Learning

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Learning

• Learning is defined as any relatively permanent
  change in behavior based upon experience

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Behaviorism

• Behaviorists are psychologists who insist that
  psychologists should study only observable,
  measurable behaviors, not mental processes.

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Behaviorism

• The assumptions of behaviorism
• Behaviorists are deterministic
• They assume that we live a universe of
  cause-and-effect
• If enough is known about an individuals
  experiences, influences, and genetics, we can
  predict that individuals behavior

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Behaviorism

• The assumptions of behaviorism
• Behaviorists believe that the environment plays a
  powerful role in molding behavior.
• strongest influence on behavior is outcome
• environment selects and perpetuates successful
  behaviors, much as evolution selects successful
  animals.
• Behaviorists dont deny the importance of
  heredity, but they dont emphasize it.

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Classical Conditioning

• Pavlov noticed that the dogs he used to do his
  research salivated upon the sight of the lab
  workers who fed them.

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Figure 6.2

• Figure 6.2 Pavlov used dogs for his experiments
  on classical conditioning and salivation. The
  experimenter rings a buzzer (CS), presents food
  (UCS), and measures the responses (CR and UCR).
  Pavlov collected saliva with a simple measuring
  pouch attached to the dogs cheek.

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Figure 6.3

• Figure 6.3 A conditioned stimulus precedes an
  unconditioned stimulus. At first the conditioned
  stimulus elicits no response, and the
  unconditioned stimulus elicits the unconditioned
  response. After sufficient pairings the
  conditioned stimulus begins to elicit the
  conditioned response, which can resemble the
  unconditioned response.

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Classical Conditioning

• Terminology
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) ? An event that
  consistently and automatically elicits an
  unconditioned response.
• Unconditioned Response (UCR) ? An action that the
  unconditioned stimulus automatically elicits.

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Classical Conditioning

• Terminology
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS) ? Formerly the neutral
  stimulus, now paired with unconditioned stimulus,
  elicits the same response.
• Conditioned Response (CR) ? The response elicited
  by the conditioned stimulus due to training.
  Usually it resembles the UCR.

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Classical Conditioning

• The processes of classical conditioning
• The process that establishes or strengthens a
  conditioned response is called acquisition.
• To extinguish a classically conditioned response,
  the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented
  without the unconditioned stimulus. This decrease
  and elimination is referred to as extinction.

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Classical Conditioning

• The processes of classical conditioning
• Extinction does not erase the association between
  the CS and the UCS.

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Classical Conditioning

• The processes of classical conditioning
• The temporary return of an extinguished response
  is called spontaneous recovery.

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Classical Conditioning

• The processes of classical conditioning
• Stimulus generalization is the extension of a
  conditioned response from the training stimulus
  to similar stimuli.

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Classical Conditioning

• The process of classical conditioning
• Discrimination is the process of learning to
  respond differently to two stimuli because they
  produce two different outcomes.

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Figure 6.8

• Figure 6.8 According to Pavlov (a) At the start
  of conditioning, activity in the UCS center
  automatically causes activation of the UCR
  center. (b) After sufficient pairings of the CS
  and UCS a connection develops between the CS and
  UCS centers. Afterward, activity in the CS center
  flows to the UCS center and therefore excites the
  UCR center.

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Table 6.2

• Table 6.2 Comparison of classical conditioning
  and operant conditioning

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Processes of Operant Conditioning

• Stimulus generalization occurs when a new
  stimulus is similar to the original reinforced
  stimulus. The more similar the new stimulus is
  to the old, the more strongly the subject is
  likely to respond.

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Processes of Operant Conditioning

• Discrimination occurs when someone is reinforced
  for responding to one stimulus but not another.
  The individual will respond more vigorously to
  one than to the other.

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B.F. Skinner and the Shaping of Behavior

• B.F. Skinner is considered to be the most
  influential of all radical behaviorists.

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Shaping Behavior

• Shaping establishes new responses by reinforcing
  successive approximations to it.
• Skinner used an operant chamber (referred to as
  a Skinner box by others) into which he put the
  animal he wished to train by shaping.
• Gradually the animal was reinforced for behaviors
  that approached the target activity until it
  fully performed the behavior.

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Increasing and Decreasing the Frequency of
Responses

• A reinforcement is an event that increases the
  probability that a response will be repeated.
• A punishment is an event that decreases the
  probability of a response.

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Reinforcement and Punishment

• Punishment tends to be ineffective except for
  temporarily suppressing undesirable behavior.
• Mild, logical, and consistent punishment can be
  informative and helpful.

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Reinforcements and Punishments

• The presentation of an event that strengthens or
  increases the likelihood of an event is called
  positive reinforcement.

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Reinforcements and Punishments

• Omission training occurs when the lack of a
  response produces reinforcement. Producing the
  response also leads to a lack of reinforcement.
• This is sometimes referred to as negative
  punishment.
• Parents tell a teenager that if she breaks curfew
  again, she will lose her driving privileges for a
  month.

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Reinforcements and Punishments

• Escape learning or active avoidance learning
  occurs if the responses lead to an escape from or
  an avoidance of something painful.
• This is sometimes referred to as negative
  reinforcement.
• A teenager cleans his room to avoid listening to
  any more of his dads nagging.
• A babysitter gives a cookie to a child to stop
  his whining.

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• A schedule of reinforcement is a set of rules of
  for delivery of reinforcement
• It is used to maintain a learned behavior that
  might be extinguished if reinforcement ceased.
• A continuous reinforcement schedule provides
  reinforcement every time a response occurs.
• However, outside of the laboratory, reinforcement
  rarely follows every occurrence of a desired
  behavior.

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• Most schedules of reinforcement are intermittent.
  In other words, some responses are reinforced and
  others are not.
• One of the two major categories of intermittent
  reinforcement is ratio, in which the delivery of
  reinforcement depends on the number of responses
  given by the individual.
• The second category of intermittent reinforcement
  is interval, in which delivery of reinforcement
  depends on the amount of time that has passed
  since the last reinforcement.

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• A fixed-ratio schedule provides reinforcement
  only after a certain (fixed) number of correct
  responses have been made. For example, a
  laboratory rat being reinforced for hitting a
  lever after every 5 hits is being reinforced on
  an FR-5 schedule.
• The local gourmet coffee shop gives you a card
  that says if you buy 9 coffee drinks you will get
  the 10th beverage for free.

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• A variable-ratio schedule provides reinforcement
  after a variable number of correct responses,
  usually working out to an average in the long
  run. For example, a baseball player who has a
  .333 batting average is reinforcing fans with
  hits on a VR-3 schedule.
• Slot machines, like all gambling, provide a
  particularly compelling form of variable ratio
  reinforcement to the player.

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• A fixed-interval schedule provides reinforcement
  for the first response made after a specific time
  interval. A person who is paid every two weeks is
  reinforced for work on a fixed interval schedule.
• You receive your local newspaper at the same time
  every day. You probably have a good idea of when
  to start checking for it. This is a fixed
  interval schedule.

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Schedules of Reinforcement

• A variable-interval schedule provides
  reinforcement after a variable amount of time has
  elapsed.
• If your newspaper delivery person is very
  inconsistent about delivery times, showing up one
  day at 500AM, the next day at 730AM, etc., your
  paper is delivered on a variable interval
  schedule.

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Social Learning

• The social-learning approach, defined by Albert
  Bandura, states that we learn many behaviors
  before we attempt them for the first time.
• Two of the chief components of social learning
  are modeling and imitation.

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Social Learning

• Banduras studies children watched films of real
  people and cartoon characters either attacked an
  inflated Bobo doll or did not
• Children who saw the versions of the films with
  aggressive behavior were more likely

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Vicarious Reinforcement and Punishment

• This substitution of someone elses experiences
  for ones own is referred to as vicarious
  reinforcement or punishment.