Learning

Chapter Overview
 Understand to learning new behavior
 Types of learning
 Classical Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
 Learned Behaviors
Definition
 Types of learning
 Visual learners
 Auditory learners
 Reading/writing learners (also known as
verbal learners)
 Kinaesthetic learners.
 Visual learners
Education for the eyes.
Those who find visual teaching methods
most effective take in information best when
it is presented as imagery (a chart, an
infographic or some other stimulus for the
eyes).
Most people are visual learners –
about 65%.
 Auditory learners
 Education for the ears.
 Those who fall into the category of auditory
learners find listening to information most
effective – the type that like to educate
themselves with audiobooks, or by asking
questions in seminars so they can have a
spoken conversation. 
  30% of people learn best in this way.
 Reading/writing learners
Education via text. People who find
themselves scribbling notes in a class or
seminar are reading/writing learners.
They find education works best for them
when they can see it as text, be it a quiz or
some annotations to go along with a
presentation.
These learners can sometimes fall into the
kinaesthetic category when it’s the action of
making their own notes that helps the
information sink in.
 Kinaesthetic learners
Education for the hands.
Hands-on teaching methods work best for
kinaesthetic learners, when they can be active in
the lesson.
That can be anything from choosing answers in
a multiple-choice quiz or doing some sort of
action or activity.
 Around 5% of people fall into this category.

 I. Classical Conditioning
 Definitions to know in this chapter
 Conditioning type of learning that involves
stimulus-response connections

 Learning  process of learning associations

between environmental stimuli and behavior
responses
 I. Classical Conditioning
 Classical Conditioning: a form of
learning that involves the use of a stimulus
to generate a specific response

 Classical conditioning can help people

adapt to the environment and can help
eliminate troubling fears or other behaviors
 I. Classical Conditioning
 Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov
pioneered research into a form of learning
known as classical conditioning
 In classical conditioning, one stimulus
causes a response that is usually caused
by another stimulus
 I. Classical Conditioning
 Pavlov’s Dogs – Famous Experiment
 Pavlov used dogs in his studies of
classical conditioning
 He trained the dogs to associate the
sound of a bell with food
 They learned that the sound of the bell
meant food was coming
 YouTube - Classical Conditioning - Ivan Pavlo
v
I. Classical Conditioning
I. Classical Conditioning
 I. Classical Conditioning
 Stimulus and Response
 Unconditioned stimulus: a stimulus that
causes a response that is automatic, not
learned
 Unconditioned response: caused by an
unconditioned stimulus
 Conditioned response: a learned response
to a neutral stimulus
 I. Classical Conditioning
 Stimulus and Response
 Conditioned stimulus: a previously neutral
stimulus that causes a conditioned response
 Conditioned Emotional Response (CER)
 Emotional responses are classically
conditioned to a previously neutral stimulus
 CyberPsych, Alcohol and Ads Video
 I. Classical Conditioning
 Adapting to the Environment using CC
 Taste Aversions
 Learned response to a particular food
 One-trial learning

 Extinction
 Disappearance of conditioned response when
unconditioned stimulus no longer follows
conditioned stimulus
 I. Classical Conditioning
 Adaptation to Environment
 Spontaneous Recovery  Reappearance of an
extinguished conditioned response after some time
has passed
 Generalization  The tendency to respond in the
same way to stimuli that have similar characteristics
 Discrimination  The act of responding differently
to stimuli that are not similar to each other
 II. Operant Conditioning
 Psychologist B.F. Skinner was a pioneer in
the research of Operant Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning depends on the use
of reinforcements and a schedule to
execute them
 Operant conditioning is when people and
animals learn through the consequences of
their behavior
 II. Operant Conditioning
 The principles of operant conditioning can
be applied to help people or animals learn
to combine a series of simple steps or
actions to form complex behaviors

 Operant conditioning will occur when people

or animals have learned to respond to a
certain situation
 II. Operant Conditioning
 During Operant Conditioning people learn
to continue or eliminate behaviors based
on what happens after the behavior

 People learn from the consequences of their

actions

 Voluntary responses are conditioned

 II. Operant Conditioning
 Skinner’s Experiment
 Studied operant conditioning by using the
“Skinner Box”
 His experiment demonstrated reinforcement, or the
process by which a stimulus (food) increases the
chances that a preceding behavior (a rat pressing a
lever) will occur again
 Knowledge of results is often all the reinforcement
that people need to learn new skills
 II. Operant Conditioning
 Reinforcement, defined as the
strengthening of a response, will increase
the chances of a behavior being repeated
 There are different types of reinforcement

 Example  Dog learning to lay down will

receive a treat from the owner
 II. Operant Conditioning
 Types of Reinforcements
 Positive reinforcers increase the frequency of
a behavior when presented
 Person receives something he or she wants following
the behavior
 Negative reinforcers increase the frequency of
a behavior when they are removed
 Behavior is reinforced because something unwanted
stops happening or is removed following the behavior
 II. Operant Conditioning
 Rewards and Punishments
 Rewards  Like positive reinforcement,
rewards help encourage learning
 Some psychologists, however, prefer positive
reinforcement
 Punishments  Quite different from negative
reinforcers
 Punishments are unwanted events that decrease the
frequency of the behavior they follow
 II. Operant Conditioning
• The effectiveness of reinforcement
depends on the schedule of
reinforcement
• When and how often the reinforcement occurs
is known as schedule of reinforcement
 There are different types of schedules that
can be followed
 II. Operant Conditioning
 Continuous reinforcement is the
reinforcement of a behavior every time the
behavior occurs
 Continuous reinforcement is not always practical
or possible
 The alternative is partial reinforcement,
which means a behavior is not reinforced
every time the behavior occurs
 II. Operant Conditioning
 Interval Schedules
 Fixed - Interval Schedule: a fixed amount
of time must elapse between
reinforcements
 Variable – Interval Schedule: varying
amounts of time go by between
reinforcements
 III. Cognitive Factors in Learning
 Cognitive psychologists focus on the
mental aspects of learning and are
interested in what people or animals
know, not just what they do
 Cognitive learning is based on the idea
that people and animals can learn by
thinking or by watching others
 III. Cognitive Factors in Learning
 Cognitive learning studies multiple factors
including:
 How people obtain information

 How people process information

 Problem Solving Ability

 III. Cognitive Factors in Learning
 There are several different types of
Cognitive Learning
 Latent Learning is learning that remains
hidden until it is needed

 Most psychologists believe that much learning

takes place without reinforcement
 III. Cognitive Factors in Learning
 Observational Learning  knowledge
and skills acquired by observing and
imitating others
 Modeling is a basic form of imitation
 Vicarious reinforcement is the ability to
learn from the experiences of another
 Observational learning and modeling account
for much of human learning
 III. Cognitive Factors in Learning
 Media Violence  very controversial
issue
 Television is a major source of informal
observational learning

 Most health professionals agree that

media violence contributes to aggression
 Thank-you