CLASSICAL CONDITIONING module 9

• Learning is a relatively enduring or permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from previous experience with certain stimuli and responses. The term behavior includes any observable response (fainting, salivating, vomiting).
• 3 different kinds of learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and cognitive learning.
• Ivan Pavlov - He has already won a Nobel Prize for his studies on the reflexes involved in digestion. For example, he found that when food is placed in a dog’s mouth, the food triggers the reflex of salivation (Evans, 1999).
• Pavlov called a conditioned reflex and today is called classical conditioning
• Classical conditioning was an important discovery because it allowed researchers to study learning in an observable, or objective, way (Honey, 2000).
• Classical conditioning is a kind of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to produce a response that was originally produced by a different stimulus.
• The law of effect says that if some random actions are followed by a pleasurable consequence or reward, such actions are strengthened and will likely occur in the future.
• Thorndike’s law of effect was important because it identified a learning process different from Pavlov’s conditioned reflex. Today, the law of effect has become part of operant conditioning (Evans, 1999).
• Operant conditioning refers to a kind of learning in which the consequences that follow some behavior increase or decrease the likelihood of that behavior’s occurrence in the future.
• Cognitive learning is a kind of learning that involves mental processes, such as attention and memory; may be learned through observation or imitation; and may not involve any external rewards or require the person to perform any observable behaviors.
• Bandura’s study demonstrated a third principle of learning, which essentially says that we can learn through observation or imitation.
• A neutral stimulus is some stimulus that causes a sensory response, such as being seen, heard, or smelled, but does not produce the reflex being tested.
• An unconditioned stimulus, or UCS, is some stimulus that triggers or elicits a physiological reflex, such as salivation or eye blink.
• The unconditioned response, or UCR, is an unlearned, innate, involuntary physiological reflex that is elicited by the unconditioned stimulus.
• A common procedure to establish classical conditioning is for you first to present the neutral stimulus and then, a short time later, to present the unconditioned stimulus. The presentation of both stimuli is called a trial.
• A conditioned stimulus, or CS, is a formerly neutral stimulus that has acquired the ability to elicit a response that was previously elicited by the unconditioned stimulus
• The conditioned response, or CR, which is elicited by the conditioned stimulus, is similar to, but not identical in size or amount to, the unconditioned response.
• Generalization is the tendency for a stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response that is similar to the conditioned response. Usually, the more similar the new stimulus is to the original conditioned stimulus, the larger will be the conditioned response
• Discrimination occurs during classical conditioning when an organism learns to make a particular response to some stimuli but not to others.
• Extinction refers to a procedure in which a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus and, as a result, the conditioned stimulus tends to no longer elicit the conditioned response.
• Spontaneous recovery is the tendency for the conditioned response to reappear after being extinguished even though there have been no further conditioning trials.
• Adaptive value refers to the usefulness of certain abilities or traits that have evolved in animals and humans and tend to increase their chances of survival, such as finding food, acquiring mates, and avoiding pain and injury.
• Operant conditioning - It is the process of modifying a behavior by manipulating the consequences of that behavior
• Law of effect - the consequences of a behavior increases (or decreases) the likelihood of that the behavior will be repeated
• Reinforce - this is any internal or external event that increases the frequency of a behavior
• Primary reinforces which are innate , unearned reinforces that satisfy biological needs (food, water, sex, etc.)
• Secondary (conditioned) reinforces - those tharr are learned by association, usually via clssicl conditioning (money, grades, peer approval)
• Positive reinforcement - It I he presentation or addition od a stimulus after a behavior occurs that increases hoow often that behavior will occur
• Negative reinforcement - It I he removal of a stimulus after a behavior to increase the frequency of that behavior
• Punishment - this is any stimulus that decreases the frequency of a behavior
• Positive punishment - this is the addition of a stimulus that decreases behavior
• Negative punishment - It decreases behavior by removing stimulus , usually a desirable stimulus
• Schedules of reinforcement - these are the patterns of intermittent reinforcement distinguished by whether reinforcement occurs after a set responses or after a certain amount of time has passed since the last reinforcement
• Continuous reinforcement - It means rewarding a behavior every time it occurs
• Intermittent reinforcement - It does not occur after every response
• Fixed - ratio (FR) schedule - It is a reinforcement that follows a set number of responses. The pattern becomes predictable, so the response rate is not steady
• Variable - ratio (VR) schedule - in here, the number of responses needed for reinforcementvaries, produces a very steady rate of response, because the individual is not quite sure how many responses are necessary to obtain reinforcement

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• Fixed - interval (FI) schedule - THE REINFORCEMENT ALWAYS FOLLOWS THE FIRST RESPONSE AFTER A SET AMOUNT OF TIME - SAY , EVERY 10 SECONDS.
• Variable interval (VI) schedule - THE first response is reinforced after time periods of different durations have ppassed
• Modeling-is Bandura’s term for observation learning that involves imitating behaviors performed by others