Chapter 8: Learning

Learning:
a relatively permanent change in an
organisms behavior due to
experience.

Q: How do we learn?
A: By association &
experience!

Our minds naturally connect events that

occur in sequence we associate them
and we then use these associations when
we experience similar situations.
Ex. You are walking quickly on a icy
sidewalk and you slip and fall. The next
time you see an icy sidewalk you are going
to walk more slowly and carefully.

Associative Learning:
Learning that certain events occur
together.
The events may be two stimuli (as in classical
conditioning) or a response and its
consequences (as in operant conditioning).

Why does it matter?

Humans & animals placed in new environments

will have trouble succeeding until they learn
appropriate associations and experiences.

Successful adaptation requires both nature (the

right genetic disposition) and nurture (a history
of appropriate learning).

Some humans and animals will never learn the

appropriate associations needed and will fail in
their environment.

In one study information was

collected from the Ontario Teachers
Pension Plan showing that from 1993
to 1999 20-30% of new teachers
withdrew from the pension plan with
less than three years of teaching
experience.

3 Types of Associative Learning

Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov & John Watson)

Learn

to expect and prepare for significant events like food and pain

Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner &

Thorndike)

Learn

to repeat acts that bring rewards and to

avoid acts that bring unwanted results

Observational Learning (Albert Bandura)

Learn

new behaviours by observing events

and watching others

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

Trained in animal physiology.

He focused his work on 3 problems during his
career;
-nerve functions of the heart
- primary digestive gland function
(earned him a 1904 noble prize)
-conditioned reflexes

Why is Pavlovs work important?

Psychology at this time was made up of highly

subjective theories (i.e. consciousness) and was
not considered a credible field of study to others.

By studying objective and quantifiable

physiological events, Pavlovs theories were
accepted by the science community and helped
to make psychology more mainstream as a
whole.

His research influenced a shift towards greater

objectivity in subject matter and methods.

Pavlov & Behaviorism

Pavlovs work provided the foundation for John
B. Watsons theory on human behavior.
Watson believed that although human
behavior is biologically influenced, it is mostly
made up of conditioned responses.

Behaviorism: The view that psychology

should
be an objective science, that
studies behavior
without reference to
mental processes.

Classical Conditioning
Definition
: A type of learning in which an organism
comes to associate stimuli.

Pavlovs Famous Experiment

Originated from his work in dogs and their

digestive glands.
Frustration

with psychic secretions

The dogs would begin to salivate when a

stimulus associated with food was present i.e.
the food dish, the assistant who usually
brought in the food, and their footsteps.
The salivating dogs disrupted his research, so
he decided to look into how the dogs learned
the associations.

Pavlovs Famous Experiment

continued

To

understand why this happened, Pavlov:

1)Gave the dog the food. The dog salivated.
2)Produced a tone. The dog did not salivate.
The tone was therefore neutral no response from
dog.
3)Produced tone before giving food. Dog salivated
because of food. (repeated many times).
4) Produced tone with no food. Dog salivated.

Outcome:
The dog now associated the tone with
food learned association between the

Pavlovs Terminology
To describe his observations, Pavlov used the following terms:

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that

unconditionally naturally & automaticallytriggers a response.
i.e. dog salivating to food in mouth (the stimulus).
Unconditioned response (UCR): the unlearned naturally
occurring response to the unconditional stimulus (UCS).
i.e. dog salivating (the response) to food in mouth.

Pavlovs Terminology
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): an originally irrelevant
stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned
stimulus (UCS) comes to trigger a conditioned response.
i.e. dog salivating to the tone (stimulus).

Conditioned Response (CR): the learned

response
to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus
(CS).
i.e. dog salivating (the response) to the tone.

Neutral stimuli

Neutral stimuli are those events or

items that produce no response
before conditioning

Check your understanding

Check for understanding - identify the UCS,

UCR, CS and CR.
Every time someone flushes the toilet
in my house, the shower gets very hot
and I have to jump out of the way.
Over time I learned to jump back as
soon as I hear the toilet flush before
the water temperature changes.

Every time someone flushes the toilet in my

house, the shower gets very hot and I have
to jump out of the way. Over time I learned
to jump back as soon as I hear the toilet
flush before the water temperature changed.

Unconditioned
UCS hot
stimulus:
water
Unconditioned
UCR jump
response:
back
Conditioned stimulus: CS toilet
Conditioned
flush
response:

Causes & Effects of C.C.

Pavlov found that there are 5 processes
that influence Classical Conditioning.

1) Acquisition initial learning of the stimulusresponse relationship.

The timing of the neutral stimulus to the

unconditioned stimulus is extremely important.
If the time delay is too long between stimuli,
the association will not happen.

Causes & Effects of C.C.

2) Extinction diminished responding that occurs
when the CS no longer signals an impending
UCS.
This means that associations can be unlearned.

3) Spontaneous Recovery reappearances of

a
weakened CR after a rest period.
Suggests that extinction sometimes only
suppresses instead of eliminates.

Causes & Effects of C.C.

4) Generalization once a response has been
conditioned for a stimulus, similar stimuli
elicit the same response.
Shows that C.C. is adaptive in nature.
5) Discrimination learned ability to
distinguish
between a conditioned stimulus and other
irrelevant stimuli.
Survival value.

Higher-Order
Conditioning

Here, a neutral stimulus (NS) can

become a new conditioned stimulus
(CS)
All

you need is to pair it with a previously

conditioned stimulus

A cranky teacher is associated with humiliation

in front of the class, the student is conditioned
to fear the teacher, later the classroom itself
will provoke the fear response

Famous Quote

Give me a dozen healthy infants, wellformed, and my own specified world to bring
them up in and I'll guarantee to take any
one at random and train him to become any
type of specialist I might select doctor,
lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even
beggar-man and thief, regardless of his
talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities,
vocations, and race of his ancestors.
-John B. Watson (1878-1958)

Watsons Little Albert Study

Albert was 11 months old and feared loud noises.

Watson presented him with a rat to play with.
And struck a hammer on steel rod every time
Albert reached for the rat.
Albert would soon burst into tears at the sight of a
rat.
Albert generalized this fear to other small animals
(rabbits, dogs).
Showed that humans are just as easily conditioned
as animals.

Crash course

Really though, why does

Pavlovs work matter?

1) Many responses to many stimuli can

be classically conditioned in many
organisms (humans included); virtually
all organisms learn to adapt to their
environment

2)Pavlov showed us how learning can be

studied objectively

Homework [but have a good

weekend ;)]
Complete worksheet for homework and we
will mark it together on Tuesday
Have pages 309 -322 for Tuesday
Have pages 323 334 for Thursday
Have pages 335 - 340 for Tuesday

Remember, you should be taking notes as

you read and noting key terms!

B. F. Skinner 1904-1990
Never took a university
psychology course before
enrolling in Harvards
graduate psychology school.
Behavioral Psychologist.
Famous for Operant
Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Definition: Type of learning in which

behavior is strengthened if followed by a
reinforcer or diminished if followed by a
punishment.

Skinners work

Skinner used Edward Thorndikes Law of effect as

a basis for his work.
Law of effect: rewarded behavior is likely to recur.

Skinner developed the Operant Chamber

(Skinner Box) to conduct his work in.
Skinner Box soundproof box, with a bar or key
that an animal presses to release a reward of food
or water.

Skinner Box

Skinners Work

Skinner put pigeons or rats in his operant chamber.

Inside the box, the animal had to learn to press a

bar for food or water.
The 1st time the animal pressed the bar, it was
probably an accident, but received the food.
Gradually the animal learned that the bar was the
source of food.
Negative rewards such as electric shocks were
also used in his boxes.

Operant Conditioning
Hunger
Rat

Stimulus

Receives Food
Reinforcer of behavior

Presses
Bar
Response
to Stimulus

Skinner & Shaping

Skinners

work explored the conditions that

foster efficient and enduring learning. He used
shaping to achieve his results.

Shaping reinforcers guide behavior toward

closer approximations of a desired goal.

Psychologists can use shaping to see what

animals perceive.

Reinforcement & Punishment

Reinforcement: any event that strengthens the
behavior.
Punishment: an event that decreases the behavior
that it follows.

Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement: a stimulus that gains its reinforcing
power through its removal of something unpleasant.

Positive Reinforcement: innately reinforcing

stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological
need.
Conditioned reinforcement: a stimulus that gains
its reinforcing power through its association with
a primary reinforcer (secondary reinforcer).
hyperlink

Reinforcement cont.
Continuous reinforcement: desired response
happens every time.
Partial (intermittent) reinforcement: responses are
only sometimes reinforced.
There are 4 different types of partial reinforcement.

Types of Partial Reinforcement

1)

Fixed-ratio schedules: reinforced behavior after a

set number of responses.
i.e. Piece work.
2) Variableratio schedules: provides reinforcer
with an unpredictable number of responses.
i.e. gambling

Types of Partial Reinforcement

3) Fixed-interval schedules: reinforces the first
response after a fixed time period.
i.e. cooking food
4) Variable-interval schedules: reinforces the first
response after a varying time period.
i.e. text message response.

C.C. vs. O.C.

Classical conditioning associations are formed
between stimuli. It needs respondent behavior
behavior that is an automatic response to stimuli.
Operant Conditioning needs operant behavior
behavior that operates on the environment,
producing consequences.

Assignment for next class part 1:

Assignment is for marks and the most unique
(and well thought out) exemplar for classical
conditioning and the most unique exemplar
for operant conditioning will receive a bonus
mark(s) on the chapter 8 test.
Example #1 for learning through classical
conditioning must clearly indicate what is
being learned and identify the UCS, CS, UCR
and CR

Assignment for next class part 2:

Example #2 for learning through operant

conditioning must clearly indicate what is
being learned - identify the behaviour that is
being modified and whether it is
positive/negative reinforcement/punishment.

Due: Tuesday Feb 3 @ 1pm