February 18 TuesdayUnderstanding Learning-Learning occurs when experience causes a change in a person’s knowledge or behavior-Does not include maturation or temporary conditions like hunger or illness-Behavior theorists emphasize the role of environmental stimuli and focus on observable responses (behaviors)What is Behaviorism?-Emphasis on the processes that can be directly observed (behaviors)-Vs inferred (thoughts, cognitive process)Behavioral Learning Theories:-The outcome of learning is based on change in behavior-External events as the cause of changes in observable behaviorsContiguity and Classical ConditioningContiguity: whenever two or more sensations occur together often enough, they will become associatedClassical Conditioning: focuses on the learning of involuntary emotional or physiological responses such as fear, increased muscle tension, salivation, or sweating.-neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that evokes an emotional or physiological response-eventually, neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus leading to a conditioned responseStage 1: unconditioned stimulus(dog food) leads to unconditioned response(dog salviation)Neural stimulus(bell) leads to no effect(no effect)Stage 2: unconditioned stimulus (food) leads to unconditioned response (salvation)Neutral stimulus (bell) leads to unconditioned response (salvation)State 3: conditioned stimulus (bell) leads to conditioned response (salvation)Definitions of TermsUnconditioned Stimulus: The natural object that will be responded to (ex. the food – when food is presented, the dog will get hungry and salivate)Unconditioned Response: The natural (biological) response of the individual to the US (ex. salivating – the dog naturally salivates or gets hungry when it sees food)Neutral Stimulus: Before being conditioned, this object does not elicit a response (ex. the bell – by itself it would not cause the dog to respond, however pairing it repeatedly with the food makes the dog salivate, association)Conditioned Stimulus: Object being conditioned, formerly the Neutral StimulusConditioned Response: The behavior that is being conditioned, behavior resulted from the previous NS (ex. salivating to the bell – the dog was conditioned to salivate every time a bell sounded)Little Albert Experiment (Watson, 1920)Classical Conditioning: Focused on eliciting a fear response to a previously neutral stimulusLittle Albert Experiment<Before Conditioning>White rat (NS)Loud noise (US) Fear (UR)<During Conditioning>White rat (NS) + Loud noise (US) Fear (UR)<After Conditioning>White rat (CS) Fear (CR)Generalization~Examples in Daily Life~“White Coat Syndrome”-Getting nervous or anxious when seeing a doctor-Earlier associations of pain or being sickFear of Public Speaking-Result from earlier embarrassing experience – forgetting your lines in a school play.Having a “lucky charm” or doing a certain behavior-Getting sick after eating a certain foodHaving a negative/ positive feeling about a subject or class based on the experience-Ex. Teacher that is extremely intimidating – makes you anxiousTeacher holding up her hand, students are quietIdentify Elements of Classical Conditioning: A group activityExample – On my first day at a new school, I get lost on my way to class. The school bell rings signaling that everyone needs to be with their respective classrooms. I am still in the hall and another teacher comes out screaming at me to get to my classroom/ out of the hall. I get really anxious during the experience. After that experience, I get anxious whenever I see that particular teacher.-Unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus, conditioned responseOperant Conditioning (Skinner, 1953)-We learn to behave in certain ways as we operate on the environment.-Behaviors are preceded by antecedents and followed by consequences-Operant behavior can be altered (learned) by changes in the antecedents, consequences, or bothOperant Conditioning (Skinner)AntecedentThe events proceeding a behavior (ex. teacher begins to administer an exam, everyone has to put materials away)BehaviorStudent experiences an anxiety attackConsequenceThe student fails the examEvery Behavior has a FunctionThree Primary Functions of Behavior-To GET something (tangible, attention, etc)-To AVOID/ESCAPE something (e.g., work)-AUTOMATIC/Self-stimulation (more common for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders)Operant ConditioningConsequences: Reinforcements-Reinforcement always increases a desired behaviorPositive Reinforcementincreases a behavior by adding a desired consequenceNegative Reinforcementincreases a behavior by adding an undesired consequenceReinforcementsPositive-Giving stickers to students that are staying on taskNegative-Telling your students that if they turn in homework for the week, then they do not have to take a quiz at the end of the weekReinforcement ExamplesPrimary Reinforcers: Food, Water, Warmth, SecuritySecondary Reinforcers-Money-Grades-Stars-PraiseFebruary 20, 2014Operant ConditioningConsequences: PunishmentsPunishment always decreases an undesired behaviorPresentation Punishment-suppresses a behavior by adding an undesired consequence(e.g., giving the student a detention for being late in class)Removal Punishment-suppresses a behavior by removing a desired consequence(e.g., taking away recess for disruptive behavior)Name That ConsequenceA student consistently calls out in class. Whenever he interrupts the whole class begins laughing- Positive reinforcementEveryday during math, Johnny misbehaves and is sent to the office. He hates math and doesn’t seem to even try in the subject-Negative ReinforcementYou read Susie’s journal out loud as you think its high quality work and to also give her praise. Now it seems that she is participating less in class. Presentation PunishmentDanny is acting up during class and you decide to ignore his behavior. Eventually he stops.-RemovalOperant ConditioningChanging Behavior: Reinforcement SchedulesRatio schedulesbased on number of responsesVariable schedulesbased on varying numbers of responses or varying time intervalsSchedules of Reinforcement: Frequency and PredictabilityFixed Ratio: reinforcer given after fixed number of behaviorsVariable Ratio: reinforcer given after unpredictable number of behaviorsFixed Interval: reinforcement only at certain periodic timesVariable Interval: reinforcement at some times but not othersMaintenance of Behavior