Learning 8-10%

Behaviorism
 Learning = Conditioning
• The process by which experience or
practice results in a relatively permanent
change in behavior or potential behavior
– As a result of experience
– Does NOT include instincts, reflexes, and
maturation.
– Learning is inferred from a change in
behavior/performance
 Behaviorism
• School of psychology that focused only on
observable behaviors.
• It wanted to get away from the study of the
conscious mind completely. (things that are
not observable)
• Conditioning
 Learning
The process by which experience or practice results in a relatively
permanent change in behavior or potential behavior

Social Cognitive
Classical Operant
Conditioning Conditioning Learning
The type of learning in The type of learning in Theory
which a response naturally which behaviors are The type of learning in
elicited by one stimulus emitted to earn rewards which behaviors are
becomes to be elicited by a or avoid punishments learned by observing a
different formally neutral
model
stimulus

Pavlov and Watson B.F. Skinner Albert Bandura

Reinforcement and Modeling and
UCS, UCR, CS, CR
Punishment Vicarious Learning
 Classical Conditioning
• Simplified Definition
– Person/animal learns to respond to a stimulus
– Learning through association

• Ivan Pavlov
– Dog Salivation Experiment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpx
uzI
 Basic terms
A stimulus is any object or event in the
environment that elicits a sensory or
behavioral response
• Sound
• Light
Response is a reaction to a stimulus
 Classical Conditioning
• Unconditioned Stimulus (US/UCS) any stimulus
that creates an autonomic/automatic response in
an organism
• Unconditioned Response (UR/UCR) Response
that occurs due to autonomic or reflective
stimulus
Unlearned /Automatic
Example:
Food (US) Drooling (UR)
 Classical Conditioning
• Neutral Stimulus A stimulus that does not
naturally cause a response in the organism
• Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Anything that
can be perceived (Heard, smelled, felt, seen,
tasted)
• Conditioned Response (CR) Anything that
can be UR can become CR.
• Pairing (Association) Presenting the
organism with the CS and then the UCS
multiple times.
 Classical Conditioning
Unlearned S-R (Relationship)

US UR

+ (Association formed / Pairing Made)

CS CR
Learned S-R
 Classical Conditioning
Pavlov’s Experiment
Unlearned S-R (Relationship)

US UR

+ (Association formed / Pairing Made)

CS CR
Learned S-R
 Key Psychologists
• Ivan Pavlov
Russian physiologist
known primarily for
his work in classical
conditioning.
 Classical Conditioning
Billy is eight months old. Before testing, Billy showed no fear
of animals, but he did show fear (eyes open, heart beat
change) when a person banged hammer against large steel bar
behind him. They then put a white rat in front of him.
Whenever he reached for rat, they banged the hammer. Now
he is afraid of all furry white toy and even Santa Claus
US –
UR -
NS -
CS –
CR –
 Classical Conditioning
Unlearned S-R (Relationship)

US UR

+ (Association formed / Pairing Made)

CS CR
Learned S-R
 Answer
UCS: Loud Noises
UCR: Fear
NS: Animals
CS: Animals
UR: Fear
Roxanne loved the band Franz Ferdinand , but
one time when she listened to the song
“Dashboard”, it was so loud that she popped
an eardrum. Thankfully, she made a complete
recovery, but now when she hears any music
by Franz Ferdinand, her ears start to hurt.
UCS –
UCR –
NS –
CS –
CR –
 Classical Conditioning
Unlearned S-R (Relationship)

US UR

+ (Association formed / Pairing Made)

CS CR
Learned S-R
 Answer
UCS: Loud music
UCR: ears hurting
NS: Music by Franz Ferdinand
CS: Music by Franz Ferdinand
CR: ears hurting
Examples of Classical
Conditioning

Phobias!
Examples of Classical Conditioning
Advertisement!

Advertisers pair their product with

sexual imagery hoping that the
product will become a ‘promising
stimulus’ for sexual arousal. Hopefully
this connection makes you grab their
product off the self .
 Acquisition
Acquisition is the initial stage in classical
conditioning in which an association between a
neutral stimulus and an unconditioned
stimulus takes place.
• When an animal respond to the CS without a
presentation of the US
• When a bowl/bell makes a dog drool without
food
• Acquired new behavior
 Acquisition
1. In most cases, for conditioning to occur, the neutral
stimulus needs to come before the unconditioned
stimulus.
2. The time in between the two stimuli should be
about half a second. (immediate)
3. Pairing/association must happen repeatedly
• Extinction – Gradual weakening and eventual
disappearance of CR
– If stimulus fades away so will the behavior

• Spontaneous Recovery – Previously learned

behavior is occurring again. Extinguished CR
reappears after a period of training
– Non-recognized factors
• Second order or High order Conditioning
– When a newly acquired CS is used as a US in
order to condition a response to a new stimuli
– In the example of Pavlov’s experiment, the bell
is used to train dogs to bark
 Key Psychologists
• John B. Watson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnhyGozLyE
 Classical Conditioning
• John B. Watson (Little Albert
Experiment)
• Baby “Albert” – 8 months old
• Rat – behavior showed no indication of fear
• Associated with a loud noise
• Every time Albert saw a rat or anything
fuzzy his behavior indicated he was afraid
 Classical Conditioning
Unlearned S-R (Relationship)

US UR

+ (Association formed / Pairing Made)

CS CR
Learned S-R
 Classical Conditioning
Unlearned S-R (Relationship)
Loud Sound Fear

US UR

+ (Association formed / Pairing Made)

Rat Fear
CS CR
Learned S-R
 Classical Conditioning
• Stimulus Generalization
– Applied learning to similar things to what was
associated
– Example: little Albert became afraid of Rats,
Rabbits, Anything fuzzy, dog, Santa Clause —
anything fuzzy
• Stimulus Discrimination
– Does not apply learning to similar things
– Specific
 Other Methods
• Trace Conditioning – The presentation of
the CS, followed by a short break, followed
by the presentation of the U.S.
• Simultaneous Conditioning – CS and US
are presented at the same time.
• Delay Conditioning – CS is presented until
the US begins
• Forward Conditioning – CS is presented
before the US
• Backward Conditioning – US is presented
first and is followed by the CS. (Very
ineffective)
 Applications of Classical
Conditioning
Aversive Conditioning
A type of
counterconditioning
that associates an
unpleasant state with
an unwanted
behavior. With this
technique, temporary
conditioned aversion
to alcohol has been
reported.
34
 Applications of Classical
Conditioning
• Systematic Desensitization
(Flooding/Exposure Therapy)
• This is a form of treatment or therapy for
phobias, fears, and aversions that people
have. The premise is to reduce a person's
anxiety responses through gradual exposure
to the anxiety provoking stimulus.
Systematic Decenitization
Biological &Cognitive Aspects
 Contiguity model
• Pavlov and Watson believed pairing of the
neutral stimulus (that would later become
CS) and UCS occurred due to time.
• Neutral Stimulus must come immediately
after the UCS.
• Its about timing!
 Cognitive Processes
Early behaviorists believed that learned
behaviors of various animals could be reduced
to mindless mechanisms.

However, later behaviorists suggested that

animals learn the predictability of a stimulus,
meaning they learn expectancy or awareness of a
stimulus (Rescorla, 1988).
Robert Resccorla’s Contingency
Model
• Animals can learn the predictability of an
event
• If you feed a pigeon at noon, every day. The
pigeon will expect that behavior.
• The more predictable an associate, the
stronger the condition
• Its about cognition/ expectancy !
 Biological Predispositions
Pavlov and Watson believed that laws of
learning were similar for all animals.
Therefore, a pigeon and a person do not differ
in their learning.

However, behaviorists later suggested that learning is

constrained by an animal’s biology.
Each species’ predispositions prepare it to learn the
associations that enhance its survival.
 Garcia Effect
• John Garcia
• Conditioned taste aversion is
rapidly achieved by a single pairing
of an illness such as nausea with
eating a specific food
• Needs to happen once! Because we
are biologically wired to avoid
dangerous foods
 Biological Predispositions

• A biologically adaptive CS (taste)

led to conditioning; Taste Aversion

Courtesy of John Garcia

– Even if the timing was delayed

• However, conditioning did not

occur with other stimuli (light or John Garcia

sound).
– Stimuli that had no biological
function
There are more chances of you
learning to be more afraid of
poisonous bugs than flowers
 Biological Predisposition
• Preparedness means that through evolution,
animals are biologically predisposed to
easily learn behaviors related to survival
 Biological Predisposition
Biological constraints
predispose organisms to

Photo: Bob Bailey

learn associations that
are naturally adaptive.
Breland and Breland
(1961) showed that
animals responses/ Marian Breland Bailey
behaviors drift towards
their biologically
predisposed instinctive
behaviors.
Instinctive Drift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av-DqY1wLN8
II. Operant Conditioning
 Operant Conditioning
• The type of learning in which behaviors are
emitted to earn rewards or avoid
punishments
• In operant conditioning the participant
operates on the environment to gain
something desired or avoid something
unpleasant.
Edward L. Thorndike
• Animals placed in
puzzle boxes
• String pulled, latch
released, animal
jumps out and
receives food
• Learning by random
trial and error
• Law of Effect
Law of Effect
• Responses that
produce a satisfying
effect in a particular
situation become more
likely to occur again in
that situation
• Discomforting effect
become less likely to
occur
B.F. Skinner
• Father of Modern
Behaviorism
• Operant Conditioning
 Operant Chamber
Using Thorndike's law of effect as a starting
point, Skinner developed the Operant chamber,
or the Skinner box, to study operant
conditioning.

Edition by Michael P. Domjan, 2005. Used with permission

From The Essentials of Conditioning and Learning, 3rd

by Thomson Learning, Wadsworth Division

Walter Dawn/ Photo Researchers, Inc.
 Operant Chamber

The operant chamber,

or Skinner box, comes
with a bar or key that
an animal manipulates
to obtain a reinforcer
like food or water. The
bar or key is connected
to devices that record
the animal’s response.
 Shaping
Shaping is the operant conditioning procedure
in which reinforcers guide behavior towards the
desired target behavior through successive
approximations.
Khamis Ramadhan/ Panapress/ Getty Images

Fred Bavendam/ Peter Arnold, Inc.

A rat shaped to sniff mines. A manatee shaped to discriminate
objects of different shapes, colors and sizes.
 Chaining
• Chaining breaks a task down into small
steps and then teaches each step within the
sequence by itself.
• For example, a child learning to wash her
hands independently may start with learning
to (1) turn on the faucet. Once this skill is
learned, the next step may be (2) rinsing
hands. (3)Then putting soap. (4)rinse (5)
Dry.
 Elements of Operant
Conditioning
• The reinforcements and punishments must
follow immediately and applied
consistently for conditioning to occur.
• Reinforcer
– A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and
makes that behavior more likely to occur again
• Punisher
– A stimulus or event that follows a behavior and
makes that behavior less likely to occur again
 Types of Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcer (+) • Negative reinforcer (-)
– Adds something – Removes something
rewarding following a unpleasant that was
behavior, making that already in the
behavior more likely to environment following
occur again a behavior, making that
– Giving a dog a treat for behavior more likely to
fetching a ball is an occur again
example – Taking an aspirin to
relieve a headache is
an example
 Types of Punishments
• Positive Punisher (+) • Negative Punisher (-)
– Adds something – Removes something
aversive following a pleasant that was
behavior, making that already in the
behavior less likely to environment following
occur again a behavior, making that
behavior less likely to
occur again
 Positive Negative
(Adding Stimulus) (Removing Stimulus)

Reinforcement Adding Pleasant Removing Aversive

Consequence Stimuli
Examples: Examples:

Punishment Adding Aversive Stimuli Removing Pleasant

Examples: Stimuli
Examples:

• Annoying buzzing noise stops when you fasten seatbelt

• Getting yelled at by your mom because you got a bad grade
• After breaking a cup, Dad takes the boy’s toy away
• Getting a bonus at work for all the hard work you have been doing
 Primary & Secondary Reinforcers

1. Primary Reinforcer: An innately reinforcing

stimulus like food or drink.

2. Conditioned Reinforcer: A learned

reinforcer that gets its reinforcing power
through association with the primary
reinforcer.
 Immediate & Delayed Reinforcers

1. Immediate Reinforcer: A reinforcer that

occurs instantly after a behavior. A rat gets
a food pellet for a bar press.

2. Delayed Reinforcer: A reinforcer that is

delayed in time for a certain behavior. A
paycheck that comes at the end of a week.

We may be inclined to engage in small immediate

reinforcers (watching TV) rather than large delayed
reinforcers (getting an A in a course) which require
consistent study.
 Punishment
An aversive event that decreases the behavior it
follows.
 Punishment
• Goal of punishment is to decrease the occurrence
of a behavior
• Effective punishment
– Should occur as soon as possible after the behavior
– Should be sufficient, i.e., strong enough
– Should be certain, occurring every time the behavior
does
– Should be consistent
 Punishment
Although there may be some justification for
occasional punishment (Larzelaere & Baumrind,
2002), it usually leads to negative effects.

1. Results in unwanted fears.

2. Conveys no information to the organism.
3. Justifies pain to others.
4. Causes unwanted behaviors to reappear in its
absence.
5. Causes aggression towards the agent.
6. Causes one unwanted behavior to appear in
place of another.
 Premack Principle
• A more probable/ reliable behavior can be
used as a reinforcer for a less reliable
behavior.
– If you eat all your vegetables (less reliable) you
can have ice cream for dessert (reliable).
– If you clean your room (less reliable) you get to
play video games (reliable).
 Scheduled Reinforcements
• Continuous R.S. -- Every instance behavior
is reinforced
• Partial/Intermitten R.S. – only part of the
time
• Ratio – reinforcement is based on # of
behaviors
• Interval– based on passage of time
• Variables (Varies / Changeable) –
uncertain # of times / behavior
• Fixed – certain # if times / behavior
 Types of Operant Conditioning
• Escape Conditioning – when an animal
learns in order to terminate an ongoing
aversive stimuli by escaping

• Avoidance Conditioning – Organism

learns to avoid (prevent) unpleasant or
punishing stimuli by learning appropriate
anticipatory response
 Operant Conditioning Strategy
• Behavior Contracting
• Token Economy – An artificial economy
based on tokens. Tokens can be used to
purchase reinforces.
Seligman's Learned Helplessness
Theory
• Seligman would ring a bell and then give a
light shock to a dog. After a number of
times, the dog reacted to the shock even
before it happened: as soon as the dog heard
the bell, he reacted as though he'd already
been shocked.
• Seligman put each dog into a large crate that was
divided down the middle with a low fence. The
dog could see and jump over the fence if
necessary. The floor on one side of the fence was
electrified, but not on the other side of the fence.
Seligman put the dog on the electrified side and
administered a light shock. He expected the dog to
jump to the non-shocking side of the fence.
• Instead, the dogs lay down. It was as though they'd
learned from the first part of the experiment that
there was nothing they could do to avoid the
shocks, so they gave up in the second part of the
experiment.
Learned Helplessness
 Consequences of Operant
Conditioning: Learned
Helplessness
• Learned Helplessness occurs when
consistent effort fails to bring rewards.
• Repeated attempts at success leads to failure
=Possible model for depression in humans
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Vuqv
p2V7w
 Behavioral Change Using
Biofeedback
• Biofeedback is an operant
technique that teaches people to
gain voluntary control over bodily
processes like heart rate and blood
pressure
• It can be used to help with anxiety
disorders
• When used to control brain
activity it is called neurofeedback
III. Bandura and Observational
Learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d
mBqwWlJg8U
 Observational/Social/Vicarious
Learning
• Observational Learning/ Vicarious Learning
– Learning by observing Others
• Prosocial
– Postive behavior
• Antisocial
– Negative and harmful behavior
 Bandura’s Bobo Doll
• Albert Bandura
• “Children See, Children do.”
• Adults (Models) acted out
violent actions towards a doll
• Children who watched the
models imitated the violent
behavior
• Modeling – The process of
observing and imitating specific
behavior
– Observation  imitation
Desensitization
• Video Games
• TV Shows
• Movies
• Sports
• Pornography
 Mirror Neurons
• Neurons located in the frontal lobe
• Fires when observing another
• Brains mirroring of another’s actions may
enable imitation and empathy
• Biological aspect of observational learning
 Latent Learning

• Latent (hidden) Learning is

learning that occurs in the
absence of rewards.
• Cognitive Map – Mental
Representation/picture
• Edward Toleman
• Rats in a maze will still learn
their surroundings – even
without reward or punishment
 Toleman’s Experiment
Group 1: Always got reward when finishing the
maze
Group 2: Never got reward
Group 3: First half did not get reward
Performance of the rats improved dramatically when
group three started receiving reward
Conclusion: group three rats must have learned!
They improved because they had incentives
 Cognition & Operant Conditioning

Evidence of cognitive processes during operant

learning comes from rats during a maze
exploration in which they navigate the maze
without an obvious reward. Rats seem to
develop cognitive maps, or mental
representations, of the layout of the maze
(environment).
 Latent Learning
Such cognitive maps are based on latent
learning, which becomes apparent when an
incentive is given (Tolman & Honzik, 1930).
Insight Learning
• Sudden appearance of an answer or solution
to a problem
• Wolfgang Kohler exposed chimpanzees to
new learning tasks
• “AHA” moment!
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwDhY
UlbxiQ
 Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation:
The desire to perform a
behavior for its own
sake.

Extrinsic Motivation:
The desire to perform a
behavior due to
promised rewards or
threats of punishments.
 Over justification Effect
• When an expected external extrinsic
incentive such as money or prizes
decreases a person’s intrinsic
motivation.
• An artist may lose his or her passion
for art, when he or she is employed.
 Skinner’s Legacy
Skinner argued that behaviors were shaped by
external influences instead of inner thoughts and
feelings. Critics argued that Skinner
dehumanized people by neglecting their free will.

.Falk/ Photo Researchers, Inc

 Biological Predispositions
Even humans can develop classically to
conditioned nausea.
 Pavlov’s Legacy

Pavlov’s greatest contribution

to psychology is isolating
elementary behaviors from
more complex ones through
objective scientific
procedures.
Ivan Pavlov
(1849-1936)
V. APPLICATIONS
 Applications of Classical
Conditioning
1. Alcoholics may be conditioned (aversively)
by reversing their positive-associations with
alcohol.
2. Through classical conditioning, a drug (plus
its taste) that affects the immune response
may cause the taste of the drug to invoke the
immune response.
Applications of Classical Conditioning
3. Many beer ads prominently
feature attractive young women
wearing bikinis. The young
women (Unconditioned
Stimulus) naturally elicit a
favorable, mildly aroused
feeling (Unconditioned
Response) in most men. The
beer is simply associated with
this effect.
4. The same thing applies with the
jingles and music that
accompany many
advertisements.
 Applications of Operant
Conditioning
Skinner introduced the concept of teaching
machines that shape learning in small steps and
provide reinforcements for correct rewards.

In School LWA-JDL/ Corbis

 Applications of Operant
Conditioning
Reinforcement principles can enhance athletic
performance.

In Sports
 Applications of Operant
Conditioning
Reinforcers affect productivity. Many companies
now allow employees to share profits and
participate in company ownership.

At work