Topic 6: Learning – Psychology Study Notes

Learning in Psychology

Introduction to Learning

Learning is a fundamental concept in psychology, referring to the process by which experience leads to a relatively permanent change in behaviour or knowledge. It encompasses both conscious and unconscious processes and is essential for adaptation and survival.

• Learning: A relatively permanent change in behaviour or knowledge resulting from experience.

• Involves acquiring skills and knowledge through experience.

• Includes both conscious and unconscious processes.

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 and essential for survival.

• 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, often engaging higher brain centers.

• Examples: Sexual activity, migration in birds.

Types of Learning

Habituation

Habituation is a simple form of learning in which repeated exposure to a stimulus results in a decrease in response. It allows organisms to ignore irrelevant stimuli and focus on important changes in their environment.

• Example: A child becomes less responsive to a loud noise over time.

Sensitization

Sensitization is the process by which repeated exposure to a stimulus increases the response to that stimulus. It often occurs in response to intense or noxious stimuli.

• Example: Becoming more sensitive to a stressful situation after repeated exposure.

Classical and Operant Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is a 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.

• Organisms have two types of responses to the environment:

  • Unconditioned response (UCR): Unlearned, natural reaction to a stimulus.

  • Conditioned response (CR): Learned reaction to a previously neutral stimulus.

Key Components:

• 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.

Example: Pavlov's dogs learned to salivate (CR) at the sound of a bell (CS) after it was repeatedly paired with food (UCS).

Acquisition, Extinction, and Spontaneous Recovery

These terms describe the process and persistence of learned associations in classical conditioning.

• Acquisition: The initial stage of learning when a response is first established.

• Extinction: The conditioned response decreases and eventually disappears when the CS is presented without the UCS.

• Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance of a conditioned response after a pause.

• Renewal Effect: The conditioned response reappears when returned to the original environment.

Graphical Representation:

• Strength of CR increases during acquisition, decreases during extinction, and may briefly reappear during spontaneous recovery.

Applications: Classical Conditioning in Marketing

Classical conditioning principles are used in marketing to associate products with positive emotions or experiences.

• Example: Pairing a soft drink with happy imagery to elicit positive feelings toward the product.

Little Albert Experiment

John B. Watson applied classical conditioning to study human emotions. In the "Little Albert" study, a child was conditioned to fear a white rat by pairing it with a loud noise.

• Demonstrated that emotional responses can be conditioned.

Stimulus Discrimination and Generalization

These concepts explain how conditioned responses can transfer or be limited to similar stimuli.

• 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, responding only to the specific CS (e.g., recognizing different alarm sounds).

Fetishes and Classical Conditioning

Sexual fixations on nonsexual objects can develop through accidental pairing of sexual arousal with a neutral stimulus, illustrating classical conditioning in human behaviour.

• Example: Shoes become associated with arousal after repeated pairings.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

Conditioned taste aversion is a unique form of classical conditioning where an organism learns to avoid a food after a single pairing with illness, even with long delays between stimulus and response.

• Shows little generalization.

• Biological preparedness: Some associations are learned more easily due to evolutionary factors.

• Example: Chemotherapy patients may develop aversions to foods eaten before treatment.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning involves learning to associate a behaviour with its consequences, such as reinforcement or punishment. B.F. Skinner and Edward Thorndike were key figures in developing this theory.

• Law of Effect (Thorndike): Behaviours followed by rewards are more likely to occur; those followed by punishment are less likely.

• Positive: Adding something.

• Negative: Removing something.

• Reinforcement: Increases behaviour.

• Punishment: Decreases behaviour.

Reinforcement

• Positive Reinforcement: Adding something to increase the likelihood of a behaviour (e.g., praise, paychecks).

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

Punishment

• Positive Punishment: Adding something to decrease the likelihood of a behaviour (e.g., scolding).

• Negative Punishment: Removing something to decrease the likelihood of a behaviour (e.g., taking away a toy).

Effectiveness of Punishment

• Punishment only tells what not to do.

• Can create anxiety, interfere 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 associations easier to learn, such as fear of snakes and spiders.

• Instinctive drift: 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 Schedules

Schedules can be classified as fixed or variable, and as interval or ratio.

Schedule Type	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 produced
Variable Ratio	Reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses	Gambling, getting a big tip

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

Partial Reinforcement & Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Operant learning principles may contribute to decisions to stay or leave in abusive relationships, as intermittent reinforcement can maintain attachment despite negative experiences.

Conditioning and 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.

• Humans: "My team wins when I wear this jersey."

Cognitive Approaches to Learning

Latent Learning

Latent learning occurs without immediate reinforcement and becomes apparent only when there is a reason to use the knowledge. It 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.

• Both positive and negative behaviours can be learned.

• Example: Bandura's Bobo doll experiment demonstrated children imitating aggressive behaviour.

Violence in Television & Media

Exposure to violence in media can influence real-world behaviour, lowering inhibitions, distorting understanding, and desensitizing individuals to violence.

• By Grade 8, children have seen thousands of murders and violent acts on TV.

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

Transmission of Bias via Observing Others

Recent research shows that observing others' biased behaviour can lead to implicit attitude change, even without direct reinforcement.

• Observers adopt prejudiced reactions after watching a model, demonstrating the power of observational learning in social contexts.

Summary Table: Classical vs. Operant Conditioning

Aspect	Classical Conditioning	Operant Conditioning
Association	Between two stimuli	Between behaviour and consequence
Response Type	Involuntary (reflexive)	Voluntary (active)
Key Figures	Pavlov, Watson	Skinner, Thorndike
Example	Dog salivates to bell	Rat presses lever for food

Key Equations

• Law of Effect (Operant Conditioning):

$\text{Rate of Behaviour} \propto \text{Reinforcement} - \text{Punishment}$

• Classical Conditioning:

$\text{CR} = f(\text{CS}, \text{UCS})$