introductory psychology concepts - wordpress.com… · ppt file · web view · 2016-07-06a basic...

© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Professor Veronica Emiia Nuzzolo

CHAPTER 5LEARNING

Introductory Psychology Concepts

© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 5-2

Introductory Psychology Concepts : Learning

Learning: A Relatively Permanent Change In Behavior Caused By Experience Or Practice.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something that he can learn in no other way.

—Mark Twain


Does the mere sight of the golden arches in front of McDonald’s make you feel pangs of hunger and think about hamburgers?If it does, you are displaying an elementary form of learning called classical conditioning.


Classical Conditioning: The Association Of Two Stimuli In The Environment.



Ivan Pavlov+ Russian physiologist, never intended to do psychological research.+ Won the Nobel Prize for his work on digestion (1904).+ Remembered for his experiments on basic learning process, not for

his experiments on physiology.

Ivan Pavlov (center)developed theprinciples of classicalconditioning.



Pavlov’s Classic Experiment: Salivating Dogs (1927)

Before conditioning, the ringing of a bell does not bring about salivation— making the bell a neutral stimulus.




In contrast, meat naturally brings about salivation, making the meat an unconditioned stimulus and salivation an unconditioned response.




During conditioning, the bell is rung just before the presentation of the meat.




Eventually, the ringing of the bell alone brings about salivation.


Classical Conditioning ParadigmUCS: Unconditioned StimulusA stimulus that naturally brings about a particular response without having been learned.




UCR: Unconditioned ResponseA response that is natural and needs no training.





CS: Conditioned StimulusA once-neutral stimulus that has been paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus






CR: Conditioned ResponseA response that, after conditioning, follows a previously neutral stimulus.




Operant Conditioning: Behavior Followed By A Consequence

The Skinner box is a chamber with a highly controlled environment, used to study operant conditioning processes with laboratory animals.Animals press levers in response to stimuli in order to receive “rewards”.


Reinforcement and Punishment: Positive and negative types

Intended Results

Increase in behavior(reinforcement)

When stimulus is added, the result is . . .Positive Reinforcement

Example: Giving a raise for good performance.Results: INCREASE in response of good performance.



Decrease in behavior(punishment)

When stimulus is added, the result is . . .Positive Punishment

Example: Yelling at a teenager for stealing a bracelet.Results: DECREASE in frequency of response of stealing.

Intended Results





When stimulus is removed, the result is . . .Negative Reinforcement

Example: Applying ointment to relieve itchy rash leads to higher future likelihood of applying ointment.Results: INCREASE in response of using ointment

Intended Results






When stimulus is removed, the result is . . .Negative Punishment

Example: Teenager’s access to car restricted by parents due to teenager’s breaking curfew.Results: DECREASE in response of breaking curfew.

Intended Results




Schedules of Reinforcement: Different Patterns Of Frequency and Timing Of Reinforcement Following Desired Behavior

Continuous Reinforcement Schedule: Reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs.

Prior experience has taught us that a candy machine delivers reinforcement (candy) every time we put in the appropriate amount of money.If the candy machine were broken, it would not take very long before we stopped depositing coins.



Schedules of Reinforcement: Different Patterns Of Frequency and Timing Of Reinforcement Following Desired Behavior

Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement Schedule: Reinforcing a behavior some but not all of the time.

Prior experience with a slot machine has taught us that after putting in our cash, most of the time we will not receive anything in return. At the same time, we know that we will occasionally win something.In comparison with the candy machine—If the slot machine were broken, we would drop in money for a considerably longer time, even though there would be no payoff.


Partial Reinforcement Schedules:C

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Fixed-Ratio Schedule:A schedule by which reinforcement is given only after a specific number of responses are made.

Typical Outcome:Short pauses occur after each response. Because the more responses, the more reinforcement, fixed-ratio schedules produce a high rate of responding.

There are short pauses after each response.




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Variable-Ratio Schedule:A schedule by which reinforcement occurs after a varying number of responses rather than after a fixed number.

Typical Outcome:Responding occurs at a high rate.

Responding occurs at a high, steady rate.




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Fixed-Interval Schedule:Reinforcement for a response occurs only if a fixed time period has elapsed, making overall rates of response relatively low.

Typical Outcome:Produces lower rates of responding, especially just after reinforcement has been presented. (The organism learns that a specified time period must elapse between reinforcements.)

There are typically long pauses after each response.



Partial Reinforcement Schedules:

Variable-Interval Schedule:A schedule by which the time between reinforcements varies around some average rather than being fixed.

Typical Outcome:Produces a fairly steady stream of responses.

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Responding occurs at a steady rate.



Laws of Learning

Acquisition(conditioned response and unconditioned response presented together)

Training CS alone Pause Spontaneous recovery

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Laws of Learning

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Extinction (conditioned stimulus by itself)A basic phenomenon of learning that occurs when a previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears.Acquisition

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Laws of Learning

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Spontaneous RecoveryThe reemergence of an extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further conditioning.Acquisition Extinction

Spontaneous recovery of conditioned response

Extinction follows (conditioned stimulus alone)

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Stimulus Generalization• Occurs when a conditioned response follows a stimulus that is

similar to the original conditioned stimulus • The more similar the two stimuli are, the more likely generalization

is to occur.

Stimulus Discrimination• The process that occurs if two stimuli are sufficiently distinct from

one another that one evokes a conditioned response but the other does not;

• The ability to differentiate between stimuli.


Laws of Learning


Cognitive Learning Theory• An approach to the study of learning that focuses on the thought

processes that underlie learning.• Challenges the stimulus-response (S-R) model, • Argues that in between stimulus and response there is the

organism’s (O) view of the world (S-O-R).


Cognitive Learning: Learning That Requires Cognition And Thought Processes


Tolman’s Demonstration+ Rats were allowed to roam

through a maze once a day for seventeen days.

+ One group was reinforced with food every time they reached the end of the maze

+ One group never received reinforcement.

+ The experimental group received food reinforcement on day 11.

Feldman 208a


Tolman and Latent Learning: Learning That Remains Hidden Until It Becomes Useful



Tolman and Latent Learning: Learning That Remains Hidden Until It Becomes Useful

Tolman’s Results+ Unrewarded control group

consistently made the most errors.

+ Rewarded control group made far fewer errors.

+ Experimental group showed immediate reduction in errors after they began receiving reward. This suggests that the experimental group had learned the maze prior to the introduction of reinforcement.


In the 1920’s, German psychologist Wolfgang Kohler exposed chimpanzees to novel learning tasks and concluded that they were able to learn by insight.

Sultan the chimpanzee seems to study the hanging bananas that are out of reach.


Kohler and Insight: Sudden Perceptions of Relationships Allowing For Rapid Problem Solving


After looking around, Sultan suddenly grabs some crates, and stacks them . . .




Sultan obtains his tasty reward.




In Bandura’s (1965) experiment, most children who watched an aggressive model attack a Bobo doll later imitated that behavior.


Observational Learning: learning through watching others


Classical Conditioning: the association of two stimuli in the environment.

Does the mere sight of the golden arches in front of McDonald’s makes you feel pangs of hunger and think about hamburgers?If it does, you are displaying an elementary form of learning called classical conditioning.


Ivan Pavlov+ Russian physiologist, never intended to do psychological

research.+ Won the Nobel Prize for his work on digestion (1904).+ Remembered for his experiments on basic learning process,

not for his experiments on physiology.

Ivan Pavlov (center)developed theprinciples of classicalconditioning.



Before conditioning, the ringing of a bell does not bring about salivation— making the bell a neutral stimulus.



In contrast, meat naturally brings about salivation, making the meat an unconditioned stimulus and salivation an unconditioned response.



During conditioning, the bell is rung just before the presentation of the meat.



Eventually, the ringing of the bell alone brings about salivation.


Laws of Learning



STRONG

WEAK

Stre

ngth

of C

ondi

tione

d R

espo

nse

(CR

)

TIME


Laws of Learning

TIME



STRONG

WEAK

Stre

ngth

of C

ondi

tione

d R

espo

nse

(CR

)


Laws of Learning

TIME





STRONG

WEAK

Stre

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of C

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tione

d R

espo

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(CR

)


Applied Classical Conditioning

Watson and “Little Albert”(1920) John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner set out to obtain evidence that fear could be conditioned.



Conditioned Taste Aversion+ If every time you ate peanuts you had an upset stomach

several hours later, you would eventually learn to avoid peanuts, despite the time-lapse between the stimulus of peanuts and response of getting ill.

+ In fact, you might develop a conditioned taste aversion, so that peanuts no longer even tasted good to you.

+ Taste aversion can also occur with a single incident—you get the flu after eating a burrito and so don’t want to eat them again.



Biological Preparedness+ Organisms that ingest unpalatable foods are likely to avoid

similar foods in the future, making their survival more likely.(Steinmetz, Kim, & Thompson, 2003; Cox et al., 2004).

Because of prior experience with meat that had been laced with mild poison, this coyote does not obey its natural instincts and ignores what would otherwise be a tasty meal.


Operant Conditioning: Behavior followed by a consequence

The Skinner box is a chamber with a highly controlled environment, used to study operant conditioning processes with laboratory animals.



Intended Results





Schedules of Reinforcement: Different patterns of frequency and timing of

reinforcement following desired behavior.

Continuous Reinforcement Schedule:Reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs.

Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement Schedule:Reinforcing a behavior some but not all of the time.



umul

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Fixed-Interval Schedule:A schedule that provides reinforcement for a response only if a fixed time period has elapsed, making overall rates of response relatively low.







Cum

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ive

freq

uenc

y of

resp

onse

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Time



Laws of Learning



STRONG

WEAK

Stre

ngth

of C

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tione

d R

espo

nse

(CR

)

TIME


Laws of Learning

TIME



STRONG

WEAK

Stre

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of C

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d R

espo

nse

(CR

)


Laws of Learning

TIME





STRONG

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Stre

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of C

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tione

d R

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(CR

)


Laws of LearningStimulus Generalization • Occurs when a conditioned response follows a stimulus that is

similar to the original conditioned stimulus • The more similar the two stimuli are, the more likely

generalization is to occur.


Laws of LearningStimulus Generalization • Occurs when a conditioned response follows a stimulus that is

similar to the original conditioned stimulus; • The more similar the two stimuli are, the more likely

generalization is to occur.

Stimulus Discrimination• The process that occurs when two stimuli are sufficiently distinct

from one another that one evokes a conditioned response but the other does not

• The ability to differentiate between stimuli.


Does the mere sight of the golden arches in front of McDonald’s make you feel pangs of hunger and think about hamburgers?If it does, you are displaying an elementary form of learning called classical conditioning.

Classical Conditioning: the association of two stimuli in the environment.

Introductory Psychology Concepts : Learning Theories



Operant Conditioning: Behavior Followed By A Consequence

The Skinner box is a chamber with a highly controlled environment, used to study operant conditioning processes with laboratory animals.Animals press levers in response to stimuli in order to receive “rewards”.


Cognitive Learning Theory+ An approach to the study of learning that focuses on the thought

processes that underlie learning.

+ Challenges the stimulus-response (S-R) model, arguing that in between stimulus and response there is the organism’s (O) view of the world (S-O-R).


Cognitive Learning: Learning that requires cognition and thought processes


In Bandura’s (1965) experiment, most children who watched an aggressive model attack a Bobo doll later imitated that behavior.


Observational Learning: Learning through watching others


Reinforcement: The process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated.

What makes something a reinforcer depends on individual preferences.

The only way to know if a stimulus is a reinforcer for a particular organism is to observe whether the frequency of a previously occurring behavior increases after the presentation of the stimulus.


Positive reinforcement occurs when a response is strengthened by the subsequent presentation of a stimulus.

The stimulus that follows and strengthens the response is called a positive reinforcer. A rat receives food pellets when it presses a lever and eventually begins to press the lever more often.Food pellets are a positive reinforcer because they increase the rat’s frequency of lever pressing.


Positive Reinforcement

You turn in homework on time.

Teacher praises your performance.

You increasingly turn in homework on time.

You wax your skis. The skis go faster. You wax your skis the next time you go skiing.

You randomly press a button on the dashboard of a friend’s car.

Great music begins to play.

You deliberately press the button again the next time you get into the car.

Behavior Future BehaviorRewarding Stimulus

Provided


The term reward is often misused as a synonym for the term positive reinforcer. Behaviorists prefer positive reinforcer because it focuses on how consequences affect behavior.

Intended Results: Increase in behavior (reinforcement)

When stimulus is added, the result is . . .

Positive ReinforcementExample: Giving a raise for good performance.Results: INCREASE in response of good performance.


Primary and Secondary Reinforcers Psychologists distinguish between two broad types of positive reinforcers.

Primary reinforcers are stimuli, such as food and water, that an organism naturally finds reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs.

Secondary (conditioned) reinforcers are stimuli that acquire reinforcing properties through their association with primary reinforcers.

Money is a conditioned reinforcer. Similarly, chimpanzees learn to value, work for, and even hoard tokens that they can place into a vending machine to obtain raisins.


Negative Reinforcement: Taking away something you do not like

Negative Reinforcement in Everyday Life

Situation Behavior

Muscles acheSunlight is uncomfortably brightYou feel hungry, thirstyNeighbor’s music is too loudIt starts to pourAlarm clock ringsParent nags child to clean room

Take hot bathPut on sunglassesEat, drink something

Ask neighbor to lower musicOpen an umbrellaHit the off buttonChild cleans room

Consequence

Muscle ache decreasesDiscomfort is reduced

Hunger, thirst decrease

Music is less disruptive

You stay dryAnnoying ringing stopsNagging stops


Reinforcement and Punishment: Positive and Negative Types

Intended Results









Intended Results


Schedules of Reinforcement: Different patterns of frequency and timing of

reinforcement following desired behavior.

Continuous Reinforcement Schedule:Reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs.

Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement Schedule:Reinforcing a behavior some but not all of the time.



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Fixed-Interval Schedule:A schedule that provides reinforcement for a response only if a fixed time period has elapsed, making overall rates of response relatively low.







Cum

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Negative Reinforcement: Termination of a stimulus which increases the

probability of a response.

Negative Reinforcement

Response Occurs

An aversive stimulus is removed

Responseincreases

Process Behavior Consequence Result

(Person takesaspirin)

(Headache pain goes away)

(Increased tendency to take aspirin for headache relief)


Punishment: A stimulus following a response that makes a second response less likely.

Response Occurs

An aversive stimulus is presented

Responsedecreases

Aversivepunishment(positivepunishment)

(Two siblings fight over a toy)

(Parents scold or spank them)

(Fighting decreases)

Punishment by Application: Response is followed by an unpleasant stimulus.



Punishment: A stimulus following a response that makes a second response less likely.

Response Occurs

Responsedecreases


A stimulus is removed

Response cost(negativepunishment)

(Two siblings fight over a toy)

(No TV for 1 week)

(Fighting decreases)

Punishment by Removal: Response is followed by the removal of a pleasant stimulus.


Aggressive Punishment: Can act as a model for aggressive behavior

Laboratory experiments indicate that children learn aggressive behaviors by watching aggressive adult models (Bandura, 1965).


Punishment: Only temporarily changes behavior.

Punishment is frequently ineffective when it is not delivered shortly after the undesired behavior the individual is able to leave the setting in which the

punishment is being given.

Punishment can reduce the self-esteem of recipients unless they can understand the reasons for it.

Punishment does not convey any information about what an alternative, more appropriate behavior might be.

introductory psychology concepts - wordpress.com… · ppt file · web view · 2016-07-06a basic...

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