PSYC 2000 Chapter : PSYC2000 Chapter5
Learning
"relatively permanent"
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when people learn anything, some part of their brain is
physically changed to record what they've learned
Without the ability to remember what happens, people cannot learn anything
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A process of memory
Any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice
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Changes like height or size of the brain
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Maturation
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change due to biology, not experience, that is controlled by a genetic
blueprint
Not all change is accomplished through learning
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Learning
•
5.1
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Definition of Learning
Brought objectivity and scientific research into the field of psychology
Russian
physiologist
who pioneered the empirical study of the basic principles of a particular
kind of learning
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Food causes salivation
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Reflex
-
unlearned, involuntary response that is not under personal control or choice
Stimulus
-
any object, event, or experience that causes a
response
Response
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the reaction of an organism
Pavlov's dogs began to salivate when they saw the lab assistant bringing their
food or heard the clatter of the bowl in the kitchen, or when it was the time of
day that they were usually fed
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Classical conditioning
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learning to elicit an involuntary, reflex
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like, response to a
stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the response
Built a device to measure the amount of saliva produced by dogs when they were fed a
measured amount of food
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Ivan Pavlov
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Unconditioned = "Unlearned"
The stimulus that ordinarily leads to the involuntary response
In Pavlov's experiment, food is the UCS
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
○
Occurs because of the genetic "wiring" in the nervous system
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The automatic and involuntary response to the unconditioned stimulus
In Pavlov's experiment, salivation to the food is the UCR
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
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Almost any kind of stimulus could become associated with the UCS if it is paired with
the UCS enough
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
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has no effect on the UCR
Learning has occurred
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Conditioned Stimulus
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when a previously neutral stimulus, through repeated pairing
with the UCS, begins to cause the same kind of involuntary response
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
○
A learned response to the CS
□
The response that is given to the CS is not usually quite as strong as the UCR, but it is
essentially the same response
Conditioned Response (CR)
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Elements of Classical Conditioning
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5.2
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Classical Conditioning
Chapter 5 Book Notes
Monday, October 24, 2016 12:24 PM
Chapter 5 Page 1
A learned response to the CS
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Metronome
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NS
The organism is in the process of acquiring learning
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Acquisition
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the repeated pairing of a NS and a UCS
They differ in strength
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UCS is always followed by a UCR
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CS is always followed by a CR
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The responses of the CR and UCR are very similar but:
Pavlov paired the ticking sound of a metronome with the presentation of food to see if dogs
would eventually salivate at the sound of the metronome
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CS must come before the UCS
Ideally, no more than 5 seconds apart
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Interstimulus Interval (ISI)
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time between CS and UCS
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CS and UCS must come very close together in time
Neutral stimulus must be paired with UCS several times, often many times, before
conditioning can take place
The CS is usually some stimulus that is distinctive or stands out from other competing
stimuli
Pavlov's Principles about Classical Conditioning
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The more similar the other sound was to the original sound, the more similar
the strength of the response
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The strength of the response to similar sounds was not as strong to the original one
Stimulus Generalization
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tendency to respond to a stimulus that is similar to the
original conditioned stimulus
Pavlov did not give the dogs any food after the similar ticking sound, they
stopped responding to the "fake" ticking sounds all together
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Stimulus Discrimination
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organism learns to respond to different stimuli in different
ways
Pavlov did find that similar sounds would produce a similar conditioned response from his
dogs
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Extinction
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when the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of the UCS, the CR
"dies out"
People can learn new things that replace it or lose their way to it in memory, but
it's still there
□
Once people learn something, it is almost impossible to "unlearn" it
Spontaneous Recovery
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the conditioned response can briefly reappear when the
original CS returns, although the response is usually weak and short
-
lived
Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
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The strong CS can play the part of a UCS
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The previously neutral stimulus becomes a
second
conditioned stimulus
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When a strong CS is paired with a neutral stimulus
Higher
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Order Conditioning
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Pavlov's Canine Classic
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UCS
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loud noise
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UCR
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fear of the noise
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CS
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white rat
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CR
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fear of the rat
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Watson's "Little Albert" experiment
The learning of phobias is a very good example of CER, a certain type of classical
conditioning
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Vicarious Conditioning
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it is possible to become classically conditioned by simply watching
Conditioned Emotional Response (CER)
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5.3
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Conditioned Emotional Responses
Chapter 5 Page 2
Vicarious Conditioning
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it is possible to become classically conditioned by simply watching
someone else respond to a stimulus
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Rats would not touch the liquid again
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Rats given a sweetened liquid then injected with a liquid or exposed to radiation that
caused nausea
Moths mimicking monarch butterfly to avoid being eaten
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Birds associate visual characteristics with illness
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Birds will avoid any object or insect that
looks
like the one that made them sick
Conditioned Taste Aversion
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Nausea and fear are involuntary reactions that help organisms survive to
reproduce and pass on their genetic material
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The innate tendency to make quick and strong associations between stimuli and
reactions has evolutionary importance
□
We need to remember what fear
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inducing stimuli are so that we can safely avoid
them in the future
When objects are not typically dangerous it is very difficult to condition a fear of those
objects
Fear is a natural response that has ties to survival
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Biological Influences on Conditioning
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Pavlov believed that the CS, through association close in time with the UCS, came to
activate the same place in the animal's brain that was originally activated by the UCS
Stimulus substitution
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Rescorla found that CS must predict the coming of the UCS
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Explanation for classical conditioning
Tone paired with shock versus tone paired with the absence of the shock
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Expectancy
determines the response of the rats
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Mental activity of consciously expecting something to occur
Cognitive Perspective
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Why does Classical Conditioning Work?
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If you blink your eyes because a gnat flies close to them that is an involuntary reflex
If you chose to swat at the fly that is a voluntary choice
The kind of learning that applies to voluntary behavior
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Both different from and similar to classical conditioning
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Operant Conditioning
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Escape by using lever
Dish of food outside the box
Thorndike put a hungry cat in a puzzle box
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The cat did not learn to push the lever right away
The lever is the stimulus and pushing the lever is the response
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If an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated
If an action is followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will not tend to be repeated
Law of Effect
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Thorndike's Puzzle Box and the Law of Effect
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Even more determined that psychologists should study only measurable, observable
behavior
Behaviorist who assumed leadership of the field after John Watson
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Learning of voluntary behavior
In classical conditioning, involuntary behavior depends on what comes
before
the response
□
The effect of consequences on behavior
Operant Conditioning
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B.F. Skinner
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5.4
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Operant Conditioning
Chapter 5 Page 3
