Basic Processes of Chapter 4 Gray, Psychology, 6e Worth Publishers 2010 Quick Question What is something that you have learned: As a child As a teenager Last week What Is? Relatively permanent change to an organism s behavior Based on previous experiences the organism has had 1
Contrasting Major Theories Classical Operant Observational Simple, reflexive Complex s useful in a social setting Pairing stimuli (that produce a response) Pairing a consequence with a response Observing the actions of others Overview of Classical Classical Simple, reflexive Pairing stimuli (that produce a response) Can Help Us Understand: Emotional responses Hunger Sexual arousal Substance abuse Classical in the City (Midnight) (Subway noise) (Wake up) (Midnight) (Subway noise) (Wake up) (Midnight, even in new location) (Wake up) 2
Advanced Concepts in Classical Extinction - without the UCS, eventually the CS will no longer produce the CR If you move away from the subway (UCS), eventually you will no longer wake up at midnight (CS) Spontaneous recovery - after time, the conditioned response might recur Occasionally, you might awake at midnight in your new country home Advanced Concepts in Classical Generalization - the CR occurs in response to similar conditioned stimuli All loud sounds wake you up - the subway, your neighbors yelling, your dog barking, your alarm clock Discrimination - the CR occurs only in response to one specific CS (requires discrimination training) Only your alarm clock wakes you up, you learn to sleep through the rest! Using the Principles of Classical, Could You: Teach a baby to fear books? Teach a toddler to ride a tricycle? Help your friend stop smoking cigarettes? How? 3
Overview of Operant Operant Complex Pairing a consequence with a response Can Help Us Understand: Animal training Overjustification effect School success To Skinner, the sky was the limit! Reinforcement vs. Punishment Reinforcement Punishment Positive (+) Negative (-) Addition of desired Example: Money for good grades Subtraction of aversive Example: A weekend away from bratty brother for good grades Addition of aversive Example: Spanking for bad grades Subtraction of desired Example: No TV for bad grades Result Increased likelihood of response Decreased likelihood of response Reinforcement Schedules Interval (time between responses) Ratio (number of responses) Fixed (set reinforcement schedule) Reinforce a response after a set amount of time has elapsed Reinforce a response after a set amount of responses occur Variable (slightly altered reinforcement schedule) Reinforce a response around but not at the same time period Reinforce a response around but not after the same number of responses 4
Advanced Concepts in Operant Shaping Reinforcing responses that are increasingly close to the response you desire Overjustification effect When a reward is given for a response that was not needed to produce the response Help Train Fido! How could you use operant conditioning to train a dog to: Sit Stop jumping on people Jump through a hoop Overview of Observational Observational Skills useful in a social setting Observing the actions of others Can Help us Understand: Skills that cannot be learned by trial and error Prosocial and antisocial behavior 5
Evolutionary Perspective Species appear predisposed to learn certain things relevant to their past environment Example: Food preferences - if we get ill after eating a new food, we learn to associate that food with illness and avoid it Example: Fear - different species are predisposed to fear certain objects that posed a threat in the past (such as snakes for humans and monkeys) Something You ve What is something that you have learned: As a child As a teenager Last week Turn to your neighbor and work together: What learning theory best explains what you learned at each age? Assessment What are the three major types of learning? Come up with something specific a person might learn using one of these theories of learning 6