Learning

1
Learning

• How do we change our behaviors?
• How do we cause others to change their behaviors?

2
Associationism

• Fundamentally, all learning involves the creation
  of associations between stimuli we perceive and
  the appropriate responses.
• The study of learning is the study of how those
  associations are created and changed.

3
Types of learning

• Habituation
• Classical conditioning
• Operant condition
• Cognitive learning

4
Habituation

• Habituation is where we become so used to a
  stimulus that we no longer consciously process
  it We learn to ignore it
• Noises near your apartment
• Smells near your house
• The annoying behaviors of children and animals

5
Classical Conditioning

• Learn a direct association between a stimulus (S)
  and a response (R)
• Responses are unconditioned reflexes (UR) brought
  about by an unconditioned stimulus (US).
• We pair the conditioned stimulus (CS) with the US
  so that the UR is brought about by the CS, at
  which point we say it is a conditioned response
  (CR)

6
Operant Conditioning

• We learned the association between a behavior and
  an effect - reinforcement.
• Positive The introduction of something good
• Negative The removal of something good
• Punishment The introduction of something bad
• Escape The removal of something bad

7
Law of Effect

• As an organism undergoes operant conditioning,
  its tendency to make the proper response will
  increase.
• Shaping Molding a desired series of behaviors
  through successive approximation

8
Reinforcement schedules

• How do you get an animal to do something
  repeatedly?
• Fixed ratio
• Variable ratio
• Fixed interval
• Variable interval

9
Conditioned reinforcement

• Certain things that we covet, like grades or
  money, have no intrinsic value.
• Why do we covet these things?
• Second-order reinforcement