learning

• Higher-Order Conditioning

  Developing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus
• John Watson’s Little Albert Study conditioned Albert to fear rats by pairing rats with a startling noise
• Habituation

  Responding to stimuli less over time
• Types of learning

  • Habituation (tolerance)
  • Sensitization
  • Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning
  • Higher-Order Conditioning
  • Operant Conditioning
• Principles of Classical Conditioning

  • Acquisition: phase during which a CR is established
  • Extinction: reduction and elimination of the CR after the CS is presented repeatedly without the UCS
  • Spontaneous recovery: sudden reemergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay in exposure to the conditioned stimulus
  • Renewal effect: sudden reemergence of a conditioned response following extinction when an animal is returned to the environment in which the conditioned response was acquired
  • Stimulus generalization: Conditioned stimuli similar, but not identical, to the original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned response
  • Stimulus discrimination: when one exhibits a particular CR only to certain stimuli, but not to similar others
• Reinforcements

  • Outcomes that increase the probability of a response
  • Positive reinforcement: adding a desirable stimulus
  • Negative reinforcement: removing an undesirable stimulus
  • Punishment: any outcome that decreases the probability of a response
  • Positive punishment: adding an undesirable stimulus
  • Negative punishment: removing a desirable stimulus
• Learning

  Change in an organism's behavior or thought as a result of experience
• Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist and 1904 Nobel Prize winner, most famous for work on digestion of the dog
• Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning

  Form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response
• B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning involved the Skinner box, where rats press a bar to obtain food
• The Law of Effect by Thorndike states that if we're rewarded for a response to a stimulus, we're more likely to repeat that response in the future
• Schedules of Reinforcement

  • Continuous: reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs, faster learning but faster extinction
  • Partial reinforcement: occasional reinforcement of a behavior, slower learning but slower extinction
  • Skinner argued that partial reinforcement is better than continuous reinforcement
• Classical Conditioning process

  1. Before: Start with a neutral stimulus (NS), which does not elicit a particular response

  2. During: Pair the NS again and again with the unconditioned stimulus (US), which elicits an unconditioned response (UR)

  3. After: Eventually, the NS becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS), eliciting a conditioned response (CR)

  4. NS = Neutral Stimulus, UR = Unconditioned Response
• Little Albert was never deconditioned
• Sensitization

  Responding to stimuli more over time
• Applications of Classical Conditioning


  • Advertisement
  • Acquisition and Elimination of Fears and Phobia
  • The Law of Effect (Thorndike)
  • B.F. Skinner and Reinforcement
  • Operant Conditioning Terminology
  • Consequences of Punishment
  • Schedules of Reinforcement
• Little Peter, a 3-year-old fearful of rabbits, was treated by pairing rabbits with his favorite candy
• Punishment is much less effective than reinforcement in modifying human behavior and has several disadvantages
• Schedules of Reinforcement

  1. Continuous: reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs

  2. Partial reinforcement: occasional reinforcement of a behavior
• Schedules of Reinforcement


  • Fixed Ratio: Every time your child brings out the trash, he gets $1
  • Variable Ratio: On average, your child gets $5 every five times he brings out the trash
  • Fixed Interval: Child gets $7 every Friday to bring out the trash
  • Variable Interval: On average, child gets $14 every 2 weeks to bring out the trash
• Variable interval


  Consistent (but slow) increase in response
• May provide model for aggressive behavior

  A person becoming sneakier about the situations in which they can and can’t display forbidden behavior
• Schedules of Reinforcement

  1. Vary along two dimensions

  2. Consistency of administering reinforcement (i.e., when is reinforcement given)

  3. Basis of administering reinforcement (i.e., for what reason it is given)
• Variable ratio

  Most effective (e.g., slot machines)
• Skinner observed superstitious behaviors in pigeons
• Stimulus-Response (S-R) psychology

  Transitioned to Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) psychology where the way an organism responds to a stimulus depends on what the stimulus means to it
• Superstitions

  • Never opening an umbrella indoors
  • Not walking under a ladder
  • Crossing the street whenever you see a black cat
  • Carrying a lucky charm or necklace
  • Knocking on wood
  • Avoiding the number 13 (e.g., not stopping on the thirteenth floor of a building)
• Reinforcement is not necessary for learning to occur (Tolman & Honzik's maze trials)
• Baseball has more superstitions for batting (less predictable) than for fielding (more predictable)
• Schedules of Reinforcement

  1. Fixed Ratio: reinforcement after a set number of responses

  2. Variable Ratio: reinforcement after a specific number of responses, on average

  3. Fixed Interval: reinforcement after a specific amount of time

  4. Variable Interval: reinforcement after an average time interval
• Observational Learning goes against principles of classical and operant conditioning
• Results challenged radical behaviorism and implied that thinking plays a role in some forms of learning
• Operant Conditioning involves learning through the use of external motivators
• Unpredictability produces more conditioning than predictable situations
• 90 percent of college students engage in one or more superstitious rituals before taking an exam, such as using a “lucky” pen or wearing a “lucky” piece of jewelry (Vyse, 1997)
• Thought processes contribute to conditioning (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972)
• Fixed interval

  Response increases right before reinforcement but then decreases after reinforcement
• Rats had developed cognitive maps that were only used once there was a reinforcer
• Media Violence and Real Aggression are subjects of research
• Therapeutic Applications of Operant Conditioning

  1. Token economy: Using secondary reinforcers to increase desirable behavior

  2. Used in improving behavior in classrooms, hospitals, group homes, and juvenile detention units