d) Classical responses
e) Cognitive maps
RECALL
11) Cognitive psychologist Robert Rescorla has
reinterpreted the process of classical conditioning in
his view, the conditioned stimulus (CS) serves as
a) Stimulus that follows the UCS
b) punisher
c) Cue that signals the onset of the UCS
d) Negative reinforcement
e) Cognitive map
APPLICATION
12) If you were going to use Bandura’s findings in
developing a program to prevent violence among
middle school children, you might
a) Have children role-play nonagressive solutions to
interpersonal problems
b) Have children watch videos of aggressive children who
are not being reinforced for their aggressive behavior
c) Reward children for nonviolent acts.
d) Punish children for aggressive acts performed at
school
e) Have children punch a BoBo doll to “get the
aggression out of their system.”
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
13) Which of the following proved to be difficult to explain
in purely behavioral terms?
a) A child learning to read
b) A pigeon learning to press a lever in a Skinner box for
a food reward
c) A chimpanzee using a pile of boxes and a stick to
obtain food hung high in its cage.
d) A dog salivating at the sound of a bell
e) A trained seal doing a trick for a fish
APPLICATION
14) A dictionary definition would be an example of
a) An artificial concept
b) A natural concept
c) A core concept
d) An abstract concept
e) A concrete concept
APPLICATION
15) Which one of the following list represents a concept
hierarchy?
a) Cat, dog, giraffe, elephant
b) Animal, mammal, dog, cocker spaniel
c) Woman, girl, man, boy
d) Lemur, monkey, chimpanzee, human
e) Beaver, fox, cat, cougar
APPLICATION
16) Knowing how to check out a book at the library is an
example of
a) A natural concept
b) An event-related potential
c) A cognitive map
d) A script
e) A core concept
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
17) All of the following are components of thought,
except
a) concepts
b) images
c) schemas
d) stimuli
e) scripts
RECALL
18) What is the first step in problem solving?
a) Selecting a strategy
b) Avoiding pitfalls
c) Searching for analogies
d) Identifying the problem
e) Developing algorithms
APPLICATION
19) A math problem calls for finding the area of a
triangle. You know the formula, so you multiply 1/2
the base times the height. You have used
a) An algorithm
b) A heuristic
c) Functional fixedness
d) intuition
e) An analogy
RECALL
20) Good problem solvers often use “tricks of the trade”
or “rules of thumb” known as
a) algorithms
b) heuristics
c) Trial and error
d) Deductive reasoning
e) scripts
APPLICATION
21) Which one of the following would be an example of
confirmation bias at work?
a) Mary ignores negative information about her favorite
political candidate
b) Aaron agrees with Joel’s taste in music
c) Natasha refuses to eat a food she dislikes
d) Bill buys a new RV, even though his wife was
opposed to the purchase
e) Frank buys a lottery ticket because he read about a
lotto winner.
RECALL
22) Which of the following is NOT a characteristic that is
consistently found among highly creative people?
a) independence
b) A high level of motivation
c) Willingness to restructure the problem
d) Extremely high intelligence
e) Open-mindedness
UNDERSTANDING THE CORE CONCEPT
23) Heuristic strategies show that our thinking is often
biased on
a) Logic rather than emotion
b) Experience rather than logic
c) Trial and error rather than algorithms
d) Common sense rather than learning
e) Logic rather than creativity.
Show
DISCOVERING PSYCHOLOGY
#8 Learning