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Learning On June28th 1998 James Byrd (a disabled Afro American) was brutally murdered In Texas whilst hitchhiking home. Three young men offered him a ride, chained him to their pickup truck and dragged him two miles, tearing him to pieces. They were brought to justice. Two were executed and the other sentenced to life imprisonment without parole What turns 3 young men into hate filled, callous monsters? How can we explain why the Klu Klux Klan later placed a KKK sticker on his grave 2 years later. Where does such hatred come from? Is racism learned?
Learning Tragedies like this show us the dark side of human learning, but racism and hatred are learned behaviours. Phobias, superstitions, love, generosity etc are also learnt. What is learned can be unlearned.
Learning:- What do these scenarios have in common? • They are a diverse collection of events, • They all involve learning of some kind, • Learning refers to any relatively enduring change in either: • our potential to perform particular behaviours, • our knowledge that results from experience.
The study of Learning • The study of learning includes: • Imprinting (Learning that occurs very early in life) • Habituation (Can you habituate to a new smell in your home, like fresh paint?) SACE psychology will focus on these three • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning • Learning by:- insight, observation, instruction
Learning Learning is explained through the: BASIC PROCESSES LEVEL OF EXPLANATION The psychological processes underlying behaviour Learning Cognitions Memory Perception
Learning Why have psychologists studied learning in animals?
Learning in Animals The ‘Theory of Evolution’ • (Charles Darwin 1859) proposed that all species evolved through a process of natural selection. • Psychology in the late 19th Century, was influenced by Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. An understanding of ‘basic processes’ such as sensation, perception, learning and memory could be gained by studying animals.
Theories on Learning Based on 3 assumptions • Experience shapes behaviour • Most responses are learned and not innate • The migration of birds is instinctive, but “schoolies week” at Victor Harbour is not • Learning is adaptive • Behaviours useful to the organism are reproduced because of their consequences (survival) • Systematic experimentation can uncover laws of learning
Learning in Animals Classical Conditioning • Ivan Pavlov’s “classical conditioning” in dogs was a powerful influence on the study of learning in animals
Classical Conditioning Stage 2 Psychology Marden Senior College
Classical Conditioning • Classical conditioning is the forming of associations between two stimuli that are normally unrelated. • Ivan Pavlov first demonstrated classical conditioning whilst studying digestion in dogs.
Classical Conditioning Pavlov’s experiment
Classical Conditioning An apparatus for Pavlovian conditioning. A tube carries saliva from the dog’s mouth to a lever that activates a recording device (far left). During conditioning, various stimuli can be paired with a dish of food placed in front of the dog. The device pictured here is more elaborate than the one Pavlov used in his early experiments.
Classical Conditioning:-Key terms • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) is a stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response (UCR) without previous conditioning. • Unconditioned Response (UCR) is an unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that occurs without previous conditioning. • Neutral Stimulus (NS) is a stimulus that, before conditioning, does not naturally bring about the response of interest. • Conditioned Stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that, through repeated pairings with an (UCS), now causes a conditioned response (CR) • Conditioned Response (CR) is a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus (CS) that occurs because of previous repeated pairings with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Classical Conditioning Activities Use this link to see how classical conditioning works To open this activity load the CD Rom “In Psych”, go to Chapter 7 (Basic Principles of Learning) and use the “activity link”
Classical Conditioning What has dogs salivating to the sound of a bell have to do with your life? Classical conditioning has been shown to be the most fundamental way that all animals (including humans) learn most new responses, emotions and attitudes
Classical Conditioning Your love for your parents (or significant other) is the result of classical conditioning
Factors Affecting Classical Conditioning Stimulus Contiguity: (The time between presentation of the CS & UCS) • Stimuli are contiguous if they occur together in time and space • Contiguity relates to the association of stimuli that repeatedly occur together in time • Maximal classical conditioning, occurs when the CS precedes the UCS. (Allows time for the organism to prepare) • During maximal conditioning, the CS begins just before the UCS and stops at the same time as the UCS • Theory states that this should be no more than 0.5 second.
Contingency in classical conditioning means the predictability of the occurrence of one stimulus from the presence of another. For example..... A flash of lightning usually, is followed by the sound of thunder. Thus, if you see lightning, you might put your hands over your ears or lean away in anticipation of the thunder
Factors Affecting Classical Conditioning Contingency For Pavlov, the key variable in associative learning was the number of times the CS was paired with the UCS. As the number of pairings increases, the strength of the association between CS and UCS increases. This was because the CS became a more reliable signal that the UCS was going to occur. In classical conditioning, if the CS is paired with the UCS, then the UCS is contingent (conditional) on the CS. You can predict from .
Factors Affecting Classical Conditioning Individuals learning history • Prior learning can hinder learning Preparedness (to learn) • The organism’s biological readiness to learn certain associations • Some responses can be conditioned much more readily to certain stimuli than others • The biologically wired readiness to learn some associations more easily than others.
Factors Affecting Classical Conditioning Preparedness (to learn) • Phobias of spiders and snakes are more common than phobias of automobiles. • BUT we are 10000 times more likely to die at the wheel of a car than by the bite of a spider or snake or to have experienced a car accident than a snake bite??? We are not prepared for the social consequences of an accident. • Survival in Nature:- learning to avoid poisonous insects, plants etc in order to survive.
Principles of Classical Conditioning • Stimulus Discrimination:-a CR does not occur to stimuli that are different to the original CS based on the difference of these stimuli to the CS • Stimulus Generalisationn:- a CR occurs to stimuli other than the original CS based on the similarity of these stimuli to the CS • Extinction:- occurs when a CS is presented without the UCS causing the CR to weaken and eventually stop occurring. • Spontaneous Recovery- the reappearance of a previously extinguished CR after a period of time has passed following extinction
Stimulus Generalisation: ‘Little Albert’ • Stimulus Generalisation: Stimuli are generalized when they are similar to the originally conditioned stimulus. The more similar a stimulus is to the CS, the more lokely generalization will occur.
Stimulus Generalisation: Have you ever felt afraid when driving a car, and in your rear mirror you notice a white Falcon or Commodore following you, with a rack of spotlights on its roof? Stimulus Generalisation: If so, your fear of police cars (which typically have spotlights on their roofs) has generalised to all cars with spotlights.
Stimulus Discrimination: • Stimulus Discrimination occurs when an organism that has a learned response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus. You learn to discriminate between the sound of your mobile phone and the ringing of others.
Extinction • Extinction is the gradual weakening or suppression of a previously conditioned response . If you have a classically conditioned fear of a dentist’s drill and later start working as a dental assistant, your fear would gradually diminish.
Spontaneous Recovery • Spontaneous Recovery the reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a period of non-exposure to the conditioned stimulus Couples who have recently broken up sometimes misinterpret and overvalue a similar sudden ‘flare-up’ of feelings and return to doomed relationships.
Prejudice can be classically conditioned RacismSexismHomophobiaReligious intolerance
Other examples of Classical Conditioning • Taste Aversions • Associating tastes with unpleasant feelings such as nausea • The smell of eggs, coffee often trigger nausea in pregnant women • Cancer patients associating nausea (from the chemotherapy) with foods eaten soon after treatment • Emotional Responses • Smiling when you hear a song • Sweating when you are about to do an exam • Phobias • Advertising
Operant Conditioning Stage 2 Psychology Marden Senior College
A Psychology Experiment A very shy guy goes into a bar and sees a beautiful woman sitting at the bar. After an hour of gathering up his courage, he finally goes over to her and asks, tentatively, "Um, would you mind if I chatted with you for a while?"She responds by yelling, at the top of her lungs, "NO! I won't sleep with you tonight!" Everyone in the bar is now staring at them. Naturally, the guy is hopelessly and completely embarrassed and he slinks back to his table.After a few minutes, the woman walks over to him and apologizes. She smiles at him and says, "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you. You see, I'm a graduate student in psychology, and I'm studying how people respond to embarrassing situations."To which he responds, at the top of his lungs, "What do you mean $200?!“
Operant Conditioning Have you ever told a joke and no one laughed? OR When you tell a joke to your friends they usually laugh. Would any of the scenarios above change the frequency of your “joke telling”? If I got a smile from a few of you after you read my joke (or I could have told you it), I may be tempted to tell a few more jokes. However if I got lots of frowns or ridicule, I am unlikely to show you jokes in the future
