Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY (7th Ed) Chapter 8 Learning James A. McCubbin, PhD Clemson University Worth Publishers

Fact vs. Falsehood z1. Lowly animals, like sea snails, behave by instinct and are incapable of learning. z2. Humans are the only animals that can learn behaviors merely by observing others perform them. z3. The study of inner thoughts, feelings, and motives has always occupied a central place in psychology. z4. A person can be more readily conditioned to fear snakes and spiders than to fear flowers. z5. With training, pigeons can be taught to discriminate a Bach composition from a Stravinsky composition. z6. Negative reinforcement is another term for punishment. z7. Psychologists agree that punishment, regardless of its form, has little effect on behavior. z8. Animals learn only when rewards are given. z9. Animals can learn to make virtually any response if consistently rewarded for it. z10. Research indicates that televised violence leads to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch the programs.

Learning  Learning  relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience

Association  We learn by association  Our minds naturally connect events that occur in sequence  Aristotle 2000 years ago  John Locke and David Hume 200 years ago  Associative Learning  learning that two events occur together  two stimuli  a response and its consequences

Association  Learning to associate two events Event 1Event 2 Sea snail associates splash with a tail shock Seal learns to expect a snack for its showy antics

Classical or Pavlovian Conditioning  We learn automatically to associate two stimuli

Classical Conditioning  Ivan Pavlov   Russian physician/ neurophysiologist  Nobel Prize in 1904  studied digestive secretions

Pavlov’s Classic Experiment Before Conditioning During ConditioningAfter Conditioning UCS (food in mouth) Neutral stimulus (tone) No salivation UCR (salivation) Neutral stimulus (tone) UCS (food in mouth) UCR (salivation) CS (tone) CR (salivation)

Classical Conditioning  Classical Conditioning  organism comes to associate two stimuli and responds AUTOMATICALLY  Subjects connects a new (conditioned) stimulus with an natural (unconditioned) stimulus, responding to both the same way  23/the_pavlov_altoid_theory/

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  =Xt0ucxOrPQE&feature=related

Classical Conditioning  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

Classical Conditioning  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

Classical Conditioning  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

Classical Conditioning UCS (passionate kiss) UCR (sexual arousal) CS (onion breath) CS (onion breath) CR (sexual arousal) UCS (passionate Kiss) UCR (sexual arousal)

Classical Conditioning  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 Strength of CR Pause Acquisition (CS+UCS) Extinction (CS alone) Extinction (CS alone) Spontaneous recovery of CR

Classical Conditioning  Spontaneous Recovery  reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished CR  Generalization  tendency for stimuli similar to CS to elicit similar responses

Classical Conditioning  Discrimination  in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal a UCS

Nausea Conditioning in Cancer Patients UCS (drug) UCR (nausea) CS (waiting room) CS (waiting room) CR (nausea) UCS (drug) UCR (nausea)

Cognitive Classical Conditioning zLearn the predictability of the second event if it always happens zThe subject learns to expect it zWorks best if it seems to be a cause and effect relationship zThought counts!!

Biological Predispositions zAll animals can learn better things that go with their natural actions zEspecially if it is something that helps them to survive zLearning enables animals to adapt to their environments

Pavlov’s Legacy zMany other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other organisms zHow to study objectively

Applications of Classical Conditioning zLinks setting with actions zReplace negative experiences with positive ones zGain automatic responses