Learning

1. Learning

2. What is Learning? • A relatively permanent change in knowledge or behaviour as a result of an experience • Relatively = it can be changed by future experience • It is flexible and can adapt to different circumstances • Most human thought and behaviour is the result of learning

3. Different Kinds of Learning • Learning happens in different ways • There are 2 types of learning: • Conditioned: learning behavioural patterns as the result of the presence of an environmental stimulus • Classical Conditioning – learning about associations between stimuli and responses • Operant Conditioning – learning about associations between behaviours and their consequences • Observational: learning of behavioural patterns as the result of watching and observing people who act as models

4. Classical Conditioning

5. What is Conditioned Learning? • Learned behaviour that occurs in the presence of a particular environmental stimulus • Examples: you have learned to return a smile when someone smiles at you – even if they are strangers

6. What is a Stimulus? • An object/event that produces a response • Examples: food, a smile, parking tickets, etc.

7. Classical Conditioning • Classical Conditioning takes a response to a particular stimulus, and causes that same response to occur with another stimulus through repeatedly pairing the new stimulus with the original one • It is the transfer of a natural response from one stimulus to another stimulus • Example: feeling tired when you watch a documentary film; feeling tired in HSP when you watch a documentary film; feeling tired in HSP • Ivan Pavlov was the first to introduce the idea of Classical Conditioning

8. Pavlov’s Dog Experiment 1. Pavlov attached tubes to the side of the dogs’ mouth so that he could monitor saliva production when eating. 2. Pavlov noticed the dogs began to salivate before they were given food (salivating at the sound of their feeder’s footsteps coming or food dishes rattling). 3. Pavlov wanted to find out if he could condition dogs to salivate for things that had never been associated with food before; he began to ring a bell when food was brought to the dogs. 4. In the beginning, the bell did nothing. However, after repeatedly ringing the bell every time food came, Pavlov was able to make the dogs salivate when they heard a bell, even when no food was around. Pavlov had conditioned the dogs!

11. The 4 Main Components of Classical Conditioning • Unconditioned stimulus (US): a stimulus that causes a natural response without prior learning (i.e. you don’t learn to make tears when you cut an onion – it just happens. Therefore, an onion is an example of a US) • Unconditioned response (UR): an automatic/natural response that is caused by an unconditioned stimulus without prior learning (i.e. when your eyes water when you are cutting an onion, it is an UR) • US (onion)  UR (eyes water) • Conditioned stimulus(CS): a neutral stimulus that, after repeated pairing with an US, becomes associated with the US and causes a conditioned response (i.e. if a certain song (CS) was played every time you chopped onions (US), your eyes would begin to water every time you heard the song, even without onions) • Conditioned response (CR): a response that is caused by a conditioned stimulus as a result of its repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus (i.e. when your eyes water from hearing the song (CS) you always hear when you chop onions (US), the watering of your eyes in the conditioned response. • US (onion) + CS (song)  UR (eyes water) • CS (song)  CR (eyes water)

12. Operant Conditioning

13. What is Operant Conditioning? • States that behaviour can be conditioned by using positive reinforcements (rewards) or negative reinforcements (punishments) • Positive reinforcement (reward): an event, situation, or condition that increases the likelihood that a certain behaviour will continue to occur • Negative reinforcement (punishment): an event, situation, or condition that decreases the likelihood that a certain behaviour will continue to occur

14. It has been argued that positive reinforcements are more effective than punishments in changing behaviour • Punishments may stop the unwanted behaviour at the moment, but is less successful in preventing it over the long run • With the threat of punishment removed, undesirable behaviour may return • Punishments do not indicate what behaviour is wanted; only what isn’t wanted

15. B.F. Skinner and the Rat Experiment • Skinner wanted to see if Pavlov’s experiment with stimulus and response could be applied to complex behaviours • Experiment: 1. Put rat into a cage that was equipped with a bar that, when pushed, would dispense a pellet of food 2. As the rat moved around the cage, it eventually pressed the bar, thus receiving a pellet of food 3. As the rat continued to press the bar, it continued to receive a pellet of food 4. Soon the rat was pushing the bar constantly – showing that it had been conditioned to press the bar when it wanted food

17. Observational Learning

18. What is Observational Learning? • Observational Learning states that people learn through observing people who act as models • It is particularly important among young children • Most of our early skills are learned through observation • Albert Bandura demonstrated observational learning through an experiment using a Bobo Doll

19. There are 4 crucial processes to observational learning: • Attention: to learn through observation, you must be able to pay attention to the behaviour and actions of others • Retention: you must be able to store a mental representation of what is observed in your memory • Reproduction: you need to be able to convert your stored memory into action – this may require practice and/or the return to the previous two staged (attention or retention) • Motivation: you must be motivated in order to practice the skill – you need to believe that the skill is useful or important to you