Psyc 2 ch 6 learning PDF

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6.1 what is learning?  Reflex: motor or neutral reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment o Simpler and involve activity of specific body parts and systems  Ex. Knew-jerk reflex, contraction of pupil in light  Instinct: inhale behaviors triggered by events o Complex, involve movement of organism as a whole  Ex. Aging, migration, sexual activity  Learning, reflex, and instinct all help organisms adapt to an environment  Learning: permanent change in behavior/knowledge through experience o Involves interaction of conscious/unconscious processes  Associative learning: when an organism makes connection between events that occur together in the environment 6.2 Classical conditioning  Classical conditioning: when we learn to associate stimuli and to anticipate events  Pavlov measured amount of saliva produced in response to various foods o Noticed dogs salivated due to more than just the taste of food  Sight of food, sight of empty bowl, sound of footsteps of lab assistants o Trained dogs salivate to certain stimuli: bells, light, etc. o Realized organisms had 2 types of responses to its environment  Unconditioned response (reflex) and conditioned response (learned) o Unconditioned stimulus: elicits a reflexive response o Neutral stimulus: does NOT naturally elicit a response o Conditioned stimulus: elicits response after paired with unconditioned stimulus o Higher/second-order conditioning: using CS to condition another stimulus  Acquisition: initial period of learning in classical conditioning  Extinction: decrease in conditioned response when unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with conditioned stimulus  Spontaneous recovery: return of a previously extinguished conditioned response  Stimulus discrimination: when organisms learn to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar  Stimulus generalization: opposite to discrimination  Classical conditioning can lead to habituation o When we learn not to respond to a stimulus presented repeatedly without change  Watson and Rayner had experiments with little Albert to demonstrate how fear can be conditioned 6.3 Operant conditioning  Operant conditioning: when organisms learn to associate a behavior and it’s consequences  Law of effect: behaviors followed by positivity creates repetition and behaviors followed by punishment creates no repetition  Positive reinforcement: desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior  Negative reinforcement: undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior  Positive reinforcement: add undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior  Negative punishment: remove desirable stimulus to decrease behavior  Shaping: reward successive approximation of a target behavior o Behaviors are broken down into small, achievable steps

o Often used in teaching a complex behavior of chain of behaviors  Primary reinforcers: reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities o Not learned o Ex. Water, food, sleep, sex, touch, etc.  Secondary reinforcer: has no inherent value and has reinforcing qualities when linked with primary reinforcers o Ex. A token can be exchanged for prizes  Continuous reinforcement: when organisms received a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior  Partial reinforcement: when organisms do not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior o Fixed internal reinforcement schedule: when behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time  Ex. Limit of 1 dose per hour o Variable interval reinforcement schedule: when behavior is rewarded on varying amounts of time, which is unpredictable  Ex. Quality control inspects a restaurant whenever they want o Fixed ratio reinforcement schedule: there are a set number of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded  Ex. Clara earns commission every time she sells a pair of glasses o Variable ratio reinforcement schedule: the number of responses needed for a reward varies  Ex. Gambling/right when someone tries to give up, the win  Edward C. Tolman experimented rats to demonstrate that organisms can learn even if they do not receive immediate reinforcement o Place rats in a maze, and one group was given no reward while the other group received it at the end of the maze o Unreinforced rats developed a cognitive map o After 10 sessions, the unreinforced rats were given a reward at the end of maze causing them to finish the maze as fast as the reinforced rats  Latent learning: learning that occurs but is not observable until there is a reason to demonstrate it 6.4 Observational learning  Observational learning: learn by watching others an imitating  Albert Bandura states that there is more to observational learning o Live: demonstrates behavior in person o Verbal: explains/describes the behavior o Symbolic: characters who demonstrate behavior through games, shows, books, etc.  Bandura describes specific steps to learn successfully o Attention: must focus on what the model is doing o Retention: be able to retain what was observed o Reproduction: be able to perform the behavior o Motivation: need to want to copy the behavior

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Vicarious reinforcement: when organisms is motivated to copy when model is reinforced for their behavior Vicarious punishment: the opposite of reinforcement...