Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, and Observational Learning

 Humans are not born with a genetic layout for life  Learning gives us flexibility  Adaptability- Nature’s Greatest Gift

 If it can be learned then it is teachable  Change learned patterns through new learning

 Learning: a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience  Three types of learning  Classical Conditioning  Operant Conditioning  Observational/Social Learning

 How do we learn?  Aristotle: We learn by association  Learned associations feed habitual behaviors  Repeating behaviors in a certain context lead those behaviors to be associated with the contexts

 Associate Learning: learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli or a response and its consequence

 Conditioning is the process of learning associations  Classical conditioning: 2 stimuli and we can anticipate events  Operant conditioning: learn to associate a response and its consequences

 Kobe Cow

 Conditioning is not the only type of learning  Observational Learning- learn from others experience

 Classical condition is learning by association  it is sometimes called “reflexive learning”  it is sometimes called respondent conditioning  The Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, and his dogs circa 1905  discovered classical conditioning by serendipity  received the Nobel Prize in science for discovery

 Association: the KEY element in classical conditioning  Pavlov considered classical conditioning to be a form of learning through association, in time, of a neutral stimulus and a stimulus that incites a response.  Any stimulus can be paired with another to make an association if it is done in the correct way (following the classical conditioning paradigm)

 Terminology of Classical Conditioning  Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): any stimulus that will always and naturally ELICIT a response  Unconditioned Response (UCR): any response that always and naturally occurs at the presentation of the UCS  Neutral Stimulus (NS): any stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response associated with the UCR

 Terminology of Classical Conditioning (continued)  Conditioned Stimulus (CS): any stimulus that will, after association with an UCS, cause a conditioned response (CR) when present to a subject by itself  Conditioned Response (CR): any response that occurs upon the presentation of the CS

 Certain stimuli can elicit a reflexive response  Air puff produces an eye-blink  Smelling a grilled steak can produce salivation  The reflexive stimulus (UCS) and response (UCR) are unconditioned  The neutral stimulus is referred to as the conditioned stimulus (CS)  In classical conditioning, the CS is repeatedly paired with the reflexive stimulus (UCS)  Conditioning is best when the CS precedes the UCS  Eventually the CS will produce a response (CR) similar to that produced by the UCS

 The Classical Conditioning “paradigm”  “paradigm” is a scientific word similar to using the word “recipe” in a kitchen, I.e., this is how you do it  UCS >UCR  NS >UCS >UCR  CS >CR  That’s all there is to it

Unconditioned StimulusUnconditioned Response

Unconditioned StimulusUnconditioned Response Neutral Stimulus

Unconditioned StimulusUnconditioned Response Neutral Stimulus

Conditioned Response Conditioned Stimulus

 Classical conditioning is involved in many of our behaviors  wherever stimuli are paired together over time we come to react to one of them as if the other were present  a particular song is played and you immediately think of a particular romantic partner  a particular cologne is smelled and you immediately think of a romantic partner

 Pepper and Smoking  Treatment for phobias and aversions  Relief for Insomniacs  Cancer and Chemotherapy  Acne and the folks

 Some pointers on effective conditioning  NS and UCS pairings must not be more than about 1/2 second apart for best results  Repeated NS/UCS pairings are called “training trials”  Presentations of CS without UCS pairings are called “extinction trials”  Intensity of UCS effects how many training trials are necessary for conditioning to occur

Generalization – Learning on stimulus A changes behavior regarding stimulus B Discrimination – Learning on stimulus A doesn’t change behavior regarding stimulus B Extinction – Loss of learned behavior after training stops Spontaneous Recovery – Exhibiting learned behavior after extinction has occurred.

 B.F. Skinner and Edward Thorndike

 Different from classical conditioning  Classical conditioning is respondent behavior  Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimuli

 Operant conditioning: a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

 Operant behavior: behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences  We can distinguish by asking if the organism learns association between events it does not control or is it learning associations between its behavior and resulting events?

 Operant conditioning works on the law of effect:  Principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and that behaviors followed by un favorable consequences become less likely

 Skinner developed the Skinner box, or the operant chamber

 Shaping: an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

 Reinforcers:  Any event that strengthens behavior it follows

 Types:  Positive Reinforcement  Negative Reinforcement

 Positive Reinforcement  Increasing behaviors by presenting a positive stimuli, such as food. This should strengthen the response

 Negative Reinforcement  Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response  THIS IS NOT PUNISHMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ex. Pushing your soonze button or taking an aspirin

 Types of reinforcers  Primary: meets some biological need  Conditioned: gains reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer (secondary)  Ex. Light in the Skinner box

 Punishment  An event that decreases the behavior it follows

 Positive Punishment: Physical Punishment  Ex. Spanking  Negative Punishment: Removal of a pleasant stimulus  Ex. Grounding, taking away phone, etc.

 Notes on physical punishment (Gershoff and Marshall, 2002)  Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten  9/10 parents of 3-4 year olds spank  Punishment teaches discrimination  Punishment can teach fear  Physical punishment could model aggression as way to cope with problems

 The question with operant conditioning is: how often should one reinforce a behavior?

 Two schedules of reinforcement:  Continuous Reinforcement  Partial Reinforcement

 Continuous Reinforcement:  Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs  Examples of continuous reinforcement:  Also the way to reinforce when potty training

 Continuous Reinforcement:  Extinction happens quickly once reinforcement is stopped

 Partial (intermittent) reinforcement:  Reinforcing a response only part of the time  Results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

 Types of partial reinforcement  Fixed-ration schedules  Variable-ratio schedules  Fixed-interval schedules  Variable-interval schedules

 Fixed Ratio Schedules: reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses  Example: for every ten cups of coffee you purchase, the 11 th is free

 Variable Ratio Schedules: a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a random number of behaviors have occurred  Example:

 Fixed-Interval schedules: a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed  Example:

 Variable Interval Schedules: a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals  Examples: