Learning Theory

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Chapter 8

• Learning Theory
• Part 2

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Pop Quizzes So Far This Exam
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What is Learning?
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Learning Defined

• A relatively permanent change in the behavior of
  an organism due to experience

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Classical Conditioning

• Pavolov (p. 316)
• (Review)

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What was Pavlovs Original Field of Study?

• Physiology

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Figure 8.3 P. 317
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Pavlovs Research
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Prior to Conditioning
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After Conditioning
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Basic Concepts

• Unconditioned
• US Unconditioned Stimulus the US reliably
  produces the UR
• UR Unconditioned response usually based in
  physiology such as salivation, sweating,
  blinking, or other reflexive responses

• Conditioned
• CS Conditioned Stimulus a CS is a neutral
  stimulus prior to conditioning but produces CR
  after conditioning
• CR Conditioned Response same type of response
  as UR but occurs in response to CS

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Acquisition

• Know that re-acquisition of a learned behavior is
  typically faster than initial acquisition of that
  same learned behavior

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Acquisition and Re-Acquisition

• I havent done it in years, but I picked it up
  almost immediately.
• Bad habits can resume with the same intensity as
  they had when initial efforts to extinguish them
  began
• If addiction is drug seeking behavior, then
  what implications for addiction?

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Extinction

• What is it?

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Extinction

• Diminished Responding When the CS No Longer
  Signals an Impending US

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Extinction

• Said Differently When the CS is no longer
  paired with the US (p. 319)

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Extinction

• Makayla developed an intense fear of flying five
  years ago when she was in a plane crash. The
  fact that she can again fly without distress
  indicates that her fear has undergone ______?

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Generalization
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Generalization

• The tendency to respond to a stimulus similar to
  the CS. (p. 320)

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Generalization

• Pavlov and his students noticed that a dog
  conditioned to the sound of one tone also
  responded somewhat to the sound of a different
  tone never paired with food.

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Generalization

• Generalization can be adaptive, as when toddlers
  taught to fear moving cars in the street resond
  similarly to trucks and motorcycles.

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Generalization Examples (p. 320)

• Toddlers, cars, motorcycles, trucks
• Argentine Writer who was tortured black shoes.
• Abused Children and Angry Face of Unknown
  Strangers
• All of these are in the text on p. 320

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Generalization Examples (p. 320)

• What diagnosis is associated with Stimulus
  Generalization?

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Generalization Examples (p. 320)

• PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

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CC and PTSD PopQuiz

• 14. Months after she was attacked and robbed,
  Courtneys heart pounds with fear merely at the
  sight of the place in which she was attacked.
  The location of here attack is most likely a(n)
  ____________
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS-US-UR/CR)

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Discrimination

• The learned ability to distinguish between a two
  similar conditions (p. 320)(One is the CS One
  is not)

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Discrimination

• Pit Bulls v. Golden Retrievers (p. 320)
• What other examples of discrimination?

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Discrimination (Tones)
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Applications of Classical Conditioning (p. 324)

• Former Crack Cocaine Users Triggers
• Alcohol Use and Consequences
• Taste that accompanies drug immune response
• What else?

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Operant Conditioning (p. 326)

• Target behavior operates on the environment to
  produce rewarding or punishing behavior

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Operant v. Classical
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Operant Conditioning v. Classical Conditioning
(p. 326)

• Operant Conditioning
• Operates on Environment
• In theory, the organism can choose to respond
  or not
• r-R
• Reinforcement FOLLOWS response (AFTER)
• Skinner

• Classical Conditioning
• Response to Environment
• Organism doesnt have any control
• CS-US-UR Produces CR
• Conditioned Stimulus PRECEDES response (Before)
• Pavlov

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Classical v. Operant p. 339
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Respondent v. Operant (Popquiz)

• Bandura Pavlov
• Skinner Bandura
• Bandura Skinner
• Pavlov Skinner

• The study of respondent behavior is to __________
  as the study of operant behavior is to ___________

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Operant Conditioning Reinforcement v. Punishment

• A reinforcer is any stimulus that increases the
  frequency of the target behavior
• A punishment is any stimulus that decreases the
  frequency of the target behavior

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Operant Conditioning Reinforcement v. Punishment

• Skinners Work was Built on Thorndikes
• From last time, remember the Law of Effect?
  (p. 327)

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Skinner Built on Thorndike
B. F. Skinners work elaborated what E. L.
Thorndike called

• Shaping
• Observational learning
• Latent learning
• The law of effect

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Thorndike, Again (Video)
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Thorndike, Again (Graphic, p. 327)
Trial and Error Successive Trials Resulted in
Faster Responses
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Operant Conditioning

• Skinner Boxes (p. 327)

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Operant Conditioning Skinner Boxes

• Skinner developed a special tool to study operant
  conditioning called an operant chamber
• Virtually everyone calls an operant chamber a
  Skinner Box
• Can you think of any real life Skinner Boxes?
• What about Video Poker?
• What about certain webpages?

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Operant Conditioning Skinner Boxes (p. 327)
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Skinner Boxes (Again)
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Operant Conditioning Skinner Boxes

• Can you think of any real life Skinner Boxes?
• What about Video Poker?
• What about certain webpages
• What other examples?

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Operant Conditioning Skinner Boxes

• What is Second Life? Do people get lost in it?
• What about World of Warcraft?
• What about other websites? MySpace? Facebook?
• What other examples?

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Operant Conditioning Reinforcement v. Punishment

• A reinforcer is any stimulus that increases the
  frequency of the target behavior
• A punishment is any stimulus that decreases the
  frequency of the target behavior

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Reinforcement Two Types (p. 329)
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What about Addiction?

• Dragging on a cigarette will reduce a nicotine
  addicts pangs. (p. 329)
• Negative Reinforcement

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Punishment Two Types

• Positive Punishment ADDs a stimulus (similar to
  Positive Reinforcement) Example Electric Shock
• Negative Punishment SUBTRACTs a stimulus

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Punishment Two Types
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Operant Conditioning

• Shaping (and Auto-Shaping)

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Operant Conditioning Shaping

• An operant conditioning procedure in which
  reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and
  closer approximations of the target behavior (p.
  329)

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Operant Conditioning Successive Approximations

• Responses that are progressively closer to the
  final target behavior are reinforced other
  behaviors are ignored (p. 329)

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Operant Conditioning Successive Approximations

• Criminality lie, cheat, steal, property crimes,
  crimes to person (assault, robbery, rape, murder)
• Caffeine, Nicotine, Alcohol, THC, Cocaine /
  Heroin, etc.

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Doobie Brothers

• What Were Once Vices are Now Habits

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Operant Conditioning Successive Approximations

• Animal Training (please read the book)
• Shaping and Whinning Children
• Shaping and Development of Athletic Skill

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Operant Conditioning Continuous v. Partial
Reinforcement

• Behavior is most quickly established by
  Continuous Reinforcement
• Continuous Reinforcement most vulnerable to
  Extinction
• Partial Reinforcement is most resistant to
  Extinction (p. 331)

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So What?
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Operant Conditioning Continuous v. Partial
Reinforcement

• Use Continuous Reinforcement During Autoshaping /
  Establishment of Behavior
• Switch to Partial Reinforcement once the behavior
  is established
• Lean Schedules are most resistant to extinction

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Ratio Schedules

• Fixed-ratio schedule Reinforces a response only
  after a specified number of responses. e.g.,
  piecework pay.
• Variable-ratio schedule Reinforces a response
  after an unpredictable number of responses. This
  is hard to extinguish because of the
  unpredictability. (e.g., behaviors like gambling,
  fishing.)

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Interval Schedules

• Fixed-interval schedule Reinforces a response
  only after a specified time has elapsed. (e.g.,
  preparing for an exam only when the exam draws
  close.)
• Variable-interval schedule Reinforces a response
  at unpredictable time intervals, which produces
  slow, steady responses. (e.g., pop quiz.)

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Fixed Variable / Ratio Interval

• A fixed ratio of continuous reinforcement most
  quickly establishes the target behavior
• But a variable interval schedule of partial
  reinforcement will produce the most steady
  responding
• What is video poker and other gambling? (p.
  332)

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Figure 8.10 Reinforcement Schedules (p. 331)
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On the first day of class Professor Wallace tells
her geography students that pop quizzes will be
given at unpredictable times throughout the
semester. Clearly, studying for Professor
Wallaces surprise quizzes will be reinforce on a
__________ schedule.

• Variable-Interval

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Problems with Skinners Model

• Evidence for Cognitive Maps and Latent
  Learning is accumulating (p. 334)
• Intrinsic Motivation v. Extrinsic
  Motivation(p. 335)
• But, is it really a reinforcer if it decreases
  the frequency of the target behavior?
• Biological Predispostions (pp. 335-336)

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But

• Skinners Work has revolutionized many lives

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Skinners Legacy (pp. 336-337)

• Skinners Ideas Provide a Theoretical Foundation
  for modern Computer Based Training
• Workplaces have been revolutionized by having
  productivity defined in specific and measurable
  terms
• Behavior Modification in Treatment Settings
• B-Mod and MRDD

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Observational Learning

• Albert Bandura and Social Learning Theory
  (SLT)(p. 343 et seq)

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Banduras SLT

• Gave us the idea of modeling behavior
• No S-R, r-R, or other paradigm
• Explains Copycat Events (Like Columbine
  Copycats)
• Basis of criticism of TV Violence, Violent
  Videogames

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In a well-known experiment, preschool children
pounded and kicked a large inflated Bobo doll
that an adult had just beaten on. This
experiment served to illustrate the importance of

• Observational Learning (p. 343)

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Finis