Learning Theory | Psychology

LEARNING THEORY

Prepared and Presented by:Suhaili bt. Sahiful Bahari

BHMS 1401-4356Psychology BMS 1043

Cyberjaya University College of Medical SciencesLecturer: Abd Haris Mohd Darudin

GOAL?

To scientifically observe how human & animal learns a thing.

1.Classical conditioning theory. (20 mins)2.Operant conditioning theory. (20 mins)3.Observational conditioning theory. (20

mins)

EXPECTATIONS

1. Classical Conditioning Theory.

1. Classical Conditioning Theory.

• Learning a new behavior via the process of association.

• Two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a person or animal.

1.The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces an unconditioned response (UCR) in an organism.2.No new behaviour is learned. 3.The person is Neutral Stimulus.

Stage 1:Before Conditioning.

Stage 2:During Conditioning.

Stage 3:After Conditioning.

1. Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)must be associated with the conditioned stimulus (CS) on a number of occasions, or trials, for learning to take place.

1.Now, the conditioned stimulus (CS) has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to createa new conditioned response (CR).

A perfume (UCS) create a response of happiness or desire (UCR).

A perfume (UCS) might be associated with a specific person (CS).

A person (CS) who has been associated with nice perfume (UCS) is now found attractive (CR).

Ivan Pavlov (1902)

Good & Bad Stimulation

• For example a person (CS) who has been associated with nice perfume (UCS) is now found attractive (CR). Good stimulation.

• Chocolate (CS) which was eaten before a person was sick, with a virus (UCS) is now produces a response of nausea (CR).

Real life examples• If a student associates negative emotional experiences

with school, then this can produce bad results, that the school is gonna create a school phobia.

• E.g: If a student is bullied at school, they learn and looking at school as place that associates with fear.

• This may explain why some students show a particular dislike of certain subjects.

• Other stimulus, this school phobia also could happen if a student is humiliated or punished in class by a teacher.

Critics

• Emphasize the importance of learning from the environment.

• Supports nurture (environment) over nature(biology).

• Attempts to underestimate the complexity of human behavior.

• The theory is scientific. An exp is carried out to show empirical evidence.

• The theory is a reductionist explanation of behavior. Means complex behavior is broken down into smaller stimulus-response unit of behaviour.

• Reductionist supporters say this this is scientific but their view lacks of validity.

• It is useful, but incomplete.

• The theory is deterministic. (vs free-will?)• It proposes that all behavior is caused by

preceding factors and is thus predictable.• This underestimates uniqueness of

choices, their freedom at choosing their own destiny.

2. Operant Conditioning Theory.

2. Operant Conditioning Theory.

• Introduced by B.F Skinner. His view is less extreme than John B. Watson.

• He believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and by its consequences.

• Based on Edward Thorndike work. What Thorndike do?

Edward Thorndike• He placed a cat in the puzzle

box, which was encourage to escape to reach a scrap of fish placed outside.

• Thorndike would put a cat into the box and time how long it took to escape.

• The cats experimented with different ways to escape the puzzle box and reach the fish.

• Eventually they would stumble upon the lever which opened the cage.

• When it had escaped it was put in again, and once more the time it took to escape was noted.

• In successive trials the cats would learn that pressing the lever would have favorable consequences and they would adopt this behavior, becoming increasingly quick at pressing the lever.

Law of effect

• Edward Thorndike put forward a “Law of effect” which stated that any behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and any behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to be stopped.

• B.F Skinner is the father of Operant Conditioning, but his work was based on Thorndike’s law of effect.

• Skinner introduced a new term into the Law of Effect - Reinforcement. Behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated (i.e. strengthened); behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out-or be extinguished (i.e. weakened).

3 types of responses:• Neutral operants: Responses from the

environment is neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior to be repeated.

• Reinforcers: Responses from the environment

that increase the probability of a behavior to be repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.

• Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior to be repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.

i. Positive Reinforcement (+R)

• You're being reinforced. Strengthened. • Smoking BF + GF don't like smoking BF ->

BF stops smoking --> GF loves BF (positive reinforcement/rewarded.)

• Smoking student --> caught by teachers --> caned --> stops smoking.

• So smoking will be lessly repeated.• Complete homework --> teacher gives $5.

Skinner empirical study (+R)1. Skinner showed how positive reinforcement worked by

placing a hungry rat in his Skinner box. 2. The box contained a lever on the side. As the rat moved

about the box, it would accidentally knock the lever. 3. Immediately, lever is down. A food pellet drop into a

container next to the lever. 4. The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a

few times of being put in the box. 5. The consequence of receiving food if they pressed the

lever ensured that they would repeat the action again and again.

ii. Negative Reinforcement (-R)

• Rewarding a person by removing unpleasant experience.

• Not complete homework --> You give teachers $5.

• You will complete your homework to avoid paying $5, thus strengthening the behavior of completing your homework.

Skinner empirical study (-R)1. Skinner showed how negative reinforcement worked by

placing a rat in his Skinner box and then subjecting it to an unpleasant electric current which caused it some discomfort.

2. As the rat moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately it did so the electric current would be switched off.

3. The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box.

4. The consequence of escaping the electric current ensured that they would repeat the action again and again.

5. In fact Skinner even taught the rats to avoid the electric current by turning on a light just before the electric current came on.

6. The rats soon learned to press the lever when the light came on because they knew that this would stop the electric current being switched on.

iii. Punishment (weakens behavior)

• Opposite of reinforcement. • It is designed to weaken or eliminate a

response/operant rather than increase it.• Weaken a behaviour by removing a

potentially rewarding stimulus.

Bobby is very rude --> Grounded --> to punish (to weaken

the undesirable behaviour).

Schedule of Reinforcement• Bobby works in Sally

new company. • Bobby works so hard,

really hard but then Bobby is not getting paid enough or not at all for 2 months.

• How longer Bobby can work with this situation?

Quiz

How longer Bobby can work with this situation?

• Ferster and Skinner (1957) found:– The Response Rate - The rate at which the

rat pressed the lever (i.e. how hard the rat or Bobby worked).

– The Extinction Rate - The rate at which lever pressing dies out (i.e. how soon the rat or Bobby gave up).

5 Types of reinforcement • Variable-ratio reinforcement.

– after unpredictability number of times.– Likes gambling or fishing.– Extinction rate is SLOW (very hard to

extinguish because of unpredictability)– Response rate FAST

• Continuous Reinforcement. – Positively

reinforced every time

– Response rate is SLOW

– Extinction rate is FAST

• Fixed Ratio Reinforcement – Positively reinforced every X number

of times.– Response rate is SLOW– Extinction rate is MEDIUM

• Fixed Interval Reinforcement – Positively

reinforced every 15 mins.

– Response rate is MEDIUM

– Extinction rate is MEDIUM

• Variable-interval reinforcement. – One good job, reward with an

unpredictable amount. – Extinction rate is SLOW.– Response rate FAST

• Quiz:• So if Sally don't want to lose Bobby, which

one of type of reinforcement should she practice?

Application

• +R, -R, Punishment can be applied in classroom, prison, psychiatric hospitals, homeopathy clinics.

Punishment vs -R• Punisment is not forgotten,

it's suppressed - behavior returns when punishment is no longer present.

• Causes increased aggression - shows that aggression is a way to cope with problems.

• Creates fear that can generalize to undesirable behaviors, e.g., fear of school.

• Not clear. Not guiding towards the desired behavior. – Reinforcement tells you what to.– Punishment only tells you what

not to do.

OCT towards Behavior Shaping

Skinner says:• We should change how we give reward

each time to a person/animal each time they make move to desired behaviour.

• Behavior Shaping via successive approximation.

• Can produce extremely complex behaviour.

Behavior Modification Therapy• Always reinforcing desired behavior, for example,

is basically bribery.

• Behavior modification therapy include token economy system & behavior shaping

Primary reinforcement Secondary reinforcement

when a reward strengths a behavior by itself.

when something strengthens a behavior because it leads to a primary reinforcer

• Targeted behaviors are reinforced with tokens (secondary reinforcers) and later exchanged for rewards (primary reinforcers).

• Eg of tokens: fake money, buttons, poker chips, stickers...

• Results: – Can be very effective. in managing psychiatric

patients/ prisoners in prison. – Once subject is over reliant on the tokens, making it

difficult for them to adjust/reinforce with society.

Token economy system

Criticism• Fail to consider cognitive factors in

learning: Study of human mental processes and their role in thinking, feeling, and behaving.

• Raises the issue of extrapolation. Some psychologists argue we cannot generalize from studies on animals to humans as their anatomy and physiology is different from humans, and they cannot think about their experiences and invoke reason, patience, memory or self-comfort.

3. Observational Conditioning Theory.

(Learn through modelling)

Introduction

• Albert Bandura (1977) is a behaviourist. • He agrees with previous two theories. • However, he adds two important ideas:

– Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses.

– Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.

– Got two other names: Social learning theory/Social cognitive theory

"Forget the mind, Psychology should based on observable behaviour," John B. Watson.

Behaviorist be like:

Let's watch how Bandura conducts experiment to prove his

theory.

Bobo doll experiment• Bandura demonstrated that

young children would imitate the violent and aggressive actions of an adult model.

• In the experiment, children observed a film in which an adult repeatedly hit a large, inflatable balloon doll.

• After viewing the film clip, children were allowed to play in a room with a real Bobo doll just like the one they saw in the film.

Bandura predicts/ hypothesize...• He predicted that children who observed an

adult acting aggressively would be likely to act aggressively even when the adult model was not present.

• The children who observed the non-aggressive adult model would be less aggressive than the children who observed the aggressive model; the non-aggressive exposure group would also be less aggressive than the control group.

• Children would be more likely to imitate models of the same-sex rather than models of the opposite-sex.

• Boys would behave more aggressively than girls.

Results• Bandura found was that children were more likely to

imitate the adult's violent actions when the adult either received no consequences or when the adult was actually rewarded for their violent actions.

• Children who saw film clips in which the adult was punished for this aggressive behavior were less likely to repeat the behaviors later on.

• Bandura study has important implications for the effects of media violence on children. (WWE)

Criticism• Since data was collected immediately, it is also difficult

to know what the long-term impact might have been.• Acting violently toward a doll is a lot different that

displaying aggression or violence against another human being in a real world setting.

• It has also been suggested that children were not actually motivated to display aggression when they hit the Bobo doll; instead, they may have simply been trying to please the adults.

• Some critics argue that the study itself is unethical. By manipulating the children into behaving aggressively, they argue, the experimenters were essentially teaching the children to be aggressive.

What have we learn for today?