Chapter 5 Outline.pdf12

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Chapter Outline

5/Learning

Learning —a a a a change in an organism’s behavior or thought as a

result of experience.

Habituation —a a a the process by which we respond less strongly

over time to repeated stimuli.

A. Pavlov’ ! s Discoveries

1. Ivan Pavlov’s main research interest was digestion in

dogs (work that earned him a Nobel Prize!).

2. Pavlov’ ! s understanding of classical conditioning

emerged from a serendipitous set of observations

unrelated to his main research interests.

3. Classical conditioning —& & & a form of learning

in which animals come to respond to a previouslyneutral stimulus that had been paired with another

stimulus that elicits an automatic response.

4. Pavlov’ ! s initial observations were anecdotal and

needed to be subjected to rigorous testing.

B. The Classical Conditioning Phenomenon (Figure 5.1, text

p. 155)

1. Presented initially neutral stimulus

a. Conditioned stimulus (CS)— initially

neutral stimulus that you learn to respond to.

Originally called a conditional stimulus.

2. Paired CS with an unconditioned stimulus



repeatedly, each time resulting in an unconditioned

response.

a. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)— stimulus

that elicits an automatic response.

b. Unconditioned response (UCR)— automatic

response to a nonneutral stimulus that does

not need to be learned.

i. UCR is a product of biology; not

experience.

3. After repeatedly pairing the CS with the UCS, when

Pavlov presented the CS alone, the dog would produce a conditioned response.

a. Conditioned response (CR)— response

previously associated with a nonneutral

stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus

through conditioning.

b. CRs are similar, but rarely identical, to the

UCR (e.g., dogs salivated less to themetronome than to the food powder).

C. Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery

1. Acquisition (Figure 5.2a, text p. 155)

a. In general, acquisition is the learning phase

during which a conditioned response is

gradually established.

b. In classical conditioning, acquisition is the

repeated pairing of UCS and CS, increasing

the CR’s strength.

c. The closer the pairing of the UCS and the

CS, the faster learning occurs.



2. Extinction —a a a gradual reduction and eventual

elimination of the conditioned response after the

conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly

without the unconditioned stimulus (Figure 5.2b,

text p. 155).

a. According to classical conditioning, the

extinguished CR doesn’t vanish completely;

the new behavior merely overshadows the

old CR.

b. This notion contrasts with traditional views

of forgetting, which suggest that the memory

itself disappears.

3. Spontaneous recovery —t t t sudden reemergence of

an extinct conditioned response after a delay in

exposure to the conditioned stimulus.

D. Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination

1. Classical conditioning would be useless if we could

not apply it to new stimuli.

2. Stimulus generalization —; ; ; process by which

conditioned stimuli similar, but not identical to, the

original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned

response (Figure 5.3, text p. 156).

a. Stimulus generalization occurs along a

stimulus gradient.

b. Stimulus gradient—the more similar a new

CS is to the old CS, the stronger the CR will

be.

c. Stimulus generalization allows us to transfer

what we’ve learned to new things.

3. Stimulus discrimination— displaying a less



pronounced conditioned response to conditioned

stimuli that differ from the original conditioned

stimulus

a. Stimulus discrimination helps us tounderstand why we can enjoy scary movies.

b. We’k k k ve learned to discriminate between

a motion picture stimulus and the real-world

version of it.

E. Higher-Order Conditioning

1. Higher-order conditioning —& & & developing a

conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus byvirtue of its association with another conditioned

stimulus.

2. Higher-order conditioning allows us to extend

classical conditioning to a host of new stimuli.

3. Second-order conditioning, where a new CS is paired

with the original CS, tends to be weaker than standard

classical conditioning.

4. Higher-order conditioning also helps to explain some

surprising findings concerning addictions to cigarettes,

heroin, and other drugs.

a. Addictions can be shaped in part by higher-

order conditioning, with the context in which

people take the drugs serving as a higher-order

CS.

b. Behaviorists refer to these higher-order CSs

as occasion setters, because they refer to the

setting in which the CS occurs.

F. Applications of Classical Conditioning to Daily Life



1. Classical Conditioning and Advertising

a. By repeatedly pairing the sights and sounds

of products with photographs of beautiful

people, advertisers try to establish classicallyconditioned associations between their brands

and positive emotions.

b. Some researchers have reported that there

was little evidence that pairings between

products (e.g., Coke, Colgate toothpaste) with

stimuli that people found pleasant, unpleasant,

or neutral affected participant preference for

the ads.

c. A rival hypothesis for this is latent

inhibition— difficulty in establishing classical

conditioning to a conditioned stimulus we’ve

repeatedly experienced alone, that is, without

the unconditioned stimulus.

2. The Acquisition of Fears: The Strange Tale of Little

Albert

a. John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner set out

to demonstrate that Freud’s view of the

development of fear was wrong.

i. Watson and Rayner first allowed

Little Albert to play with a rat.

ii. Only seconds afterward, Watson

snuck up behind Albert and struck agong with a steel hammer, creating a

loud noise and startling the infant.

iii. After several such pairings of rat

(CS) and loud noise (UCS), Little

Albert displayed fear (CR) to the rat



alone.

iv. Little Albert showed stimulus

generalization — he feared a rabbit, a

dog, a furry coat, and even Watson’shair.

v. Little Albert also showed stimulus

discrimination by not displaying much

fear toward cotton balls or Watson’s

assistant’s hair.

b. Little Albert represents only a case study,

with the limitations of a case study.

c. We can’t generalize from Little Albert’s case

to other children.

d. But Little Albert’s case provides existence

proof that classical conditioning can produce

phobia-like states in humans.

3. Phobias—<<<="" span="" />

a. Higher-order conditioning allows our

learning to be remarkably flexible.

b. If classical conditioning can create fears, it

can also contribute to conquering them.

c. Mary Cover Jones treated Little Peter’s fear

of rabbits by gradually introducing him to a

white rabbit while giving him a piece of his

favorite candy.

i. Modern psychotherapists use similar

practices to eliminate phobias.

4. Fetishism—p p p sexual attraction to nonliving

things



a. Domjan and colleagues classically

conditioned fetishes in Japanese quail.

b. Classical conditioning may contribute to the

development of fetishes.

i. In some cases, fetishes do develop

after repeated pairings of neutral

objects with sexual acts.

II. OPERANT CONDITIONING (Text p. 160)

A. Operant Conditioning: What It Is and How It Differs from

Classical Conditioning

1. Operant conditioning —& & & learning that is

controlled by the consequences of the organism’s

behavior; an organism’s behavior is shaped by

what comes after it, the reward.

a. Instrumental conditioning —& & & another

term for operant conditioning; used because

the organism’s response serves as an

instrumental function.

b. Behaviors emitted by the animal to receive

the reward are called operants because the

animal operates on its environment to get

what it wants.

2. Operant conditioning differs from classical

conditioning in three important ways:

a. In classical conditioning, the organism’sresponse is elicited , whereas in operant

conditioning, the organism’s response is

emitted in a seemingly voluntary fashion.

b. In classical conditioning, the animal’s reward

is independent of what it does, whereas in



operant conditioning, the animal’s reward is

contingent on what it does.

c. In classical conditioning, learning involves

changes in heart rate, breathing, perspiration,and other bodily systems, whereas in operant

conditioning, learning involves changes in

voluntary motor behavior.

B. The Law of Effect

1. The law of effect —, , , principle asserting that if a

stimulus followed by a behavior results in a reward,

the stimulus is more likely to elicit the behavior in

the future (Table 5.1, text p. 161).

2. According to S-R theorists, most of our complex

behaviors reflect the accumulation of associations

between stimuli and responses.

3. Insight —a a a grasping the nature of a problem.

a. Individuals often learn by insight, the

moment when we figure out the answersuddenly, and then almost always get the

correct answer after that (Figure 5.4, text p.

161).

C. B. F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning

1. Skinner developed “the Skinner box” because he

found Thorndike’s methods unwieldy.

2. Skinner box —i i i small animal chamber constructed by Skinner to allow sustained periods of

conditioning to be administered and behaviors to be

recorded unsupervised via electrical records.

a. A Skinner box typically contained a bar that

delivered food when pressed, a food



dispenser, and often a light that signaled

when reward was forthcoming (Figure 5.5,

text p. 162).

b. By allowing a device to record behaviorwithout any direct human observation,

Skinner ran the risk of missing some

important behaviors that the box was not

designed to record.

3. Despite limitations of recording conditions,

Skinner’s findings were very important to the field.

4. Reinforcement —a a a outcome or consequence of a

behavior that strengthens the probability of the behavior.

a. Positive reinforcement —, , , the addition of

an outcome or a consequence of a behavior

that strengthens the probability of the

behavior, e.g., giving a child a Hershey’s

kiss for picking up his toys (Table 5.2, text

p. 163).

b. Negative reinforcement —, , , removal of a

negative outcome or consequence of a

behavior that strengthens the probability of

the behavior (e.g., ending a child’s time-out

for bad behavior once she’s stopped

whining).

5. Punishment —a a a outcome or consequence of a

behavior that weakens the probability of the behavior.

a. Important to distinguish between punishment

(which weakens behavior) and reinforcement

(which strengthens behavior). We may think

we are inflicting punishment, but our actions



may actually strengthen the undesired

behavior.

i. e.g., the child who misbehaves to get

attention is reinforced by punishment that provides attention!

b. Punishment has several disadvantages:

i. Punishment tells organisms only what

not to do, not what to do.

ii. Punishment often creates anxiety,

which in turn interferes with future

learning.

iii. Punishment may encourage

subversive behavior, prompting

people to become sneakier about

situation in which they can and

can’t display the forbidden

behavior.

iv. Punishment from parents may provide a model for children’s

aggressive behavior.

c. Numerous researchers have reported that the

use of physical punishment by parents

positively correlated with aggressive

behavior in children.

d. However, the association between physical

punishment and childhood behavior

problems may depend on race and culture.

i. Spanking and other forms of physical

discipline are correlated positively

with behavior problems in



Caucasian families, but correlated

negatively in African American

families.

e. Punishment seems effective when it isdelivered consistently and follows the

undesired behavior promptly.

i. Delayed punishment is often

ineffective.

6. Discriminant Stimulus

a. Discriminant stimulus (Sd) —R R R any

stimulus that signals the presence ofreinforcement.

7. Same Song, Second Verse (Table 5.3, text p. 165).

a. Acquisition— the learning phase during

which a conditioned response is established.

b. Extinction— the gradual reduction and

eventual elimination of the conditioned

response after a conditioned stimulus is

presented repeatedly without the

unconditioned stimulus.

i. Extinction occurs when we stop

delivering reinforcement to a

previously reinforced behavior

c. Spontaneous recovery —t t t the sudden

reemergence of an extinguished conditionedresponse after a delay in exposure to the

conditioned stimulus.

d. Stimulus discrimination— discriminating

between stimuli that resemble and

conditioned response accordingly.



e. Stimulus generalization —; ; ; elicitation of

a conditioned response to stimuli that are

similar to but not identical to the conditioned

stimulus.

D. Principles of Reinforcement

1. It seems logical to assume that the more consistent

the reinforcement, the more consistent will be the

resulting behavior.

a. Evidence doesn’t support this assumption.

2. Partial Reinforcement

a. The pattern of evidence against this

assumption has been given a name:

Humphrey’s paradox.

b. Partial reinforcement —, , , only occasional

reinforcement of a behavior, resulting in a

slower extinction than if the behavior had

been reinforced continually.

c. Skinner noted that continuous reinforcement

allows animals to learn new behaviors more

quickly, but that partial reinforcement leads

to a greater resistance to extinction.

i. e.g., some people remain in

dysfunctional relationships because

spouse treats them well on rare

occasions.

3. Schedules of Reinforcement

a. Schedule of reinforcement —o o o pattern of

reinforcing a behavior (Figure 5.6, text p.

166).



b. Principal reinforcement schedules vary along

two dimensions:

i. Consistency of administering

reinforcement

a. Fixed—> > > reinforcers are

provided on a regular basis

b. Variable—s s s reinforcers

are provided on an irregular

basis

ii. Basis of administering reinforcement

a. Ratio—> > > animal is

reinforced based on the

number of responses

b. Interval—s s s animal is

reinforced based on the

amount of time elapsed

since last reinforcer

c. Four major reinforcement schedules

i. Fixed ratio (FR) schedule

ii. Fixed interval (FI) schedule

iii. Variable ratio (VR) schedule

iv. Variable interval (VI) schedule

d. Skinner discovered that different

reinforcement schedules yield distinctive

patterns of responding (Figure 5.7, text p.

167).

i. Ratio schedules yield higher rates of



responding than do interval

schedules.

ii. Variable schedules tend to yield

more consistent rates of respondingthan do fixed schedules.

iii. Fixed interval schedules are

associated with a “scalloped”

pattern of responding.

iv. Variable ratio schedules generally

yield the highest rates of

responding of all.

e. Two other features of reinforcers:

i. Fixed interval schedules are

associated with a scalloped pattern

of responding.

a. The animal waits to increase

its response rate until the

interval is almost up; it

anticipates the response.

ii. Variable ratio schedules usually

yield the highest rates of

response(e.g., slot machines at

casinos).

E. Applications of Operant Conditioning

1. Shaping by successive approximations —N N N

conditioning a target behavior by progressively

reinforcing behaviors that come closer and closer to

the target behavior.





replicate these findings, one study showed

that operant conditioning can produce

superstitious behavior in children.

f. Athletes are prone to superstitious behavior.

4. Token economies—systems for reinforcing

appropriate behaviors and extinguishing

inappropriate ones.

a. Secondary reinforcer— neutral objects that

patients can trade in for primary reinforcers;

Primary reinforcer— things that are

naturally pleasurable, such as a favorite food

or drink.

b. Often used in psychiatric facilities.

c. Depend on secondary reinforcers.

d. Staff members reinforce patients who behave

in a desired manner using secondary

reinforcers (e.g., tokens, chips, or points).

e. Psychologists who establish token economies

begin by identifying target behaviors, that is,

actions they hope to make more frequent.

f. Research suggests that token economies are

often effective in improving behavior in

hospitals, group homes, and juvenile

detention centers.

F. Two-Process Theory: Putting Classical and OperantConditioning Together

1. Some theorists argue that these two forms of learning

aren’t as different as some psychologists believe.



2. Brain imaging studies demonstrate that these two

forms of learning are associated with activations in

different brain regions.

a. Classically conditioned fear reactions are based largely in the amygdale.

b. Operantly conditioned responses are based

largely in the nucleus accumbens and related

limbic systems linked to reward.

3. These two types of learning appear to interact.

4. The two-process theory provides an explanation of

fear acquisition.

a. People acquire phobias by means of classical

conditioning.

b. Once phobic, people begin avoiding their

feared stimulus, leading them to experience a

reduction in anxiety, which negatively

reinforces their fear.

III. COGNITIVE MODELS OF LEARNING (Text p. 171)

A. Watson, Skinner, and Thinking

1. Watson— ! Thought that thinking and emotion lay

outside the domain of scientific psychology.

2.

Skinner—<<<="" span="" />

a. Believed that thinking and emotions were

behaviors, but were covert or unobservable.

B. S-O-R Psychology: Throwing Thinking Back into the Mix



1. Psychology has moved from a S-R model to an S-O-

R model of psychology with O being the organism.

2. Organisms must interpret stimuli before responding.

3. An organism’s response to a stimulus depends on

what the stimulus “ means” to it.

a. Our learning histories refer to how we have

been trained to respond. This concept may

explain the “meaning” that we attribute to

stimulus, which then determines our

response.

4. Gestalt psychologists suggested that what we perceive is different from and greater than the sum

of stimuli presented to our sense organs.

5. S-O-R theorists propose that classical and operant

conditioning usually depend on thinking.

6. Cognitive conditioning — refers to the notion that our

interpretation of a situation affects conditioning. It

suggests that conditioning is more than anautomatic process.

C. Latent Learning

1. Contrary to Watson and Skinner, Edward Tolman

suspected that reinforcement failed to completely

account for learning.

2. Latent learning —t t t learning that is not directly

observable (Figure 5.8, text p. 172).

a. We learn many things without showing

evidence of learning.

b. The distinction between competence, what

we know, and performance, showing what



we know, is important because it implies that

reinforcement is unnecessary for learning.

c. Tolman and Honzik’s study randomly

assigned three groups of rats to go through amaze.

i. Group 1 always received

reinforcement (cheese) when it

reached the goal box; Group 2

never received reinforcement when

it reached the goal box; Group 3

received no reinforcement for the

first 10 days, then received

reinforcement on the 11th

day when

it reached the goal box.

ii. Group 1 made fewer errors than

Group 2.

iii. Group 3 showed an abrupt drop in

errors after receiving their first

reinforcement.

d. Tolman and Honzik believe this finding

means that rats in the third group were

learning all along, but hadn’t shown it

because they had nothing to gain.

e. Tolman claimed the rats had developed

cognitive maps —spatial representations—of

the maze.

f. Latent learning research of Tolman and

others challenged strict behavioral models of

learning, because the work demonstrated that

learning could occur without reinforcement.

g. To many psychologists, this research



falsified the claim that reinforcement is

necessary for all forms of learning.

h. Also, this research suggested that thinking, in

the form of cognitive maps, plays a centralrole in at least some forms of learning.

D. Observational Learning

1. Observational learning —t t t learning by watching

others; often models, those who are influential to us

(e.g., parents, teachers, peers).

2. Many psychologists regard observational learning as

a form of latent learning because it allows us tolearn without being reinforced directly

3. Observational Learning of Aggression

a. In the 1960s, Albert Bandura and colleagues

demonstrated that children can

learn to act aggressively by watching

aggressive role models

b. Bandura’<="" span="" />

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c. Half of the children watched the adult play

quietly and ignore the doll; the other half

watched the adult model behaving violently

towards the doll.

d. Next, the children were brought to a roomfilled with appealing toys, but were then

interrupted and asked to move to a different

room. This was done to frustrate the

children, something thought to spark

aggression.



e. After being placed in a room with a Bobo

doll, children who watched the adult act

aggressively toward the doll were

significantly more aggressive towards the

doll than the other children.

4. Media Violence and Real-World Aggression (Figure

5.9, text p. 174)

a. Psychologists have addressed the question of

whether exposure to media violence

contributes to real-world violence.

b. Hundreds of researchers using correlational

designs have reported that children whowatch many violent television programs are

more aggressive than other children.

c. We can’t draw causal conclusions from this

type of research.

d. Investigators have tried to resolve this

methodological problem by conducting

longitudinal research, which track individual behavior over time.

i. In these studies, children who viewed

media violence were more likely to

commit aggressive acts later.

e. While findings from this research may be

more compelling, it still doesn’t rule out

third variables or allow for causalconclusions.

f. Most psychological scientists agree that

media violence contributes to aggressive

behavior in some circumstances. But this is

only one piece of a multifaceted puzzle.



g. We can’t explain aggression by means of

media violence alone because the substantial

majority of individuals exposed to high

levels of such violence don’t become

aggressive

IV. BIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON LEARNING (Text p. 175)

A. Our biology influences the speed and nature of our learning

in complex ways.

B. Conditioned Taste Aversions

1. Conditioned taste aversion refers to the fact that

classical conditioning can lead us to develop

avoidance reactions to the taste of food.

2. Conditioned taste aversion contradicts classical

conditioning principles.

a. Most classically conditioned reactions

require repeated pairings between CS and

UCS, while conditioned taste aversions

typically require only one trial.

b. In traditional classical conditioning, a very

short interval between CS and UCS produces

maximal learning, while large delays

between CS and UCS can occur in

conditioned taste aversions.

c. Conditioned taste aversions tend to beremarkably specific and display little

evidence of stimulus generalization.

3. Conditioned taste aversions are adaptive — food

poisoning often affects us in the hours, rather than

seconds, after eating toxic foods.



4. Conditioned taste aversions are particularly

problematic for cancer patients undergoing

chemotherapy.

a. Food becomes paired with nausea andvomiting and as a result, they begin to avoid

any food that preceded chemotherapy.

b. Health psychologists ask patients to eat

scapegoat food —novel food that they aren’t

fond of—prior to chemotherapy. This creates

an aversion to the scapegoat food rather than

preferred food.

5. Garcia and colleagues demonstrated biologicalinfluences on learning in rats.

a. Rats who had been exposed to X-rays, which

make them nauseated, developed

conditioned aversion to a specific taste but

not to a special visual or auditory stimulus

presented after the X-rays.

6. Animals more easily develop conditioned aversionsto stimuli that tend to trigger nausea in the real

world.

7. This finding contradicts the assumption of

equipotentiality.

a. Equipotentiality —a a a claim that any

conditioned stimulus can be associated

equally well with any unconditionedstimulus.

C. Preparedness and Phobias

1. Research on phobias also challenges the assumption

of equipotentiality.



2. The most widespread phobias are of things like the

dark, height, snakes, or blood, which most people

have little experience with.

3. Few people fear things such as razors, edges offurniture, ovens, and electrical outlets, although

many people have been cut, bruised, or burned by

them.

4. Prepared learning —t t t evolutionary predisposition

to learn some pairings of feared stimuli over others

owing to their survival value.

5. Preparedness may render us likely to develop illusory

correlations between fear-provoking stimuli andnegative consequences.

6. Evidence suggests that this fear can be learned

through observation, but we are predisposed to

learn some fears more readily than others.

7. However, laboratory evidence for preparedness isn’t

consistent.

D. Instinctive Drift

1. Instinctive drift —e e e tendency for animals to

return to innate behaviors following repeated

reinforcement.

2. Instinctive drift suggests that we can’t fully

understand learning without taking biological

factors into account.

V. LEARNING FADS: DO THEY WORK? (Text p. 179)

A. Sleep-Assisted Learning — learning new material while

asleep

1. Some people claim that sleep-assisted learning is a



valid means of learning.

2. Early reports, although promising, neglected to rule

out a crucial alternative explanation: The tape

recordings may have awakened the subjects.

3. Most studies fail to monitor subject

electroencephalograms to ensure that they were

actually asleep during the trials.

4. Better controlled studies that monitored subject

EEGs showed little evidence for sleep-assisted

learning.

B. Discovery Learning—giving students experimental materialsand asking them to figure out the scientific principles on

their own.

1. Direct instruction, in which we simply tell students

how to solve problems, is often more effective and

efficient than discovery learning.

2. In the long term, discovery learning may encourage

students to learn how to pose scientific questionson their own.

3. This method may be more effective for advanced

students.

C. Learning Styles—individual’s preferred or optimal method

of acquiring new information.

1. There is a widespread belief that all individuals have

their own distinctive learning style.

2. It is difficult to assess learning style reliably.

3. Studies have generally revealed that tailoring

different methods to people’s learning styles

doesn’t result in enhanced learning.



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