psyc 2301 ch 5

• enduring change in either...
• a. behavior
• b. mental representations as a result of experience

• focus on how behavior changes as a result of experience
• believe we cant measure mental states, but we can measure behavior
• the mind is a blank slate (ie: at birth the mind is blank)
• focus on stimulus-response learning

focus on how mental representations change as a result of experience

• that behavior is the one thing we can measure
• all we can measure is whats gong into the brain ie stimulus and what comes out ie response
• refer to the mind as a black box

• classical conditioning
• taught dogs to assocate bell with food
• frequency of ass.
• timing of ass.
• spontaneous recovery
• stimulus generalization/discrimination

• first to apply classical conditioning to humans
• baby albert, loud noise & white rat with fear

• known for operant conditioning
• trial & error with cat box and string
• Thorndikes Law of effect (trial & error learning)
• tends to take a long time

• known for operant conditioning
• reinforcements & punishments
• believed reinforcement more effective than punishment
• lion trained to jump through fire hoop

only allows us to manipulate or control the activation of a behavior that the animal is already performing

• needed to acquire more complex behavior
• Edward Thorndike
• BF Skinner
• trial and error learning
• reinforcements & punishments

• experiences that increase the likelihood that a particular bahavior will occur again in the future
• positive reinforcements
• negative reinforcements

• experiences that decrease the likelihood that a particular behavior will occur again
• positive punishments
• negative punishments

increases the likelihood of a particular behavior by adding a stimulus

• increases the likelihood of a particular behavior by taking away a stimulus
• two types: avoidance learning & escape learning

works by taking away an aversive stimuli before it occurs

works by taking away an aversive stimulus that is already happening

decreases the likelihood of a particular behavior by adding a stimulus

decreases the likelihood of a particular behavior by taking away a stimulus

• 2 main schedules of reinforcement
• -continuous reinforcement
• -partial reinforcement

• consists of rewarding every instance of the correct behavior
• more effective when training new task
• very susceptible to extention
• start witn contiuous finish with partial

• consists of inconsistenly rewarding the correct behavior (every other time)
• 4 types
• -fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval

• only reward after a fixed number of correct behaviors
• ie: FR-20

• only reward after an average number of correct behaviors
• ie: VR-5

• only reward correct behavior after a fixed amount of time has elapsed
• ie: FI-5

• only reward correct behavior after an average amount of time has elapsed
• ie: VI-5

• learning from observing other peoples mistake and successes
• provides potential short-cut to learning
• AKA observational learning
• Albert Bandura, bobo dolls & aggression

• bobo dolls experiment
• adults aggressive towards doll, children watch
• positive reinforcement, positive punishment, control group
• for social learning to work need four cognitive processes:
• -attention, remember, produce, motivation

• socially "successful" individuals
• individuals who are similar to us
• when we don't know what to do

• latent learning
• learning food aversions
• operational conditioning mishaps

• occurs whenever we learn without any exposure to reinforcement or punishment
• ie: rat navigating maze

• avoiding food
• ie: rat learning after 1 trial and error to not eat food or he will be shocked every after long delay
• called the Garcia effect after John Garcia
• -demonstrates we are preprogrammed to learn certain associations

• sometimes shaping doesn't work, animals can't fight natural inclinaitons
• ie: trying to teach a chicken to run bases after hitting ball, the chicken chases the ball thinking it is food, a natural reaction