LEARNING THEORIES OF PSYCHOLOGY

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Learning Association and Adaptation: From Drooling Dogs to Pigeon PunishmentMr E. Maziti

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How would you teach a tiger to jump through a flaming hoop? What steps would you take to have the tiger learn this?

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“Don’t try this athome kids!” “That was grrrrrrreat!”

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What is “Learning”? A process by which behaviors, skills and

capabilities are changed and/or modified though experience

Time Acquired Behaviors

Constraints/

Requirements Resulting Behavior

N None Get started Read Coffee Label

N + 1 How to measure coffee How much water Fill carafe w/ water to

appropriate line

N + 2 Above + measuring water Where does water go?

Read coffee maker instructions

N + 3 Above + where to

pour water

Where to put measured coffee

Read coffee maker instructions

N + 4 Above + where to put

filter & measured coffee

Start brewing Read coffee maker instructions

N + 5 Above + how to brew Coffee not done Wait

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What is “Learning”? Adapting to environmental changes and

constraintsChange behaviors to meet demands and

improve chance of survival How does this relate to human evolution

and natural selection?

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What is “Learning”? Is learning the same thing as memory?

Memory is the retention of learned informationLearning DOES change memory capabilities

Learning results in more refined neural connections

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What is “Learning”? Are some “learned behaviors” innate and

acquired through evolution? Behaviors with fixed action patterns are

innate Baby herring gulls

peck at ANY red dot

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What is “Learning”? Is attending to a novel stimulus an

“automatic/innate fixed action pattern”?

Does habituation occur?

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Classical Conditioning “Learning though association”

All learning is about forming an association Accidentally discovered by Ivan Pavlov

Dogs salivated before food presentedSalivation originally elicited by only food

One of Pavlov’s Drooling Dogs

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Classical Conditioning An unconditioned stimulus (UCS) elicits a

reflex-like unconditioned response (UCR)

Begin pairing UCS with a neutral stimulus

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Classical Conditioning Eventually, neutral stimulus alone begins to

elicit the same response as the UCS

Neutral stimulus is now a conditioned stimulus (CS)

Response from CS is a conditioned response (CR)

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Classical Conditioning Acquisition phase

Repeated pairing of neutral stimulus with UCS Learning has occurred when the neutral stimulus

alone elicits the CS

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Trials (Days)

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eng

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CS Asymptote

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Classical Conditioning Extinction of a learned CS-UCS association

“Countdown to Extinction” depends on the initial CS-UCS strength

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Trials (Days)

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Classical Conditioning Spontaneous recovery

Are associations are ever really gone?Problem with phobias

Stimulus generalizationNeutral stimuli similar to CS can elicit CR Is this adaptive for survival?

Higher-order conditioningLearn to associate CS with new neutral

stimulus (“learning from learning”)

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Classical Conditioning “The Tragedy of Little Albert”

Watson’s early behaviorist researchShowed that fears/phobias are learned and

conditioned through experience Is “fear generalization” good?

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Classical Conditioning: Applications Exposure Therapy (Desensitization)

Used to alleviate phobias and anxietyRank Anxiety Provoking Stimulus

1 Waiting to Board the Plane

2 Going through Security

3 Getting to the Airport

4 The Day of the Flight

5 Confirming the Flight

6 Receiving the e-Ticket

7 Buying the Tickets for the Flight

8 Knowing that You have to Fly

9 Watching a Plane Overhead

10 Hearing a Plane Overhead

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Classical Conditioning: Applications Aversion Therapy

Pair a desired CS

with an aversive UCSEmetics with Alcohol

Conditioned Taste AversionA neutral food is associated with nausea, which

is both the UCS and UCR Is this adaptive for survival?

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Operant Conditioning Learning through consequences

Associate a behavior with its outcome Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect

Cats in a puzzle boxEventually, the cat did something to escape

and this behavior was reinforced

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Operant Conditioning Influenced by Skinner

Interaction with environment is a strong motivator

Learning is a three part sequence:(1) Antecedents must be present

(2) Behavior can occur

(3) Consequence of behavior results

Consequences provide either: Reinforcement increases likelihood of behavior Punishment decreases likelihood of behavior

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Operant Conditioning Reinforcement procedures

Increases the likelihood of a behavior in futureAssociated with desirable outcomes

Operant

Procedure Behavior Consequence ResultReal World Example

Positive

Reinforcement

Response

Is Made

Reward is

Presented

Likelihood of the

Behavior Increases

Chores =

Allowance

Negative

Reinforcement

Response

Is Made

Aversive

Stimulus Removed

Likelihood of the

Behavior IncreasesAspirin = No Headache

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ Time ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─→

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Operant Conditioning Punishment procedures (and extinction)

Decreases likelihood of behavior in future Associated with undesirable/aversive outcomes

Operant

Procedure Behavior Consequence ResultReal World Example

Positive

Punishment

Response

Is Made

Aversive Stimulus

Presented

Likelihood of the

Behavior Decreases

Drunk =

Vomiting

Negative

Punishment

Response

Is Made

A Desired

Stimulus Removed

Likelihood of the

Behavior DecreasesHooking = Penalty Box

Operant

Extinction

Response

Is Made

A once reinforcing stimulus is no longer presented

Likelihood of the

Behavior Decreases

Heroin no Longer = Euphoria

─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ Time ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─→

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Operant Conditioning How often/frequently should a behavior be

reinforced to facilitate learning? What is best reinforcement schedule?

Fixed Ratio ScheduleVariable Ratio ScheduleFixed Interval ScheduleVariable Interval

Schedule

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Operant Conditioning Shaping is slowly and continually

modifying behaviorReinforced at each stepEventually, doing a

early step elicits next stepThe “Tony The Tiger”

example from earlier was

shaping

Step Goal: Learn to do Laundry

10 Fold and put away clothes

9 Collect dried clothes

8 Put wet clothes in dryer

7 Start washer (wait)

6 Put in clothes and detergent

5 Select correct water temps.

4 Go to laundry room

3 Separate lights/darks

2 Get quarters for laundry

1 Buy Detergent

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Operant Conditioning: Applications Escape conditioning

Respond to terminate

aversive situation Avoidance conditioning

Respond to prevent

aversive situation Learned helplessness

Organism “give’s up” when is cannot escape or prevent aversive situation

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Operant Conditioning: Applications Token Economies

Used in institutional settingsGood behaviors earn tokens as reinforcersTokens can be used for treats later on

RewardT1 T2 T3 T4 T5

T6 T7 T8 T9 T10

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Operant Conditioning: Applications Behavioral Modification

‘Effective’, controversial method for changing and shaping problematic behaviors

Positive punishment administered

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Observational Learning/Modelling

Learning from watching others’ behaviors“Learner” mimics a “role model”

Learn to rebuild engine by watching dad Learn to cook risotto by watching Emeril

Bandura’s Bobo-Doll ExperimentChildren learned to act by watching othersCannot be SR learning

No stimulus presented TO the children

Observational learning- learning by observing others’ beh eg dancing and language

modelling- ability to reproduce behaviour exhibited by another person eg bobo doll experiment

Factors affecting learning Attention- subject must attend to the mode

carefully Retention- must retain the behaviour and

skills in memory27

Motivation- the subject must be able to be pushed by something in oder to imitate the behaviour and its done through reinforcement.

Reinforcement can be direct and indirect. Indirect is called vicarious reinforcement or punishment

Motor reproduction- the subject must be mature enough to reproduce the behaviours attended, retained and strengthened through the reinforcement.

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Cognitive theory : E. Tolman Humans and animals develops mental

images of and expectations about the environment that influence beh

Latent learning- experiment with rats for 10 days in a maze

1 grp had reinforcement the other didn’t have

On the 11th day the non renreinforced group got reinforcement and the time spent to the end was the same

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The non reinforced group had formed cognitive maps of the maze but because there was no reinforcement, the learning remain hidden.

Human form cognitive maps of directions I around the city

Conditioning and cognition- UCS paired with an CS will produce a somewhat same response(salivation) not because the animal is passive but because the animal has learnt to predict the presence of stimuli

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Expectancies – expectations about the consequences of a beh are what renders the beh to occur or not e.g if a person expect reinforcement , he is likely to perform it.

Learned helplessness( Seligman 1975)- expectancy that one cannot escape aversive events. Dogs that were harness in a box exposed to electric shock for a wile learned that they were helpless. When placed in a shutterbox where they could escape, did not try because of the

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helplessness In humans it accounts for depression

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Factors affecting learning Interstimulus Interval- time between UCS

and CS affects association and learning Forward conditioning- CS preceeds the

UCS- facilitate maximum learning Simultaneous condtioning- UCS and CS at

the same time –less learning Backward conditioning- Cs comes after

UCS and is the least effective

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Individual’s learning history

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