Learning

Classical conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov (Respondent Behavior)

Classical Conditioning

• Unconditioned Stimulus(UCS) = Meat

• Unconditioned Response (UCR)=Salivation

• Neutral Stimulus = Tone

• Conditioned Stimulus (CS) = Tone When paired with the unconditioned stimulus

• Conditioned response (CR) = Salivation to tone

Example

Example

Example

• Father spanks son for swearing.

• Son develops a strong fear of his father. Father is a(n) _____________? Conditioned stimulus

Classical Conditioning

• Acquisition

• Extinction Patient riding elevators to extinguish fear of

elevators

Spontaneous recovery

Generalization

Operant Conditioning

• B.F. Skinner (Operant behavior)

• Associating behavior with its consequences

• E.g. Seals in an aquarium doing a trick to receive a fish.

Reinforcement

• Positive reinforcement Give something a person wants Increases behavior

• E.g. Mother picking up a crying baby (Increases crying because of reinforcement)

• Negative reinforcement Remove an unwanted stimulus

• E.g. Sally has a drink after work to relieve (remove) her anxiety

Pos. & Neg. Reinforcement

Primary & Secondary reinforcers

• Primary = Innately reinforcing Food & Sex

• Secondary reinforcers (Conditioned reinforcer)

Associated with a primary reinforcer E.g. Money

Immediate Reinforcement

• Sally is more influenced by the current thrill on having sex, than by the future prospect of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease.

• As opposed to delayed reinforcement A Paycheck at the end of the month.

Reinforcement schedules

• Continuous Every time

• Partial (Intermittent) Fixed ratio

• $15 for every 3 pages you write Fixed Interval

• $15 for every hour you work Variable ratio

• $15 after varying # of pages • (You do not know how many pages you will need to do before you

get paid again) Variable interval

• $15 given at various times during the day

Reinforcement Schedules

Punishment

• Positive punishment Get something you don’t want ( a spanking)

• Negative punishment What you do want is taken away ( Television time)

• Problem with punishment Creates anger, fear, resistance Less effective than positive reinforcers to promote desirable

behavior.

Punishment

Shaping

• Cookies to reinforce quiet play

• M&M therapy

Motivation

• Internal (intrinsic) Motivation Hobby - You like doing it

• External (outside) motivation Job - You get money for doing it

Cognitive process

• Behavior is not automatically produced by a reward.

• We think about it, and ask: How much of the reward do I get? What are the chances of getting the reward? Is the reward worth it?

Observational Learning

• Albert Bandura

• E.g. Child turning the key to start the car (without explicit training)

• Matt using the ATM machine after watching Dad

• Modeling