Learning Theories Overview

Latent Learning

• Learning happens without immediate demonstration, revealed later when motivation or circumstances align.
• Tolman's example: driving a route daily - understanding locations revealed when needed.

Insight Learning

• Sudden understanding of problem solutions, like an "aha!" moment.
• Wolfgang Kohler's research on chimpanzees.

Biological Constraints

• Body structure limits or enables specific behaviours.
• Instinctive drift: returning to innate behaviours, hindering learning.
• Preparedness: biological predisposition to learn certain ways, like taste aversion (one pairing for lasting learning).

Cultural Influences

• Culture shapes how conditioning and observational learning are used.
• Cultural context defines what's learned—we cannot learn about unfamiliar experiences.

Schedules of Reinforcement

• Fixed Interval (FI): Reinforcement after a set time has passed (e.g., paycheck).
• Variable Interval (VI): Reinforcement after unpredictable time (e.g., fishing, pop quizzes).

Punishment

• Decreases behaviour; positive punishment adds aversive stimulus, negative punishment removes rewarding stimulus.

Controversy Over Punishment

• Corporal punishment widely used by parents in the U.S., with potential problems.
• Discussions on alternatives and the necessity of physical punishment.

Operant Conditioning

• Timing of consequences matters: immediate vs. delayed reinforcement and punishment.
• Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA): using operant conditioning principles to change behaviour.

Observational Learning

• Learning by observing and imitating (modelling).
• Bandura's four processes: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and reinforcement.

Cognitive Factors in Learning

• Learning beyond just behaviour-environment connections.
• Tolman's "Purposive behaviour": emphasis on goals and expectancies acquired through experience.
• Cognitive Map: mental representation of physical space.

Types of Learning

• Learning: permanent behaviour change through experience.
• Behaviorism: focusing on observable behaviour, excluding mental processes.
• Two main types of learning: Associative Learning/Conditioning and Observational Learning

Associative Learning/Conditioning

• Learning associations between events.
• Conditioning: learning the association.
• Two types: classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Observational Learning

• Learning by observing and imitating.
• Mental processes involved: attention, remembering, and recalling information.

Classical Conditioning

• Pavlov's research on digestion in dogs led to the discovery.
• Dogs salivated to stimuli associated with food (sight, person, sounds).
• Unlearned components (reflexes) and learned components.

Classical Conditioning: Terminology

• Explains involuntary behaviour.
• Association between a neutral stimulus and meaningful stimulus, leading to a similar response.
• Stimulus types: Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS), Conditioned Stimulus (CS).
• Response types: Unconditioned Response (UCR), Conditioned Response (CR).
• Neutral Stimulus (NS): initially neutral, becomes CS after association.

Classical Conditioning: Procedure

• Acquisition: learning the stimulus-response association.

This quiz covers key concepts in learning theories, including latent learning, insight learning, and the influence of biological and cultural factors. Explore various schedules of reinforcement and their effects on behavior. Test your understanding of these important psychological principles.