Week 8 Chapter 6 Learning PDF

Chapter 6 Learning Emma Wei Chen, Ph.D. [email protected] Lecturer of Psychology Department of Social Sciences Office 2110, 2nd floor, Building 2, SAN Khalifa University of Science and Technology Learning Objective Questions: What is classical conditioning, and how does it demonstrate associat...

Chapter 6 Learning Emma Wei Chen, Ph.D. [email protected] Lecturer of Psychology Department of Social Sciences Office 2110, 2nd floor, Building 2, SAN Khalifa University of Science and Technology Learning Objective Questions: What is classical conditioning, and how does it demonstrate associative learning? What is operant conditioning, and how is operant behavior reinforced? What are the drawbacks of physical punishment? What limits does biology place on conditioning? How do cognitive processes affect classical and operant conditioning? What is observational learning? 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 2  How Do We Learn Learning: the process of acquiring, through experience, new and relatively enduring information or behaviors. One way we learn is by association. Our minds naturally connect events that occur in sequence. Suppose you see and smell freshly baked bread, eat some, and find it satisfying. The next time you see and smell fresh bread, you will expect that eating it will again be satisfying We also learn by observing, which is observational learning 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 3  Classical Conditioning Takes advantage of biological, instinctual responses to create associations between two unrelated stimuli. o Ivan Pavlov’s Experiment ▪ Unconditioned Stimulus: A stimulus that elicits a reflexive response (food). ▪ Unconditioned Response: A natural reaction to a given stimulus (salivation). ▪ Neutral Stimulus: A stimulus that does not initially elicit a response (the bell) ▪ Conditioned Stimulus: A stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (the bell). ▪ Conditioned Response: The response caused by the conditioned stimulus (salivation). 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 4  Classical Conditioning Acquisition o CR has been learned when CS is presented Extinction o Habituation to CS Spontaneous recovery o A weak CR to CS after extinction 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 5  Classical Conditioning Generalization o the tendency, after conditioning, to respond similarly to stimuli that resemble the conditioned stimulus Discrimination o the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 6 Pavlov’s Legacy Most psychologists now agree that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning. Why should we care that dogs can be conditioned to drool to the sound of a tone? Many other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other creatures — in fact, in every species tested, from earthworms to fish to dogs to monkeys to people (Schwartz, 1984). Classical conditioning is one way that virtually all animals learn to adapt to their environment. Pavlov showed us how a process such as learning can be studied objectively. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 7 Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life Medical treatments. Drugs given as cancer treatments can trigger nausea and vomiting. Merely entering the clinic’s waiting room or seeing the nurses can provoke these feelings (Burish & Carey, 1986). Drug cravings. Former drug users often feel a craving when they are again in the drug-using context. Food cravings. Classical conditioning makes dieting difficult. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 8  Little Albert Experiment Example: Little Albert Experiment by John Watson (Watson and Rayner, 1920) What are NS, US, UR, CS, and CR in this experiment? Is it ethical to run this experiment? Why? 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 9  Socrative Time! HUMA140EMMA 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 10  Operant Conditioning Links voluntary behaviors with consequences to alter the frequency of those behaviors. A behavior becomes more probable if followed by a reinforcer or less probable if followed by a punisher. o Reinforcement: to increase the likelihood of a behavior o Punishment: to decrease the likelihood of a behavior B.F. Skinner Skinner box 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 11  Types of Reinforcers Primary Reinforcers vs. Secondary Reinforcers Unlearned and innate Conditioned reinforcers Often satisfy a biological need Gain reinforcing power through their link with primary reinforcers Token Economy Positive Reinforcers vs. Negative Reinforcers Increase a behavior by adding a positive Increase a behavior by removing consequence something unpleasant. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 12  Reinforcement Schedules The best way to teach a person or animal a behavior is to use positive reinforcement. 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. Once a behavior is trained, researchers and trainers often turn to another type of reinforcement schedule—partial reinforcement. The person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 13  Partial Reinforcement Schedules There are several different types of partial reinforcement schedules. o Factor 1: whether the schedule is fixed or variable o Factor 2: whether the schedule is based on a ratio or an interval Fixed Variable FI VI Interval Reward given if action taken after Reward given if action taken after a a defined time interval random time interval FR VR Ratio Reward given after a defined Reward given if action taken after a number of actions taken random number of actions taken 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 14  Partial Reinforcement Schedules For example: a video game about shooting Fixed Variable VI FI Progress to the next level after playing Progress to the next level after Interval the current level for 30 minutes, 1 hour playing the current level for 1 or 1.5 hours. Required play time is hour random for each level. VR FR Progress to the next level after killing 10, Ratio Progress to the next level after 20 or 40 enemies. Required killing 20 enemies achievement is random for each level. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 15 10/21/2024 16 Punishment Positive punishment Negative punishment 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 17  Socrative Time! HUMA140EMMA 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 18  Drawbacks of Physical Punishment Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten o May reinforce parents’ punishing behavior Teaches the child to discriminate situations o e.g., did the child simply learn that while it’s not okay to swear around the house, it’s okay elsewhere? Teaches fear o generalization across different situations May increase violence by modeling violence as a way to cope with problems. Punishment tells you what not to do; reinforcement tells you what to do. Most psychologists now favor an emphasis on reinforcement. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 19 Observational Learning Cognition supports observational learning (also called social learning), in which higher animals learn without direct experience, by watching and imitating others. e.g., A child who sees his sister burn her fingers on a hot stove learns, without getting burned himself, that hot stoves can burn us. We learn our native languages and all kinds of other specific behaviors by observing and imitating others, a process called modeling. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 20  Observational Learning Example: Bobo doll experiment by Bandura (1961) ▪ Stage 1 Modeling: ▪ 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) watched a male or female model behaving aggressively towards a toy called a 'Bobo doll'. The adults attacked the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner - they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted "Pow, Boom.“ ▪ Another 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) were exposed to a non-aggressive model who played in a quiet and subdued manner for 10 minutes (playing with a tinker toy set and ignoring the bobo-doll). ▪ The final 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) were used as a control group and not exposed to any model at all. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 21  Observational Learning Example: Bobo doll experiment by Bandura (1961) ▪ Stage 2 Aggression Arousal: ▪ Each child was (separately) taken to a room with relatively attractive toys. ▪ As soon as the child started to play with the toys, the experimenter told the child that these were the experimenter's very best toys and she had decided to reserve them for the other children. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 22  Observational Learning Example: Bobo doll experiment by Bandura (1961) ▪ Stage 3 Test for Delayed Imitation: ▪ The next room contained some aggressive toys and some non-aggressive toys. The aggressive toys included a 3 foot Bobo doll. ▪ The child was in the room for 20 minutes, and their behavior was observed and rated though a one-way mirror. Observations were made at 5- second intervals, therefore, giving 240 response units for each child. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 23  Observational Learning Example: Bobo doll experiment by Bandura (1961) ▪ Main Result: ▪ Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups. ▪ The findings support Bandura's (1977) Social Cognitive Theory. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 24  Mirror Neurons Neurons that fire both when an animal/human acts and when the animal/human observes the same action performed by another. Premotor Cortex Mirror neurons provide a neural basis for both imitation and empathy (inner imitation). 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 25 The end. 10/21/2024 KU-HUMA140-Emma 26