Learning

• Unlearned behaviors


  • Instincts
  • Reflexes
• Learning


  A persisting change in human performance or performance potential (brought) about as a result of the learner's interaction with the environment
• Learning


  The relatively permanent change in a person's knowledge or behavior due to experience
• Learning


  An enduring change in behavior, or in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other forms of experience
• Learned behavior involves change and experience
• Forms of Learning


  • Behavioral Learning (Stimuli-Response)
  • Classical Conditioning
  • Extinction
  • Spontaneous Recovery
  • Generalization
  • Discrimination
  • Habituation
  • Watson's "Little Albert" Experiment
• Classical Conditioning


  Learning what is linked to what

  
• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)


  The stimulus that automatically produces a reflex
• Unconditioned Response (UCR)


  An automatic response to the UCS, a natural response that does not require conditioning for it to occur
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS)


  A neutral stimulus that does not normally elicit an automatic response, only after pairing it repeatedly with the UCS does the CS come to elicit a conditioned response
• Conditioned Response (CR)


  The learned response that occurs when the CS is presented alone, without the UCS
• Higher-order conditioning


  A procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus

  
• Extinction


  The decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus
• Spontaneous Recovery


  The return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period
• Generalization


  The tendency to respond in the same way to different but similar stimuli
• Discrimination


  The ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus
• Habituation


  Learning not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change
• Watson's "Little Albert" Experiment


  Demonstrated how fear can be conditioned and showed stimulus generalization
• Applications of Classical Conditioning

  • Phobias
  • Disgust
  • Nausea
  • Anger
  • Sexual arousal
  • Substance abuse treatment
  • Smoking cessation
• Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life


  • Car commercials featuring attractive models
  • Men rating cars as faster, more appealing, and better designed after seeing a car ad with an attractive model
• Reflexes


  Motor or neural reactions to a specific stimulus in the environment, simpler than instincts, involve the activity of specific body parts and systems, and involve more primitive centers of the central nervous system
• Instincts


  Innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, more complex patterns of behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole, and involve higher brain centers
• Characteristics of Learning


  • Defined by the outward expression of new behaviors
  • Focuses solely on observable behaviors
  • Has a biological basis
  • Is context-independent
• Types of Learning


  • Classical Conditioning
  • Operant Conditioning
  • Feedback/Reinforcement (Skinner's Pigeon Box)

  
• Operant Conditioning


  A method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior, where an association is made between a behavior and a consequence (whether negative or positive) for that behavior
• Respondent Behaviors


  Those that occur automatically and reflexively
• Operant Behaviors


  Those under our conscious control, some may occur spontaneously and others purposely, but it is the consequences of these actions that then influence whether or not they occur again in the future
• Reinforcement


  Any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows
• Positive Reinforcement


  The addition of a favorable event or outcome that strengthens a response or behavior
• Negative Reinforcement


  The removal of an unfavorable event or outcome that strengthens a response or behavior
• Punishment


  The presentation of an adverse event or outcome that causes a decrease in the behavior it follows
• Positive Punishment


  The presentation of an unfavorable event or outcome in order to weaken the response it follows
• Negative Punishment


  The removal of a favorable event or outcome after a behavior occurs
• Reinforcement Schedules


  • Continuous Reinforcement
  • Fixed-Ratio
  • Fixed-Interval
  • Variable-Ratio
  • Variable-Interval

  
• Continuous Reinforcement


  Delivering a reinforcement every time a response occurs, leading to quick learning but low response rate and quick extinction
• Fixed-Ratio Schedule


  Reinforcing responses only after a specific number of responses have occurred, leading to a fairly steady response rate
• Fixed-Interval Schedule


  Reinforcing only after a certain interval of time has elapsed, leading to fairly steady response rates that increase as the reinforcement time draws near
• Variable-Ratio Schedule


  Reinforcing behavior after a varied number of responses, leading to high response rates and slow extinction
• Variable-Interval Schedule


  Delivering reinforcement after a variable amount of time has elapsed, also leading to fast response rates and slow extinction
• Fixed-ratio schedules


  1. Responses are reinforced only after a specific number of responses have occurred

  2. Typically leads to a fairly steady response rate