LEARNING

Summary 1: Introduction to Learning

learning – The modification through experience of pre-existing behaviour and
understanding.
Learning happens when we:
• Experiencing events,
• Observing relationships between those events, and
• Noting regularity in the world around them.

Three main questions guiding psychological research:

1. Which events and relationships do people learn about?

2. What circumstances determine whether and how people learn?
3. Is learning a slow process requiring lots of practice, or does it involve sudden
flashes of insight?

novel stimuli – stimuli we have not experienced before

sensitization – novel stimuli attracts exaggerated responses

habituation – responses to unchanging stimuli decreases over time (eg. Ticking of

the clock)

dishabituation – the reappearance of original responses when the stimuli changes

(eg. When the clock stops)

Sensitization and habituation are non-associatative learning – learning results

from the impact of one particular stimulus, where the person/animal does not
associate one stimuli with another.

Opponent-process theory – new stimulus events (esp those that arouse strong
+ve or –ve emotions) disrupt the individual’s physiological state of equilibrium. But
this disruption triggers an opposite/opponent process that counteracts the disruption
and eventually restores equilibrium. If the arousing event occurs repeatedly, this
opponent process get stronger and more rapid, eventually suppress the initial
response, creating habituation. Eg. Sky diving, drugs addition.

Law of association by contiguity (closeness in space or time) – this law of

association says that stimuli or events that occur closely together in time become
associated, such that in the future when one event occurs, the other will also come to
mind.

Behaviourism
Radical behaviourism – a kind of behaviourism describing the learning process in
terms of the relationship b/w a stimulus and response – the S-R approach. It is
sometimes called the black-box as the internal mental process cannot be seen.

Watson’s contribution

• “given the response the stimuli can be predicted, and given the stimuli the
response can be predicted”
• Behaviourism differences among people stem mainly from their varying
experiences, mediated by learning

Skinner’s contribution – 2 separate learning processes

• Classical conditioning is a procedure in which a neutral stimulus is

repeatedly paired with a stimulus that elicits a reflex or other response until
the neutral stimulus alone comes to elicit a similar response.

• Operant conditioning is a process by which the consequences of a response

increase/decrease the likelihood that the response will occur again. i.e. reward
and punishments shape/change behaviour

Cognitive perspective

Watson and Skinner avoided explanation in terms of unseen events in the mind/brain.

Contemporary psychologists introduced the S-O-R approach.

Stimulus (environment)  Organism  Response (behaviour)
This is called cognitive psychology – looks at how people represents, store, and use
information.

Cognitive psychology – the study of the mental processes by which information

from the environment is modified, made meaningful, stored, retrieved, used, and
communicated to others.

Ecological perspective

Ecological approach – An approach to perception maintaining that humans and

other species are so well adapted to their natural environment that many aspects of
the world are perceived without requiring higher-level analysis and inferences

Summary 2: Introduction to Classical Conditioning

Learning by observing relations or associations b/w events in the world.

• Pavlov’s (Russian physiologist) digestive processes of dogs

o unconditioned response (UCR) to food, it is a unconditioned stimulus
(UCS). it involves an innate, reflexive response
o bell starts as neutral stimulus as dog does not respond to it
 o then dog learnt the bell reliably predicts the arrival of food – the bell
become a conditioned stimulus (CS) producing a conditioned response
(CR).

• Extinction – the gradual disappearance of a CR when a CS no longer predicts

the appearance of an US.

• Reconditioning – the quick relearning of a CR following extinction.

• Spontaneous recovery – the reappearance of the CR after extinction and

without further pairings of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli.

• Generalisation – a phenomenon in which a CR is elicited by stimuli that are

similar but not identical to the CS. Eg. Sour milk and other dairy with similar
odor

• Discrimination – a process through which individuals learn to differentiate

among similar stimuli and respond appropriately to each other. Eg. Other
babies whimpering will not trigger a CR.
• Signalling of Significant Events
o Timing – Forward, Backward and Simultaneous. The temporal spacing
of the UCS and CS
o Predictability – conditioned stimulus reliability
o Signal Strength
o Attention
o The blocking effect – an old stimuli blocking the learning of new stimuli
o Second-Order Conditioning – eg. white coat hypertensive
A phenomenon in which a CS acts like and UCS, creating CS out of
events associated with it.
o Bio-preparedness – eg. conditioned taste aversion; nausea is more
likely to be associated with food/drink then light/noise.
Make sense in evolutionary terms. Animals & humans are innately
prepared to learn aversions to certain stimuli.

Summary 3: Applications and theories of Classical Conditioning

Basis of some behaviour therapy techniques.
• Watson and Rayner – little Albert fears the rat (CS) because of the relationship
it learnt b/w a loud noise (UCS). Generalise with rabbit and soft fluffy toy also.
• Nowadays used frequently on advertising. eg. Beer and car commercials
• Pavlov experiment to condition a dog to drug reaction to a non-drug stimulus

• Recent research conditioned effects of stimuli paired with some drugs are the
OPPOSITE of the most prominent unconditioned effects of the drugs. Eg.
Morphine reduces sensitivity to pain, but it triggers the direct reflex, in turn,
activates a reflective physiological response that counters the direct effects, ie
increase sensitivities. Eg. Drug overdose when the amount use is actually
normal, besides extinction, the usual drug-taking environment etc can have
an impact to the sensitivity to the drug.
• Operant response – actions a subject operate on the world to produce some
effect. Eg pushing a level, bitten open a bag (for food), saying “please” to get
things done. This is also called instrumental responses because they function
like instruments, or tools.

• Operant/instrumental conditioning – a process through which an organism

learns to respond to the environment in a way that produces positive
consequences and avoids negative ones.
• Application
o Phobias are extreme fears of objects or situations that either are not
objectively dangerous or are less dangerous than the phobic person’s
reaction suggests. Classical conditioning can help treat phobias, even
PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder).
o Predator control – lithium laced muttons fed to wolves and coyotes so
they do not eat the sheep anymore.
o Predicting Alzheimer’s Disease – air puff directed to the eye.
o Behaviour therapy – treatments that use classical conditioning
principles to change behaviour. ie. Psychological problems are learnt
behaviours that can be changed by taking actions to learn new ones.
Behaviour approach & social-cognitive approach.
o Behaviour modification – treatments that use operant conditioning
methods to change behaviour. Commonly used techniques:

 Systematic desensitisation – a behavioural treatment for

anxiety in which client visualise a graduated series of anxiety-
provoking stimuli while remaining relaxed. Joseph Wolpe (1958)
often used progressive relaxation training to prevent
anxiety/phobias. Then, while relaxed, client is asked to
imagine/presented an item from a desensitisation hierarchy.

 Modelling – demonstrating desirable behaviours as a way of

teaching them to clients. The combination of live modelling with
gradual practice is called participant model. Assertiveness
training and social skills training are methods for teaching
clients how to interact with others more comfortably and
effectively.

 Positive Reinforcement – a therapy method that uses

rewards to strengthen desirable behaviours. Using operant
conditioning principles, they setup contingencies (rules).

 In operant conditioning, extinction is the process of removing

the reinforcers that normally follow a particular response – when
behaviour doesn’t “pay off”, people usually stop it eg. Calling a
phone number) Extinction is also the basis of flooding – a
procedure for reducing anxiety that involves keeping a person
in a feared, but harmless, situation. This prevents them from
engaging in the normal rewarding pattern of escape. This is also
called the exposure technique.

 Aversion therapy/conditioning – a method that uses

classical conditioning to create a negative response to a
 particular stimulus. May not working for all clients and the
effects are often temporary.

 Punishment – an operant conditioning technique that weakens

undesirable behaviours by following it with an unpleasant
stimulus. It presents the unpleasant stimulus AFTER the
undesirable response occurs.

 Counter conditioning – Mary Cover-Jones (1924) introduces

another stimulus the produces a response that is incompatible
with the conditioned fear response.

• Summary of views on CC
o Watson – strict behaviourist, CC is a simple linkage b/w stimuli and
response (S-R)
o Pavlov – association b/w two stimuli is learnt (S-S). CS elicits a mental
representation of UCS which produce CR.
o Experiments favour S-S (Anderson 2000). Eg. Robert Rescorla 1973 –
rat fears light  mental re of loud sound  freezing
o Cognitive view – Rescorla – bell  expectation of food  tail wagging,
food begging, salivation, etc. The expectancy theory.
 The CS must precede the UCS
 The CS must signal heightened probability of occurrence of the
UCS
 Conditioning is ineffective when the animal already has a good
predictor.

Summary 4: Introduction to Operant Conditioning

Behaviour is controlled by its consequences.

• Edward L. Thorndike 1874 – 1949 (1898)

o Puzzle box (eg. Hungry cat push a pedal to solve the puzzle that open
the door to food. Learning by trial and error.
o The cat’s learning is governed by law of effect – a law stating that if a
response made in the presence of a particular stimulus is followed by
satisfaction, that response is more likely to be made the next time the
stimulus is encountered.
• Skinner (1938)
o Emphasises that organism learns a response by operating on the
environment, hence the process of learning these responses is called
operant conditioning.
o Skinner box – the puzzle box measures learning in terms of whether an
animal successfully completed trial and how long it took; the Skinner
box measures learning in terms of how often an animal responds
during a specified period of time, ie the rate of responding.
• Operant – a response that has some effect on the world. Eg. When dog
salivated, it has no effect on the buzzer or on whether food is presented. If a
child says “I’m hungry” and then is fed, child has made an operate response
that influences when food will appear.

• Reinforcer – a stimulus event that increases the probability that the response
that immediately preceded it will occur.
o Positive reinforcers strengthen a response if they are experienced after
that response occurs. Eg. Food, smiles, money and other desirable
outcomes.
o Negative reinforcers are the removal of unpleasant stimuli such as
pain, noise, threats.
o Punishment – presentation of an aversive stimulus or the removal of a
pleasant stimulus. This reduces the frequency.

• Escape/avoidance conditioning – a type of learning in which an organism

learns to make a particular response in order to terminate an aversive
stimulus. Techniques used for negative reinforcement.
o In escape conditioning the learnt response stops and aversive stimulus.
eg. Take pills to stop pain, mute button for tv commercials
o In avoidance conditioning the learnt response prevents the aversive
stimulus from occurring in the first place. Eg. Child apologies as soon
as parents frown. This involves a marriage of classical and operant
conditioning.

• Discriminative stimuli – stimuli that signal whether reinforcement is

available if a certain response is made.

• Forming and strengthening operant behaviour

o Shaping – the process of reinforcing responses that come successively
closer to the desired response. Eg. Dog tricks
o Secondary reinforcer – a reward that people or animal learnt to like.
Eg. Money, praise, smile and other form of social approval (social
reinforcers)
Primary reinforcer – reinforcer that meet an organism’s basic needs
such as food and water.
Chaining – any stimuli can become a reinforcer.
o Delay and size of reinforcement – drinking: the good feelings are
immediate, the hangover is delayed.
o Schedules of reinforcement (Skinner)
 Continuous reinforcement schedule – a pattern in which a
reinforcer is delivered every time a particular response occurs.
Eg. light switch

 Partial reinforcement schedule – a pattern in which a

reinforcer is administered only some of the time after a
particular response occurs. Also called an intermittent
reinforcement schedule. Eg. Workers’ salary
  Fixed-ratio (FR) schedules – a partial reinforcement schedule
that provides reinforcement following a fixed number of
responses. Eg. Every 10 press on the level in Skinner box; Per
piece paid worker.
Characterised by strong “bursts” of responding.

 Variable-ratio (VR) schedules – a partial reinforcement

schedule that provides reinforcement after a varying number of
responses. Eg. Gambling machine with average return set
Leads to higher levels of responding than the FR schedule, and
a post reinforcement pause. High resistance to extinction.

 Fixed-interval (FI) schedule – a partial reinforcement

schedule that provides reinforcement for the first response that
occurs after some fixed time has passed since the last reward.
Eg. Study cram.
Leads to clustering of responses at about the time the reward is
due.

 Variable-interval (VI) schedule – a partial reinforcement

schedule that provides reinforcement for the first response after
varying periods of time.
Leads to a steady rate of responding with no post-reinforcement
pause. Strong resistant to extinction.

 Partial reinforcement extinction effect – a phenomenon in

which behaviours learned under a partial reinforcement
schedule are more difficult to extinguish than behaviours
learned on a continuous reinforcement schedule.
Summary 5: Applications and theories of Operant Conditioning
Eg. “civilised”, gender roles, rewards and punishments, mental patients, drug
addicts, etc
 Theoretical views of OC – contrast 2 viewpoints: the simple behaviourist
account and a cognitive perspective.

 1st ½ of the 20th century, in Nth America focus on behaviourism. Learning as

resulting from automatic, unconscious formation or modification of
associations.

 Cognitive psychologist argues both CC & OC help organisms to detect

causality, ie. Not just from automatic associations, but also complex mental
process that underlie our adaptation to + understanding of the world around
us.
o Learnt helplessness – learning that responses do not affect
consequences, resulting in failure to try to exert control over the
environment. In another word, learnt to give up.
o Means-End Analysis – a problem solving strategies that involves
continuously asking where you are in relation to the final goal, and
then deciding on the means by which can get one step closer. Using
decomposition (breaking in smaller subgoals)
o Edward Tolman describes the learning as a means-end relationship.
Dickinson and Dawson’s experiments supported the same view
 o Reward contrast effects – shift in response rate when the size of the
reward changes. Negative effects – less response when moved from
large reward to small reward. Positive effects – increased response
when moved from small reward to large reward.
 Organisms learnt to expect
 Able to compare actual vs expectation

 Evidence in mammals and birds but not fish and reptiles

 Tolman’s cognitive maps – 3 identical rat mazes with varying reinforcements –

the learning is not affected, the change is in performance. Latent Learning –
learning that is not demonstrated at the time it occurs. Cognitive map – a
mental representation of the environment. Tolman concluded that these maps
developed naturally through experience, no overt response or reinforcement.
Also the ability to reroute when encounters a block.

 Insight – a sudden understanding about what is required to solve a problem.

Maybe resulted from a “mental trial and error”

 Observational learning – learning how to perform new behaviours by

watching others. (learning by imitation); Vicarious learning – learning
conditioned responses by watching what happens to others. Powerful source
of socilaisation.

 Great deals of learning occur, but only translate to behaviour when a reward is
available.

Summary 6: Applications Observational learning and the ecological perspective

 Albert Bandura and the “Bobo doll” – children not only learnt ways of being
aggressive but also the general message.

 Ecological perspective – learning must be understood in relation to the natural

environment, or ecology, in which species evolved. Some behaviour must be
learnt for survival need. Ie. in relation to natural selection
o Imprinting – newborn will follow/attach to the first moving object they
see after hatching. Konrad Lorenz (1935)
o Food aversion learning – Garcia and colleagues (1968) – CC is not
enough to explain (time delay did not affect learning)
o Innate biases – Seligman (1971) – innate fear of snakes, spiders and
angry faces