CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

L EARNING

AND

C ONDITIONING
Figure 1: Biopsychosocial Approach

Learning: a relatively permanent change in behaviour

due to experience
o Shapes our thought and language, motivation
and emotions, and personalities and attitudes

Adaptability: our capacity to learn new behaviours that
enable us to cope with changing circumstances

Conditioning: process of learning associations
Associative Learning: learning that certain events occur together.
o The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a
response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)

3 RELATED APPROACHES TO LEARNING

Classical

conditioning/learning

Works on already established behaviour patterns.

(e.g., automatic responses of the body)

Operant

conditioning/learning

Organism associates own actions with consequences, and is

reinforced (negatively or positively). We can shape new behaviours.

Observational

learning and modeling Learning new behaviours by (active) observation

*Usually operate together to drive behaviour/learning patterns

C LASSICAL C ONDITIONING :
A type of learning where we learn to associate two stimuli and anticipate events
Biologically adaptive: helps organism prepare for good or bad events; how all
organisms adapt to their environment

Initial Response:
After Repetition:
Stimulus 1: See lightning
Stimulus 1: See lightning
Stiumulus 2: Hear thunder
Response: Cover ears to avoid sound

PAVLOVS EXPERIMENTS
Behaviorist Psychology
Should be an objective science that studies behaviour *without reference to mental process (*disagreed)
Studies behaviors without taking any mental processes into account, i.e., no assumption of conscious
mind at work
Founders of Experimental Psychology (applied scientific principles to understand of human behaviour)
Ivan Pavlol, John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner (dont need to memorize names)

CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

Ivan Pavlov
Studied the digestive system for
two decades
Won the Nobel Prize for Physiology
in 1904
Accidentally discovered classical
conditioning through his work on
salivation with dogs.
Investigated this phenomenon
further through experimentation.
Experimental Investigation should
lay a solid foundation for a true
science of psychology.

Classical Conditioning: example
Unconditioned Stimulus (US): a stimulus that naturally triggers a response; ex. food, coffee.
Unconditioned Response (UR): a naturally occurring response to the US (food); ex. salivation,
Increased heart rate
Neutral Stimulus (NS): a stimulus that has not been paired with the US and elicits no response; bell,
Starbucks logo (if youve never seen one before)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): a previously neutral stimulus (NS) that is paired with the US and as a result,
triggers a conditioned response (CR); bell, Starbucks logo
Conditioned Response (CR): a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus (NS) that has become
a conditioned stimulus (CS) ex. Salivation, Increased heart rate

Youve conditioned it so that the smell of coffee raises your heart rate, while the smell shouldnt physically change
your body. Just the sight of the Starbucks logo could make your heart race. One step further: just thinking about the
logo can make you feel more alert as well.

STIMULUS (STIMULI)

Food (Unconditioned Stimulus)

Bell (Neutral Stimulus)
Bell and Food (Unconditioned and
Neutral Stimulus)

Bell (Conditioned Stimulus)

RESPONSE

Salivation

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING PHENOMENON

Unconditioned Response
US ! UR

No Salivation NS ! No Response
Salivation
Conditioning Process
NS + US ! UR
Unconditioned stimulus (food) and neutral stimulus
(bell) still cause unconditioned response
Salivation

Conditioned Response
CS ! CR
Even in absence of food, the dog has been conditioned
to anticipate food
When bell is rung, a similar unconditioned response is
observed where there was no response before

CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

1) Acquisition: The initial learning of the stimulus-response (S-R) relationship.

Classical conditioning: initial stage associating a neutral stimulus (NS) with an
unconditioned stimulus (US) so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a
conditioned response (CR)
o As NS and US are paired more often, the CR becomes stronger.
Operant conditioning: the strengthening of a reinforced response
Higher-order conditioning: the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning
experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus creating a second (often
weaker) conditioned stimulus
o The CS in one experience is paired with a different NS to create a second CS
o Examples: money; an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a
light predicts the tone, and begin responding to the light alone
Japanese Quail (Red Light District) Example:
o Before presented with approachable female, researchers turned on a red light. Over time, the
red light caused male quail to become excited and to copulate with female more quickly when
female quail arrived. Male quail also developed preference for their cages red-light district.
Exposure to sexually conditioned stimuli caused them to release more semen and sperm.
o Classical conditioning serves a function: helps an animal survive and reproduce by responding
to cues that help it gain food, avoid dangers, defeat rivals, locate mates and produce offspring
Onion Breath and Kissing Example:
o Psychologist Michael Tirell came to associate onion breath with kissing. After a time, onion
breath began to send tingles up and down his spine.
Even associations not consciously noticed give rise to attitudes
o Participants were shown a stream of words, images and Pokemon characters and were told to
respond to one target Pokemon by pressing a button
o Unnoticed, when two other Pokemon characters appeared on screen, one was consistently
associated with positive words/images (awesome, hot fudge sundae) and one with negative
words/images (awful, cockroach)
o When asked to evaluate Pokemon, people preferred those associated with positive stimuli

2) Extinction
The diminishing of a conditioned response (CR)
Classical conditioning: when unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS)
Operant conditioning: when a response is no longer reinforced

3) Spontaneous Recovery
The reappearance of a weakened conditioned response (CR) after a pause
This suggests that extinction suppresses the CR rather than extinguishes it
o Onion breath did not evoke the spine tingling feeling it did before after Tirell broke up with his
girlfriend. Occasionally, after not sensing aroma of onion breath for a long time, smelling onion
breath provoked a small version of emotional response once felt.

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4) Generalization
Once a response has been conditioned, the tendency to respond in a similar way to stimuli similar to
the CS
o Infants can tell the difference between their mothers voice and the voice of other women
Can have positive attributes for survival (sound in forest means predators)
Can have negative attributes such as generalized fear of snakes to any snake-like object
o A dog that is conditioned to salivate at the sound of a dinner bell may also salivate at the sound
of a door bell

5) Discrimination
The learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and other similar stimuli that do
not signal an unconditioned stimulus (US)
o Ex. A loved mothers face vs. disliked face of neighbour woman

COGNITIVE & BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Cognitive Processes
When two significant events occur close together in time, an animal learns the predictability of the
second event.
The more predictable the association, the stronger the conditioned response.
The animal learns expectancy, awareness of how likely it is that the US will occur.

Signalling Event
Tone (Consistent)
Tone (Consistent) and
Light (Inconsistent)
Tone
Light

Summary of Robert Rescorla and Allan Wagners Experiment (1972)

Resulting Event
Response
Explanation
Shock
Rat will reacts to shock Unconditioned Response
Shock

Rats will react to shock

Conditioning Process

Rats will react with fear

Rats will not react

Conditioned Response
Light adds no new information
Tone better predicts impending shock

Biological Predispositions
An animals capacity for conditioning is constrained by its biology
Nature prepares members of each species to learn those things crucial to their survival (supports
Darwins principle of natural selection)
Conditioning is even speedier, stronger and more durable when the conditioned stimulus (CS) is
ecologically relevant (ex. the stuffed head of a female quail as opposed to a red light)
In the real world, conditioned stimuli have a natural association with the unconditioned stimuli they
predict
Summary of John Garcia and Koellings Experiments (1966)
Signalling Event
Sweetened Water
Light
Sound
Sweetened Water
Light
Sound

Resulting Event
Radiation
Radiation
Radiation

Response
Nausea
Nausea
Nausea
Rats avoided taste
No response
No Response

Explanation
Unconditioned response to radiation
Unconditioned response to radiation
Unconditioned Response to radiation
Conditioned Response

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Conditioned Response to Sweetened Water

o Even if sickened several hours after tasting a particular flavour, rats would avoid that flavour
o Appeared to violate the notion that for conditioning to occur, US must immediately follow CS
o Made adaptive sense; rats would identify tainted food based on taste

PAVLOVS LEGACY

Classical conditioning is one way all species learn to adapt to their environment
Learning can be studied objectively
o Pavlov suggested scientific model for how the young discipline of psychology might proceed:
by isolating elementary building blocks of complex behaviours and studying them with
objective laboratory procedures

Applications of Classical Conditioning
Former drug users crave the drug when:
o They are in the environment in which they took drugs.
o They associate with people with whom they took drugs.
o These contexts act as CSs and trigger cravings for the drug (CR).
Immune System responds to classical conditioning:
o When a particular taste accompanies a drug that influences immune responses, the taste by
itself (CS) may come to produce an immune response.
Extinction processes or new conditioning can help change unwanted responses to stimuli.
o Exposure therapy or systematic desensitization therapy combat psychological disorders using
classical conditioning principles
o E.g. common phobias can be extinguished by pairing the CS (e.g. snake) with an incompatible
response (e.g. deep breathing, meditation) through a series of stages

Pavlov's contribution and limits of classical conditioning
Explains a lot about many types of behaviours
o Drug addiction, generalized phobias
Every organism shows some form of classical conditioning part of
survival
First scientific demonstration of how human behaviour can be
studied systematically, without needing us to introspect about the
inner workings of our minds
But: doesnt address how we learn many new behaviours, or how
we learn without direct conditioning of stimulus-response
o Assumes, e.g., that the US must immediately follow the CS
(e.g., sight of Starbucks logo must immediately be followed
by having coffee)

Little Albert Experiments
John Watson applied the principles of classical conditioning to
humans
Watson and Raynor observed that fear (CR) of white rats
generalized to other white and/or furry objects:
a Santa Claus mask, rabbit, a fur coat (CSs)

CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

O PERANT C ONDITIONING

Associate a response (behavior) and its consequences

Learn to repeat behaviors followed by desirable results
Learn to avoid behaviors followed by undesirable results

Thorndike and the Law of Effect

Law of effect: behaviours, followed by favourable consequences,
become more likely, and that behaviours, followed by unfavourable
consequences, become less likely.
Placed cats in a puzzle box with a food reward outside the box
Recorded the amount of time that it took them to figure out how to
escape
Concluded that rewarded behavior is likely to recur

SKINNERS EXPERIMENTS

Studied operant conditioning to understand how

complex behaviours can be developed.
Operant chamber: a chamber also known as a Skinner
box, containing a bar or key that an animal can
manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforce, with
attached devices to record the animals rate of bar
pressing or key pecking.
Teaching pigeons to read, and reducing explanations
of complex behaviours to conditioning, not to any
conscious action.

Shaping Behaviour
Shaping: an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behaviour toward closer and
closer approximations of the desired behaviour.
Method of Successive approximations: you reward responses that are ever-closer to the final desired
behaviour, and you ignore all other responses. (ex. training the husky video)
Allows animal trainers to get animals to perform complex behaviors
Shaping can enable scientists to determine what organisms perceive also such as distinguishing
colors, discriminate sounds (baby) etc. If they can be shaped to respond to one stimulus, and not
another, then they can perceive the difference.
Discriminative stimulus: it signals when a response will be reinforced (a stimulus that produces a
response, and a reinforcement is given).
o i.e. when a pigeon is given a treat only when it sees faces the face is the discriminative
stimulus

CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

Types of Reinforcers
Reinforcement: in operant conditioning, any event that increases the likelihood of a behavior being
repeated (tell you what to do)
Positive reinforcement: presenting a rewarding stimulus after a response
o A positive reinforce is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the
response (ex. food)
o In operant conditioning, primary reinforcers are naturally reinforcing.
" They are unlearned: similar to classical conditioning stimuli
" Taking medication to stop pain, water when thirsty, food when hungry
Negative reinforcement: removing an unpleasant stimulus after a response
o A negative reinforce is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the
response (ex. shock)
o It is NOT a punishment
Primary and conditioned reinforcers:
o Primary reinforcers: an innately reinforcing stimulus, ex. one that satisfies a biological need
o Conditioned reinforcers: a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association
with a primary reinforcer; also known as secondary reinforce
" Just by themselves, conditioned (secondary) reinforcers have no direct effect on our
bodys responses e.g., money has no direct effect on reducing hunger
" Ex. Money and Good Grades
Immediate and Delayed Reinforcers:
o Immediate reinforcer: when the reinforcer is given right away after the behaviour
o Delayed reinforcer: when the reinforcer is given a while after the behaviour.
o Organisms behaviour is more likely to occur if the reinforce is immediately given. If there is a
delay, they will not learn the behaviour, other incidental behaviours will occur and be
reinforced.
o Humans, however, do respond to delayed reinforcers (i.e. good grades, pay check)
o A big step toward maturity and gaining the most satisfying life is learning to delay gratification,
to control ones impulses in order to achieve more valued rewards
o Immediate reinforcement prevails, however

The Schedule of Reinforcement

1. Continuous reinforcement: the desired response is reinforced every time it occurs (e.g. dog training video)
2. Partial (intermittent) reinforcement: responses are sometimes reinforced and sometimes not reinforced;
on different schedules see below

i) Fixed-Ratio Schedules
ii) Variable-Ratio Schedules
Reinforce behavior after a specific number of
Reinforce behavior after an unpredictable
responses (every so many)
number of responses
Buy 10 coffee drinks, get the 11th free
Slot machine gambling
Produces high rates of responding
Produces high rates of responding (reinforcers
increase as the number of responses increases)

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iii) Fixed-Interval Schedules
Reinforce first response after a fixed time period
(every so often)
Checking for snail mail, cramming for a test
Produces a choppy stop-start pattern of responding
o Does the behaviour more frequently as the
anticipated time for reward draws near

iv) Variable-Interval Schedules
Reinforce the first response after varying
time intervals (unpredictably often)
Checking for email
Produces slow, steady responding
Which schedules work best?
For fast acquisition of a behaviour: ratio schedules
For resistance to loss of behaviour: variable rather than fixed schedules
Best combination for resistance to extinction: variable ratio (e.g., slot machines)

Punishment
An event that decreases the behaviour that it follows (what not to do)
Positive punishment: administering an aversive stimulus
o Receiving a parking ticket, spanking
Negative punishment: withdrawing a desirable stimulus
o Revoked drivers license, time outs
Spanked behaviour: increases aggression, depression, low self-esteem, helpless
Physical punishment is followed by bad behaviour and bad behaviour is followed by physical
punishment
If the punishment is avoidable, then the punished behaviour might reappear in safe settings.
Punishment can create fear; fear may be associated with undesirable behaviour and with the person
who administers it or with the situation in which it occurs.
It does not guide one to more desirable behaviours. It tells you what not to do, and reinforcers tell you
what to do. Punishment and reinforcers combined is more effective than punishment alone.
Punishment, crime, and parenting
Like reinforcers, punishment works best when it is immediate theres a clear link with undesirable
behaviour
Not always effective:
o Punished behaviour is suppressed, not extinguished
o Punishment leads to just dont do it here

CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

Punishment teaches fear of the punisher
" Operant conditioning to avoid the punisher as well as to avoid the behaviour
o Punishment increases aggression
" By modeling aggressive behaviour
Good rule of thumb for modifying operant behaviour: Reward people for doing something right. Ignore
the rest.
o

EXTENDING SKINNERS UNDERSTANDING

Is all learning just conditioning?
No. Even simpler animals have additional ways to learn about the world.
Conditioning alone cannot explain many ways in which we learn/adapt without explicit rewards. See below:

Cognition and Operant Conditioning
Cognitive map: a mental representation of the layout of ones environment.
o For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it.
Latent learning: learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.
o Conclusion: there is more to learning than associating a response with a consequence.
o Ex. the rat navigating through the maze using a mental map a barrier is presented, so only then
does the rats learning become apparent

Intrinsic Motivation
Overjustification Effect: when intrinsic motivation is undermined by extrinsic motivation; when one
loses interest in performing a task for the pure enjoyment when offered a material reward or bribe
Intrinsic motivation: a desire to perform a behaviour for its own sake
o Intrinsically motivated people work and play in search of enjoyment, interest, self-expression,
or challenge
Extrinsic motivation: a desire to perform a behaviour due to promised rewards or threats of
punishment
A persons interest often survives when a reward is used neither to bribe nor to control but to signal a
job well done.

Biological Constraints
As with classical conditioning, an animals natural predispositions constrains its capacity for operant
learning.
Biological constraints predispose organisms to learn associations that are naturally adaptive.
Examples
o Hamsters can be conditioned to dig or rear up for a food reinforcer, which are behaviors that
are associated with hunting for food.
o Pigeons can be taught to flap their wings to avoid a shock or peck to obtain food, which are
behaviors are associated with escape (flapping) or finding food (pecking) but much harder to
teach them to flap wings to get food, or peck to avoid a shock

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CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

APPLICATIONS & SUMMARIES

Where

School

Sports
Work
Home

Self

Applying Operant Conditioning

Constant reinforcement and feedback more effective than occasional rewards
Skinner believed that good instruction demands two things: students must be told immediately
whether what they do is right or wrong, and when right, they must be directed to the next step.
He believes that teachers should pace materials based on the students rate of learning, quizzing the
students to find gaps in understanding and providing immediate feedback
Shaping very effective in teaching new skills
Reinforcing small successes and then gradually increasing the challenge.
Work environments that reward specific behaviours/accomplishments more effective than vague
merit awards
Effective parenting: reinforcement for desired behaviour
No reinforcement for undesired behaviour (ignore whining)
Sometimes, even punishment can be reinforcing (at least hes paying attention to me)
Make measureable goals, make intention public
Monitor behaviour
Reinforce desired behaviour
Reduce rewards gradually (variable-ratio reinforcement) as habits form

Classical Conditioning
Reflexive, involuntary, automatic
behaviours
Associating events (two stimuli); CS
announces US
CR decreases when CS is repeatedly
presented alone

Response
Acquisition
(Basis of Learning)
Extinction Process

Cognitive Processes

Organisms develop expectation that CS

signals the arrival of US

Biological Predispositions

Natural predispositions constrain what

stimuli and responses can easily be
associated

Operant Conditioning
Non-reflexive, voluntary behaviours;
operates on environment
Associating response with a consequence
(reinforce or punisher)
Responding decreases when
reinforcement stops
Organisms develop expectation that a
response will be reinforced or punished;
they also exhibit latent learning, without
reinforcement
Organisms best learn behaviours similar
to their natural behaviours; unnatural
behaviours instinctively drift back
towards the natural ones

Classical conditioning
Forms associations between stimuli (CS and US)
Respondent behaviour: behaviour that occurs as an
automatic response to some stimulus; Skinners term
for behaviour learned through classical conditioning

Stimulus precedes the response and elicits it

Q: is the organism learning associations between

events that it doesnt control?

Operant conditioning
Association between behaviour and consequence
Operant behaviour: behaviour that operates on the
environment, producing consequences
Stimulus follows the response and strengthens it.
Actions followed by the reinforcers increase.
Actions followed by the punishers decrease.
Q: is it learning associations between its behaviour and
resulting events?

Operant Conditioning
Classical Conditioning

If the organism is learning associations between its behavior and the resulting events
If the organism is learning associations between events that it does not control

CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

11

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING

1. Learning by observing others
2. Learning by imitating models
3. Learning without direct experience

Modeling: observing and imitating a specific behaviour
Memes: Ideas, fashions, and habits travel by imitation

Mirror neurons
Neurons in the frontal lobe that fire when performing certain actions, or when observing others
perform those actions
The brains mirroring of anothers action may enable imitation, language, learning and empathy.
When one monkey sees, these neurons will fire what another monkey does.
Humans have mirror neurons as well, which also serves language.
Mirror neurons help children learn by observation how to mime lip and tongue movements when
forming new words.
They also help give rise to childrens empathy and to their ability to infer anothers mental state (an
ability known as theory of mind; see page 151).
As adults, we often feel what others feel, and we find it harder to frown when viewing a smile than
when viewing a frown.
Underlie humans social nature
The imitation of models shapes even very young children. To persuade them to smoke, expose them to
media and people who do smoke; to encourage them to read, read to them and surround them with
books.

Observational learning: hitting Bobo
Most human (and non-human) behaviour is modeled, not just reinforced
The rewards and punishments those received by the model and the imitator will determine whether
or not we will imitate a model.
We look and learn. By looking, we learn to anticipate a behaviours consequences in situations like
those we are observing. We are especially likely to imitate people we perceive as similar to ourselves,
as successful or unsuccessful.

Applications of Observational Learning
Models all around us affect us both positively and negatively
Prosocial influence
o Organizations use behaviour modeling to teach skills
o Positive behaviors and messages can be modeled to children
o Models are most effective when their actions and words are consistent. However, if
inconsistent, the children may imitate the hypocrisy they observe.
Antisocial influence
o Modeling can be antisocial
o Abusive parents model aggression to their children and perpetuate a cycle of violence
o The media can model violence as acceptable, or even cool, rather than harmful

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CHAPTER 7: LEARNING

By watching TV programs, children may learn that physical intimidation is an effective way to
control others, that free and easy sex brings pleasure without later misery or disease, or that
men are supposed to be tough and women gentle.
Observational learning helps us understand how abusive parents might have abusive children,
and why men who beat their wives had wife-battering fathers.

Modeling violence
Studies show a link violence viewing with violent behaviour
But correlation does not imply causation. It could be true that more aggressive children prefer more
violent programs.
The violence effects seem to stem from imitation and desensitization. When watching the violent
program frequently, they become more indifferent to it.

Violence is not portrayed realistically:
Violence is committed by attractive perpetrators
Most of the violence is unpunished.
Victims pain is not portrayed.
Many of the incidents involve justified violence.