- the development of a learned response (conditioned response) - gradual development of conditioned responding
- requires continuity (close proximity) btwn CS and UCS - requires contingency (correlation between CS and UCS) --> Robert Rescorla - ex) Pavlov's dog salivates more as training progresses
- the formation of associations or connections among stimuli and behaviors - helps us predict the future based on past experience (survival adv) - 2 types: classical conditioning and operant conditioning
- a type of learning in which associations are formed between two stimuli that occur sequentially in time - works with involuntary behaviors (fear or salivation) - ex) child sees a bee for first time and gets STUNG! hate bees...
- signal --> important event (snakes --> snakes bite) - Pavlov
conditioned (secondary) reinforcer
- a reinforcer that gains value from being associated with other things that are valued - ex) "good dog" = CS for food = UCS used to reinforce compliance with commands to come, sit, heel (operant behaviors) - value of good dog = classical conditioning - use of "good dog" = operant conditioning - ex) good grades, gold medals, money etc.
conditioned response (CR)
- a response learned through classical conditioning (learned reactions) - ex) salivating to metronome sound
conditioned stimulus (CS)
- an environmental event whose significance is learned through classical conditioning - learned!
-ex) metronome sound
- a learned ability to distinguish between stimuli - ex) low vs high tone conditioned stimuli for food (high tone= food --> continued conditioned response) - responding to the CS but not to similar stimuli that have not been paired with the UCS - ex) combat veteran learns to distinguish between the sound of gunfire and the backfire from a car - usually follows generalization of stimuli
- reduction of a learned response - reduction of conditioned responding when a CS is presented w/o being followed by a UCS - ex) if metronome no longer follows food, dog stops salivating to metronome - new learning overrides old learning... NOT forgotten!
- in classical conditioning, occurs when the UCS no
longer follows the CS - in operant conditioning, occurs when the consequence no longer follows the learned behavior
fixed interval (FI) schedule
- a schedule of reinforcement in which the first response following a specified interval will be reinforced - depends on time - long postreinforcement pause, as end of interval comes (anticipate) responding increases sharply - scallop edges - ex) passage of bills in Congress
fixed ratio (FR) schedule
- a schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement occurs following a set number of behaviors - responses are steady, significant pause following each reward - as amt of work for each reward is raised, respond slower - ex) workers paid by piece, physicians get paid by procedure, building contractors get paid per building
- the tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to an original conditioned stimulus - responding to stimuli that resemble the CS - ex) Albert's fear with white rats generalized to Santa Claus beard - ex) stung by a bee... fear bees, wasps, yellow jackets etc. - ex) avoid all lions, and things that act like lions
- nonassociative learning - a simple form of learning in which reactions to repeated stimuli that are unchanging and harmless decrease - ex) sleep better the second night when staying at a hotel - occurs in response to milder stimuli - ensures that we do not waste precious resources - responses to repeated, unchanging stimuli - reduced response to neighbor's loud tv every evening
higher order conditioning
- learning in which stimuli associated with a CS also elicit conditioned responding - allows us to make more distant predictions about the occurrence of significant events
- ex) sight of dog = conditioned stimulus pain of bite = unconditioned stimulus - conditioned responding to stimuli that predict the occurrence of a CS - child bitten by a dog begins to fear the street where the dog lives
- the copying of behavior that is unlikely to occur naturally and spontaneously - Albert Bandura and aggression - adaptive advantages (individuals in groups learn faster) - achieve empathy --> copying facial expressions - mirror neurons
- a feature of classical conditioning in which a conditioned stimulus actually predicts the nonoccurrence of an unconditioned stimulus - CS predicts nonoccurance
of UCS - ex) gauge is "in the green" --> no fear
- ex) pair light with shock --> elicit fear of light --> include inhibitory CS (sound) - don't get shocked... no fear of light when paired with sound - ex) sight of a relaxing predator --> not going to eat you - ex) lack of expected drug effect when certain signal present
- an inborn pattern of behavior elicited by environmental stimuli - known as fixed action patterns; reliable and lack of dependence on experience - require more neurons because more complex than reflex - ex) mating and parenting behaviors, yawning (synchronize state of arousal) - empathy
- the slower learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus is already familiar compared to when the conditioned stimulus is unfamiliar - acquisition is slower to a familiar CS
- ex) eaten pizza over time and get sick.. not associate with pizza - ex)
eat chocolate covered ants, get sick --> associate sickness with ants - ex) american forms a taste aversion faster to fruit bat pie than to hamburgers
- learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement - Edward Tolman
- a relatively permanent change in behavior or the capacity for behavior due to experience
- decreasing behavior by removing stimulus from environment - method for reducing behavior by removing something desirable whenever the target behavior occurs - ex) food available unless press bar ... will stop pressing bar
- inc behavior by removing stimulus from environment - method for increasing behaviors that allow an organism to escape or avoid an unpleasant consequence - escape and avoidance behaviors - ex) push button to turn off a shock - ex) buckle up in cars to turn off annoying beep, open umbrellas to avoid getting wet, scratch insect bite to relieve itch - ex) study to achieve high grades (pos) but also avoid low grades (neg)
- learning that involves changes in the magnitude of responses to a stimulus rather than the formation of connections between stimuli - 2 types: habituation and sensitization
- learning that occurs when
an organism watches the actions of another (positive or negative) - social learning or modeling; role models - adv in transmitting info across generations within families and cultures - watch --> imitate (copy new dance moves from your favorite music video) - watch --> avoid imitating (watch friend get sick from alcohol --> don't drink as much) - Albert Bandura --> imitating aggression - can override other influences on behavior bcuz social species
operant (instrumental) conditioning
- a type of learning in which associations are formed between behaviors and their outcomes - association between behavior and its consequences - involves voluntary behaviors (walking to class or waving to a friend)
- ex) study hard... get good grades - behavior --> consequences (practice --> successfully riding a
wave)
partial reinforcement effect in extinction
- the more rapid extinction observed following continuous reinforcement than following partial reinforcement - reasons: transition from continuous schedule to extinction is more noticeable; partial teaches to persist in the face of nonreinforcement - ex) get paid for babysitting every time
babysit, will notice when not paid rather than getting paid at random times... wont notice as easily
- the reinforcement of a desired behavior on some occasions but not others - ratio schedules vs interval schedules - teaches to persist in the face of nonreinforcement
- decrease behavior by adding stimulus to environment - consequence that eliminates or reduces the frequency of a behavior by applying an aversive stimulus - ex) stop pressing bar if shocks you
- consequence that eliminates or reduces the frequency of a behavior - positive or negative - significance, immediacy, consistency - ex) parking tickets --> people will still take risk... significance isnt BIG enough
- inevitable, involuntary response to stimuli - produce very fast, very reliable responses that serve to promote your welfare - goosebumps, pull back if touch HOT stove, knee-tap reflex, step on glass, turn head to loud sound - NOT: ability to step on brake, batting avg etc. --> learned behaviors! - not adaptive to change, inflexible
- nonassociative learning - an increased reaction to many stimuli following exposure to one very strong stimulus - ex) following earthquake --> exaggerated responses to movement, light, or noise - loud noise! aroused... hard to get back to sleep - occurs in response to stronger stimuli - useful in dangerous situations - responses to many stimuli - "jumpiness" to many stimuli following an earthquake
shaping/method of successive approximations
- a method for increasing the frequency of behaviors that never or rarely occur - think of as a funnel
--> start out general then get more specific to what desire - ex) teaching rats to use Skinner box
- ex) teaching children table manners
- during extinction training, the reappearance of CR's after periods of rest - takes time for complete extinction to take place - reappearance of conditioned responding following periods of rest between extinction training sessions - ex) dog shows no salivation at end of day's extinction training... after a night's rest in kennel, dog salivates at beginning of the next extinction session
systematic desensitization
- a type of counterconditioning in which people relax while being exposed to stimuli that elicit fear
- an application of operant conditioning in which tokens that can be exchanged for other reinforcers are used to increase the frequency of desirable behaviors - use of money to buy things that have greater value (intrinsic value), need to offer ultimate rewards that are valuable! - ex) "menu" approaches to employee benefits - useful in educational and institutional settings (prisons, mental illness or disability centers)
unconditioned response (UCR)
- a response to an unconditioned stimulus that requires no previous experience (do not need to be learned) - ex) salivating when food is present
variable interval (VI) schedule
- a schedule of reinforcement in which the first response following a varying period of time is reinforced - varies around an avg time - ex) pop quizzes - timing remains a surprise but know exact amount
variable ratio (VR) schedule
- a schedule of reinforcement in which reinforcement occurs following some variable number of behaviors - ex) 1 or 30 presses may give rats food... VARIES around an average number of behaviors! - high, very steady rate of responding because no prediction of when the reinforcer will occur - ex) programming of slot machines
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
- a stimulus that elicits a response without any prior experience (innate, built-in meaning) - unlearned!
- ex) food, electric shock
- explains how experience has different effects at different times in the lifespan
Three main types of learning?
- associative, nonassociative, observational
William James' perspective on learing
- human beings have more instincts than other animals (usually unaware of them) - our behavior simply appears more complex and thoughtful (often face the need to choose btwn competing instincts) - evolutionary and cognitive psychologists
- demonstrated contingency importance in acquisition (dev of learned response) - rats --> sound followed by electric shock - other rats --> shocks followed sound on some occasions and also occurred without any sounds - pair conditioned and unconditioned stimuli --> more likely to get conditioned response - learning was faster with rats that had shocks 100% of time after sound
- computer screen goes dark - feel stressed - something terrible has happened to computer!
- CS or UCS or CR?
- illness - sight, smell or flavor of food - dislike of food
CS, UCS, or CR?
What did taste aversion lead to a substantial rethinking of?
- classical conditioning - behaviorism
- rate of learning about a conditioned stimulus depends on how new or surprising the association between the CS and the UCS appears to be - ex) already know eating peanuts get you sick, not surprised if
candy bar that made you sick contained peanuts (can still eat other candy bars without feeling sick) - early in training, learning is RAPID! association is new and surprising - later in training, levels off (CS and UCS is familiar and no longer surprising
- stimuli were not so interchangeable - type of stimuli used as CS and UCS do matter and some combinations are learned much faster than others - ex) groups of rats with tasty water
(nothing) or plain water (light and sound triggered) (CS) - half rats given lithium chloride while other half shocked (UCS) - Taste aversion --> rats learned from tasty water when ill but not when shocked - bright-noisy water associated shock faster! = better learning - birds and visual stimuli
Watson and Raynor with baby Albert
- insights to human fear - baby Albert - tame white, rat played with (CS) - loud noise (UCS) - frightened by noise (UCR) - week later... offered rat again... AFRAID! (CR)
- reduce human fears using classical cond. - Peter: fear of rabbits - can use extinction (conditioned stimulus presented alone -- no unconditioned stimulus) --> FLOODING - used instead couterconditioning: substitution of one conditioned response for another opposite response -
associate food (new unconditioned stimulus) with conditioned stimulus
- Mary Jones treating Peter - substitution of one conditioned response for another opposite response - associate food (new unconditioned stimulus) with conditioned stimulus - ex) prepared childbirth (women are trained to respond to contractions with relaxation rather than with fear and anxiety) - systemic desensitization = type
Addiction - craving - effects of substance use
- environmental cues
CS, UCS, CR?
- a negative attitude about a group of people - influenced by classical conditioning (due to latent inhibition) --> unfamiliarity
- law of effect - repeat actions that produce desirable outcomes and eliminate outcomes that produced annoying outcomes - operant (instrumental) conditioning - ex) cat in puzzled box trying to escape
What are Skinner's 4 types of consequences?
- positive reinforcement - negative reinforcement - positive punishment - negative punishment
- increase behavior by adding a stimulus to environment (desired outcome) - ex) children with autism
taught language with candy - Premack Principle - Thorndike and Skinner (believed = powerful tool) - more powerful than punishment - conditioned reinforcers
- positive reinforcement - whatever behavior an organism spends the most time and energy doing is likely to be a very important behavior to that organism - ex) rank person's free time activities according to his or her priorities - ex) eat broccoli for ice cream later WORKS!
What are 3 conditions needed to be met for punishment to have any observable effects on behavior?
significance, immediacy, consistency
3 main types of behaviors?
- reflexes, instincts, learned
evolutionary psychologists
- view point that: innate learning instinct that prepares human beings to learn certain things in particular ways based on our evolutionary history
- view point that: learned behavior resulting from experience can look very automatic and instinctive - ex) people with prejudicial behavior = learned... will sit farther away from minorities without knowing it even if say not prejudice
CS, UCS, CR, UCR? food --> salivation? metronome --> salivation?
CS, UCS, CR, UCR? syringe --> effects of drug drug --> effects of drug
CS (UCS) --> CR (UCR) UCS --> UCR (CS --> CR)
CS, UCS, CR, UCR?
dog --> fear pain of bite --> fear (doghouse --> fear)
CS, UCS, CR, UCR? illness --> dislike food flavor of food --> dislike food
UCS, CS, UCR, CR?- bright noisy water and tasty water - LiCl and Shock
- exposing people to fear-producing stimuli in a manner that is safe until they no longer respond - can be traumatic
- what do creative people and schizophrenic people have less of that causes them to make new associations with familiar stimuli faster than most other people?
CS, UCS, UCR, CR?
signal of adminIstration of a placebo --> feelings better
drug --> pain relief
- effective reinforcers - have natural roles in survival - aka food
Why do people deliberately injure themselves?
- Thorndike --> law of effect - feelings of calm or relief -- do in response to anger, anxiety, frustration - injury release endorphins (natural opiates)
extinction for operant conditioning
- learned behaviors stop when they are no longer followed by a reinforcing consequence - ex) ignoring child's tantrums --> reduce frequency
- reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs - inconvenient
- depends on the number of times a behavior occurs
- depends on the passage of a certain amount of time
fixed vs variable schedules
- requirements for reinforcement does not vary - requirements for reinforcement does vary around an average
- breaking down of the complex behavior into manageable steps - how to teach more complex behaviors - useful when training new skills
cognitive influences on operant conditioning
- consequences are required for learning to occur - Edward Tolman --> latent learning --> cognitive maps
- challenged notion that
"consequences are required for learning to occur" - rats explore maze --> rats learned in absence of reinforcement just as well as rats that had reinforcement - latent learning - disputed behaviorist explanations of the nature of learning that occurred in mazes --> rats learned "this is where I can find food" NOT "turn right for food" - "cognitive map" --> block off familiar pathway to food, will find another way to food
- Tolman - viewed as a unique, nonassociative learning process that didn't follow the previously established rules of associative learning
- Tolman - mental representations of the mazes - ex) chimps --> 9 veggies and 9 fruits placed in 18 locations - released in center of compound, shortest pathways and chose the preferred source of food (fruit) first
Biological influences on operant conditioning
- Keller and Marion Breland - "instinctive drift"
Keller and Marion Breland
- trained animals for entertainment - outlined challenges with operant conditioning - coins = higher order conditioning due to relationship with food - "instinctive drift" - ex) pigs throwing coins and sniff around to find them - ex) raccoons tried to wash the coins
- animals trapped by strong instinctive behaviors - demo of behavior patterns over those which have been conditoned - Keller and Marion Breland - ex) pigs and raccoons with coins - ex) whale who killed trainer
Social influences on operant conditioning
- presence of others promotes and is necessary for learning - observational learning --> emphasize importance of social interaction contribution to effective learning - simple tasks: presence of others makes us perform faster --> riding a bike - complex tasks: presence of others makes us perform poorly or slow --> college entrance exam
- simple tasks: presence of others makes us perform faster --> riding a bike
Skinner's Project Pigeon (WWII)
- application of operant conditioning - peck at projected missile's target - peck would be translated into updated commands for correcting the path of the bomb
- learning theories applies to clinical settings - make use of operant conditioning concepts (extinction, reward and punishment) - when coupled with cognitive methods --> treat people with substance abuse or depression - ex) treatment for autism by Ivar Lovaas
- autism treatment using behavior therapy - use of chaining improves individuals level of functioning
How Do I break a bad habit?
- need to understand current behavior - keep diary - possible reinforcers or punishers? - ex) snacking --? brought on by social camaraderie and good taste --> diff scheduling, appropriate consequences for behavior
- evidence against violent media - imitation - observation of children with a Bobo doll - boys more likely to behave aggressively than girls - attention, retention, reproduction and motivation
What are the four necessary cognitive processes in modeling of others behavior according to Albert Bandura?
- attention, retention, reproduction, motivation
- witnessing someone else getting reinforced for a behavior raises the likelihood that we will imitate the behavior OR witnessing the person being punished for the behavior will reduce the likelihood of the behavior
- in humans and monkeys - help us predict the actions of others (understand intentions) - basis of empathy - use of gestures (child pointing to cookie jar) - development of language and speech (located in Broca's area of frontal lobe)
- envisioned a way to break culture down into observable parts - cultural transmission (meme) - memes are transmitted by observational learning from one person to another and can take the form of ideas, symbols or practices
- Richard Dawkins - transmitted by observational learning from one person to another and can take the form of ideas, symbols or practices - ex) meoldies, religious beliefs, catch-phrases, tech for building arches - equivalent to genes (replicate from one person to the next and respond to selection pressure) - internet shorthand phrases - "this is Sparta!" in advanced placement exams
Why do children over imitate?
- children watch adults use objects and tools and can replicate those actions... sometimes over do it - imitation promotes shared experience with other people and builds rapport - chimps --> after watching others assemble tool... assembled tools even though unnecessary to obtain food
- we are more likely to model the behavior of people who get our __________ - ex) children wear the jerseys of the best players in the sport
- we must retain a _________ of the behavior to be imitated - ex) a student re-creates from _____ a math proof demonstrated earlier that day by a professor
- we must have the ability to _________ the behavior - ex) an athlete works on her technique after watching films of an elite athlete in her sport
- past or anticipated reinforcement for the behavior will ______ us yo perform it - ex) one student received extra credit for participating in an experiment, so his friends also signed up to participate
operant conditioning and observational behavior
What types of learning are restricted to more complex organisms?