Slide 1Cognitive ModelsObservational LearningObservational Learning of AggressionMedia ViolenceMirror NeuronsInsight LearningBiological Influences on LearningInstinctive DriftLearning FadsLearning FadsChapter 6: LearningCognitive Models of LearningCognitive ModelsWhat have we left out from the discussion of learning so far?•ThinkingBehaviorists like Skinner would say that thinking is no different in principle from any other behaviorS-O-R Psychology with O being the organisms that interprets the stimulus before producing a response•Cognitive ConditioningObservational LearningA variant of latent learning•Allows us to learn without reinforcementObservational Learning: learning by watching others•Spares us the expense of having to learn everything first handObservational learning can spare us from serious, even life-threatening, mistakes.•It can also contribute to our learning of maladaptive habitsObservational Learning of AggressionBandura (1963)•Children can learn to act aggressively by watching aggressive role modelsBobo dollPrevious exposure to the aggressive model triggered significantly more aggression against the Bobo doll than did exposure to the nonaggressive modelMedia ViolenceDoes exposure to media violence, such as in films, movies, or video games, contribute to real-world violence?Uncertain Findings•Correlational designs have reported that children who watch many violent television programs are more aggressive than other children•Also evidence from longitudinal, lab, and field studiesAt least some causal relation between media violence and aggression existsMirror NeuronsCells in the prefrontal cortex that become activated when an animal performs or observes that action•MonkeysIt’s as if these neurons are imagining what it would be like to perform the behaviorMirror neurons are remarkably selectiveResearchers have identified a similar mirror neuron system in humans but have not identified individual mirror neuronsPotential link to empathyInsight LearningAnother hole poked in behaviorist theoryInsight learning: the sudden understanding of the solution to a problemKohler’s chimpanzeesBiological Influences on LearningConditioned Taste Aversion•Refers to the fact that classical conditioning can lead us to develop avoidance reactions to the taste of foodDiffers from other examples of classical conditioning1. Only one trial needed to develop2. Delay between CS and UCS3. Little evidence of stimulus generalizationCancer patients•Scapegoat foodInstinctive DriftTendency for animals to return to innate behaviors following repeated reinforcementRaccoons experimentSuggests that we cannot fully understand learning without taking into account innate biological influencesBiological influences place limits on what kinds of behaviors we can train through reinforcementLearning FadsSleep-Assisted Learning•Little evidence for this type of learningAccelerated Learning•Does not produce enhanced learningLearning FadsDiscovery Learning: giving students experimental materials and asking them to figure out the scientific principles on their own•Direct instruction is often more effective and efficientLearning styles: an individual’s preferred or optimal method of acquiring new information•More fiction than
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