Learning
Thoughts on Learning
“Learning is not compulsory. Neither is survival.”
–	W. Edwards Demming
“Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.”
–	B.F. Skinner
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
–	Pablo Picasso

What is Learning?

A relatively permanent change in behavior
that results from experience

Types of Learning
•	Classical conditioning
•	Operant conditioning
•	Cognitive and social learning
Classical Conditioning: Examples
•	Sound of a dentist’s drill: sweaty palms
•	Smell of mom’s perfume: smiling
•	Sight of certain restaurant: nausea
•	Noise of a can opener: cat comes running
•	Smell of a hospital: weakened immunity
Classical Conditioning
•	Discovered (accidentally) by Ivan Pavlov
Pavlov’s Observation
•	Studied digestion in dogs

Pavlov’s Experiment: Phase 1
•	Food (US): salivation (UR)
–	Reflexive response
•	Tone (CS): nothing (CR)
Pavlov’s Experiment: Phase 2
•	CS is repeatedly paired with the US
–	A tone is sounded before the food is presented
Pavlov’s Experiment: Phase 3
•	Eventually, the CS elicits a new CR
–	Hearing the tone by itself causes salivation
Classical Conditioning:
Conditioned Emotional Response
•	Avoidance learning
•	Conditioned phobias
–	Little Albert
Classical Conditioning
•	Extinction
•	Spontaneous recovery
Classical Conditioning
•	Stimulus generalization
•	Stimulus discrimination
Higher Order Conditioning
•	Pair CS1 with a new CS2
•	CS2: CR
•	But, CR will be weaker

Classical Conditioning Applied
•	Drug overdoses
•	Smoking: environmental cues
•	Systematic desensitization
•	Advertising: sex appeal
•	Taste aversion
•	Conditioning and the immune system
Types of Learning
•	Classical Conditioning
•	Operant Conditioning
•	Cognitive and Social Learning
Operant Conditioning: Examples
•	Tantrums are punished: fewer tantrums
•	Tantrums bring attention: more tantrums
•	Slot machine pays out: gamble more
•	Reward dog for sitting: dog is likely to sit
Operant Conditioning
•	Thorndike’s puzzle box
–	Law of Effect: actions that have positive outcomes are likely repeated
•	Skinner box
Operant Conditioning: Principles
•	Stimulus-Response
•	Reinforcement
–	Positive reinforcement
–	Negative reinforcement
Effective Punishment
•	Should be
–	Swift
–	Consistent
–	Appropriately aversive
•	Challenges
–	Physical punishment may be imitated
–	May fear the person who punishes
•	Most effective when paired with reinforcers
Reinforcement
•	Primary reinforcers
•	Secondary reinforcers
•	Behavior modification
•	Immediate versus delayed reinforcement
Beyond Basic Reinforcement
•	Generalization
•	Discrimination
–	Discriminative stimulus
•	Extinction
•	Spontaneous recovery
Building Complex Behaviors
•	Shaping
–	Gradual reinforcement of successive approximations of target behavior
–	Used to train animals to do complex tricks
Reinforcement Schedules
•	Continuous reinforcement
•	Partial reinforcement
•	Fixed interval
•	Variable interval
•	Fixed ratio
•	Variable ratio
Reinforcement Schedules
Classical versus Operant Conditioning
Classical conditioning
–	Learned association between US and CS
–	Organism is passive
–	Responses elicited
Operant conditioning
–	Associate response and reinforcement
–	Organism is active
–	Responses emitted
Types of Learning
•	Classical conditioning
•	Operant conditioning
•	Cognitive and social learning
Cognitive Learning
•	Latent learning
–	Tolman’s rats: cognitive maps
Cognitive Learning
•	Insight learning
–	“Aha” experience
Observational Learning
•	Bandura’s Bobo doll study