Learning 3: Social Cognitive Learning revenge of the rat'

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Learning 3 Social Cognitive Learning (revenge
of the rat).

• HP502 Lecture 9 (week 10).
• Dr Meredith McKague
• Room H206
• Phone [phone]
• Email m.mckague_at_ballarat.edu.au

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Learning Cognitive learning

• Contemporary views about classical and operant
  conditioning aim to put the mind back into
  learning
• That is there is a role for internal cognitive
  processes, even in non-human animals.
• The organism interprets (perceives, anticipates,
  "thinks" about) the stimulus before any response
  is made.
• This interpretation affects what they learn/how
  they behave.

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Cognitive learning.

• Thorndike concluded that animals did not use
  reasoning to learn.
• Edward Tolman (1989-1956) believed cognitive
  processes played an important role in learning
  complex behaviours, even in animals.
• Even though it is harder to demonstrate cognitive
  processes, they can be inferred indirectly using
  clever experimental techniques.

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Cognitive learning

• During the 1920s Tolman studied the problem
  solving strategies of rats in mazes.
• Rat placed in a start box, food reward placed
  in a goal box at the end of the maze.
• After several trials of running the maze, the rat
  would learn to get the goal quickly and with few
  errors.
• Tolman noted that rats sometimes took shortcuts
  to reach the goal.
• The rats had learned more than just a sequence of
  responses, they had stored a cognitive map of the
  maze.

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Cognitive maps.

• A cognitive map is a mental representation of a
  the spatial characteristics of a familiar
  environment.
• The rats could use their maps to reason about
  alternative routes to the goal.

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Latent learning

• Tolman challenged the traditional behaviorist
  account in another important way.
• With a classic experiment he demonstrated that
  learning could occur in the absence of rewards
  and punishments.

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Latent learning.

• Tolmans experiment.
• Three groups of rats in mazes.
• Group 1 No food rewards
• Group 2 food rewards
• Group 3 Delayed food rewards
• The rats in group 1 learned quickly.
• The rats in group 2 appeared not to learn
• The rats in group 3 also appeared not to learn,
  but when given a food reward on the 11th day,
  their performance equalled the performance of the
  rats in group 1.

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Maze used to study latent learning in rats.
Group A never received a food reward Group B was
rewarded each day Group C was not rewarded until
the 11th day.
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Latent learning.

• The rats in group three had learned the layout of
  the maze (stored a cognitive map) simply by
  exploring it for 10 days without rewards.
• Their learning was not demonstrated until a
  reward (goal) was introduced.
• Their learning was latent (hidden).
• Tolman's research showed rewards affect whether
  we show the behaviour we've learned.

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Cognitive learning Insight

• Wolfgang Kohler, a German psychologist, carried
  out a series of experiments with chimps during
  the first world war.
• Köhler took the ideas of Darwin that humans are
  part of the continuity of life and examined our
  closest living relative for clues to understand
  human as well as animal mental processes.

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Cognitive learning Insight

• Kohler constructed a series of problems for the
  chimps to solve, each of which involved obtaining
  food that was not directly accessible.
• For example A banana is dangled out of reach,
  and a stick is left in the cage by Kohler.
• The chimps frustration turns to insight as they
  use the stick to reach the banana.
• Sudden insight is the learning that occurs
  rapidly as a result of understanding all the
  elements of the problem.

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Cognitive learning Insight

• In another example, the chimp would need to
  insert a narrow stick into a thicker one to
  produce a tool long enough to reach food.
• While Köhlers star chimp, Sultan, did not
  immediately put two shorter sticks together to
  make one long one, he worked on the sticks for
  over an hour.
• When they had fitted together, Sultan immediately
  used the new tool to retrieve the bananas.
• This solution demonstrates insight recognizing
  the problem space rather than foresight.

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page www.pigeon.psy.tufts.edu/
psych26/history.htm
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Social Learning theory.

• Another example of the way in which human
  learning can occur indirectly, without direct
  reinforcement or punishment, is observational
  learning.
• Learning takes place through observing others.

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Expectancies.

• Expectancy theory (Rotter, 1954).
• Humans have expectations about the consequences
  of their behaviour that make them more or less
  likely to behave in certain ways.
• Locus of control of reinforcement
• Internal locus of control I am the master of my
  own destiny
• External locus of control What happens to me is
  a matter of chance.

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Expectancies.

• Explanatory style
• The way in which people make sense of bad events
  differs between individuals and plays a role in
  tendency towards depression (Peterson Seligman,
  1984).
• Pessimistic explanatory style belief that the
  cause of misfortune is internal to them resulting
  in low self esteem. These people view themselves
  an inherently flawed. The flaws are seen to be
  stable (unlikely to change) and general (wide
  impact).
• For example Failure on an exam because of
  inherent stupidity (stable, global) rather than
  that they just failed to study hard enough and
  could change the situation if they chose.

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Expectancies.

• Optimistic explanatory style Provide
  explanations for failure that permit hope and
  encourage further effort.
• Pessimistic people are actually more
  accurate/realistic about life than optimistic
  people, but the optimists are healthier and are
  likely to live longer (within limits).
• Optimists maintain positive illusions about
  themselves and their ability to control their
  environment (Taylor, et al., 2000).

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Social Learning theory.

• Albert Bandura is the psychologist most
  associated with the study of observational
  learning.
• Observational learning takes place through active
  judgement and constructive processes, not just
  mechanical imitation.

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Social Learning theory.

• A view of learning that emphasizes the ability to
  learn by observing a model or receiving
  instructions, without firsthand experience by the
  observer.
• Observational learning, also called vicarious
  learning, or modelling
• Learning through observing others.
• Observational learning is social learning
  because it involves interaction with other
  people.

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Social learning theory.

• Famous experiment investigating the imitation of
  aggressive behaviours in children (Bandura,
  1965).
• Four year old children watched a short film
  showing an adult playing aggressively with a Bobo
  doll (large inflated balloon doll).
• In one version the adults were reinforced with
  treats after performing the aggressive actions.
• In another version the adult was punished
  (scolding and spanking from another adult!).
• The final version had no consequences.

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Social learning theory.

• After the file each child played alone in a room
  with several toys, including a bobo doll.
• Observed through a one-way mirror.
• Children who observed punishment were much less
  likely to display aggression towards the bobo
  doll than the other two conditions.

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Social learning theory.

• Vicarious reinforcement and Vicarious punishment
• Vicarious means that the consequences are not
  experienced first hand by the learner, they are
  experienced through other people
• Teenager observing adults enjoying drinking
  experiences vicarious reinforcement for drinking.
• Much more likely to imitate the observed
  behavior.

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Social learning theory.

• Explanation much like Tolmans latent learning.
• Reinforcement is not necessary for learning.
• Rather the expectation for reinforcement affects
  the performance of what has been learned.

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Social learning theory.

• Banduras four cognitive processes for
  observational learnaing.
• Attention
• must attend to the other persons behavior.
• Memory
• must remember what they did (i.e., store a
  mental representation).
• Motor skills
• Transform the memory into actions.
• Motivation
• more likely to imitate a behaviour if there is an
  expectation that doing so will result in a reward.

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Learning Social Learning

• Social learning theory advances our understanding
  of how people learn by demonstrating that humans
  use their powers of observation and thought to
  interpret their experiences and those of others
  when deciding how to act.