Chapter 8: Learning

Learning:
a relatively permanent change in an
organism’s 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 an icy sidewalk and

you slip and fall. The next time you see an icy
sidewalk you are going to walk more slowly and
carefully.
Travelling to Creston…
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.
 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 & Edward 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 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
Pavlov’s work provided the foundation for John B.
Watson’s theory on human behavior.
Classical Conditioning
Definition:
A type of learning in which an organism comes to
associate stimuli.
More frightening…
Pavlov’s 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 examine how the dogs learned the
associations.
 Pavlov’s Famous Experiment continued
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 stimuli!
 Pavlov’s Terminology
To describe his observations, Pavlov used the
following terms:
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that
unconditionally – naturally & automatically- triggers a
response.
i.e. 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.
 Pavlov’s Terminology

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that

unconditionally – naturally & automatically- triggers a
response.
i.e. Your Crush!!!
 Pavlov’s Terminology

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that

unconditionally – naturally & automatically- triggers a
response.
i.e. Your Crush!!!

Unconditioned response (UCR): the unlearned naturally

occurring response to the unconditional stimulus
(UCS).
i.e. Your heart races when you see your crush!!!
 Pavlov’s Terminology
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): an originally irrelevant
stimulus that, after association with an
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) comes to trigger a
conditioned response.
“Magic tricks”
 Pavlov’s Terminology
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): an originally irrelevant
stimulus that, after association with an
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) comes to trigger a
conditioned response.
i.e. “Magic tricks”

Conditioned Response (CR): the learned response

to a previously neutral conditioned stimulus (CS).
i.e. Getting excited/giddy/happy by seeing magic tricks
Note: 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 in the scenario

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 stimulus: UCS – hot water

Unconditioned response: UCR – jump back
Conditioned stimulus: CS – toilet flush
Conditioned response: CR – jump back
 Causes & Effects of C.C.
Pavlov found that there are 5 processes that
influence Classical Conditioning.

 1) Acquisition – initial learning of the stimulus-

response 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 (half a second is
good*)
 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. (ex. Fearing all
angry faces rather than a specific angry face)

5) Discrimination – learned ability to distinguish

between a conditioned stimulus and other
irrelevant stimuli.
Survival value. (Ex. “Red on yellow, kill a fellow; red on
black, friend of Jack”)
 Remember:
 Classical conditioning is
adaptive, it helps
organisms prepare for
good or bad events, in
other words, it helps us
thrive and survive.
 Gain food, find mates, avoid
dangers, and produce
healthy offspring
Compare and Share
 We will take turns reading one scenario you
created and provide feedback
 Select one to share up on the board for your
colleagues to read and practice with
 This is not your time to trick each other – be kind
and clear
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
 Example
 Day one of school and you walk into your math class.
Your teacher forces you to complete a challenging
problem on the board. He criticizes your errors and
makes fun of you, thereby humiliating you in front of
the class. This happens repeatedly and you develop
fear of this teacher. Now, entering any math
classroom makes your palms sweat and heart race

 What is the original conditioning? What is the

secondary (higher-order) conditioning?
Higher-Order Conditioning
 A cruel teacher is
associated with
humiliation in front of
the class, the student is
conditioned to fear the
teacher.
 Higher Order: later the
classroom itself (or a
man wearing a bow
tie) will provoke the
fear response
Oh Watson…how cruel you were
Famous Quote
 “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, 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)
 Watson’s 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.
Really though, why does Pavlov’s
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
Good to note though…
 Conditioning is facilitated by people (organisms)
understanding the critical relationship between the
unconditioned and conditioned stimuli

 We have differential preparedness to learn certain

associations
 An animal’s capacity for conditioning is constrained by
its biology. The biological predispositions of each
species dispose it to learn the particular associations
that enhances its survival . Environment is not the whole
story.
Rats show…
 Unfamiliar taste +
delayed onset =
avoidance

 Familiar taste and

unfamiliar shape +
delayed onset = no
avoidance
Rats show…
 Unfamiliar taste +
immediate shock= no
avoidance

 Unfamiliar shape +
immediate shock =
avoidance
 Rats were predisposed to learn distinctive
taste cues and delayed nausea was
suspect

 Spatial were predisposed to learning cues

being followed by immediate somatic pain
So, how conditioned are you?
 How much
marketing
(associations)
have you
encountered
in the last
week?
Classical Conditioning Scenario
 Due Wednesday, 6 November 2019