Chapter Six

Learning

Classical ConditioningOperant ConditioningObservational Learning

Part One: Classical ConditioningClassical Conditioning is conditioning by association, such as a pet getting excited whenver she hears a certain car arriving because she associates it with her owner com-ing home.• Pavlov(1906)• fundamental concepts• further concepts

Watson & Raynor (1920)• influencing factors

Rescorla (1968)• special cases

Garcia & Koelling (1966)

Pavlov (1906)Ivon Pavlov24 gave dogs specific stimuli, such as the ringing of a bell, several times, each immediately prior to providing them with food. The dogs salivated because of the food. Later, the dogs would salivate at the sound of the bell, in anticipation of the food.

Fundamental concepts of classical conditioningTerm Definition ExampleUnconditioned Stimulus(UCS)

stimulus that naturally causes an unconditioned response (without need for conditioning)

The smell of food is a natural stimulus for dogs.

Unconditioned Response(UCR)

natural response to a stimulus (without need for conditioning)

Dogs will naturally salivate when they smell food.

Conditioned Stimulus(CS)

stimulus that does not naturally cause a given response but does after being paired sufficiently with an unconditioned stimulus

The sound of a bell was paired with food for Pavlov’s dogs.

Conditioned Response(CR)

response to a stimulus that does not naturally elicit that response

The sound of a cart does not naturally elicit salivation, but it did for Pavlov’s dogs.

Further concepts of conditioningTerm Definition ExampleAcquisition creating a conditioned

behavior by pairing a CS with a UCS

Pavlov’s dogs heard the bell each time right before being fed.

Stimulus Generalization responding to stimuli similar but not identical to the CS

Pavlov’s dogs would salivate even if the bell-ringing was louder or higher pitched.

Stimulus Discrimination not responding to stimuli different from the CS

Pavlov’s dogs would not salivate to the sound of a horn.

Extinction eliminating a CR by consistently presenting the CS without the UCS

After receiving no meat powder after several bell ringinings, Pavlov’s dogs would unlearn the CR.

Spontaneous Recovery regaining a CR after a rest period following extinction

Days after the CR was extinguished, a ringing bell may again elicit a CR.

Watson & Rayner (1920)John Watson17 and Rosalie Rayner let an 11-month-old infant Little Albert play with a fluffy white rat. Each time he reached for it, they made a very loud noise with a hammer and metal. Later they gave him the rat unac-companied by the noise, and did the same with similar items.Term For Little AlbertUnconditioned Stimulus The loud noise was naturally scary.Unconditioned Response He naturally experienced fear from the noise.Conditioned Stimulus The rat was paired with the noise.Conditioned Response He developed a fear of the rat.Stimulus Generalization He also showed a fear response to a fluffy rabbit, a Santa

Claus mask, Watson’s white hair, etc.Stimulus Discrimination He showed less fear response to a dog, and none to

people’s hair that wasn’t white.Extinction Eventually his conditioned fear of rats and related things

might fade as he experienced them not paired with scary noises.

Factors influencing classical conditioningIn most cases, there are two factors that are essential for classical conditioning to take place: The unconditioned stimulus should be more likely to occur after an occurance of the conditioned stimulus than at another random time, and it should be immediate rather than delayed. As an example, consider the episode from The Office in which Jim offered Dwight an altoid each time his com-puter made a restart sound.Term Optimal Conditions How Jim could have failedTemporal Contiguity The UCS immediately

follows the CS.by letting time elapse between the sound and the altoid offering

Contingency The UCS has a higher probability following an instance of the CS than at another random time.

by sometimes not offering an altoid after the tone, and sometimes offering an altoid without the tone

Rescorla (1968)Participants: 24 ratsProcedure: Over a five-day conditioning period, rats experienced a series of 12 two-minute tones, each followed by eight minutes without a tone. During some of these tones they received a 1/2-second shock.Independent Variable: contingency—received no additional shocks, or also received shocks at random times without the toneDependent Variable: con-ditioned fear of the toneResults: The rats that expe-rienced shocks only when they heard the tone were conditioned to fear the tone, but the others were not.

Special cases of classical conditioningTerm Definition Distinction ExampleHigher-Order Conditioning

using a CS as a UCS to create a CR to a new CS

The CS is never actually paired with a true UCS.

A rat conditioned to fear a red light because an electric shock will follow can be conditioned to fear a blue light because a red light will follow.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

conditioning pairing taste or smell with nausea

The UCS can happen long after the CS, and can be effective after just one pairing.

Carli got sick after drinking tequila; now she feels sick at the smell of it.

Garcia86 & Koelling (1966)Participants: 10 ratsProcedure: Punishment was applied for drinking water with a specific characteristic.Independent Variable I: unique aspect of water (gustatory or audio-visual)Independent Variable II: type of punishment (nausea or shock)Independent Variable III: delay before punishment (none or 20 minutes)Dependent Variable: avoidance of waterResults: In the audio-visual condition, only shock caused avoidance, and only mini-mally so in the delayed punishment condition. In the gustatory condition, only nausea caused avoidance, but did so equally in the immediate and delayed condition.

Part Two: Operant ConditioningOperant Conditioning is conditioning through reinforcement and punishment, such as circus animals learning tricks by getting treats when they perform a desired behav-ior. It is called operant conditioning because it is based on organisms operating on their enviornment to effect a desired outcome (or avoid an undesired one), as opposed to classical conditioning which is more automated.• fundamental concepts

Project Pigeon• special cases

Seligman & Meier (1967)

Fundamental concepts of operant conditioningB. F. Skinner1 developed an “operant chamber” (later commonly called a Skinner Box) in which reinforcements and punishments could be administered to an animal in response to specific behaviors.Term Definition Skinner Box ExamplePositive Reinforcement making a behavior more

likely by adding a desirable stimulus

A rat gets food by pushing a lever whenever a green light comes on.

Negative Reinforcement making a behavior more likely by removing an undesirable stimulus

A rat prevents getting shocked by pusing a lever whenever a green light comes on.

Punishment making a behavior less likely

A rat gets shocked whenever he pushes a lever while a red light is on.

Project PigeonB. F. Skinner1 headed a World War II effort to create a mis-sile-guidance system operated by pigeons (Skinner, 1960). The pigeons were trained to steer the missile by pecking at a target projected onto a touch screen triggered by interrup-tions in airflow. Test simulations showed the system to be highly effective.

Special cases of operant conditioningTerm Definition Distinction ExampleShaping conditioning

successively more specific behaviors

The criterion required for reinforcement gradually increases in scope.

A bear is reinforced for coming near a tricycle until he learns to do so; then he is rewarded for sitting on it, then for putting his feet on the pedals, then for pushing the pedals.

Learned Helplessness

conditioned failure to attempt to remedy unpleasant situations due to previous exposure to other unpleasant situations in which the organism had no control

The organism is conditioned to be helpless in general, including in contexts unrelated to the original conditioning.

A student who loses her job and is unable to get a new one stops studying for her midterms.

Seligman31 & Maier (1967)Participants: 24 dogs of no specific breedProcedure: Each dog in the two experimental conditions was placed in a box in which the lights would periodically go out, signaling an oncoming shock. In the escape condition, the dog could avoid the shock by pressing a panel. In the learned helplessness condition, the dog could not control the shocks, which were matched in duration to those received in the escape condition. The next day, each each dog was placed in a different box. For each of 10 trials, the dog would be shocked if he did not jump to the other side of this box when the lights went out.Independent Variable: original condition-ing—none, escape, or learned helplessness Dependent Variable: learning to escape the shock in the second boxResults: Dogs that learned they had no control in the first situation did not attempt to learn how to escape the shocks in the next situation.

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Part Three: Observational LearningObservational Learning is learning by observing others’ behaviors and their conse-quences. A person being observed in this way is called a model.• Bandura,Ross,&Ross(1961)• fundamental concepts

statement on media violence

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Bandura31, Ross & Ross (1961)Participants: 36 boys and 36 girls, ages 3 to 5, from Stanford NurseryProcedure: While the child did artwork in one corner of a room, an adult played with tinker toys in another. In the aggressive condition, after a minute the adult attacked a bobo doll. After 10 minutes, the experimenter took the child to a new toy room, but after allowing a moment’s play induced frustration by stating that these toys were re-served for others. Finally, the child was taken to a room with a bobo doll and other toys.Independent Variable I: aggression of model—none or bobo doll attackIndependent Variable II: sex of childIndependent Variable III: sex of mod-el—same as child or differentDependent Variable: aggressive acts imi-tating the modelResults: Children tended to imitate adults’ aggressive behaviors, especially physical aggression for boys and verbal aggression for girls. Both sexes were more likely to imitate same-sex models.

Fundamental concepts of observational learningTerm Definition Example from Bobo dollAttention being aware of another’s behavior

and its consequencesThe kids watched the adult’s aggressive behavior.

Retention remembering what was observed The kids remembered the adult’s general aggression and details of it.

Ability being able to reproduce the observed behavior

The kids could easily mimic the adult’s behavior.

Motivation believing that reproducing the behavior will provide positive consequences

The kids had an outlet for their frustration of having toys taken away.

Joint statement to congress on media violenceIn 2000, the six major organiztions listed below provided a joint statement to congress on the effects of media violence, including the excerpts quoted below. “At this time, well over 1000 studies point overwhelmingly to a causal connection be-tween media violence and aggressive behavior in some children. The conclusion of the public health community, based on over 30 years of research, is that viewing entertain-ment violence can lead to increases in aggressive attitudes, values and behavior, par-ticularly in children.” In particular, exposure to media violence is believed to increase…acceptance of violence

“Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as an effective way of settling conflicts.”

emotional desensitization

“Viewing violence can decrease the likelihood that one will take action on behalf of a victim when violence occurs.”

fear “Viewing violence increases fear of becoming a victim of violence, with a resultant increase in self-protective behaviors and a mistrust of others.”

acts of violence “Children exposed to violent programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children who are not so exposed.”

• American Medical Association • American Academy of Pediatrics

• American Psychiactric Association • American Academy of Family Physicians

• American Psychological Association • American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry