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Understanding Learning in Psychology

Learning involves relatively permanent changes in behavior due to experience. There are two main types of learning - classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response, as demonstrated by Pavlov's dog experiment. Operant conditioning is learning through reinforcement or punishment of behaviors, as studied by Thorndike and Skinner using operant chambers.

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46 views40 pages

Understanding Learning in Psychology

Learning involves relatively permanent changes in behavior due to experience. There are two main types of learning - classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response, as demonstrated by Pavlov's dog experiment. Operant conditioning is learning through reinforcement or punishment of behaviors, as studied by Thorndike and Skinner using operant chambers.

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swasahmed
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Learning

Course name: Developmental Psychology


Course instructor: Humera Qutb
 Learning
relatively
permanent
change in an
organism’s
behavior due
to experience
 Learning is more than school, books and
tests. Without learning our lives would simply
be a series of reflexes and instincts.
◦ We would not be able to communicate, we would have
no memory of our past or goals for the future.
 We learn by association
Our minds naturally connect
events that occur in sequence
 Associative Learning
learning that two events occur
together
two stimuli
a response and its
consequences
SIMPLE AND COMPLEX LEARNING
 Habituation: Learning not to respond to the
repeated presentation of a stimulus.
◦ Ex-Emergency sirens in the city

How often do you


look when a car
alarm goes off?
 Mere Exposure Effect: A learned preference for
stimuli to which we have been previously
exposed.
◦ Ex-A coach/parent’s voice

Which do you prefer?

Which did your parents


drink when you were a
little kid?
 We learn to
associate
two stimuli
 Ivan Pavlov
 1849-1936
 Russian
physician/
neurophysiologist
 Nobel Prize in
1904
 studied digestive
secretions
Before Conditioning

UCS (food
in mouth)
Neutral
UCR stimulus No
(salivation) (tone) salivation

During Conditioning After Conditioning


UCS (food
in mouth)

Neutral CS
stimulus UCR (tone)
(tone) (salivation) CR (salivation)
 Pavlov’s
device for
recording
salivation
 Classical Conditioning
organism comes to associate
two stimuli
a neutral stimulus that signals
an unconditioned stimulus
begins to produce a response
that anticipates and prepares for
the unconditioned stimulus
 Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
 stimulus that unconditionally--
automatically and naturally--triggers
a response
 Unconditioned Response (UCR)
 unlearned, naturally occurring
response to the unconditioned
stimulus
 salivation when food is in the
mouth
 Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
 originally irrelevant stimulus that,
after association with an
unconditioned stimulus, comes to
trigger a conditioned response
 Conditioned Response (CR)
 learned response to a previously
neutral conditioned stimulus
 viewed psychology as
objective science
 recommended study of
behavior without
reference to
unobservable mental
processes
 Acquisition
 the initial stage in classical
conditioning
 the phase associating a neutral
stimulus with an unconditioned
stimulus so that the neutral stimulus
comes to elicit a conditioned
response
 in operant conditioning, the
strengthening of a reinforced
response
 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
Classical
Conditioning

Acquisition
Strength (CS+UCS)
of CR
Spontaneous
Extinction recovery of
(CS alone) CR

Extinction
(CS alone)

Pause
 Spontaneous Recovery
reappearance, after a rest
period, of an extinguished
CR
 Generalization
tendency for stimuli similar
to CS to elicit similar
responses
 Discrimination
in classical conditioning, the
learned ability to distinguish
between a CS and other stimuli
that do not signal a UCS
 Coughing and tickling
◦ [Link]

 Let’s see how well you do!!


 We learn to
associate a
response
and its
consequenc
e
 type of learning in which behavior
is strengthened if followed by
reinforcement or diminished if
followed by punishment
Thorndike’s principle that
behaviors followed by favorable
consequences become more
likely, and behaviors followed by
unfavorable consequences
become less likely
 Operant Behavior
 operates (acts) on environment
 produces consequences
 Respondent Behavior
 occurs as an automatic response
to stimulus
 behavior learned through
classical conditioning
 B.F. Skinner
(1904-1990)
 elaborated
Thorndike’s Law
of Effect
 developed
behavioral
technology
 Skinner Box
 chamber with a bar
or key that an
animal manipulates
to obtain a food or
water reinforcer
 contains devices to
record responses
 Reinforcer
 any event that strengthens the
behavior it follows
 Shaping
 operant conditioning procedure in
which reinforcers guide behavior
toward closer approximations of a
desired goal
 Primary Reinforcer
 innately reinforcing stimulus
 i.e., satisfies a biological need
 Conditioned Reinforcer
 stimulus that gains its reinforcing
power through its association with
primary reinforcer
 secondary reinforcer
 Continuous Reinforcement
 reinforcing the desired response
each time it occurs
 Partial (Intermitent) Reinforcement
 reinforcing a response only part of
the time
 results in slower acquisition
 greater resistance to extinction
 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
 Variable Ratio (VR)
 reinforces a response after an
unpredictable number of responses
 average ratios
 like gambling, fishing
 very hard to extinguish because of
unpredictability
 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
 Variable Interval (VI)
 reinforces a response at
unpredictable time intervals
 produces slow steady responding
 like pop quiz
 Punishment
 aversive event that decreases
the behavior that it follows
 powerful controller of
unwanted behavior
 Observational Learning
 learning by observing others
 Modeling
 process of observing and imitating
a specific behavior
 Prosocial Behavior
 positive, constructive, helpful
behavior
 opposite of antisocial behavior
 Mirror Neurons
 frontal lobe neurons that fire when
performing certain actions or when
observing another doing so
 may enable imitation, language
learning, and empathy

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