Unit 6 Myers

Habituation: An organism’s decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it◦ Sea slug withdraws its gills when disturbed by a

squirt of water. Overtime the sea slug will withdrawal the response

◦ Learned associations feed our habitual behaviors ◦ Behavior associated with context

• Associative: Learning that certain events occur together –Observational learning– Classical conditioning: may be two stimuli• Lightening example

–Operate conditioning: response + consequence• Seal: ball, food

We learn to expect and prepare for significant events such as food or pain ___________. We learn to repeat acts that bring good results to avoid acts that bring bad results___________. By watching others we learn new behaviors______________.

Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson shared both a disdain for “mentalisitic” concepts (such as consciousness) and a belief that the basic laws of learning were the same for all animals

Basic form of learning http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCI-gNK

_y4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Nq6pekM6sZQ

• Read page 218-219 (Pavlov’s Experiments)• Unconditioned response-salvation in response

to food in the mouth• Unconditioned stimulus-food• Conditioned response-salvation is in response

to the tone• Conditioned stimulus- tone (previously neutral)• *UR and CR are almost always the same

response it’s the stimulus the elicits the response that is different

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE8pFWP5QDM (Office-Altoid experiment)

IF the aroma of cake baking sets your mouth to watering, what is the US? The CS? The CR?

Classical Conditioning: When one links the neutral stimulus (US) so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the CR.

The CS must procede the US by about ½ to 1 sec in order to bring about the CR

Girlfriend and onion example

Conditioning helps up survive and reproduce-by responding to cues that help it gain food, avoid dangers, locate mates, and produce offspring

Higher-ordering conditioning: a new neutral stimulus can become a CS. Just needs to be associated with previously neutral stimulus

• The diminished responding (CR-salvia) that occurs when the CS (tone) no longer signals an impending US (food)

• Pavlo found that if he allowed several hours to elapse before sounding the tone again, the salivation to the tone would reapper spontaneously. – This proves that extinction suppresses the CR

rather than eliminating it–Girlfriend and onion example

Quite automatic Tendency to respond to stimuli similar to

the CS (Pavlo the closer a stimulated spot was to the thigh, the stronger the CR)

Can be adaptive Food poisoning example

Result of overtraining Learned ability to distinguish between a CS

and other irrelevant stimuli Being able to recognize differences is

adaptive because of vastly different consequences

Cognitive Processes (thoughts, perceptions, expectations)

Biological Constraints on an organism’s learning capacity

• An animal can learn the predictability of an event

• The more predictable the association, the stronger the conditioned response (ex: tone before light before shock)

• The animal learns an expectancy, an awareness• Learned helplessness: hopelessness an animal

or human learns when unable to avoid traumatic events

• Classical conditioning treatments that ignore cognition often have limited success

Animal’s capacity for conditioning is constrained by its biology

Each species predisposition prepare it to learn the associations that enhance its survival

John Garcia challenged the idea that all association can be learned equally well◦ Taste aversion

• Taste aversion: examples? Food poisoning?– Secondary disgust: reminds disgusting in its own

right• Our ancestors who learned taste aversion

were unlikely to eat toxic food and therefore survive and reproduce

• Nausea, anxiety pain and other bad feelings serves as a good purpose (alerts the body to a threat)

• Learning enables an animals to adapt to their environment

Many other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other organisms

Showed us how a process such as learning can be studied objectively

Set the stage for behaviorism to emerge WWII article

Former drug users and drug-using context Body’s disease-fighting immune system

(taste accompanies a drug that influences response)

Watson’s and “Little Albert” operate conditioning (provided a basis)

Organisms associate their own actions with consequences. Actions followed by reinforces increase; those followed by punishers decrease

Behavior that operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli is operant behavior

Hot and Cold Example

Operant vs. Classical Is the organism learning associations

between events it does not control Is it learning associations between its

behavior and resulting events

Law of effect: rewarding behavior is likely to recur

Skinner designed an operant chamber, where an animal hits a bar or key to release a reward of food or water and the device records these responses

Skinner: WWII and pigeons

Reinforcers such as food guide desired behavior

First build on existing behaviors Successive approximations-reward

responses that are ever-closer to the desired behavior

Helps us understand what nonverbal organisms perceive

Reward/shape unintentionally (kid example-whining)

Shaping is important because animals rarely performed desired behaviors

Discrimination is used to show which type of stimulus gets the reaction that is reinforced (red vs. green light)

Any event that strengthens a preceding response

May tangible reward such as food or money or praise or attention or an activity (study breaks)

What’s reinforcing in one situation may not be in another (like…..)

Positive Reinforcement-strengthens a response by presenting a pleasurable stimulus◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

(paino) Negative Reinforcement-strengthens a

response by reducing or removing something undesirable or unpleasant◦ Snooze bottom, aspirin ◦ Negative removes a punishing event (not

punishment!!!!!!)◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euINCrDbbD4 (big

bang theory-operate conditioning)

Primary-getting food when hungry are unlearned

Conditioned-learned through association◦ Money, good grades, pleasant tone of voice, rat

example of light in skinner box

If the delay last longer than 30 seconds of the act and the reinforcement, the rat will not learn to press the bar to receive the food

Humans can respond to delayed reinforces◦ Example???

Learning to control our impulses (maturity) (marshmellow video)

However, small but immediate consequences are more alluring than big but delayed consequences (EX??)

Continuous Reinforcement: reinforcing the desired behavior every time it occurs◦ Until a behavior is mastered (quick results)◦ Problem of extinction

Partial reinforcement: responses are sometimes reinforced sometimes not◦ Slot machines

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLD17r0U2D0◦ Even occasionally giving in: tantrums

Fixed-ratio: reinforce behavior after a set number of responses◦ Reward us with free drink after every 10 purchased

Variable-ratio: provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of responses (slot machines)

Fixed-interval: reinforce the first response after a fixed time period (checking mail on delivery day) (anticipation)

Variable-interval: reinforce the first response after varying time intervals (email)

__________schedule involve a time element. Time must pass before reinforcement will occur

__________schedule are dependent on the behavior itself. A certain number of behaviors are needed before reinforcement will occur.

Reinforcement increase a behavior; punishment does the opposite

It decreases the frequency of a preceding behavior

Studies show that criminal behavior is not deterred by threat of severe consequences

Punished behavior is suppressed not forgotten◦ Spanking

Punishment teaches discrimination◦ Effective? Children learn to swear elsewhere

Punishment can teach fear Physical punishment may increase

aggressiveness by modeling aggression as a way to cope with problems◦ Spanked children are at increased risk for

aggression

Positive (adding) punishment Negative (subtracting) punishment:

Spanking________ Time-out________ Parking ticket_____

Parents: reframe threats to positive incentives◦ Examples?

Cognition and Operate Condition Animals and people develop a cognitive

map, a mental representation of the maze. ◦ Rat/maze, freshmen/high school

Latent Learning: learning that becomes apparent only when there is some incentive to demonstrate it

Some learning occurs after little or no systematic interaction with our environment (insight: sudden novel realization)

Intrinsic motivation: a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

Extrinsic motivation: a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid punishment

Excessive rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation◦ Promising a reward can backfire

Rewards can be effective if used neither to bribe nor to control but to signal a job well done (most improved awards)

Cognitive dissonance-reconcile a conflict between attitudes and actions. Change their attitudes to support the actions

Biological Understanding◦ Biological constraints predispose organism to

learn association that are naturally adaptive◦ Instinctive drift: even trained animals act

naturally

Applications of Operant Conditioning School: students must be told immediately

what they did right or wrong and must be directed to the step to be taken next

Sports: reinforce small successes and then gradually increase the challenge◦ Shooting/basketball

Applications of Operate Conditioning Work: Partial ownership (benefits from

rewards and potential risks), rewards to increase productivity

Home: Give children attention and praise for behaving well!!! (target specific, reward it, watch it increase)

Self: state goals, monitor, reinforce, & reduce rewards gradually

Both/Same Differ

Forms of associative learning

Involve acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination

Cognitive processes and biological predispositions

Classical: organism associates different stimuli that it does not control and responds automatically

Operate: organism associates it operant behaviors (those that produce a reward or punishing stimuli) with their consequences

Higher animals can learn without direct experience through observational learning (social learning)

We learn all kinds of specific behavior by observing and imitating models (modeling)

Mirror neurons: A neural basis for imitation and observational learning

When monkey sees, these neurons mirror what another monkey does

Imitation shapes our human behavior

PET scans of different brain areas reveal that humans have a mirror neuron system that supports empathy and imitation

Helps children to infer another mental state We grasps others’ state of mind-often

feeling what they feel-by mental stimulation

We find ourselves yawning after observing another’s yawn

Harder to frown when viewing a smile Seeing a loved one’s pain, our faces mirror

their emotion

Bobo doll experiment◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHHdovKHDNU

Those who viewed the model’s actions were much more likely to lash out at the doll

By watching, we learn to anticipate a behavior’s consequences in situation like those we are observing. We are likely to imitate people we perceive as similar to ourselves, as successful, or as admirable

Prosocial models can have prosocial effects MLK drew on the power of modeling

(nonviolent action for social change) Observational learning of morality begins

early They are most effective when their actions

and words are consistent

Observational learning may have antisocial effects (absusive parents-aggressive children, men who beat their wives and wife-battering fathers)

Research suggests that exposure to media violence tends to lead to more expressions of aggression◦ However, it does not mean that EVERY person

exposed to media violence will become more aggressive

Violence viewing effect stems from:◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrHFB2KP8fc

(Marlin Mason) Imitation-observed a sevenfold increase in

violent play immediately after children viewed a more violent show (power rangers)◦ Imitated/modeled violent acts

Pro-longed exposure desensitizes viewers◦ Become more indifferent (brawl, sexual violence)