lec 6 Learning: Principles and Applications in Psychology-

Topic 6: Learning

Introduction

Learning is a foundational concept in psychology, referring to the process by which experience leads to a relatively permanent change in behaviour or knowledge. This topic explores the mechanisms, types, and influences on learning, including classical and operant conditioning, cognitive approaches, and the impact of biological and social factors.

Unlearned Behaviours

Reflexes

Reflexes are automatic, involuntary responses to specific stimuli. They are innate and essential for survival, involving primitive parts of the central nervous system (CNS), such as the brainstem.

• Protective & Essential: Reflexes help protect the organism from harm (e.g., withdrawal reflex).

• Examples: Pupillary light reflex, startle reflex, withdrawal reflex, scratch reflex.

Instincts

Instincts are innate drives or tendencies that lead to particular patterns of behaviour. They are more complex than reflexes and involve the movement of the organism as a whole.

• Examples: Sexual activity, migration in birds.

• Involve higher brain centers: Instincts require more advanced neural processing than reflexes.

What is Learning?

Definition and Types

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour or knowledge resulting from experience. It involves acquiring skills or knowledge through both conscious and unconscious processes.

• Habituation: Decreased response to a repeated, harmless stimulus.

• Sensitization: Increased response to a repeated stimulus, often one that is intense or aversive.

Classical vs. Operant Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is the process by which we learn to associate stimuli and consequently anticipate events. Ivan Pavlov's research on the digestive system of dogs led to the discovery of classical conditioning.

• Unconditioned Response (UCR): An unlearned, natural reaction to a stimulus (e.g., salivation to food).

• Conditioned Response (CR): A learned reaction to a previously neutral stimulus (e.g., salivation to a bell after pairing with food).

Components of Classical Conditioning

• Neutral Stimulus (NS): Initially does not elicit a specific response.

• Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): Naturally triggers a response.

• Unconditioned Response (UCR): Automatic reaction to UCS.

• Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Previously neutral, now triggers response after association.

• Conditioned Response (CR): Learned reaction to CS.

Process Example

• Before Conditioning: Dog salivates (UCR) to food (UCS); bell (NS) does not cause salivation.

• During Conditioning: Bell (NS) and food (UCS) are paired.

• After Conditioning: Bell (CS) causes salivation (CR).

Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery

• Acquisition: Learning phase where CS and UCS are paired.

• Extinction: Conditioned response decreases and eventually disappears when CS is presented alone.

• Spontaneous Recovery: Conditioned response reappears after a pause.

• Renewal Effect: Response reappears when returned to original environment.

Applications

• Marketing: Pairing products with positive stimuli to elicit favourable responses.

• Little Albert Study: John B. Watson demonstrated classical conditioning of fear in humans.

Stimulus Discrimination & Generalization

• Stimulus Generalization: After conditioning, stimuli similar to the original CS produce the same response (e.g., fear of all dogs).

• Stimulus Discrimination: Ability to distinguish between different stimuli (e.g., recognizing different alarm sounds).

Classical Conditioning and Fetishes

Sexual fixation on a nonsexual object can develop through accidental pairing of sexual arousal and a neutral stimulus.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

• Develops after only one trial.

• Learning possible even with long delays (6-8 hours).

• Shows little generalization.

• Biological Preparedness: Some associations are learned more easily due to evolutionary factors (e.g., chemotherapy patients associating illness with food, not other stimuli).

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning involves learning to associate a behaviour with its consequences (reinforcement or punishment). The Law of Effect (Thorndike) states that behaviours followed by rewards are more likely to occur, while those followed by punishment are less likely.

• Positive: Adding something.

• Negative: Taking something away.

• Reinforcement: Increases behaviour.

• Punishment: Decreases behaviour.

Reinforcement

• Positive Reinforcement: Adding a stimulus to increase behaviour (e.g., praise, paychecks).

• Negative Reinforcement: Removing a stimulus to increase behaviour (e.g., turning off a beeping sound when seatbelt is fastened).

Punishment

• Positive Punishment: Adding a stimulus to decrease behaviour (e.g., scolding).

• Negative Punishment: Removing a stimulus to decrease behaviour (e.g., confiscating a toy).

Effectiveness of Punishment

• Only tells what not to do.

• Creates anxiety, interfering with learning.

• May encourage subversive behaviour.

• Models aggressive behaviour for children.

Biological Influences on Learning

Biology places limits on what behaviours can be learned through reinforcement. Evolutionary predispositions make certain fears (e.g., snakes, spiders) more common than others (e.g., cars, guns). Instinctive drift refers to the tendency for animals to revert to innate behaviours after repeated reinforcement.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Continuous vs. Partial Reinforcement

• Continuous Reinforcement: Behaviour is reinforced every time it occurs; leads to faster learning but also faster extinction.

• Partial Reinforcement: Behaviour is reinforced only occasionally; leads to slower extinction and better maintenance.

Partial Reinforcement & IPV

Intermittent reinforcement can influence decisions in relationships, such as staying with a partner who occasionally provides positive reinforcement after negative behaviour.

Partial Reinforcement Schedules

• Fixed vs. Variable:

  • Fixed: Number of responses or time between reinforcements is set and unchanging.

  • Variable: Number of responses or time between reinforcements varies.

• Interval vs. Ratio:

  • Interval: Based on time between reinforcements.

  • Ratio: Based on number of responses between reinforcements.

Schedule	Description	Example
Fixed Interval	Reinforcement at predictable time intervals	Patients take pain relief medication at set times
Variable Interval	Reinforcement at unpredictable time intervals	Checking social media
Fixed Ratio	Reinforcement after a predictable number of responses	Factory workers paid for every x items
Variable Ratio	Reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses	Gambling, getting a big tip

Conditioning & Superstitious Behaviour

Superstitious behaviour occurs when a behaviour is accidentally reinforced by coincidence. Both animals and humans can develop superstitions, believing their actions influence outcomes even when they do not.

• Example: Skinner's pigeons repeated random behaviours, thinking it made food appear.

• Human Examples: Rituals before exams or sports games.

Cognitive Approaches to Learning

Latent Learning

Latent learning occurs without immediate reinforcement and becomes apparent only when there is a reason to use it. This challenges the idea that all learning is due to conditioning.

• Example: Tolman's rats developed cognitive maps of a maze without reinforcement, demonstrating learning only when incentivized.

• Real-world examples: Navigating new places, cooking skills, social etiquette, driving routes, emergency responses.

Observational Learning

Observational learning involves acquiring new behaviours by watching others (models). It includes paying attention, remembering, reproducing the action, and being motivated to carry it out.

• Example: Bandura's Bobo doll experiment demonstrated that children learn aggressive behaviours by observing adults.

Violence in Television & Media

Transmission of Bias via Observing Others

Observational learning can transmit biases and attitudes. Research shows that simply observing a model displaying bias can lead to implicit attitude change in the observer.

Media Violence & Real-World Violence

• Exposure to media violence is linked to increased aggression and delinquency.

• Violent video game players show lower academic achievement and higher aggression.

• Media violence can lower inhibitions, distort understanding of violence, and desensitize individuals to real-life violence.

Summary Table: Types of Learning

Type	Definition	Example
Habituation	Decreased response to repeated stimulus	Ignoring background noise
Sensitization	Increased response to repeated stimulus	Becoming more sensitive to a loud noise
Classical Conditioning	Associating two stimuli	Pavlov's dogs salivating to a bell
Operant Conditioning	Associating behaviour with consequence	Receiving praise for good grades
Latent Learning	Learning without immediate reinforcement	Knowing a route but only using it when needed
Observational Learning	Learning by watching others	Children imitating adults

Key Equations and Concepts

• Law of Effect: $\text{Behaviour} \xrightarrow{\text{Reward}} \text{More likely to occur}$ $\text{Behaviour} \xrightarrow{\text{Punishment}} \text{Less likely to occur}$

• Classical Conditioning: $\text{NS} + \text{UCS} \rightarrow \text{UCR}$ $\text{CS} \rightarrow \text{CR}$

Conclusion

Learning encompasses a wide range of processes, from simple reflexes and instincts to complex cognitive and social mechanisms. Understanding these principles is essential for explaining behaviour and applying psychological science in real-world contexts.