Psychology Learning Notes PDF Fall 2024

PSYC100: PSYCHOLOGY LEARNING Fall 2024 @ Koç University Gözde Şentürk “Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice.” (Ciccarelli & White, 2021, p. 194) Learning: Behavior modification + Classical Conditioning + Operant Conditioning (Instrumenta...

PSYC100: PSYCHOLOGY LEARNING Fall 2024 @ Koç University Gözde Şentürk “Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice.” (Ciccarelli & White, 2021, p. 194) Learning: Behavior modification + Classical Conditioning + Operant Conditioning (Instrumental Conditioning) + Skill Learning (Motor Learning) + Observational Learning + Cognitive Learning Theory  CLASSICAL CONDITIONING  Classical Conditioning “Learning to make an involuntary response to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the response” (Ciccarelli & White, 2021, p. 195) Classical Conditioning: A brief history + Pavlov (late 19th –early 20th century): Russian scientist + John B. Watson (20th century) The elements of Classical Conditioning + “unconditioned stimulus (UCS): a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism.” (Spielman et al. 2020, p. 184) + “unconditioned response (UCR): a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus.” (Spielman et al. 2020, p. 184) + UCS response automatically elicits UCR. The relationship between UCS and UCR is not learnt. It is innate and automatic. The elements of Classical Conditioning + “neutral stimulus (NS), which is a stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response.” (Spielman et al. 2020, p. 184). + The subject can detect the neutral stimulus, but the subject does not elicit an automatic response to the NS. The elements of Classical Conditioning: IN ACTION! + During the training phase, the neutral stimulus (NS) and unconditioned stimulus (UCS) are repeatedly presented together. + After the repeated pairing of the NS and UCS, the NS becomes a conditioned stimulus. + “Conditioned stimulus (CS), which is a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus..” (Spielman et al. 2020, p. 184). + “The behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus is called the conditioned response (CR).” (Spielman et al. 2020, p. 184).  Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning is pairing a response eliciting stimulus with a neutral stimulus. Unconditioned stimulus: Naturally elicits a response Unconditioned response: Response elicited for an unconditioned stimulus Neutral stimulus: A stimulus that does not elicit the response Conditioned stimulus: A stimulus that elicits a response after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus Conditioned response: Response elicited for a conditioned stimulus (Spielman et al., 2020) Some principles of the classical conditioning* + The CS must precede the UCS. + The time gap between the CS and UCS must be short. Otherwise, they cannot be associated. + Repetition of NS and UCS pairing during training (acquisition) period + The CS must be attention capturing. *: There can be exceptions (Ciccarelli & White, 2021) Stimulus Discrimination “Animals (including humans) need to distinguish between stimuli—for example, between sounds that predict a threatening event and sounds that do not—so that they can respond appropriately (such as running away if the sound is threatening). When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar, it is called stimulus discrimination. In classical conditioning terms, the organism demonstrates the conditioned response only to the conditioned stimulus. Pavlov’s dogs discriminated between the basic tone that sounded before they were fed and other tones (e.g., the doorbell), because the other sounds did not predict the arrival of food.” (Spielman et al. 2020, p. 190) Stimulus generalization “On the other hand, when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus, it is called stimulus generalization, the opposite of stimulus discrimination. The more similar a stimulus is to the condition stimulus, the more likely the organism is to give the conditioned response.” (Spielman et al. 2020, p. 190) What happens when you repeatedly present the CS without UCS? + “Extinction is the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus. When presented with the conditioned stimulus alone, the dog, cat, or other organism would show a weaker and weaker response, and finally no response. In classical conditioning terms, there is a gradual weakening and disappearance of the conditioned response.” (Spielman et al. 2020, p. 188-189) + “spontaneous recovery: the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period (Spielman et al. 2020, p.189) (image from Spielman et al., 2020, p.189) Higher- Order Conditioning (image from Spielman et al., 2020, p.186) Operant Conditioning (Instrumental Conditioning)  Operant Conditioning (Instrumental Conditioning) + The consequences of a behavior influences the future occurrences of the behavior. + Reinforcement of a behavior increases the future occurrences of the behavior. + Punishment of a behavior decreases the future occurrences of the behavior.  INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING (image from Spielman et al., 2020, p. 193) How to increase or decrease a behavior? Determined by its consequences Reinforcement is a Punishment is an desirable outcome to undesirable outcome to increase the further decrease the further occurrences of a occurrences of a behavior behavior (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 194) Behavior modification: Increasing a behavior Reinforcement + “The most effective way to teach a person or animal a new behavior is with positive reinforcement. In positive reinforcement, a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 194) + “In negative reinforcement, an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior.”.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 194)  Reinforcement in action + Goal: Encourage a kid to tidy up their room + Positive reinforcement: This kid likes candy bars. Hence, receiving candy bars is a desirable outcome. “If you tidy up your room, I will give you a candy bar” + Negative reinforcement: This kid does not like rubbish on the floor. Hence, getting rid of rubbish on the floor is a desirable outcome. “If you tidy up your room, your room will be free of rubbish” Shaping + “Instead of rewarding only the target behavior, in shaping, we reward successive approximations of a target behavior. Why is shaping needed? Remember that in order for reinforcement to work, the organism must first display the behavior. Shaping is needed because it is extremely unlikely that an organism will display anything but the simplest of behaviors spontaneously. In shaping, behaviors are broken down into many small, achievable steps.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 195) + Fine-tuning a desirable behavior Step by step shaping (copied from Spielman et al., 2020, p. 195) 1. Reinforce any response that resembles the desired behavior. 2. Then reinforce the response that more closely resembles the desired behavior. You will no longer reinforce the previously reinforced response. 3. Next, begin to reinforce the response that even more closely resembles the desired behavior. 4. Continue to reinforce closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. 5. Finally, only reinforce the desired behavior. Primary and secondary reinforcements “Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 196) E.g.: Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch, pleasure is also a primary reinforcer. Physical needs “A secondary reinforcer has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 196) E.g. Praise, money, stickers on the behavior chart, receiving a “star” Sticker chart: A type of secondary reinforcer (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 197) When to give the reinforcer? Reinforcement schedules “When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior, it is called continuous reinforcement. This reinforcement schedule is the quickest way to teach someone a behavior, and it is especially effective in training a new behavior.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 198). For the best result, the delay between the reinforcer and the behavior must be short. When to give the reinforcer? Reinforcement schedules + “In partial reinforcement, also referred to as intermittent reinforcement, the person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 198). + Combination of the delay predictability (fixed vs variable) and the delay type (interval vs ratio) (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 199) (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 200) Extinction + Extinction: If the reinforcement stops, the behavior stops. + Stopping a reinforcer delivered in the variable ratio schedule yields in slow extinction rate. + Stopping a reinforcer delivered in the fixed interval schedule yields in high extinction rate. Behavior modification: Decreasing a behavior Punishment + “In positive punishment, you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 195) + “In negative punishment, you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease behavior.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 195) Punishment in action + Goal: In a video game, prevent players from entering a section + Positive punishment: If a player enters into the section, their avatar receives 10 points of damage + Negative punishment: If a player enters into the section, their avatar loses 100 golds.  SKILL LEARNING (MOTOR LEARNING) Skill Learning (Motor Learning) + Making a behavior automatic by simply repeating the same behavior over and over. + Examples? Knitting, driving, biking..  OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING (MODELING) Observational Learning (Modeling) “In observational learning, we learn by watching others and then imitating, or modeling, what they do or say. For instance, have you ever gone to YouTube to find a video showing you how to do something? The individuals performing the imitated behavior are called models.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 203) Models in Observational Learning as Described by Bandura: Live, Verbal, and Symbolic Models + “A live model demonstrates a behavior in person” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 204) + “A verbal instructional model does not perform the behavior, but instead explains or describes the behavior” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 204) + “A symbolic model can be fictional characters or real people who demonstrate behaviors in books, movies, television shows, video games, or Internet sources” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 204) Steps in modeling process as described by Bandura: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation 1. Attention: The learner should pay attention to the model. 2. Retention: The learner should memorize the actions of the model. 3. Reproduction: The learner should be able to act the way the model did (imitate). 4. Motivation: The learner should have the motivation to imitate the behavior The Motivation in Observational Learning + vicarious reinforcement: The behavior of the model is reinforced. This will increase the learner’s motivation to display the same behavior. + vicarious punishment: The behavior of the model is punished. This will decrease the learner’s motivation to display the same behavior. Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment + Watch the experiment: (http://openstax.org/l/bobodoll) + Children watch a movie where the model behaves aggressively towards the Bodo doll. Model is punished: Children are less likely to behave aggressively towards the doll. Model is rewarded or no consequences: Children are more likely to behave aggressively towards the doll.  Abuse and Observational Learning “The antisocial effects of observational learning are also worth mentioning. As you saw from the example of Claire at the beginning of this section, her daughter viewed Claire’s aggressive behavior and copied it. Research suggests that this may help to explain why victims of abuse often grow up to be abusers themselves (Murrell, Christoff, & Henning, 2007). In fact, about 30% of child abuse victims become abusive parents (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2013). We tend to do what we know. Children who grow up witnessing their parents deal with anger and frustration through violent and aggressive acts often learn to behave in that manner themselves.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 206) “Does watching violent media or playing violent video games cause aggression? Albert Bandura's early studies suggested television violence increased aggression in children, and more recent studies support these findings. For example, research by Craig Anderson and colleagues (Anderson, Bushman, Donnerstein, Hummer, & Warburton, 2015; Anderson et al., 2010; Bushman et al., 2016) found extensive evidence to suggest a causal link between hours of exposure to violent media and aggressive thoughts and behaviors. However, studies by Christopher Ferguson and others suggests that while there may be a link between violent media exposure and aggression, research to date has not accounted for other risk factors for aggression including mental health and family life (Ferguson, 2011; Gentile, 2016). What do think?” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 206) COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY Can learning occur without punishment or reward? + Suppose you put a rat in a maze. You do not punish the rat, you do not reward the rat. You just let the rat run around in the maze freely. + Will the rat learn the layout of the maze? Latent Learning “In the experiments, Tolman placed hungry rats in a maze with no reward for finding their way through it. He also studied a comparison group that was rewarded with food at the end of the maze. As the unreinforced rats explored the maze, they developed a cognitive map: a mental picture of the layout of the maze (Figure 6.15). After 10 sessions in the maze without reinforcement, food was placed in a goal box at the end of the maze. As soon as the rats became aware of the food, they were able to find their way through the maze quickly, just as quickly as the comparison group, which had been rewarded with food all along. This is known as latent learning: learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it.” (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 202) The gestalt approach: problem solving as representation and reconstruction + Insight is suddenly realizing how to solve a ? problem. + Insight problem, solution comes like an “A ha!” moment. + How? The crucial elements were discovered suddenly + Importance of reconstruction usually in insight problems (Goldstein, 2015) (Spielman et al., 2020, p. 515)  REFERENCES + Ciccarelli, S. K. & White, J. N. (2021). Psychology, Global Edition, 6th Edition. Pearson. + Goldstein, E.B. (2015). Cognitive Psychology: connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Cengage. + Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J. , & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/psychology-2e Note: The Designer function powered by Office Intelligence services were used to design the slides.