LEARNING

CHAPTER NO 03

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 What Is Behaviorism?

Behaviors are

Acquired through conditioning

Interaction with Environment

Shaped by environmental stimuli

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Main Focus of Behaviorism
Behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner
regardless of internal mental states.

Observable behavior should be studied, as cognition, emotion and

mood are far too subjective

Regardless of genetic background, personality traits, and internal

thoughts can be trained to perform any task

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Features of Behavioral
psychology

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Learning
Learning: A relatively permanent change in behavior
brought about by experience
Habituation is the decrease in response to a stimulus that
occurs after repeated presentations of the same stimulus.
The first systematic research on learning was done at the
beginning of the 20th century, by Ivan Pavlov (classical
conditioning)

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Learning Through Association

Acquisition: A response is established and strengthened Prominence of

the stimuli and the timing of the presentation

Extinction : When an association disappears  Behavior to weaken

gradually or vanish

Spontaneous recovery: The reemergence of an extinguished conditioned

response after a period of rest and with no further conditioning.

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THE BASICS OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
Classical conditioning: A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus
comes to bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus
that naturally brings about that response.
Neutral stimulus: A stimulus that, before conditioning, does not
naturally bring about the response of interest.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally brings about
a particular response without having been learned. Unconditioned
response.

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THE BASICS OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
(UCR): A response that is natural and needs no training (e.g.,
salivation at the smell of food).
Conditioned stimulus (CS): A once neutral stimulus that has been
paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a response
formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned response (CR): A response that, after conditioning,
follows a previously neutral stimulus (e.g., salivation at the ringing of
a bell)

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Learning Through Association

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Learning Through Association

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Learning Through
Association

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Learning Through Association

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Learning Through Association-
Pavlov’s Dog Experiment

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Real life Examples
Advertisers are taking advantage of our
positive associations with these celebrities
in order to sell more products and services.

If the first time you eat sushi, you get

terrible food poisoning, then it's possible
that almost anything to do with that sushi
experience could gain negative associations

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Real life Examples
Classical conditioning can lead to the development of phobias,
which are intense, irrational fears. For example, an insect phobia
might develop in someone who is Stung by a bee. The insect phobia
might be so severe that the person refrains from leaving home.

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Real life Examples
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suffered by some war
veterans and others who have had traumatic experiences, can also
be produced by classical conditioning. Even years after their
battlefield experiences, veterans may feel a rush of fear and anxiety
at a stimulus such as a loud noise

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CASE STUDY OF LITTLE
ALBERT
“Little Albert (11 months old),” like most infants, initially was
frightened by loud noises but had no fear of rats. In the study, the
experimenters sounded a loud noise just as they showed Little Albert
a rat. However, after just a few pairings of noise and rat, Albert
began to show fear of the rat by itself, bursting into tears when he
saw it. The effects of the conditioning lingered: five days later, Albert
reacted with fear not only when shown a rat, but when shown
objects that looked similar to the white, furry rat, including a white
rabbit, a white coat, and even a white Santa Claus mask.

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Generalization and
discrimination in classical
conditioning.
Stimulus generalization: The process that occurs when a conditioned
response follows a stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned
stimulus; the more similar the two stimuli are, the more likely
generalization is to occur,.

Stimulus discrimination: The process that occurs if two stimuli are

sufficiently distinct from one another that one evokes a conditioned
response but the other does not; the ability to differentiate between
stimuli.

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Operant Conditioning
Sometimes referred as
instrumental conditioning

 Learning that employs

rewards and punishments

Association is made between

a behavior and a consequence
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Operant Conditioning
Actions that are followed by reinforcement will be strengthened and more
likely to occur again in the future.

If you raise your hand to ask a question and your teacher praises your polite
behavior, you will be more likely to raise your hand the next time you have a
question or comment

Actions that result in punishment or undesirable consequences will be

weakened and less likely to occur again in the future.

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THORNDIKE’S LAW OF
EFFECT

Responses that lead to satisfying consequences are more likely to

be repeated

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Example
If you placed a hungry cat in a cage and then put a small piece of
food outside the cage, just beyond the cat’s reach, chances are that
the cat would eagerly search for a way out of the cage. The cat might
first claw at the sides or push against an opening. Suppose, though,
you had rigged things so that the cat could escape by stepping on a
small paddle that released the latch to the door of the cage.
Eventually, as it moved around the cage, the cat would happen to
step on the paddle, the door would open, and the cat would eat the
food.

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Types of Operant
conditioning
Positive reinforcer: A stimulus added to the environment that brings
about an increase in a preceding response

Negative reinforcer: An unpleasant stimulus whose removal leads to

an increase in the probability that a preceding response will be
repeated in the future.

Punishment: A stimulus that decreases the probability that a previous

behavior will occur again

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Types of Operant conditioning

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Real life Examples
1. A child may learn to clean his/her room regularly;
because he/she will be rewarded
2. Workers are often offered with the incentives and
bonus in return of completing their targets
3. A driver is fined to some amount, and his driving
license is ceased for not following the traffic rules.
Here, money and license are removed as his pleasant
affair.

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CLASS DISCUSSION

THE PROS AND CONS OF PUNISHMENT: WHY

REINFORCEMENT BEATS PUNISHMENT ????

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SCHEDULE OF
REINFORCEMENT

Schedules of reinforcement: Different patterns of frequency and

timing of reinforcement following desired behavior.

1. Continuous reinforcement schedule: Reinforcing of a behavior

every time it occurs.

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SCHEDULE OF
REINFORCEMENT
Partial (or intermittent) reinforcement schedule: Reinforcing of a
behavior some but not all of the time.

Fixed-ratio schedule: A schedule by which reinforcement is given

only after a specific number of responses are made.

Variable-ratio schedule: A schedule by which reinforcement occurs

after a varying number of responses rather than after a fixed number

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 SCHEDULE OF
REINFORCEMENT
Fixed-interval schedule: A schedule that provides reinforcement for
a response only if a fixed time period has elapsed, making overall
rates of response relatively low.

Variable-interval schedule: A schedule by which the time between

reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed.

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SCHEDULE OF
REINFORCEMENT

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 SHAPING: REINFORCING
WHAT DOESN’T COME
NATURALLY

Shaping: The process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding

closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
In shaping, you start by reinforcing any behavior that is at all
similar to the behavior you want the person to learn.
Later, you reinforce only responses that are closer to the behavior
you ultimately want to teach. Finally, you reinforce only the desired
response

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Discrimination and
generalization

In stimulus control training, a behavior is reinforced in the

presence of a specific stimulus, but not in its absence.

A discriminative stimulus signals the likelihood that

reinforcement will follow a response.

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Example
For example, if you wait until your roommate is in a good mood
before you ask to borrow her favorite CD, your behavior can be said
to be under stimulus control because you can discriminate between
her moods.

Stimulus generalization, in which an organism learns a response to

one stimulus and then exhibits the same response to slightly
different stimuli.

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COMPARING CLASSICAL AND
OPERANT CONDITIONING

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BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION
Behavior modification: A formalized technique for promoting the
frequency of desirable behaviors and decreasing the incidence of
unwanted ones.

The techniques used by behavior analysts are as varied as the list of

processes that modify behavior. They include reinforcement
scheduling, shaping, generalization training, discrimination training,
and extinction.

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Basic steps of Behavior
Change program

1. Identifying goals and target behaviors. The first step is to define

desired behavior. Is it an increase in time spent studying? A
decrease in weight?

2. Designing a data-recording system and recording preliminary data.

To determine whether behavior has changed, it is necessary to
collect data before any changes.

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Basic steps of Behavior
Change program
3. Selecting a behavior-change strategy. The most crucial step is to
select an appropriate strategy. Because all the principles of
learning can be employed to bring about behavior change.

4. Implementing the program. Probably the most important aspect

of program implementation is consistency. It is also important to
reinforce the intended behavior

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Basic steps of Behavior
Change program
5. Keeping careful records after the program is implemented. If the
target behaviors are not monitored, there is no way of knowing
whether the program has actually been successful.

6. Evaluating and altering the ongoing program. Finally, the results of

the program should be compared with baseline, pre-
implementation data to determine its effectiveness. If the
program has been successful, the procedures employed can be
phased out gradually

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Cognitive approaches to
Learning

Cognitive learning theory: An approach to the study of learning

that focuses on the thought processes that underlie learning.

Remember that the cognitive learning approach focuses on the

internal thoughts and expectations of learners, whereas
classical and operant conditioning approaches focus on
external stimuli, responses, and reinforcement.

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Cognitive approaches to
Learning

Latent learning: Learning in which a new behavior is

acquired but is not demonstrated until some incentive is
provided for displaying it

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Example
In one experiment, a group of rats was allowed to wander
around the maze once a day for 17 days without ever
receiving a reward.
Understandably, those rats made many errors and spent a
relatively long time reaching the end of the maze.
A second group, however, was always given food at the end
of the maze. Not surprisingly, those rats learned to run
quickly and directly to the food box, making few errors

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Observational learning:
Learning through Imitation

Observational learning: Learning by observing the behavior

of another person, or model.

The perspective taken by Bandura is often referred to as a

social cognitive approach to learning

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Observational learning:
Learning through Imitation

Bobo doll experiment

Mirror neurons fire when we observe another person

carrying out a behavior, suggests the capacity to imitate
others may be innate.

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Class Discussion
1. VIOLENCE IN TELEVISION AND VIDEO GAMES: DOES THE
MEDIA’S MESSAGE MATTER?

2. Does observing violent and antisocial acts in the media lead

viewers to behave in similar ways?

3. Do the differences in teaching approaches between cultures

affect how people learn?

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