CH7- LEARNINGLearning- the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors.-to expect and prepare for significant events: food, pain (classical conditioning)-to repeat acts that bring rewards and avoid acts that bring unwanted results (operant conditioning)-learn new behaviors by observing events and watching others, through language we learn things we never experienced or observed (cognitive learning)Aristotle: ‘we learn by association’-our minds connect events that occur in sequence.Learned associations operate subtlyEx: giving people a red pen (associated with error marking) rather than a black pen, when correcting essays they will spot more errors and give lower gradesEx: when voting, people are more likely to support taxes to aid education if their assigned voting place is in a schoolLearned assocations also feed our habitual behaviors-as we repeat behaviors – the behaviors become associated with the contextex:eating popcorn in a movie theatre forms habitual responses (66days to develop a habit)Complex animals: can learn to associate their own behavior with its outcomesEx: seal repeating behaviors (barking) that prompt people to toss it a fishASSOCIATIVE LEARNING- learning that certain events occur together. Events may be 2 stimuli (classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (operant). Process of learning associations is ‘conditioning’Classical conditioning: associating two stimuli and anticipating eventsEx: 1- lightning + thunder -> started reaction 2- We see lightning -> anticipation of loud noise; wincingOperant conditioning: associating a response (our behavior) and its consequence. repeat acts that yield good results, avoid acts that yield bad resultsCognitive Learning- acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, watching others, or through language that guides behaviorObservational learning: learning from other’s experiencesEx: chimps learn from watching others perform the behaviorPavlov: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING-Pavlov’s work laid the foundation for many of Watson’s ideas.-Watson urged colleagues to discard reference to ‘inner thoughts’, feelingsand motives. Said that the science of psychology should study how organismsrespond to stimuli in their environments, introspection forms no essential part of its methods.-both Pavlov and Watson displayed disdain for “mentalistic” concepts like consciousness. And a belief that the basic laws of learning were same for all animals&humans.Behaviorism (Watson): view that psychology should be:(1) objective science that studies behavior (2) without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with 1 but not 2.Neutral stimulis (NS)- in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning. Ex-events that the dog could see/hear but DIDN’T associate with foodUnconditioned response (UR): unlearned, naturally occurring response (ex: salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (food in the mouth)Unconditioned stimulus (US)- stimulus that unconditionally – naturally and automatically – triggers a response (UR)Conditioned response (CR)- learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)Conditioned stimulus (CS)- an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response.Acquisition (initial learning)- in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulusbegins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.Higher-order conditioning/second-order conditioning - procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulusEx- animal that learned that tone predicts food, might learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone.Extinction- diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus; occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforcedSpontaneous recovery- reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned responseGeneralization- the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses-can be adaptive: ex- when toddlers taught to fear moving cars also fear moving trucks and motorcycles.-can linger: a writer who underwent torture still feels fear when he sees black shoes – his first glimpse of his torturers as they approached his cell.Discrimination- in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus.Ex: Pavlov’s dogs learned to respond to the sound of a particular tone and NOT to other tones.-slightly different stimuli can be followed by vastly different consequences.Ex: a guard dog makes your heart race, but a guide dog doesn’t.Pavlov’s legacy1- classical conditioning is one way that virtually all organisms learn to adapt to their environment2- showed us how a process like learning can be studied objectively, without including mental processes like what goes on inside the dog’s mind. Isolating the basic building blocks of complex behaviors and studying them with objective lab procedures.3- Provided basis for Watson’s idea: humans emotions and behaviors, though biologically influenced, are mainly a bundle of conditioned responses.OPERANT CONDITIONING- type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforce or diminished if followed by a punisher.-organisms associate their own actions with consequences.*behavior that operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli = operant behavior.SKINNER’S EXPERIMENTS: elaborated what Thorndike called the law of effect: rewarded behavior is likely to recur.-developed behavioral technology that revealed principles of behavior control-enabling him to teach pigeons unpigeon-like behaviors like walking.Skinner box: “operant chamber”, box has a bar that animal presses to release reward/food and a device that records these responses. Reinforcement:Reinforcement- any event that strengthens the behavior it followsShaping behavior: reinforces guide behavior