Psychology Learning Principles and Applications What is

Psychology Learning: Principles and Applications

What is learning? • Permanent change in behavior that results from experience

Classical Conditioning • Pavlov, 1927 • Classical conditioningcontrolling an animal’s or a person’s responses in a way so that an old response becomes attached to a new stimulus • Infamous dog experiment

Dog Experiment • Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)-a stimulus that leads to a certain response without previous training. (saliva) • Unconditioned response (UCR)-response that occurs naturally & automatically (smell of food causes saliva)

Dog Experiment • Conditioned Stimulus (CS)-ordinarily neutral stimulus that after training leads to a response (sound with food) • Conditioned Response (CR)-learned response

Counter conditioning • Conditioned stimulus is paired up with some other stimulus that elicits a response incompatible with the unwanted response • Pairing up something wanted with something that was learned to be unwanted

Operant Conditioning • Learning from the consequence of behavior • A response becomes more likely to occur or less so, depending on its consequences • Falls under the behaviorist school

B. F. Skinner & Reinforcement • B. F. Skinner- 1974 • Based on rewards and punishment • Reinforcement-a stimulus or event that affects the likelihood that behavior will be repeated (positive & negative)

Positive v. Negative • Positive reinforcement means pleasant consequence • Negative reinforcement means the removal of something unpleasant • If someone nags you all the time to study but stops nagging when you comply, your studying is likely to increase-b/c you will then avoid the nagging.

Kinds of reinforcers • Primary reinforcers – Satisfy biological needs – Water, food, stroking of skin • Primary punishers – Pain, extreme heat • Secondary reinforcers – Money, praise, good grades, awards, gold stars • Secondary punishers – Scolding, demerits, fines, bad grades

Consequences of Behavior • Response to a behavior can lead to 1 of 3 possibilities: – A neutral consequence neither increases nor decreases the probability that the response will recur – Reinforcement strengthens the response of makes it more likely to recur. – Punishment weakens the response or makes it less likely to recur.

Extinction & Generalization • Extinction – Previous learned response stops • Generalization – Responses may generalize to stimuli that were not present during the original learning situation but resemble the original stimuli

Timing is everything • To teach a new response, continuous reinforcement is must. Subject will learn response quickly. • But to make sure a response is resistant to extinction an intermittent schedule is better. – Praise but not all the time.

Shaping • Reinforcement is used to sculpt new responses out of old responses. • Teaching something/someone to do something that they never did and would never do on their own. • Start off slow, gradually requiring responses that resemble what you want in the end. • My dog and cleaning toys.

Operant conditioning in real life • When punishment fails: – When administered inappropriately or mindlessly – When recipient of punishment responds with fear, anxiety, or rage • Effectiveness of punishment is often temporary, depending heavily on the presence of the punishing person or circumstance

• Misbehavior is hard to punish immediately • Punishment conveys little info • An action intended to punish may instead be reinforcing because it brings attention.

But rewarding has its downfall too • “Feel good about themselves” sickness • Extrinsic reinforcers – Outside source – Money, praise, thumbs up • Intrinsic reinforcers – Inside source – Being proud of what you do, a sense of accomplishment

Observational Learning • Learning by watching what others do and what happens to them for doing it

How do we learn? • Feedback-result of an action • Transfer-taking already known skills and using them to do something else • Practice-repeating tasks helps in binding responses together • Latent learning-occurs w/out reinforcement – Child setting table after watching mom

Learning to Learn • Harry Harlow, 1949. • When learning you learn how to use strategies for solving similar problems and tasks. • Example: reading directions

Helplessness, Laziness • Caused by feeling that you have no effect on the world. • Feeling is a cause of depression. (Seligman, 1978 • Senior year.

Modeling • Most learning occurs through imitating others • Little children and pretending to fix things around the house.