Psychology Learning: Principles and Applications

What is learning? Permanent change in behavior that results from experience

Classical Conditioning Pavlov, 1927 Classical conditioning- controlling an animal’s or a person’s responses in a way so that an old response becomes attached to a new stimulus Infamous dog experiment

Dog Experiment Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)-a stimulus that leads to a certain response without previous training. (saliva) Unconditioned response (UCR)-response that occurs naturally & automatically (smell of food causes saliva)

Dog Experiment Conditioned Stimulus (CS)-ordinarily neutral stimulus that after training leads to a response (sound with food) Conditioned Response (CR)-learned response

Counter conditioning Conditioned stimulus is paired up with some other stimulus that elicits a response incompatible with the unwanted response Pairing up something wanted with something that was learned to be unwanted

Operant Conditioning Learning from the consequence of behavior A response becomes more likely to occur or less so, depending on its consequences Falls under the behaviorist school

B. F. Skinner & Reinforcement B.F. Skinner Based on rewards and punishment Reinforcement-a stimulus or event that affects the likelihood that behavior will be repeated (positive & negative)

Positive v. Negative Positive reinforcement means pleasant consequence Negative reinforcement means the removal of something unpleasant If someone nags you all the time to study but stops nagging when you comply, your studying is likely to increase-b/c you will then avoid the nagging.

Kinds of reinforcers Primary reinforcers –Satisfy biological needs –Water, food, stroking of skin Primary punishers –Pain, extreme heat Secondary reinforcers –Money, praise, good grades, awards, gold stars Secondary punishers –Scolding, demerits, fines, bad grades

Consequences of Behavior Response to a behavior can lead to 1 of 3 possibilities: –A neutral consequence neither increases nor decreases the probability that the response will recur –Reinforcement strengthens the response of makes it more likely to recur. –Punishment weakens the response or makes it less likely to recur.

Extinction & Generalization Extinction –Previous learned response stops Generalization –Responses may generalize to stimuli that were not present during the original learning situation but resemble the original stimuli

Timing is everything To teach a new response, continuous reinforcement is must. Subject will learn response quickly. But to make sure a response is resistant to extinction an intermittent schedule is better. –Praise but not all the time.

Shaping Reinforcement is used to sculpt new responses out of old responses. Teaching something/someone to do something that they never did and would never do on their own. Start off slow, gradually requiring responses that resemble what you want in the end. My dog and cleaning toys.

Operant conditioning in real life When punishment fails: –When administered inappropriately or mindlessly –When recipient of punishment responds with fear, anxiety, or rage Effectiveness of punishment is often temporary, depending heavily on the presence of the punishing person or circumstance

Misbehavior is hard to punish immediately Punishment conveys little info An action intended to punish may instead be reinforcing because it brings attention.

But rewarding has its downfall too “Feel good about themselves” sickness Extrinsic reinforcers –Outside source –Money, praise, thumbs up Intrinsic reinforcers –Inside source –Being proud of what you do, a sense of accomplishment

Observational Learning Learning by watching what others do and what happens to them for doing it

How do we learn? Feedback-result of an action Transfer-taking already known skills and using them to do something else Practice-repeating tasks helps in binding responses together Latent learning-occurs w/out reinforcement –Child setting table after watching mom

Learning to Learn Harry Harlow, When learning you learn how to use strategies for solving similar problems and tasks. Example: reading directions

Helplessness, Laziness Caused by feeling that you have no effect on the world. Feeling is a cause of depression. (Seligman, 1978 Senior year.

Modeling Most learning occurs through imitating others Little children and pretending to fix things around the house.