LEARNING

 Learning
 relatively
permanent change
in an organism’s
behavior due to
experience
 LIFE WITHOUT LEARNING
• Learning is more than school, books and tests. Without
learning our lives would simply be a series of reflexes
and instincts.
• We would not be able to communicate, we would have no
memory of our past or goals for the future.
 ASSOCIATION
 We learn by association
 Our minds naturally connect events that
occur in sequence
 Associative Learning
 learning that two events occur together
 two stimuli
 a response and its consequences
TYPES OF LEARNING
SIMPLE AND COMPLEX LEARNING
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

 Ivan Pavlov
 1849-1936
 Russian physician/
neurophysiologist
 Nobel Prize in 1904
 studied digestive
secretions
PAVLOV’S CLASSIC EXPERIMENT

Before Conditioning

UCS (food
in mouth)
Neutral
UCR stimulus No
(salivation) (tone) salivation

During Conditioning After Conditioning

UCS (food
in mouth)

Neutral CS
stimulus UCR (tone)
(tone) (salivation) CR (salivation)
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

 Pavlov’s device
for recording
salivation
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

 Classical Conditioning
 organism comes to associate two
stimuli
 a neutral stimulus that signals an
unconditioned stimulus begins to
produce a response that anticipates and
prepares for the unconditioned stimulus
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
 stimulus that unconditionally--automatically
and naturally--triggers a response
 Unconditioned Response (UCR)
 unlearned, naturally occurring response to
the unconditioned stimulus
 salivation when food is in the mouth
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

 Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

 originally irrelevant stimulus that, after
association with an unconditioned stimulus,
comes to trigger a conditioned response
 Conditioned Response (CR)
 learned response to a previously neutral
conditioned stimulus
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 Acquisition
 the initial stage in classical conditioning
 the phase associating a neutral stimulus with
an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral
stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned
response
 in operant conditioning, the strengthening of
a reinforced response
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

 Extinction
 diminishing of a CR
 in classical conditioning, when a UCS
does not follow a CS
 in operant conditioning, when a
response is no longer reinforced
Classical
Conditioning

Acquisition
Strength (CS+UCS)
of CR
Spontaneous
Extinction recovery of
(CS alone) CR

Extinction
(CS alone)

Pause
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

 Spontaneous Recovery
 reappearance, after a rest period,
of an extinguished CR
 Generalization
 tendency for stimuli similar to
CS to elicit similar responses
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

 Discrimination
 in classical conditioning, the learned
ability to distinguish between a CS
and other stimuli that do not signal a
UCS
 EXAMPLES

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnhyGozLyE

• Classical Conditioning in a classroom

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYxUdPj-EEY

• Let’s see how well you do!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LEcM0E0io
OPERANT CONDITIONING

 We learn to
associate a
response and
its
consequence
OPERANT CONDITIONING

 type of learning in which behavior is

strengthened if followed by
reinforcement or diminished if followed
by punishment
 LAW OF EFFECT

 Thorndike’s principle that behaviors

followed by favorable consequences
become more likely, and behaviors
followed by unfavorable consequences
become less likely
OPERANT CONDITIONING

 Operant Behavior
 operates (acts) on environment
 produces consequences
 Respondent Behavior
 occurs as an automatic response to
stimulus
 behavior learned through classical
conditioning
OPERANT CONDITIONING

 B.F. Skinner (1904-

1990)
 elaborated
Thorndike’s Law of
Effect
 developed
behavioral
technology
OPERANT CHAMBER

 Skinner Box
 chamber with a bar or
key that an animal
manipulates to obtain a
food or water reinforcer
 contains devices to
record responses
OPERANT CONDITIONING

 Reinforcer
 any event that strengthens the behavior it
follows
 Shaping
 operant conditioning procedure in which
reinforcers guide behavior toward closer
approximations of a desired goal
OPERANT CONDITIONING

 Primary Reinforcer
 innately reinforcing stimulus
 i.e., satisfies a biological need
 Conditioned Reinforcer
 stimulus that gains its reinforcing power
through its association with primary reinforcer
 secondary reinforcer
OPERANT CONDITIONING
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT

 Continuous Reinforcement
 reinforcing the desired response each time it
occurs
 Partial (Intermitent) Reinforcement
 reinforcing a response only part of the time
 results in slower acquisition
 greater resistance to extinction
 SCHEDULES OF
REINFORCEMENT

 Fixed Ratio (FR)

 reinforces a response only after a
specified number of responses
 faster you respond the more rewards you
get
 different ratios
 very high rate of responding
 like piecework pay
 SCHEDULES OF
REINFORCEMENT

 Variable Ratio (VR)

 reinforces a response after an unpredictable
number of responses
 average ratios
 like gambling, fishing
 very hard to extinguish because of
unpredictability
 SCHEDULES OF
REINFORCEMENT

 Fixed Interval (FI)

 reinforces a response only after a
specified time has elapsed
 response occurs more frequently as the
anticipated time for reward draws near
 SCHEDULES OF
REINFORCEMENT

 Variable Interval (VI)

 reinforces a response at unpredictable time
intervals
 produces slow steady responding
 like pop quiz
PUNISHMENT

 Punishment
 aversive event that decreases the
behavior that it follows
 powerful controller of unwanted
behavior
PUNISHMENT
 COGNITION AND OPERANT
CONDITIONING
 Cognitive Map
 mental representation of the layout of one’s
environment
 Latent Learning
 learning that occurs, but is not apparent until
there is an incentive to demonstrate it
COGNITION AND OPERANT
CONDITIONING

 Over justification Effect

 the effect of promising a reward for doing
what one already likes to do
 the person may now see the reward, rather
than intrinsic interest, as the motivation
for performing the task
COGNITION AND OPERANT
CONDITIONING

 Intrinsic Motivation
 Desire to perform a behavior for its own
sake and to be effective
 Extrinsic Motivation
 Desire to perform a behavior due to
promised rewards or threats of
punishments
OPERANT VS CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

 Observational Learning
 learning by observing others
 Modeling
 process of observing and imitating a
specific behavior
 Prosocial Behavior
 positive, constructive, helpful behavior
 opposite of antisocial behavior
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

 Mirror Neurons
 frontal lobe neurons that fire when
performing certain actions or when
observing another doing so
 may enable imitation, language learning,
and empathy
In social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977) agrees with the behaviorist learning
theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds two
important ideas:

1. Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses.

2. Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational

learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjTxQy_U3ac
Insight Learning

The theory of Insight Learning was first proposed by German-American psychologist,

one of the founders of Gestalt psychology, Wolfgang Köhler. Insight learning is among
various methods of Behavioral learning process, which is a fundamental aspect of
Insight Learning
Behavioral Psychology.

The psychologist gained fame with his studies on cognitive processing involved in
problem-solving by animals. His tests in Tenerife in the 1910s with chimpanzees
suggested that these animals solved problems by understanding – like human beings,
instead of going through

trial and error process

stimulus response association
Insight learning refers to the sudden realization of the solution of any problem without
repeated trials or continuous practices. To further elaborate on its definition, insight
learning is the type of learning, in which one draws on previous experience and also
seems to involve a new way of perceiving logical and cause-and-effect relationship

Köhler placed a chimpanzee named Sultan inside a cage. Sultan grew hungry and a
bunch of banana was placed just outside the cage. Sultan was provided with one long
and another short bamboo stick. Neither of the sticks could reach the banana alone and
the only possible way to reach the banana was to join the two sticks..
Initially, Sultan showed all customary reactions that a chimpanzee shows inside a cage,
and gradually tried to draw the banana towards him with the sticks. After countless
fruitless efforts, Sultan nearly gave up, but as he was playing with the sticks, he
managed to touch the banana by pushing a stick with another stick. Sultan accidentally
managed to join the two sticks and with its help, it pulled the banana inside the cage.
Sultan immediately grabbed the banana when faced with the same problem next day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmLAiDVdyX4
.