Learning

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Learning

• Havent we already talked about this???
• Whats the difference between
• Learning
• Knowledge
• Memory
• Education
• Training

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Learning

• any relatively permanent change in behavior
  that occurs because of experience (Wade
  Tavris, 2005, p. 285)

any relatively permanent change in behavior
that occurs because of experience (Wade
Tavris, 2005, p. 285)
Butwhat about new information? Ideas? Memories?
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The study of learning has been heavily dominated
by

• Behaviorism

The study of observable relationships between the
behavior and the environment. To a behaviorist,
if you cant see it and measure it, theres no
point in talking about it.
Conditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning
stimulus
response
Operant Conditioning
Consequence
behavior
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Classical Conditioning
An accidental discovery by Ivan Pavlovs graduate
students

• Pavlovs Dog

http//nobelprize.org/medicine/educational/pavlov/
index.html
http//nobelprize.org/medicine/educational/pavlov/
index.html
CSbell
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Response (R)
Rdrooling
UCSfood
Pavlov was studying salivation. The dogs were
studying food.
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Have you ever been classically conditioned?
CS?
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Response (R)
Rfeeling sick?
UCS?
Rhungry?
Ranxious?
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Conditioning Fear

• John B. Watson trained Little Albert to be
  afraid of white mice

CSmouse
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Response (R)
Rfear/crying
UCSnoise
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Stimulus Generalization

• John B. Watson trains Little Albert to be
  afraid of bearded men

CS mouse anything like a mouse
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Response (R)
Rfear/crying
UCSnoise
People who have chemotherapy begin to feel sick
at the sight of things related to their
chemotherapy (nurses uniforms the room the
hallway)
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Stimulus Discrimination

• Learning to tell the difference between stimuli

CS yellow hallway - drooling
CS blue hallway no drooling
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Response (R)
Rfear/crying
UCSfood
People who have chemotherapy begin to feel sick
at the sight of things related to their
chemotherapy (nurses uniforms the room the
hallway)
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Extinction

• Stopping the reaction
• How many times do you have to ring the bell
  without food to get the drooling to stop?

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Operant Conditioning

• What is a consequence?

Operant Conditioning
Consequence
behavior
Neutral consequences have no effect on behavior
Reinforcers increase behavior
Punishers decrease behavior
Note! Not all reinforcers are rewards and not
all rewards are reinforcers. Examples???
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Reinforcement Schedules
Intermittent Once in a while (or every nth time)
Continuous every single time
How do we reinforce
Lottery ticket buyers
Dogs at the dinner table
Tantrum-throwers
Speeders
Skinners shaping of behavior
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Does punishment change behavior?

• Sometimes. If
• Immediate.
• Consistent.
• Note Harsher doesnt help. Mild punishment works
  just as well.

• Punishment does not work when

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Why punishment fails

• Causes anxiety, fear, rage
• These are not good conditions for learning. Too
  much anxiety, too little information.
• Stops working when the punishment goes away
• Can I get away with it? INSTEAD OF Is this a
  good idea?
• Cant be immediate enough or specific enough
• The dog who eats the box of treats while youre
  at work has been rewarded 50 times before you get
  home to punish him.
• Doesnt convey information about what to do
• May be an accidental reinforcer

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Social-Cognitive Learning Theory

• Behaviorism (yes, we are conditioned, but)

The environment is the environment we perceive,
so

• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Expectations
• Mean that a stimulus or consequence will be
  different for different people

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Observational learning
We are able to learn by watching others.
but we dont learn everything we watch others do
Why do we start smoking? Why dont we start
smoking?

• Social cognitive theory helps explain this.
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Expectations

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Are behaviorists still around?

• Do you ever see systems of reinforcement and
  punishment?
• Cognitive behavioral therapy
• Behaviorists never said thinking didnt happen,
  only that there was no sense in trying to study
  it. What kind of research would Skinner be doing
  today?