PSYCH101: Introduction to Psychology

4a. Define learning

• What is learning?
• How does learning differ from memory?

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. This is not how most people use this term. For example, we often say that we learn material in classes. However, in psychology, we remember material and learn behavior. The term "learning" is distinct from reflexes and instincts, which are unlearned and innate.
 
To review, see Principles of Learning.
 

4b. Describe classical conditioning and its principles, including neutral stimulus, unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response

• Who was Ivan Pavlov?
• What is classical conditioning?
• What are the types of stimuli and responses in classical conditioning?
• What are acquisition, extinction, stimulus discrimination, and stimulus generalization?

Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, accidentally discovered classical conditioning when he studied digestion. He discovered that dogs who initially salivated only when they had food in their mouths soon began to salivate when they heard or saw cues that indicated food would soon arrive. Pavlov spent his career trying to understand the principles that would account for this surprising discovery. John B. Watson, considered the father of behaviorism, studied Pavlov's concepts in humans.
 
Classical conditioning refers to when a learner associates a neutral stimulus with a meaningful stimulus, so the neutral stimulus becomes meaningful. For Pavlov's dogs, the meaningful stimulus was food. Pavlov said that food was an unconditioned stimulus because the dogs did not need to be taught to respond to food. Pavlov called salivation to food the unconditioned response because the dogs did not have to learn to salivate.
 
When the neutral stimulus consistently precedes the unconditioned stimulus, the process of acquisition begins, and the learner begins to respond to the neutral stimulus the same way they initially only responded to the unconditioned stimulus. When this happens, the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus. He called the response to the conditioned stimulus a conditioned response.
 
The learner makes a conditioned response to a stimulus that is similar to the conditioned stimulus; this is called stimulus generalization. For example, if a learner learns to blink their eye when a half-full glass of water is tapped with a spoon because the tone has consistently preceded a puff of air blown into their eye, the learner may blink when a full glass of water is tapped with a spoon – even if the sound is not exactly the same. However, the learner will not generalize all sounds. For example, they will show stimulus discrimination between a half-full glass of water and a ringing bell, even if the actual notes produced are fairly similar.
 
Once a conditioned response is established, it can be extinguished by presenting the conditioned stimulus repeatedly without ever presenting the unconditioned stimulus. This causes the learner to gradually stop producing the conditioned response.
 
To review, see Principles of Classical Conditioning, More on Classical Conditioning, and Watson's Theory of Behaviourism.
 

4c. Explain operant conditioning and its principles, including reinforcement and reinforcement schedules, punishment, and shaping

• Who was B.F. Skinner?
• What is operant conditioning?
• What are the types of reinforcements and punishments?
• What is shaping?

B.F. Skinner largely founded the area of operant conditioning. In this type of conditioning, a rewarding stimulus is presented for desirable behavior, and punishment is presented for undesirable behavior. The theory suggests that we are more likely to repeat reinforced or rewarded behavior than behavior that has been punished.
 
Reinforcements are desired outcomes (something the learner wants). Skinner said we can add something desirable or remove something undesirable. Both encourage learners to repeat the behavior that preceded the reinforcement. Adding something was viewed as a "plus" sign, so Skinner referred to it as positive, whereas removing something was visualized as a "subtraction" sign, so Skinner referred to it as negative. Punishments can be positive (something undesirable can be added) or negative (something desirable can be removed).
 
Teachers often use shaping or successive approximation to teach new skills. The teacher can guide the learner toward the desired behavior by rewarding behaviors that are close to the ultimate desired behavior in the beginning and gradually only rewarding the exact behavior they desire.
 
To review, see Principles of Operant Conditioning and Skinner's Operant Conditioning: Rewards and Punishments.
 

4d. Explain observational learning and modeling

• Who was Albert Bandura?
• What is observational learning?
• What is modeling?

Albert Bandura (1925–2021) focused on observational learning, a type of social learning. His most famous study focused on children watching an aggressive act on a video and then having the opportunity to replicate the same behavior they watched. He argued that learners acquire behaviors by modeling, which means observing others and imitating their behaviors. Parents, siblings, and peers serve as our earliest models.
 
To review, see Principles of Observational Learning and Social Learning Theory: Bandura's Bobo Beatdown Experiments.
 

Unit 4 Vocabulary

Be sure you understand these terms as you study for the final exam. Try to think of the reason why each term is included.

• acquisition
• Albert Bandura
• B.F. Skinner
• classical conditioning
• conditioned response
• conditioned stimulus
• Ivan Pavlov
• Jon B. Watson
• learning
• modeling
• observational learning
• operant conditioning
• punishment
• reinforcement
• shaping
• stimulus discrimination
• stimulus generalization
• unconditioned response
• unconditioned stimulus