Chapter 6: Learning – How Nurture Changes Us (Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding)

Learning

Definition and Basic Types

Learning is defined as a change in an organism's behaviour or thought as a result of experience. It is a fundamental process in psychology, underlying adaptation and development. The most basic forms of learning are habituation and sensitization.

• Habituation: A decrease in response to a stimulus over time due to repeated exposure. Example: Not noticing the sound of a ticking clock after a while.

• Sensitization: An increase in responding over time to a stimulus. Example: Becoming more sensitive to a buzzing mosquito in your room.

Learning via Association

Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning

Much learning occurs through association, where simple associations serve as building blocks for complex ideas. Classical conditioning is a form of associative learning in which animals (including humans) come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus after it has been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response.

• Example: Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate at the sound of a metronome after it was repeatedly paired with food.

Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Model

Five Components of Classical Conditioning

• Neutral stimulus (NS): Does not elicit a particular response (e.g., metronome before conditioning).

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): Naturally elicits a response (e.g., meat powder).

• Unconditioned response (UCR): Automatic response to UCS (e.g., salivation).

• Conditioned stimulus (CS): Previously NS, now elicits response after pairing (e.g., metronome after conditioning).

• Conditioned response (CR): Learned response to CS (e.g., salivation to metronome).

Classical Conditioning Steps

1. Before Conditioning: NS does not elicit UCR. UCS elicits UCR.

2. During Conditioning: NS is paired with UCS repeatedly.

3. After Conditioning: NS becomes CS, elicits CR (same as UCR).

Principles of Classical Conditioning

Acquisition and Extinction

• Acquisition: The phase during which a CR is established by repeated pairing of CS and UCS.

• Extinction: Reduction of the CR when the CS is presented repeatedly without the UCS.

Spontaneous Recovery and Renewal

• Spontaneous Recovery: The CR returns after a period of time without further UCS-CS pairing.

• Renewal: The CR returns in a novel setting different from where it was acquired or extinguished.

Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination

• Stimulus Generalization: Similar CSs elicit the same CR. Example: Responding to different tuning forks with similar sounds.

• Stimulus Discrimination: CR is exhibited only to certain stimuli, not to similar others. Example: Differentiating between a movie about tornadoes and a real tornado.

Higher Order Conditioning

Developing a CR to a CS that is associated with another CS. The strength of the CR decreases as the association moves further from the original CS.

• Example: UCS + CS1, CS1 + CS2, etc. CR1 is strongest, CR2 weaker, CR3 even weaker.

Applications of Classical Conditioning

Advertising and Latent Inhibition

• Advertisers pair products with stimuli that elicit positive emotions.

• Latent inhibition: A stimulus experienced alone may be resistant to conditioning.

Fears, Phobias, and Treatment

• Explains acquisition of fears and phobias (e.g., Little Albert's fear of rats).

• Can be used to treat phobias (e.g., Little Peter's love of rabbits).

Conditioned Compensatory Response (CCR)

• CCR is a CR that is the opposite of the UCR, compensating for the UCR (important in drug responses).

• Environmental cues (e.g., a room) can trigger CCR, preparing the body for drug effects.

Fetishism and Disgust Reactions

• Fetishism (sexual attraction to nonliving things) can be partly explained by CC.

• Disgust reactions to safe food/drink can be established using CC.

Operant Conditioning

Definition and Key Features

Operant conditioning is learning in which the frequency of a behaviour is controlled by its consequences. Also known as instrumental conditioning, the organism 'gets something' (e.g., food, avoidance of punishment) because of its response.

Key Differences Between Operant and Classical Conditioning

	Classical Conditioning	Operant Conditioning
Target behaviour	Elicited automatically	Emitted voluntarily
Behaviour is a function of...	Stimuli that precede the behaviour	Consequences that follow the behaviour
Behaviour depends primarily on...	Autonomic nervous system	Skeletal muscles

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

• If rewarded for a response to a stimulus, the response is more likely to be repeated.

• Learning involves association between stimulus and response (S-R), with reward strengthening the connection.

• Contrasts with the insight hypothesis, which suggests performance changes only after understanding the problem's nature.

Thorndike’s Puzzle Box and Skinner Box

• Puzzle Box: Cat learns to escape by pulling a string, demonstrating trial-and-error learning.

• Skinner Box: Device for recording operant behaviour in animals, allowing unsupervised study of learning.

Operant Conditioning Terminology

• Reinforcers: Outcomes that strengthen the probability of a response. Can be positive (giving a stimulus) or negative (removing a stimulus).

• Punishment: Outcomes that weaken the probability of a response. Can be positive (presenting a stimulus) or negative (removing a stimulus).

• Disciplinary actions are punishments only if they decrease the behaviour's likelihood.

Distinguishing Reinforcement from Punishment

Procedure	Effect on Behaviour	Typical Example
Positive Reinforcement	Increases target behaviour	Giving a gold star on homework, resulting in a student studying more
Negative Reinforcement	Increases target behaviour	Static on phone disappears when you stand in a specific spot in your room, causing you to stand there more often
Positive Punishment	Decreases target behaviour	Scolding by a pet owner, reducing a dog's habit of chewing on shoes
Negative Punishment	Decreases target behaviour	Confiscating a favourite toy, stopping a child from throwing tantrums

Effectiveness of Punishment

• Punishment is generally less effective than reinforcement.

• Disadvantages include: not informing what to do, creating anxiety, encouraging subversive behaviour, and modeling aggression.

Other Terminology

• Discriminative stimulus: Signals the presence of reinforcement.

• Acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization, and stimulus discrimination also apply to operant conditioning.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Types of Reinforcement Schedules

• Continuous reinforcement: Response is rewarded every time.

• Partial reinforcement: Response is rewarded only some of the time; more resistant to extinction.

Dimensions of Schedules

• Consistency: Fixed or variable.

• Basis: Ratio (number of responses) or interval (amount of time).

Four Major Schedules

• Fixed Ratio (FR): Reinforcement after a specific number of responses.

• Variable Ratio (VR): Reinforcement after an average number of responses.

• Fixed Interval (FI): Reinforcement after a specific amount of time.

• Variable Interval (VI): Reinforcement after an average amount of time.

Response Patterns

Variable ratio schedules tend to produce the highest rates of responding and are most resistant to extinction.

Applications of Operant Conditioning

• Shaping: Training animals by reinforcing successive approximations and chaining behaviours.

• Premack Principle: Using a more frequently performed behaviour to reinforce a less frequent one.

• Token Economies: Used in clinical settings to shape desired behaviours; involves primary and secondary reinforcers.

• Applied Behaviour Analysis: Used in autism interventions.

Combining Classical and Operant Conditioning

Two-Process Theory of Anxiety

• Anxiety begins with classical conditioning (e.g., bitten by a dog, fear of dogs).

• Maintained by negative reinforcement (avoiding dogs reduces anxiety).

Radical Behaviourism and Cognition

• Early behaviourists (e.g., Skinner) argued that thinking and emotions are covert behaviours.

• Modern psychology acknowledges a role for cognition in learning.

S-R vs. S-O-R

• Stimulus-Response (S-R) model has evolved to Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R).

• Organism's interpretation of stimulus affects response; cognition is involved in both CC and OC.

Latent Learning

Definition and Evidence

• Learning that is not directly observable; distinction between competence and performance.

• Reinforcement is not always necessary for learning to occur.

• Tolman & Honzik's studies: Rats learned a maze without reinforcement, but only showed learning when reinforcement was introduced.

Maze Trials Data

Rats developed cognitive maps, using them when a reward was available, challenging radical behaviourism and supporting the role of cognition.

Additional info:

• Further topics such as observational learning, insight learning, biological predispositions, and learning fads are covered in the full chapter but not included in the provided slides.