Introduction and Learning

Psychology The

is:

scientific study of behavior and mental processes.

In essence, psychology examines what people think, feel and do. It differs from Sociology in that it generally looks at individual behavior, not group behavior.

 Psychologists

use the scientific method to try to reach conclusions. means they try to form a hypothesis (an educated guess), then show whether it can be proved or disproved psychologists practice basic science (research), while others practice applied science (try to solve more immediate problems)

This

Some

 The

four main goals of psychology are:

Description Explanation Prediction Control

psychologist is:

A professional who has been trained to

observe and analyze behavior patterns and to develop theories on behavior.

psychiatrist:
who treats people with disturbed behavior.

Is a professional who is trained in medicine

She or he may work in a hospital or in a

private practice, or both.

She or he can prescribe medicine, which a

psychologist cannot.

 The

psychologist who discovered classical conditioning was: Ivan Pavlov

Classical

conditioning is:

Controlling

an animals or a persons responses so that an old response becomes attached to a new stimulus

Pavlov was eventually able to cause a dog to salivate by sounding a tuning fork. There are eight different components to classical conditioning: The Neutral Stimulusa stimulus that does not initially elicit a response (the tuning fork in Pavlovs experiment) The Unconditioned Stimulusan event that leads to a certain, predictable response without previous training (food in Pavlovs experiment)

3.

The Unconditioned Responsea reaction that occurs naturally and automatically when the unconditioned stimulus is presented (salivation) The Conditioned Stimulusan ordinarily neutral event that, after training, leads to a response (the tuning fork, again) The Conditioned Responsea learned response (salivating upon hearing the tuning fork)

4.

5.

Generalizationresponding similarly to a range of similar stimuli Discriminationthe ability to respond differently to different stimuli ExtinctionThe gradual disappearance of a conditioned response

The psychologist most closely associated with operant conditioning is: B.F. Skinner
Operant

Conditioning is:

Learning from the consequences of a behavior

 Operant

conditioning is based on reinforcement (a stimulus or event that affects the likelihood that an immediately preceding behavior will be repeated) that is reinforced every time is on a continuous schedule that is reinforced intermittently is on a partial schedule

Behavior

Behavior

 There

are four different kinds of reinforcement schedules: Fixed-ratio schedulerewards depend on a specified quantity of responses (such as every third response) Variable-ratio schedulethe number or responses needed changes from one time to the next (example: a slot machine)

Fixed-interval schedulethe first response after a particular amount of time has elapsed is reinforced (for example, every 5 minutes) Variable-interval schedulethe time the reinforcement happens varies

Responses are learned better and are more resistant to extinction when reinforced on a variable schedule than on a fixed schedule

 There

are two kinds of reinforcers: primary and secondary reinforcers satisfy a basic need (examplefood) reinforcers (also known as conditioned reinforcers) have no value by themselves, but gain value when linked to a primary reinforcer (examplemoney to buy food)

Primary

Secondary

Other aspects of operant conditioning include: Negative reinforcementa painful or unpleasant stimulus is removed or is not applied at all. There are two types of negative reinforcement: conditioninga persons behavior causes an unpleasant event to stop conditioninga persons behavior prevents an unpleasant event from happening

Escape

Avoidance

 There

are several different factors that affect the process of learning, including:

Feedback o Transfer o Practice

o

 Feedback Finding

is

out the results of an action or a performance, either from somebody else or from your own observations

 Transfer The

is:

effects of past learning on the ability to learn new tasks. There are two kinds of transfer: Positive transfer (when previously learned responses help you learn) Negative transfer (when previously learned responses hinder learning)

1)

2)

 Practice It

is the repetition of a task.

is possible to practice by imagining the performance of a skillthis is referred to as mental practice