Ap Psychology Chapter 5 Summary

Chapter Five: Learning
Classical Conditioning Definition of Learning - the process by which experience or practice results in a relatively permanent change in behavior or potential behavior Pavlov’s Conditioning Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov accidentally hit upon classical conditioning by studying digestive processes of dogs Trained the dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell by presenting the sound just before food was brought into the room Eventually the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone Conditioning - the acquisition of specific patterns of behavior in the presence of well-defined stimuli Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning - the type of learning in which a response naturally elicited by one stimulus
comes to be elicited by a different, formerly neutral stimulus Operant (instrumental) conditioning - the type of learning in which behaviors are emitted (in the presence of specific stimuli) to earn rewards or avoid punishments Elements of Classical Conditioning Involves pairing a response naturally caused by one stimulus with another, previously neutral stimulus Unconditioned Stimulus (US) - a stimulus that invariably causes an organism to respond in a specific way Ex. food Unconditioned Response (UR) - a response that takes place in an organism whenever an unconditioned stimulus occurs Ex. salivation Conditioned Stimulus (CS) - an originally neutral stimulus that is paired with an unconditioned stimulus and eventually produces the desired response in an organism when presented alone Ex. bell Conditioned Response (CR) - after conditioning, the response an organism produces when only a conditioned stimulus is present Classical Conditioning in Humans Humans learn to associate certain sights or sounds with other stimuli Jong Watson and Rosalie Rayner conditioned baby Albert Became afraid of white rats by pairing them with a loud, frightening noise Mary Cover Jones developed a method for unlearning fears Desensitization Therapy - a conditioning technique designed to gradually reduce anxiety about a particular object or situation Recently, scientists have discovered that the immune system may respond to classical conditioning techniques allows doctors to use fewer drugs in treating certain disorders Classical Conditioning is Selective Research demonstrates that phobia development demonstrates Seligman’s principles of preparedness and contrapreparedness Conditioned Food (Taste) Aversion - conditioned avoidance of certain foods even if there is only one pairing of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli Exception to the rule; animals can learn to avoid certain foods even if there is a lengthy interval between eating the food and becoming ill Only one pairing of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli is necessary for learning to take place in many cases Operant Conditioning Operant Behavior - behavior designed to operate on the environment in a way that will gain something desired or avoid something unpleasant Initially emitted rather than elicited Edward Lee Thorndike was the first researcher to study operant behavior systematically Used a “puzzle box” to determine how cats learn Elements of Operant Conditioning Reinforcer - a stimulus that follows a behavior and increases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated Ex. food Punisher - a stimulus that follows a behavior and decreases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated Ex. scolding Law of Effect - Thorndike’s theory that behavior consistently rewarded will be “stamped in” as learned behavior, and behavior that brings about discomfort will be “stamped out” (also known as the principle of reinforcement) Types of Negative Reinforcement Positive and Negative Reinforcement Positive reinforcers - any event whose presence increases the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur Ex. food Negative reinforcer - any event whose reduction or termination increases the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur Ex. terminating electric shocks Punishment - any event whose presence decreases the likelihood that ongoing behavior will recur Avoidance training - involves learning a desirable behavior that prevents an unpleasant condition, such as punishment, from occurring Operant Conditioning is Selective Studies have revealed that in operant conditioning the behaviors that are easiest to condition are those that animals typically would perform in the training situation These behaviors vary from species to species and put significant constraints on both classical and operant conditioning
Superstitious Behavior Tending to repeat a a behavior when something is closely followed by a reinforcer, even if it was not actually responsible for producing the reinforcement Nonhumans also exhibit superstitious behaviors Learned Helplessness - failure to take steps to avoid or escape from an unpleasant or aversive stimulus that occurs as a result of previous exposure to an unavoidable painful stimuli Associated with many of the symptoms characteristic of depression Comparing Classical and Operant Conditioning Response Acquisition - the “building phase” of conditioning during which the likelihood or strength of the desired response increases, naturally occurring responses are attached to the conditioned stimulus by pairing that stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus Classical Conditioning Intermittent pairing - pairing the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus on only a portion of the learning trials Reduces both the rate of learning and the final level of learning achieved Operant Conditioning Response acquisition refers to the phase of the learning process in which desired responses are followed by
reinforcers Skinner box - a box often used in operant conditioning of animals, which limits the available response and thus increases the likelihood that the desired response will occur To speed up this process and make the occurrence of a desired response more likely, motivation may be increased by letting the animal become hungry The number of potential responses may also be reduced by restricting the animal’s environment Shaping - reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behavior There are differences among species in what behaviors can be learned and the circumstances under which learning will take hold Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery Classical Conditioning Extinction - a decrease in the strength or frequency of a learned response because of failure to continue pairing the US with the CS (classical conditioning) or withholding of reinforcement (operant conditioning) Spontaneous recovery - the reappearance of an extinguished response after the passage of time, without further training Operant Conditioning The ease with which a behavior is extinguished varies according to several factors The strength at which learning takes place The schedule of reinforcement used during conditioning Much harder to extinguish behavior learned through punishment rather than reinforcement Generalization and Discrimination Classical Conditioning Stimulus generalization - the transfer of a learned response to different but similar stimuli Stimulus discrimination - learning to respond to only one stimulus and to inhibit the response to all other stimuli Operant Conditioning Response generalization - giving a response that is somewhat different from the response originally learned to that stimulus New Learning Based on Original Learning Higher-Order Conditioning in Classical Conditioning Higher-order conditioning - conditioning based on previous learning; the conditioned stimulus serves as an unconditioned stimulus for further training Pavlov used the bell to condition his dogs to salivate at the sight of a black square This type of conditioning is difficult to achieve because of extinction: unless the first unconditioned stimulus is presented occasionally, the initial conditioned response will be extinguished Secondary Reinforcers in Operant Conditioning Primary reinforcer - a reinforcer that is rewarding in itself, such as food, water, or sex Secondary reinforcer - a reinforcer whose value is acquired through association with other primary or secondary reinforcers Ex. money; valuable only for what it can buy Contingencies Classical Conditioning Contingency - a reliable “if-then” relationship between two events such as a CS and a US Robert Rescorla demonstrated that classical conditioning requires more than merely presenting an unconditioned stimulus an a conditioned stimulus together in time His work shows that for conditioning to occur, a conditioned stimulus must provide information about the unconditioned stimulus Blocking - a process whereby prior conditioning prevents conditioning to a second stimulus even when the two stimuli are presented simultaneously Operant Conditioning Schedules of Reinforcement - in operant conditioning, the rule for determining when and how often reinforcers will be delivered Fixed-interval schedule - a reinforcement schedule in which the correct response is reinforced after a fixed length of time since the last reinforcement Variable-interval schedule - a reinforcement schedule in which the correct response is reinforced after varying lengths of time following the last reinforcement Fixed-ratio schedule - a reinforcement schedule in which the correct response is reinforced after a fixed number of correct responses Variable-ratio schedule - a reinforcement schedule in which a varying number of correct responses must occur before reinforcement is presented A Review of Classical and Operant Conditioning Classical and operant conditioning share many similarities Both involve associations between stimuli and responses Both are subject to extinction and and spontaneous recovery, as well as generalization and discrimination Cognitive Learning - learning that depends on mental processes that are not directly observable
Biofeedback - a technique that uses monitoring devices to provide precise information about internal physiological processes, such as heart rate or blood pressure, to teach people to gain voluntary control over these functions Latent Learning and Cognitive Maps Latent learning - learning that is not immediately reflected in a behavior change Cognitive map - a learned mental image of a spatial environment that may be called on to solve problems when stimuli in the environment change Insight and Learning Sets Insight - learning that occurs rapidly as a result of understanding all the elements of a problem Learning set - the ability to become increasingly more effective in solving problems as more problems are solved Learning by Observing Social learning theory - a view of learning that emphasizes the ability to learn by observing a model or receiving instructions, without firsthand experience by the learner Observational (vicarious) learning - learning by observing other people’s behavior Vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment - reinforcement or punishment experienced by models that affects the willingness of others to perform the behaviors they learned by observing those models Cognitive Learning in
Nonhumans Research has demonstrated that nonhumans can be classically conditioned, taught to perform whole patterns of operant behaviors, and are capable of latent learning All this evidence lends support to the argument that nonhuman animals use cognitive processing in learning