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PSY 103 LEARNING L E J L A M US T O O B A Ş E R , M. A. , P H D C A N D I D A T E , CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, INTEGRATIVE P S Y C H O T H E R A P I S T UN D E R S UP E R V I S I O N LEARNING THE RELATIVELY PERMANENT CHANGE IN KNOWLEDGE OR BEHAVIOR THAT IS THE RESULT OF EXPERI...

PSY 103 LEARNING L E J L A M US T O O B A Ş E R , M. A. , P H D C A N D I D A T E , CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, INTEGRATIVE P S Y C H O T H E R A P I S T UN D E R S UP E R V I S I O N LEARNING THE RELATIVELY PERMANENT CHANGE IN KNOWLEDGE OR BEHAVIOR THAT IS THE RESULT OF EXPERIENCE. most important human capacity allows us to create effective lives by being able to respond to changes The principles of learning can also be used to explain a wide variety of social interactions, including social dilemmas in which people make important, and often selfish, decisions about how to behave by calculating the costs and benefits of different outcomes. LEARNING BY ASSOCIATION: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Learning Objectives 1. Describe how Pavlov’s early work in classical conditioning influenced the understanding of learning. 2. Review the concepts of classical conditioning, including unconditioned stimulus (US), conditioned stimulus (CS), unconditioned response (UR), and conditioned response (CR). 3. Explain the roles that extinction, generalization, and discrimination play in conditioned learning.  Classical conditioning refers to learning that occurs when a neutral stimul us (e.g., a tone) becomes associated with a stimul us (e.g., food) that naturally produces a behavior. After the association is learned, the previously neutral stimulus is sufficient to produce the behavior. Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936)  PANEL IMAGE OF WHISTLE AND DOG Top left: Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (US) naturally produces the unconditioned response (UR). Top right: Before conditioning, the neutral stimulus (the whistle) does not produce the salivation response. Bottom left: The unconditioned stimulus (US), in this case the food, is repeatedly presented immediately after the neutral stimulus. Bottom right: After learning, the neutral stimulus (now known as the conditioned stimulus or CS), is sufficient to produce the conditioned responses (CR). IVAN PAVLOV experiment cs The Persistence and Extinction of Conditioning us Extinction refers to the reduction in responding that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus.  Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery Acquisition: The CS and the US are repeatedly paired together and behavior increases. Extinction: The CS is repeatedly presented alone, and the behavior slowly decreases. Spontaneous recovery: After a pause, when the CS is again presented alone, the behavior may again occur and then again show extinction. Generalization refers to the tendency to respond to stimuli that resemble the original conditioned stimulus. The ability to generalize has important evolutionary significance. The flip side of generalization is discrimination—the tendency to respond differently to stimuli that are similar but not identical.  THE ROLE OF NATURE IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represents a case of classical conditioning to a severe trauma that does not easily become extinct. In this case the original fear response, experienced during combat, has become conditioned to a loud noise. When the person with PTSD hears a loud noise, she experiences a fear response even though she is now far from the site of the original trauma. PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a fearful event, such as the threat of death.  EXERCISES AND CRITICAL THINKING 1. A teacher places gold stars on the board when the students are quiet and attentive. Eventually, the students start becoming quiet and attentive whenever the teacher approaches the board. Can you explain the students’ behavior in terms of classical conditioning? 2. Recall a time in your life, perhaps when you were a child, when your behaviors were influenced by classical conditioning. Describe in detail the nature of the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and the response, using the appropriate psychological terms.  CHANGING BEHAVIOR THROUGH REINFORCEMENT AND PUNISHMENT: OPERANT CONDITIONING Learning Objectives 1. Outline the principles of operant conditioning. 2. Explain how learning can be shaped through the use of reinforcement schedules. Operant conditioning learning that occurs based on the consequences of behavior and can involve the learning of new actions. the organism learns from the consequences of its own actions.  HOW REINFORCEMENT AND PUNISHMENT INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR observed cats who had been placed in a “puzzle box” from which they tried to escape (“Thorndike’s Puzzle Box”). law of effect, the principle that responses that create a typically pleasant outcome in a particular situation are more likely to occur again in a similar situation, whereas responses that produce a typically EDWARD L. THORNDIKE (1874–1949) unpleasant outcome are less likely to occur again in the situation (Thorndike, 1911). THE FIRST SCIENTIST TO SYSTEMATICALLY STUDY OPERANT CONDITIONING. THORNDIKE’S PUZZLE BOX  HOW REINFORCEMENT AND PUNISHMENT INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR A Skinner box (operant chamber) is a structure that is big enough to fit a rodent or bird and that contains a bar or key that the organism can press or peck to release food or water. It also contains a device to record the animal’s responses. Skinner studied, in detail, how animals changed their behavior through reinforcement and punishment, and he developed terms that explained the B. F. SKINNER (1904–1990) processes of operant learning. EXPANDED ON THORNDIKE’S IDEAS TO DEVELOP A MORE COMPLETE SET OF PRINCIPLES TO EXPLAIN OPERANT CONDITIONING. B. F. Skinner used a Skinner box to study operant learning. The box contains a bar or key that the organism can press to receive food and water, and a device that records the organism’s responses. How Positive and Negative Reinforcement and Punishment Influence Behavior  Creating Complex Behaviors Through Operant Conditioning continuous reinforcement schedule vs partial (or intermittent) reinforcement schedule REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES EXERCISES AND CRITICAL THINKING 1. Give an example from daily life of each of the following: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, negative punishment. 2. Consider the reinforcement techniques that you might use to train a dog to catch and retrieve a Frisbee that you throw to it.  EXERCISES AND CRITICAL THINKING Watch the following video from current television show. Can you determine which learning procedure is being demonstrated? Positive Reinforcement LEARNING BY INSIGHT AND OBSERVATION Learning objectives: Understand the principles of learning by insight and observation. LEARNING BY INSIGHT type of learning known as insight, the sudden understanding of a solution to a problem. Wolfgang Köhler (1925) Edward Tolman (Tolman & Honzik, 1930)- Latent learning refers to learning that is not reinforced and not demonstrated until there is motivation to do so.  Observational learning (modeling) is learning by observing the behavior of others. OBSERVATIONAL Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1963)- Bobo doll LEARNING: LEARNING BY WATCHING Albert Bandura BANDURA- BOBO DOLL Research Focus: The Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggression Anderson and Bushman (2002) found that college students who had just played a violent video game expressed significantly more violent responses to a story than did those who had just played a nonviolent video game. Adapted from Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2002). Violent video games and hostile expectations: A test of the general aggression model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(12), 1679–1686. EXERCISES AND CRITICAL THINKING 1. Describe a time when you learned something by insight. What do you think led to your learning? 2. Imagine that you had a 12-year-old brother who spent many hours a day playing violent video games. Basing your answer on the material covered in this lecture, do you think that your parents should limit his exposure to the games? Why or why not? 3. How might we incorporate principles of observational learning to encourage acts of kindness and selflessness in our society?  USING THE PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING TO UNDERSTAND EVERYDAY BEHAVIOR Learning Objectives 1. Review the ways that learning theories can be applied to understanding and modifying everyday behavior. 2. Describe the situations under which reinforcement may make people less likely to enjoy engaging in a behavior. 3. Explain how principles of reinforcement are used to understand social dilemmas such as the prisoner’s dilemma and why people are likely to make competitive choices in them. Using Classical Conditioning in Advertising  REINFORCEMENT IN SOCIAL DILEMMAS A social dilemma such as the commons dilemma is a situation in which the behavior that creates the most positive outcomes for the individual may in the long- term lead to negative consequences for the group as a whole. Prisoner’s dilemma game (Poundstone, 1992)- represents a social dilemma in which the goals of the individual compete with the goals of another individual (or sometimes with a group of other individuals). Like all social dilemmas, the prisoner’s dilemma assumes that individuals will generally try to maximize their own outcomes in their interactions with others.  EXERCISES AND CRITICAL THINKING 1. Find and share with your class some examples of advertisements that make use of classical conditioning to create positive attitudes toward products. 2. Should parents use both punishment as well as reinforcement to discipline their children? On what principles of learning do you base your opinion? 3. Think of a social dilemma other than one that has been discussed in this lecture, and explain people’s behavior in it in terms of principles of learning. QUESTIONS?