Psychology Learning & Conditioning

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2 types of learning

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Cognitive - How we encode, process,store, and retrieve information.

Beahvorial - How we learn observable responses. How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior,say,to lose weight or stop smoking?

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Learning

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a relative permanent change in an organisms disposition (you are disposed to change) to behave as a result of experience.

This is the teachers definition of learning not the books

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Cognitive

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How we encode, process, store and retrieve information.

How do we use information in remembering? Reasoning? Solving problems?

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Behavioral

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How we learn observable responses.

How do we learn to fear particular objects or situations? What is the most effective way to alter our behavior, say, to lose weight?

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3 categories of behavioral learning

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classical conditioning

operant conditioning

social or abscentional learning

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classical conditioning

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One of the 3 categories of behavioral learning

EX: We learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events. We learn that a flash of lightning signals an impending crack of thunder, and so we start to brace ourselves when lightning flashes nearby.


conditioning that pairs a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that evokes a reflex; the stimulus that evokes the reflex is given whether or not the conditioned response occurs until eventually the neutral stimulus comes to evoke the reflex

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operant conditioning

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One of the 3 categories of behavioral learning

Ex: We learn to associate a response and its consequence and thus to repeat acts followed by rewards and avoid acts followed by punishment. We learn that pushing a vending machine button relates to the delivery of a candy bar.


The theory of B.F. Skinner is based upon the idea that learning is a function of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment. A response produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem. When a particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond. The distinctive characteristic of operant conditioning relative to previous forms of behaviorism (e.g., Thorndike, Hull) is that the organism can emit responses instead of only eliciting response due to an external stimulus.

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social learning

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one of the 3 categories of behavioral learning

Observational or social learning is based primarily on the work of Albert Bandura. He and his colleagues were able to demonstrate through a variety of experiments that the application of consequences was not necessary for learning to take place. Rather learning could occur through the simple processes of observing someone else's activity. This work provided the foundation for Bandura's later work in social cognition.

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unconditioned response (UR)

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The classical-conditioning term for a reflexive response elicited by a stimulus in the absence of learning.

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conditioned response (CR)

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The classical-conditioning term for a response that is elicited by a conditioned stimulus; it occurs after the conditioned stimulus is associated with an unconditioned stimulus.

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conditioned stimulus (CS)

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The classical-conditioning term for an initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response after being associated with an unconditioned stimulus.

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extinction

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The weakening and eventual disappearance of a learned response. In classical conditioning, it occurs when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus; in operant conditioning, it occurs when a response is no longer followed by a reinforcer.

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associative learning

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learning that certain events occur together. The events may be tow stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant condition).

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observational learning

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We learn from others experience3s and examples. Complex animals, such as chimpanzees, sometimes learn behaviors merely by observing others perform them. If one animal watches another learn to solve a puzzle that gains a food reward, the observing animal may perform the trick more quickly.