Chapter 6—Learning

Section 1—Classical Conditioning

  • Learning—a process that results in a relatively consistent change in behavior or behavior potential and is based on experience.
  • Learning becomes apparent with improvements in performance.
  • Learning also becomes apparent when one realizes a change in attitudes, beliefs, and/or values that could ultimately effect one’s behavior.
  • Associationism—a learned connection between two ideas or events
  • Stimulus—a feature in the environment that is detected by an organism or that leads to a change in behavior (something that produces a reaction or response)
  • Response—an observable reaction to a stimulus
  • Conditioning—a type of learning that involves stimulus-response connections, in which the response is conditional on the stimulus
  • Classical conditioning—a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit an unconditioned response when that neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a stimulus that normally causes an unconditioned response (ex: Pavlov’s dogs)
  • Ivan Pavlov. Russian physiologist discovered that dogs learn to associate one thing with another when food is involved.
Letters of Learning: US, UR, CR, and CS
  • Unconditioned stimulus—in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits an unlearned, naturally occurring response
  • Unconditioned response—in classical conditioning, an unlearned response
  • Conditioned response—a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus
  • Conditioned stimulus—a previously neutral stimulus that, because of paring with an unconditioned stimulus, now causes a conditioned response
Adapting to the Environment
  • Classical conditioning helps organisms adapt to their surrounding environment and helps animals and people avoid or deal with danger.
  • Taste aversion—learned avoidance of a particular food
  • Extinction—in classical conditioning, the disappearance of a conditioned response when an unconditioned stimulus no longer follows a conditioned stimulus (ex: Pavlov found that with repeated ringing of the bell (CS) not followed by meat (US), the dogs eventually stopped salivating (CR) when they heard the bell (CS). The dogs learned that the bell no longer meant food was on the way—the conditioned response of salivating at the sound of the bell had been extinguished.
  • Spontaneous recovery—the 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—in classical conditioning, the ability to distinguish the conditioned stimulus from other stimuli that are similar
Applications of Classical Conditioning
  • Classical conditioning is the means by which stimuli come to serve as signals for other stimuli. It can help people overcome their fears of various objects and situations.
  • Flooding—based on the principles of classical conditioning, a fear-reduction technique that involves exposing the individual to a harmless stimulus until fear responses to that stimulus are extinguished
  • Systematic desensitization—a type of counterconditioning, used to treat phobias, in which a pleasant, relaxed state is associated with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli
  • Counterconditioning—a therapy procedure based on classical conditioning that replaces a negative response to a stimulus with a positive response

Section 2—Operant Conditioning

  • In classical conditioning, we learn to associate one stimulus with another.
  • Another type of learning is operant conditioning. In operant conditioning, people and animals learn to do certain things—and not to do others—because of the results of what they do.
  • Operant conditioning—learning that is strengthened when behavior is followed by positive reinforcement

B.F. Skinner

  • Skinner proposed training pigeons to guide missiles to targets. Project Pigeon was scrapped, but the principles of learning Skinner applied to the project are an example of operant conditioning.
  • In operant conditioning, an organism learns to do something because of its effects or consequences.
  • Skinner reasoned that if pigeons were rewarded (with food) for pecking at targets, then the pigeons would continue to peck at the targets.

Reinforcement

  • Reinforcement—a stimulus or event that follows a response and increases the frequency of that response (the process by which a stimulus increases the chances that the preceding behavior will occur again
  • Knowledge of results is often all the reinforcement that people need to learn new skills.

Types of Reinforcers

  • The stimulus that encourages a behavior to occur again is called a reinforcer.
  • There are several types of reinforcers:
  1. Primary reinforcers—reinforcers that function due to the biological makeup of the organism (food, water, warmth). People and animals do not need to be taught to value these.
  2. Secondary reinforcers—must be learned. They establish their value through being paired with established reinforcers or through a long chain of associations. Examples: money, attention, and social approval
  3. Positive reinforcers—increase the frequency of the behavior they follow when they are applied. Examples: food, fun activities, social approval. A behavior is reinforced because a person (or animal) receives something he or she wants following the behavior.
  4. Negative reinforcers—a behavior is reinforced because something unwanted stops happening or is removed following the behavior. Negative reinforcers are unpleasant in some way. Examples: discomfort, fear, and social disapproval.

Rewards and Punishments

  • Rewards, like reinforcers, increase the frequency of a behavior. Some psychologists use the term reward interchangeably with the term positive reinforcement.
  • Punishments are unwanted events that, when they are applied, decrease the frequency of the behavior they follow.

Schedules of Reinforcement

  • Schedule of reinforcement—when and how often the reinforcement occurs. This is a major factor in determining how effective reinforcement will be in bringing about a behavior.
  • Continuous reinforcement—the reinforcement of a behavior every time the behavior occurs.
  • Partial reinforcement—a behavior is not reinforced every time it occurs.

Applications of Operant Conditioning

  • Shaping—in operant conditioning, a procedure which reinforcement guides behavior toward closer approximations of the desired goal
  • Programmed learning—an educational method based on shaping. Programmed learning assumes that any task, no matter how complex, can be broken down into small steps. Each step can be shaped individually and combined to form the more complicated whole.

Section 3—Cognitive Factors in Learning

  • Cognitive psychologists see learning as purposeful, and believe that a person can learn something simply by thinking about it or by watching others.
  • Two kinds of learning that involve cognitive facts are latent learning and observational learning.

Latent Learning

  • Learning that occurs but remains hidden until there is a need to use it.
  • Most psychologists believe that much learning can occur without reinforcement.
  • E.C. Tolman—showed that rats will learn about their environments even in the absence of reinforcement.

Observational Learning

  • Learning by observing and imitating the behavior of others.
  • People also learn to predict likely outcomes of actions by watching others.
  • Albert Bandura. Known for his research on social learning. Observational learning accounts for much human learning.
  • The Effects of Media Violence.

---Television is one of our major sources of informal observational learning.

---Most health professionals agree that media violence contributes to aggression. (APA statement)

---Just as observational learning may contribute to violent behavior, it may also be used to prevent it.

---Young people can be informed that the violence they see in the media does not represent the

behavior of most people in society.

Section 4—The PQ4R Method: Learning to Learn

  • Students learn more when they take an active approach to learning.
  • One such active approach is the called the PQ4R method, based on the work of educational psychologist Francis P. Robinson.
  • The PQ4R method has six steps:
  1. Preview—getting a general picture of what is covered before you begin reading a chapter. Thumbing through the pages is one way of previewing the material.
  2. Question—phrase questions about the subject matter in each chapter. Learning is made easier when we have goals in mind, when there is something in particular we want to learn. When we want to learn something, we become active learners.
  3. Read—read the chapter with the purpose of answering your questions. A sense of purpose will help you focus on the key points of the material.
  4. Reflect—reflecting on subject matter is an important way to understand and remember it. As you are reading, think of examples or create mental images of the subject matter. Also, relate new information to old information or to events in your personal life.
  5. Recite—once you have read a section and have answered your questions, reciting the answers will help you understand and remember them. You can recite aloud or repeat words silently to yourself. Many students learn by quizzing each other with their questions.
  6. Review—learning takes time and we usually have to repeat or reread things before we know them well. “Distributed” learning is more effective than “massed” learning. This means it is more effective to study regularly (to distribute the learning over several days or weeks) than to try to cram just before a test (to mass all the learning at once).