HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE LEARNING 1 Chapter 6, Section 1 Learning is achieved through experience. Anything we are born knowing how to do is NOT a result of learning. (For Example:?????) A stimulus is something that produces a reaction or response. Food associations provide a great example of this. Think of a food you really like? If your mouth waters, you are experiencing conditioning.

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Classical conditioning is a simple form of learning in which one stimulus (the thought of the food) calls forth the response (mouth watering). WITHOUT CONDITIONING, IT WOULD TAKE THE ACTUAL FOOD TO CALL FORTH THE RESPONSE! *The two stimuli (thought & food) have been associated with one another* Chapter 6, Sec.1

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Ivan Pavlov 3 Chapter 6, Section 1 Ivan Pavlov’s research are some of the earliest documenting Classical Conditioning. He was studying the digestive system of dogs. Noticed that clanging of dishes and assistants alone would cause dogs to salivate. Developed an experiment to see if dogs could “learn” to salivate in response to any stimulus that signaled meat.

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Letters of Learning US – Unconditioned Stimulus – stimulus that causes a response that is automatic, not learned (meat) UR – Unconditioned Response – automatic, not learned, response (salivation) CR – Learned response to stimulus that was previously neutral (salivation to the sound of a bell) CS – Conditioned Stimulus – learned stimulus (bell) 4 Chapter 6, Section 1

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Classical Conditioning Stimulus – something that produces a reaction or a response from a person or an animal. Conditioning – learning – works through pairing of different stimuli. Classical conditioning – a simple form of learning in which 1 stimulus calls forth the response that is usually called forth by another stimulus – the 2 have been assoc. w. each other 5 Chapter 6, Section 1

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Taste Aversions – learned avoidance of a particular food – animals that have been poisoned, food allergies Extinction – occurs when the CS is disconnected from the US, the CS no longer cause the CR to occur. Generalization - the act of responding the same ways to stimuli that seem similar, even if they aren’t identical. (Little Albert) Discrimination – the act of responding differently to stimuli that are not similar to each other. Adapting to the Environment

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Flooding – a person is exposed to the harmless stimulus until fear responses to that stimulus are extinguished. Systematic Desensitization – exposed gradually to feared stimulus while remaining relaxed Counter-conditioning – pleasant stimulus paired repeatedly with a fearful one, counteracting the fear Applications of Classical Conditioning

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Operant Conditioning People and animals learn to do certain things---and not to do others--- because of the results of what they do, they learn from the consequences of their actions!  Difference:  classical the responses are often involuntary, biological behaviors (i.e. salivation, eye blinking)  operant – response are behaviors people have more control over (i.e. studying, “shaking”) 8 Chapter 6, Section 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE B.F. Skinner’s Idea Skinner proposed training pigeons to guide missiles to targets during WWII.  Given food for targets on a screen.  Idea was to place them in a missile to adjust the flight path to hit a real target  Equipment was bulky so plan was abandoned. *even though plan not used, point that an organism learns to do something b/c of its effects or consequences was proven. 9 Chapter 6, Section 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Reinforcement - the process by which a stimulus increases the chance the preceding behavior will occur again. Skinner Box – rats press a lever – food appears What do you think they do next? It doesn’t matter why it happened that the rat pushed the lever the 1 st time, once he is reinforced with food for doing it, the behavior will begin to occur with regularity. 10 Chapter 6, Section 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Types of Reinforcers Primary- function due to a biological makeup of the organism (i.e. water, food, warmth) 11 Chapter 6, Section 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Secondary- must be learned (i.e. money, attention, social approval) 12 Chapter 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Positive Reinforcers– increase the frequency of behavior when applied – you receive something you want following the behavior 13 Chapter 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Negative Reinforcer –increase the frequency of the behavior when they are removed, they are unpleasant – (i.e. fear, discomfort) 14 Chapter 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Rewards & Punishments Rewards – (positive reinforcement) – increase frequency of behavior – used w/ humans Punishments – (are not NEGATIVE REINFORCERS) – both are unpleasant, but punishments are unwanted events that, when applied, decrease the behavior they follow (i.e. detention) 15 Chapter 6, Section 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Punishments – (are not NEGATIVE REINFORCERS) – both are unpleasant, but punishments are unwanted events that, when applied, decrease the behavior they follow (i.e. detention) 16 Chapter 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Schedules of Reinforcement Continuous Reinforcement – reinforcement of the behavior every time the behavior occurs Partial Reinforcement – behavior is not reinforced every time, but some of the time, at intervals Interval – if the amount of time btwn reinforcements is greater than zero seconds (this affects how people allocate the effort & persistence they apply to certain tasks) Fixed – set amount of time Teacher gives a quiz every Friday Variable – unpredictable amt. of time, response rate is steadier Teacher gives “pop” quizzes 17 Chapter 6, Section 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Ratio Schedules Fixed Ratio Schedule: a fixed number of responses must occur for a reinforcement to occur (i.e. rat must hit lever 5 times for food 5:1) Animal or person tends to try to get “fixed number” out of way as quickly as possible Variable Ratio Schedule : reinforcement is provided after a variable number of correct responses have been made slot machines – next win might just be a pull away 18 Chapter 6, Section 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Extinction – results from repeated performance of the response w/o reinforcement Applications Shaping – teaching by reinforcing small steps (i.e. ride a bicycle, squirrels “flying”) B.F. Skinner – programmed learning – any task can be broken down into small steps, each step “shaped” individually, then recombined into the complicated whole 19 Chapter 6, Section 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Assignment Choose a specific task, skill, or behavior you would like to teach a child. Write a detailed, step-by-step explanation of how you would use operant conditioning concepts such as shaping to teach the chosen procedure. 20 Chapter 6

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Cognitive Factors in Learning Cognitive Psychologists look at learning differently than behaviorists (Skinner) Cognitive psychologists believe a person can learn something by simply thinking about it or by watching others. (Behaviorists only care about what organisms do) The 2 types of learning using Cognitive Factors Latent Learning Observational Learning 21 Chapter 6, Section 3

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Latent Learning Theory concludes that you will learn even if you are not reinforced; however, you will not learn in the most efficient way. Latent learning is learning that remains hidden until you need to use it. Tolman – let rats explore a maze without reward Found: Rats learned the maze even though they weren’t reinforced to do so. When food was present at the end, they used the most efficient path to get it, they had stored it away until needed. 22 Chapter 6, Section 3

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Observational Learning Being conditioned indirectly by virtue of observing another’s conditioning. Albert Bandura concluded much of human learning is obtained this way through his research on social learning. Some examples are witnessing a sibling / classmate getting into trouble and being punished for a behavior. You “learned” by seeing someone else’s learning experience. 23 Chapter 6, Section 3

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE Are people who see more violence on TV more violent than people who watch less? 24 Chapter 2

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE The PQ4R Method LEARNING to LEARN - PQ4R method based upon methods of educational psychologist Francis Robinson Thought is that students learn more when they take an active approach to learning! 25 Chapter 6, Section 4

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE The PQ4R Method Six Steps of PQ4R 1. Preview – get a general preview of material before you begin reading the chapter. 2. Question – after previewing formulate questions to “answer” while reading the material. 26 Chapter 6, Section 4

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 3. Read – the chapter with the purpose of answering the questions you formulated. 4. Reflect – as you read think of examples or create mental images of the subject matter / relate new information to events in personal life. 27 Chapter 6, Section 4

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON P SYCHOLOGY PRINCIPLES IN PRACTICE 5. Recite – the answers to the questions to help you remember them – recite aloud or silently. 6. Review – repeat or reread things in order to know them well – “distributed” learning is more effective – relearning on a regular schedule. 28 Chapter 6, Section 4