Theories of learning 1 Behavioral learning theories Classical conditioning Operant conditioning

Watson experiment on classical conditioning He used his eleven months old child, baby Albert. He wanted to instil fear (conditioning of an emotional reaction) in baby Albert. He wanted to make him fear white rat (earlier showed no indication of fear). He liked it. But each time the rat was present, a loud noise was simultaneously introduced. It ended with strong fear in Baby Albert (when screaming when he saw it). 2

THE PROCESS OF CONDITIONING 3 WHITE RAT NO FEAR LOUD NOISEFEAR WHITE RAT + LOUD NOISEFEAR WHITE RAT FEAR

4 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING The concept of Classical conditioning emerged after Pavlov’s observation of salivating dog. It is a type of learning whereby two stimuli are associated or paired in order to produce a new response. One stimulus is known as neutral stimulus and another one is unconditioned stimulus. When neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are associated for a certain period of time, the neutral stimulus gets the power to elicit the same response evoked by unconditioned stimulus.

Stimulus: Anything that can elicit a certain response. Neutral stimulus: A stimulus which does not automatically/naturally elicit a desired response but if associated with unconditioned stimulus can elicit a response desired. Unconditioned stimulus: A stimulus that automatically elicits a certain response without being conditioned. Conditioned stimulus: A stimulus that has got the power to elicit a desired response after the process of conditioning. 5

After conditioning, previously neutral stimulus changes to be conditioned stimulus. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Pavlov’s experiment Pavlov is a Russian physiologist. He was very much interested in studying salivation of dogs. He decided to study the rate of salivation if a hungry dog is presented food close to its nose. In one of his experiment, he put a dog in a special chamber where it could not hear any sound from outside. In the chamber some devices were connected for the experiment. 6

Pavlov’s experiment What he did. He presented meat powder to the dog and the dog salivated. Then he rang the bell a few seconds before presenting meat powder. The dog salivated. After several pairings of meat powder and bell, he started to ring the bell without presenting meat powder. The dog salivated by the mere sound of a bell. This was an indication that conditioning has taken place. 7

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Pavlov’s experiment The process can be shown in this model: Bell no desired response (NS) Meat powdersalivation (UCS)(UCR) Bell + meat powdersalivation NS + UCS(UCR) BellSalivation CSCR 10

Laws of learning Law of exercise Law of extinction Law of generalization Law of discrimination Law of spontaneous recovery *Law of contiguity 11

Laws of learning Law of exercise: Learning (conditioning) occurs through several repeated pairings of neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus. Law of extinction: If the pairing of the stimuli is stopped the conditioned response will also stop. 12

Spontaneous recovery: the behavior that has been extinguished due to breaking of the association between the unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus tends to reappear after sometime of rest even if the originally neutral stimulus is not paired with UCS. The dog was conditioned to salivate by the sound of a bell. When the link between sound and meat powder was broken the behavior of salivation faded and stopped. But, after some period when the dog heard the sound of a bell, it salivated even without the sound being associated with meat. 13

Law of generalization: when an organism is conditioned to respond to one stimulus, can respond in the same way to other stimuli that have not been conditioned. The dog could respond to other sounds, footsteps of the presenter or the sound of plates. Law of discrimination: An organism can also respond to only the stimulus that has conditioned and not to other stimuli. 14

Guthrie’s law of contiguity: The strength of the association depends on how close/ proximal in time and/or place the events (stimuli) occur. In reference to Pavlov’s experiment, sound of a bell and presentation of meat powder were very close in time to each other. 15

Conclusion Classical Conditioning is a temporary learning. It can change any time if there is no practice or break the association. It is low level learning, fits more to animals and small children who have limited ability to think and process information. It does not train learner to think. It is difficult to measure the extent of practice that will lead to learning and the strength of the conditioning that make the organism to continue responding in the same way. 16

Much care is needed to ensure that the organism generalizes and discriminates what is required. It is appropriate for learning of emotions. It relies on physiological processes and in some cases these processes are instinctual. They can not be controlled by the learner or trainee. The learner learns passively not actively and is driven by uncontrollable inner/physiological forces. To make learning strong, there must be intensity of association. 17

Note on application Use the model of conditioning (the steps) Use the laws/principles 18