Understanding Learning and Behaviorism

Learning

• Learned behavior, distinct from instincts and reflexes, brings change and experience, incorporating knowledge and skills consciously and unconsciously.
• Learning involves acquiring relatively enduring information or behaviors through experience.
• Associative learning involves making connections between stimuli or events happening together.
• Behaviorism includes classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning.

Behaviorism

• Behaviorism is a school of thought focusing on observable behavior.
• Key figures thought behavior should be observed and measured scientifically.
• Behaviorism shifted the focus from internal mental processes.

Classical Conditioning

• Classical conditioning associates stimuli to anticipate events.
• A stimulus changes the environment which is felt by senses.
• Response is a behavior that results from a stimulus.

Classical Conditioning - Example

• Before conditioning:
  • Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) elicits a reflexive response (food).
  • Unconditioned response (UCR) is a natural, unlearned reaction to a stimulus (salivation to food).
  • Neutral stimulus (NS) doesn't naturally elicit a response (bell before conditioning).
  • Food (UCS) causes salivation (UCR).
• During conditioning:
  • A neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus are repeatedly paired.
  • The bell (NS) plus the food (UCS) cause salivation (UCR).
• After conditioning:
  • Conditioned stimulus (CS) is a learned response after pairing with an unconditioned stimulus repeatedly.
  • Conditioned response (CR) is the behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus.
  • The bell (CS) can cause salivation (CR).

Classical Conditioning - Processes

• Acquisition is the initial learning when an organism links a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus.
  • The neutral stimulus (NS) and unconditioned stimulus (UCS) must occur closely in time and repeat multiple times.
  • Taste aversion can occur even if the interval is several hours and the pairing occurs only once.
• Extinction diminishes the conditioned response when the UCS isn't presented with the CS anymore.
  • If food is no longer presented with the bell, the dog stops salivating to the bell.
• Spontaneous recovery involves a return of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a rest.

Classical Conditioning - Little Albert

• John B. Watson studied human emotion via classical conditioning.
• All behavior can be studied as a stimulus-response reaction.
• Conditioning principles can be used to condition human emotions.
• He conducted a study with Little Albert.
• Little Albert's acquired fear of specific stimuli generalized to other furry things, due to all stimuli being furry.
• Stimulus generalization is when an organism responds to similar stimuli.
• Stimulus discrimination means learning to respond differently to similar stimuli.

Operant Conditioning

• B.F. Skinner proposed the theory of operant conditioning.
• Organisms associate a behavior with consequences (reinforcement or punishment).
• Behaviors are more likely to reoccur with pleasant consequences/desired results.
• Behaviors are less likely to reoccur with unpleasant consequences/undesired results.
• Skinner experimented with rats and pigeons to determine how learning occurs through operant conditioning.
• A boy cleaning his room being rewarded a treat is an example of a pleasant consequence.
• A teen girl not cleaning her room and having phone taken away is an example of an unpleasant consequence.

Operant Conditioning - Skinner Box

• Skinner used the Skinner box to study operant conditioning.
• The Skinner Box is an operant conditioning chamber for animals containing a lever that dispensed food as a reward when pressed.
• Positive Behaviors:
  • Rat pressing the lever and getting food, reinforcing it.
• Negative Behaviors:
  • Rat pressing the lever and getting electrocuted, causing the rat to stop pressing the lever.

Operant Conditioning - Terminology

• Reinforcement increases behavior.
• Punishment decreases behavior.
• Positive adds something.
• Negative takes something away.

Operant Conditioning - Examples

• Reinforcement (+ve): rat pressing lever to receive food.
• Reinforcement (-ve): rat pressing lever to stop loud noise/bright light/getting electrocuted.
• Punishment (+ve): rat stops pressing lever to prevent electrocution.
• Punishment (-ve): rat stops pressing lever because it no longer receives food.
• Shaping establishes operant behavior through reinforcing closer approximations toward a desired response.

Cognition and Latent Learning

• Edward C. Tolman's research found that learning can occur without reinforcement, introducing a cognitive aspect.
• A cognitive map is a mental picture of a layout of an environment.
• After 10 maze sessions without food, rats quickly exited the maze in 1 trial with food showing that they had learned the way out.
• Latent learning is learning not immediately observable until a reason to demonstrate it arises.
• Children may learn behaviors from their parents that are not demonstrated until later in life.
• Children can learn the route to school from the parent driving there, but can not apply this until they drive or bike to school.

Observational Learning

• Observational learning is learning by watching and imitating others.

Social Learning Theory

• Albert Bandura suggested social learning theory, to explain learning without external reinforcement.
• Observational learning uses imitation and internal mental states.
• Modeling Process:
  • Attention: focusing on behavior.
  • Retention: remembering the behavior.
  • Reproduction: performing the behavior.
  • Motivation: the desire to copy the behavior.
• Motivation depends on what happened to the model.
• Vicarious reinforcement makes the observer more likely to imitate rewarded behaviors.
• Vicarious punishment makes the observer less likely to imitate punished behaviors.

Bandura's BOBO Doll Experiment

• Albert Bandura studied modeling aggressive and violent behaviors.
• Children watched adults act aggressively toward a Bobo doll, then were given time to play with it.
• Adults were either punished, praised, or ignored for their behavior.
• Children acted less aggressively if the adult was punished.
• Children acted more aggressively if the adult was praised or ignored.