Learning Chapter 7

1. LearningChapter 7

2. Learning • Behavior • You learn by observing • Change • Connections between neurons are formed • Relatively enduring • Change is usually permanent • Practice and experience • Reinforces

3. Learning • Stimulus – produces activity in an organism • Anything perceived by the senses – smell, touch, taste, sight, hearing • Response – reaction of an organism to a stimulus • Stimulus: Bright light • Response: Close/cover your eyes

4. Aristotle • Greek philosopher • 4th Century B. C. • Laws of Association • Associations are mental connections between two stimuli

5. Ivan Pavlov • Russian psychologist • Won the Nobel Peace Prize • Classical Conditioning • Studied the role of the salivary glands in digestion

6. Natural Response • Unconditioned Response (UCR) • unlearned, occurs naturally, no conditioning or training are needed in order to produce this response • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) • the stimulus that causes the UCR

7. Conditioned Stimulus and Response • Conditioned response (CR) • Learned response • Conditioned stimulus (CS) • A stimulus presented that wouldn’t normally cause a certain response

8. Pavlov’s Experiment • What happens when a dog is given food ? • Gets excited, jumps around, salivates • What happens when you ring a bell? • Gets excited jumps around, no salivating • What happens if every time you give a dog food you rang a bell? • The dog will eventually salivate • What happens now if you ring the bell? • The dog will salivate

9. Pavlov’s Experiment • UCS • Food • UCR • Salivation • CS • Bell • CR • Salivation • Why does the dog now salivate to the sound of the bell? • The dog has learned to associate the bell with food – he learned something!

10. Pavlov’s Observations • The following 4 areas play a role in classical conditioning • Time between CS and UCS • Repetition • Extinction • Generalization and discrimination

11. Applications of Classical Conditioning • 1. Counterconditioning • Changing a negative response to a positive one • 2. Flooding • Having a person face their fear continuously • 3. Desensitization • Gradually exposing a person to something they fear

12. Operant Conditioning • A behavior is learned in connection with a reward or punishment

13. E.L. Thorndike • Operant conditioning • Placed a cat in a “puzzle box” • One lever in the box would open the door • The cat would claw around and eventually find the lever • Once the door opened the cat was able to get out and received a reward (food) • The cat was put back in the box, it would claw around again and find the lever, get out of the box and receive the reward • After a number of trials the cat new exactly where to go to get his reward

14. B.F. Skinner • Behavior psychologist • Respondent behavior • The response that is involuntary, it doesn’t have to be learned, it happens automatically • Operant behavior • Voluntary behavior, choosing to do something • Reinforcement • Encourages or discourages a behavior

15. Principles of Operant Conditioning • Any response followed by a reinforcing stimulus tends to be repeated • A stimulus is considered reinforcing when it increases the rate of an operant behavior

16. Primary and Secondary Reinforcements • Primary • A stimulus that is tied to some aspect of survival (food, water) • Secondary • A stimulus that is not necessary for survival, (money, praise)

17. Changes in Operant Conditioning • Generalization • when stimuli are similar but not identical, and the CR still occurs • Discrimination • learning the difference between two similar stimuli • Extinction • getting rid of a response

18. Shaping • A method of refining a behavior by reinforcing behaviors that are close to the desired behavior • Eventually the reinforcements will lead to the actual desired behavior

19. Chaining • Teaching steps to a desired behavior separately • Once each behavior is linked together you get the actual desired behavior

20. Schedules of Reinforcement • How often must a person receive reinforcement for a behavior to continue? • Fixed Schedule • Given consistently • Variable Schedule • Given at different rates or times

21. Schedules of Reinforcement • Ratio Schedule • Based on the number of times a behavior occurs and the rate at which it’s reinforced • Interval Schedule • Reinforcement is given after a specific amount of time

22. Biology of Conditioning • Taste Aversion • Develop a dislike for a particular food if it resulted in an illness (biological preparedness) • Adaptive behavior • Instinctual Drift • Instincts • We drift towards certain things because of inborn tendencies

23. Latent Learning • Edward Tolman • Individuals interact with the environment • Form associations between two different stimuli • Cognitive maps – associations made previously that can be used at a later time • Latent learning – using a previously learned behavior at a later time, but when you learned it, it wasn’t obvious that you could use it for something else

24. Insight Learning • Wolfgang Kohler • Figuring out a method or behavior • Placed chimpanzees in cages with bananas hanging from the ceiling • In the cages were several boxes • Chimps tried jumping and climbing to get to the bananas • After a while they studied the boxes • They then stacked the boxes, climbed on top and got the bananas

25. Cognitive Theories • Cognition • Thinking • Memory formation • Learning • Problem solving

26. Jean Piaget • French psychologist • Mental abilities develop as a function of biological development & experience • Schemas contain info. About • Objects • Actions • Events • Relationships • Example: Morning routine

27. Jean Piaget • Children are already born with certain schema • Suck • Reach • Look • Grasp

28. Stages of Cognitive Development • 1. Sensorimotor (birth-2 years) • Differentiates self from objects • Object permanence – things continue to exist even when they are no longer present to the senses • 2. Preoperational (2-7 years) • Use language, represent objects with words

29. Stages of Cognitive Development • 3. Concrete operational (7-12) • Think logically • Classifies objects by several features (size, color, shape) • 4. Formal operational (12 & up) • Become concerned with the hypothetical, the present, and the future

30. Factors Affecting Learning • Meaningfulness • Words or ideas that have personal meaning • Transfer • Learning new information, but being able to use it in real world situations • Chemical Influence • Stimulants – caffeine, soda, coffee – inc. brain chemicals and may allow for more rapid learning • Depressants – alcohol – reduce nerve firing and the potential for learning

31. Social or Observational Learning • Albert Bandura • Direct experience • Vicarious experience - observing

32. Bandura’s Research • Divided preschool children into 2 groups • One watched a film of an adult playing quietly with a doll • The other watched a film of an adult playing aggressively with the doll • Punching, kicking, throwing it around the room • Later, when the children were allowed to play with toys, those who had seen the more aggressive film were more than twice as likely to act aggressively

33. Processes in Observational Learning Acquisition or modification of a behavior after at least one exposure to the behavior • Attention • Retention • Motor Reproduction Processes • Motivation

34. Violence in the Media • Observational Learning • Media violence can encourage violent behavior • Children brought up in a home where there is no aggressive behavior or punishment are usually less likely to exhibit violent behaviors seen in the media.

35. Current Approaches • Individual differences in cognitive processes • The big picture • Minor details • Hands-on • Think or reasoning

36. Factors that Influence Learning • Emotions • Advantageous to learning • If emotions are overwhelming, little learning takes place • Evolutionary • Processes are inborn and are turned on by situations we face each day

37. Factors the Influence Learning • Culture • Values – learning depends on your family values • Perceptual Processes – how do you perceive what you come into contact with • Intelligence – varies among people