learning processes behaviorism classical conditioning operant conditioning
TRANSCRIPT
Learning Processes
• Behaviorism
• Classical conditioning
• Operant conditioning
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Adaptation to the Environment
• Learning - “any process through which experience at one time can alter an individual’s behavior at a future time” (Gray)
• Hilgard and Bower (1975) add: “provided that the behavior change cannot be explained on the basis of native response tendencies, maturation or temporary states of the subject (e.g. fatigue, drugs, etc)
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Behaviorism
• The attempt to understand observable activity in terms of observable stimuli and observable responses
• John B. Watson (1913)• B.F. Skinner (1938)
What’s this about
LEARNING?
Classical Conditioning
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Pavlov’s Dogs
• Digestive reflexes and salivation
• Psychic secretion
Classical Conditioning
UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS REFLEX ACTIONwill
elicit a
UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS
NEUTRAL STIMULUSREFLEX ACTIONwill
elicit a
CONDITIONED STIMULUSCONDITIONED STIMULUSwill
elicit aCONDITIONED
RESPONSE
NEUTRAL STIMULUSwill
elicit NO REACTION
Neutral Stimulus--Bell
• Does not normally elicit a response or reflex action by itself– A bell ringing
– A color
– A furry object
Unconditioned Stimulus--Food
• Always elicits a reflex action: an unconditioned response– Food
– Blast of air
– Noise
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Unconditioned Response--Salivation
• A response to an unconditioned stimulus--naturally occurring– Salivation at smell of food
– Eye blinks at blast of air
– Startle reaction in babies
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Conditioned Stimulus--Bell
• The stimulus that was originally neutral becomes conditioned after it has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus
• Will eventually elicit the unconditioned response by itself
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Conditioned Response
• The original unconditioned response becomes conditioned after it has been elicited by the neutral stimulus
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Classical Conditioning vs. Association by Contiguity
Stimulus A(The word ball)
Thought of B(Mental image of a ball)
Thought of B(Mental image of a ball)
Learning Experience
After Learning
Neutral stimulus(Bell)
Unconditioned response(Salivation)
Conditioned response(Salivation)
Conditioning Procedure
After Conditioning
Unconditioned stimulus(Food)
Conditioned stimulus(Bell)
Stimulus A(The word ball)
Stimulus B(Sight of a ball)
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Classical Conditioning Phenomena
• Extinction
• Spontaneous recovery
• Generalization
• Discrimination training
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John B. Watson and Little Albert
• Conditioned emotional responses
• Generalization
• Extinction
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Conditioned Drug Reactions
• Opposite the drug effect• How does this explain deaths by
OD in unfamiliar places?
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Early Operant Conditioning
• E.L. Thorndike (1898)
• Puzzle boxes and catsScratch at bars
Push at ceiling
Dig at floorSituation:stimuliinside ofpuzzle box
Howl
Etc.
Etc.
Press lever
First Trialin Box
Scratch at bars
Push at ceiling
Dig at floorSituation:stimuliinside ofpuzzle box
Howl
Etc.
Etc.
Press lever
After ManyTrials in Box
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B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
• Did not like the term “satisfying”
• Invented a better appartus--the Skinner box
Operant Conditioning Terms
• Shaping
• Consequences– positive and negative reinforcement
– positive and negative punishment
Reinforcement Schedules
• Continuous: 1 to 1 ratio, a prize every time
• Ratio– fixed: 1 to ?, a prize every ? time– variable: ? to ?, maybe a prize, maybe not!
• Interval– fixed: announced examination– variable: pop quiz
Classical vs. Operant Conditioning
CLASSICAL• Stimulus precedes
the response and elicits it
• Elicited responses
• Learning as a result of association
• Pavlov
OPERANT• Stimulus follows
the response and strengthens it
• Emitted responses
• Learning as a result of consequences
• Skinner
The Basic Concepts of Learning Theory
• Classical conditioning– elicits response as a result of associating
• unconditioned stimulus• neutral stimulus
• Operant conditioning– emitted response – learning is a result of consequences
• reinforcers• punishment
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Observational Learning
• Specific skills and general behavioral styles
• Bandura’s cognitive theory
The Ecological Perspective
• Alternative to general-process perspective
• Learning what to eat
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Alternative Perspective
• Role of environment
• Components of learning
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Learning What to Eat
• Food-aversion learning
• Food-preference learning
• Food-selection experiment with human infants
• Social learning and food selection
• Summary of rules
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Food-Aversion Learning
• Classical conditioning or not?
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Food-Preference Learning
• Experiments with rats and thiamin
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Food Selection Experiment
• Infants’ ability to choose a nutritionally balanced meal
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Summary of Rules
• When possible, eat what your elders eat.
• When you eat a new food, remember its taste and smell