Psychology of Learning PDF

Learning Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning Cognitive-Social Learning Theory The Biology of Learning Conditioning and Learning in Everyday Life Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) was a Russian physiologist whose research investigated the role of saliva in...

Learning Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning Cognitive-Social Learning Theory The Biology of Learning Conditioning and Learning in Everyday Life Classical Conditioning Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) was a Russian physiologist whose research investigated the role of saliva in digestion One of Pavlov’s students noticed that dogs in the laboratory began salivating before they were given food, that is: – At the sight of food being brought into the lab – At the sight of food dishes brought into the lab – With the smell of food – With the sight of the person delivering food Pavlov realized that this type of ‘automatic’ salivation was somewhat like an involuntary reflex action He concluded that it had to have been a learned behaviour Conditioned stimulus.... Pavlov and his students conducted a number of experiments They sounded a tuning fork just before food was placed in the dog’s mouths After several pairings of tone with food the dogs began to salivate when they heard the tone (alone) Further experiments demonstrated that many things can become a conditioned stimulus for salivation: the sound of a buzzer the ticking of a metronome the presentation of a light the sight of a circle, triangle or other shape on a stimulus card Conditioning is a form of learning.... Classical conditioning is a form of learning ‘Learning’ refers to a relatively permanent change in behaviour or mental processes.... that comes about due to experience Some behaviours are inborn and do not require any type of learning For example, the inborn salivation reflex consists of: 1. an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) 2. an unconditioned response (UCR) That is, the UCS (food) elicits the UCR (salivation) without previous learning UCS becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS).... Before conditioning occurs, a neutral stimulus does not naturally elicit a response that is (1) relevant, or (2) consistent Going back to Pavlov and his dogs, they did not naturally salivate when a tuning fork was sounded Rather, learning occurred when the neutral stimulus (tone) is regularly paired with an unconditioned (‘natural’) stimulus, i.e. food Hence, the UCS becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS), i.e. it takes on the valence or value of the food Behaviourism.... Classical conditioning is considered to be the most common and important avenue for acquiring new behaviours, emotions and attitudes in humans and animals John B Watson and Rosalie Rayner conducted a famous experiment (‘Little Albert’) in which a white rat (neutral stimulus) was paired with a loud noise (UCS) to produce fear (CR) Watson’s work gave rise to the school of behaviourism; he emphasized the importance of studying behaviours that were strictly observable by others Behaviourism is known as the science which explains behaviour as a result of observable stimuli and observable responses Important Principles of Classical Conditioning John Watson demonstrated that many of our likes, dislikes, prejudices and fears are ‘conditioned emotional responses’ (CER) Stimulus generalization refers to the power of stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus (CS) For example, after initially conditioning dogs to salivate at the sound of low-pitched tones... Pavlov later demonstrated that dogs would generalize their salivation response to higher-pitched tones as well In a similar way, ‘Little Albert’ came to fear not only white rats, but also a rabbit, fur coat, a dog, etc.... Stimulus discrimination.... Eventually, Pavlov’s dogs learned to distinguish between tuning fork tones that signalled food – and those that did not This is referred to as ‘stimulus discrimination’.... In a similar way, Little Albert was eventually able to differentiate between the stimuli of white rats, rabbits and dogs Extinction When Pavlov decided to stop pairing food (UCS) with the tuning fork tone (CS), extinction occurred in the learned response (salivation, CR) So, when Pavlov repeatedly sounded the tuning fork without presenting food, the previous association was weakened.... That is, the dogs salivated less (or not at all) It is important to note that extinction does not represent un-learning........ the learned response may spontaneously appear later on.... Spontaneous recovery..... This may be why certain emotions are raised when confronted with an old girlfriend or boyfriend....... that is, an ‘old’ learned response is reintroduced at the sight or the presentation of the long-lost conditioned stimulus (CS) Environmental or social conditions may simply fail to bring about the typical association of CS and CR that has been brought into play by experience.... An example of classical conditioning: PTSD Classical conditioning has been used to explain the experience of ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’ (PTSD) PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a fearful event, e.g. shooting, bombs, and the threat of death PTSD occurs when strong associations are formed between situational factors surrounding the traumatic event (e.g. sounds and smells of war, UCS) and the occurrence of trauma (UCR) As a result, later exposure – or even thinking about the original trauma (CS) – can be enough to produce the CR of severe anxiety PTSD and extinction PTSD develops because the emotions experienced during the initial trauma have produced neural activity in the amygdala.... and this creates strong conditioned learning Those with symptoms of PTSD also demonstrate slower extinction.... That is, there tends to be a fear response that maintains thoughts or ‘vigilance’ concerning repeat presentations of traumatic stimuli.... What are your thoughts concerning the re- appearance of trauma response in the form of spontaneous recovery? Reconditioning When a conditioned stimulus (CS) is reintroduced after extinction, the conditioning occurs much faster the second time around This is called ‘reconditioning’ Both phenomena, i.e. spontaneous recovery and reconditioning, account for the fact that in many cases it is very difficult to break bad habits/ powerful learned associations They also help us to understand why it is difficult to form new associations, e.g. new beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours Operant Conditioning An important pioneer in the study of operant conditioning is Edward Thorndike (1874-1949) He put forward the ‘Law of Effect’: the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated is strengthened when it is followed by a satisfying consequent (reinforcer) rather than by a punishment B F Skinner (1904-1990) extended Thorndike’s principle to more complex types of behaviour He noted that we need to check out our assumptions concerning punishments and reinforcers – e.g. shy pupils may respond less when they are paid special attention Thorndike Box.... In a number of famous experiments, both Thorndike and Skinner (and their students) placed either a cat, pigeon, or rat in a specially-built cage.... When the animal randomly stepped on a lever or pedal it was provided with a food pellet or access to a food dish With each such event the animal associated pressing a lever (or stepping on a pedal) with the reinforcing event of food Soon the animal’s lever-pressing behaviour became very intentional and purposeful Primary and secondary reinforcers.... We’ve learned that reinforcers make behavioural responses more likely to occur.... ‘Primary reinforcers’ are those that have an innately satisfying value........ that is, they are things like food and water that address unlearned, physical needs The value of ‘secondary reinforcers’ is learned....... e.g., we have learned to value money as something that is beneficial to us.... Negative reinforcement.... Reinforcers can be either positive or negative, depending on our actions By providing a positive reinforcement we are ‘rewarding’ the occurrence of a low- frequency behaviour This is termed the ‘Premack principle’, named after psychologist David Premack By rewarding self-study with a snack, you are reinforcing a relatively low-frequency behaviour (study) with eating (high-frequency) = the Premack principle ‘Negative reinforcement’ attempts to reward by eliminating an aversive situation.... this will increase certain behaviours.... e.g. lever-pressing in the Skinner box may be shaped by eliminating low-voltage shocks on the cage floor Extinction Extinction can also occur in operant conditioning, again by removing the original source of learning That is, by eliminating the reinforcer that has come to follow the shaped response the animal will eventually stop enacting the desired response There are various ‘schedules’ of reinforcement, e.g. according to number of desired responses, time elapsed, etc.... Learning is much more rapid (and long- lasting) when reinforcement is continuous (vs. partial) Schedules of reinforcement.... Once a behaviour is well learned psychologists tend to introduce partial schedules of reinforcement.... because behaviour is more resistant to extinction under such conditions Fixed Ratio: reinforcement occurs after a predetermined number of responses Variable Ratio: reinforcement occurs unpredictably, e.g. after 2 correct responses, then after 8, then after 3, etc Fixed Interval: reinforcement occurs after a predetermined time period has elapsed Variable Interval: reinforcement occurs unpredictably, e.g. after 2 minutes, then after 8 minutes, then after 3 minutes, etc Shaping In the case of complex behaviours, like learning a new language or teaching someone to play the piano, Skinner introduced the concept of ‘shaping’ Shaping: reinforcing successively closer approximations to the desired response (or complex behaviour) In the case of shaping essay-writing skills for this course, you have been rewarded for: – (1) providing point-form answers in worksheet format, – (2) providing single statement responses in worksheet format, then – (3) providing paragraph answers in short essay format, and – (4) providing grammatical essays of 1.5 pages in length, with APA style citations and references Punishment Unlike reinforcement, punishment decreases the strength of a behaviour ‘Positive punishment’ refers to the introduction of a stimulus that weakens the likelihood of the behaviour re-occurring (e.g. Slap) ‘Negative punishment’ refers to taking away a reinforcing stimulus – which also weakens the likelihood of repeating the behaviour (no T.V.) Hence, any process that adds or takes away something and causes a response to decrease can be called punishment Unintentional punishments.... Punishments are not always intentional For example, when parents ignore the A’s on their child’s report card and focus on B’s and C’s, they may unintentionally punish the achievement of excellent grades Likewise, when you slap your dog for not coming to you when called - you are actually punishing the desired behaviour (i.e. coming when called) To be effective, punishments should be delivered immediately and consistently More than punishment.... Practical realities in our society make it difficult to impose effective punishments As an example, the fact that drivers are only occasionally caught for speeding represents ‘delayed’ and ‘intermittent’ punishment Not only is this likely to be ineffective, the illegal behaviour is likely to be highly resistant to extinction Even when punishments are effective, the recipient may not readily learn substitute behaviours Far more effective is the provision of ‘modelling’ around correct behaviours........ i.e., giving the individual an example of appropriate behaviours so they can learn new ways of doing things.... Cognitive-Social Learning Although many early behaviourists held that almost all learning occurred via the stimulus-response pairings of conditioning.... Cognitive-social learning emphasizes the importance of thinking, interpretation and analysis (‘cognition’) within the organism Hence, the model is one of S-O-R or stimulus-organism-response (rather than simply ‘S-R’) This view takes account of the beliefs, attitudes, expectations, motivations and emotions that influence learning It also emphasizes the social nature of learning new behaviours, e.g. through observation and imitation (or ‘modelling’) Insight; Latent learning.... ‘Insight’ refers to sudden understanding of a problem that leads to a solution In his studies with chimpanzees, Wolfgang Kohler observed their capacity for insight For example, when chimps discovered that they could connect two sticks to make a longer one, they had the insight that it could be used to reach food that was beyond their reach Edward Tolman (1898-1956) also believed that the capacity for animals to employ cognitive processes in learning had been underestimated ‘Hidden learning that exists without behavioural signs’.... Tolman observed that even when provided with no external rewards (like food), rats and other animals were able to develop cognitive maps (or mental representations) of mazes When a group of rats was allowed to roam a maze without positive reinforcement, but then food was introduced at the end of a maze... They demonstrated very quick knowledge of the maze pathways This demonstrated that the rats benefited from ‘latent learning’, i.e. they had been thinking and building cognitive maps even without the reward of food Observational Learning ‘Modelling’ or observational learning refers to gaining new behaviour or information by watching others We learn many lessons about our environment and social world by watching the actions of others Canadian-born psychologist Albert Bandura conducted an experiment where children watched an adult kick, punch and shout at an inflated plastic doll When the actor was rewarded for such behaviour, children watching the scenario were more likely to imitate it According to Bandura, observational learning requires four separate steps or processes: (1) attention, (2) retention, (3) reproduction, and (4) reinforcement Biology of Learning As early as the 1960s evidence emerged that in order for changes in behaviour to persist over time, lasting changes needed to occur in the brain structures Studies found that animals raised in ‘enriched’ versus ‘deprived’ environments demonstrated a thicker cortex at post- mortem There was also increased nerve growth, more fully developed synapses, more branching of dendrites, and improved performance on many tests of learning Hence, each time we learn something, either consciously or unconsciously, that experience creates new synaptic connections and changes in a wide network of brain structures Mirror neurons and imitation FMRIs and other brain-imaging techniques have been used by neuroscientists to identify specific ‘mirror neurons’ Mirror neurons are thought to be activated when monkeys and humans watch others perform tasks These tasks include planning and movement, but mirror neurons are also activated when we empathize with what others are feeling and doing Mirror neurons are thought to be the underlying biological mechanism responsible for the copying of tongue and lip movements in language acquisition Mirror neurons (malfunction) may also be involved in those who do not understand verbal and behavioural clues of others (i.e. schizophrenia, autism) Evolution and learning ‘Biological preparedness’ refers to an innate or biological tendency to form learning associations between certain types of stimuli and response An example is the common tendency to develop phobias of snakes, spiders, heights and darkness Because of the risks involved with such stimuli (being bitten, poisoned, falling, etc), human experience has influenced the course of evolution........ resulting in a type of ‘biological readiness’ or genetic predisposition to learn certain associations more readily than others ‘Instinctive drift’.... Another example might be that if one becomes sick after eating a new plant, it would be advantageous (for survival) if an aversion to such a plant developed Biological preparedness tends to support the view that the fundamental laws of conditioning do not apply equally to all species and to all behaviours (i.e. ‘universally’) Another biological constraint to conditioned learning is that of ‘instinctive drift’ When shaping and reinforcement were used to teach a chicken to play baseball, rather than run to first base the chicken tended to chase the ball as if it were food Hence, instinctive drift refers to the tendency of some conditioned behaviours to shift back toward innate response patterns Conditioning and learning in everyday life Classically conditioned emotional responses can explain most common fears and phobias For example, we learn fear of spiders by witnessing the terror of others around us... Such learning can be undone by using principles of behaviour therapy Classical conditioning is also commonly used as a tool in marketing and advertising Here, a company’s product or logo (UCS) is paired with an attractive model or celebrity (CS)... eventually the logo should be paired with purchase or consumption Prejudice and cognitive-social learning.... Studies have shown that prejudice (and other negative attitudes) can be learned simply through observing the behaviour of others.... Correlational research from more than 50 studies indicates that observing violent behaviours is related to ‘desensitization’ and to the performance of violent behaviour (Anderson, Buckley, & Carnagey, 2008; Kronenberger et al., 2005) Another paper that reviewed more than 100 experimental studies demonstrated a causal link between observing violence and later performing violence (Primavera & Herron, 1996) Playing violent video games.... Kimball (1986) found that introducing a television station to an unserviced community was associated with later increases in (1) sex-typed attitudes, and (2) aggressive behaviours in children Playing violent video games has been found to desensitize players to real-life violence....... which may also make them less likely to help others in distress (Carnagey, Anderson, & Bushman, 2007) Playing violent video games is also associated with (1) increases in aggressive behaviour, (2) aggressive thoughts, (3) aggressive emotions and with (4) aggressive (physiological) arousal