Unit title 2

CHAPTER 6 - Learning Theories

What is learning?
- "a persisting change in human performance or performance potential (brought) about as a result of the learner's

interaction with the environment".

- "an enduring change in behaviour, or in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other

forms of experience.
- Learning = is any relatively durable change in behaviour or knowledge that is due to experience.

Main theories in learning:

1. Behaviourism
2. Social Learning Theory

Behaviourism:
• All behaviour is learned. Consequently it can be unlearned.
• Learning is defined by the outward expression of new behaviours.
• Focuses solely on observable behaviours.
• Humans start life as a "blank slate" and through "stimulus (input)" -> "response (output)" they learn complex
behaviours over time.
• The individual's behaviour is modified through positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement to persuade the
correct decision making.

Ivan Pavlov:
Classical Conditioning:
Pavlov wanted to study digestion in dogs. Interaction between salivation and digestion. Dogs salivate
when they eat and smell food. This is known as a re ex (it is not learned; it is involuntary).

Why did this happen?

- Pavlov discovered that stimuli could become "connected" in

the brain of the dog.

- This means that the one stimulus (food) could be connected to a different

(neutral) stimulus (bell).

- This means that the food and bell sort of becoming interchangeable and

represent one another. The dogs thus associated the sound of the bell with
the presentation of food.
- Classical conditioning = is a type of leaning in which a stimulus acquires

the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another

stimulus.
- This is known as classical or Pavlovian conditioning: a biological or innate stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus
- Classical conditioning: a type of learning in which a stimulus obtains the capacity to create a certain response that

was originally created by another stimulus

Another example of Classical Conditioning:

Pain (US) leads to fear (UR). We don't need to learn this. A child is not afraid of dogs (NS). But if a dog bites a child
leading to pain, just the sight of a dog (CS) will lead to fear (CR). The child has learned to associate dogs with pain. This
is how people develop phobias

- Acquisition: the initial stage of learning something. Acquisition of a conditioned response depends on stimulus
contiguity, or the occurrences of stimuli together in time and space.
- Extinction: the gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency. Extinction occurs in
classical conditioning when conditioned stimulus is consistently presented alone, without the unconditional stimulus

After a while, Pavlov kept ringing the bell and didn't bring food out. Eventually the dogs stopped salivating to the bell.
It's as if the dogs figured out, "Hey, there's no food coming." And stopped responding. This is known as extinction.
After a while of not pairing the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned response will weaken

fl
- Spontaneous recovery: the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of non exposure to the
conditioned stimulus.

After Pavlov's dogs no longer responded to the bell, he left them alone. Then a month later, he rang the bell and they
salivated

John Watson:
• Watson began studying the behaviour of children, as well concluding that humans were simply more complicated than
animals but operated on the same principles.
• Children have three basic emotional reactions: fear, rage and love.
• Watson wanted to establish whether the reflex response of fear produced in infants by loud noises could be
conditioned to take place in response to other previously neutral stimuli.
• Children are only born with two fears: loud noises and falling. That's it. Every other fear is learned.

Little Albert Experiment:

- So he took an 11-month-old baby, named Albert, and conducted the famous "Little Albert" experiment. Little Albert

had no fears other than loud noises and falling.

- If Watson made a loud noise (US), Little Albert would cry (UR). This is an unconditioned stimulus-response pair.
- Then they showed Albert animals (rats, rabbits, etc.) and he was not afraid. He wanted to play with them. They are

neutral stimuli (NS).

- Then Watson showed Albert a white rat (NS) and made a loud noise (US) and what did Little Albert do? He cried (UR).
- After a few trials of this, Watson showed Albert the white rat and didn't make the loud noise. And what did Albert do?

He cried.
- So now the white rat is the conditioned stimulus and the crying is the conditioned response.

BF Skinner:
Operant Conditioning:
• Learning occurs by experiencing and engaging in repeated trial and error.
• Operant conditioning = is a response to a stimulus that is reinforced positively, negatively, or by punishment.
• Form of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences. Organisms tend to repeat those
responses that are followed by favourable consequences.
• Reinforcement: occurs when an event following a response increase an organism's tendency to make that response.
• Reinforcer is a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behaviour that produced it.
• A stimulus (as a reward or the removal of an electric shock) that increases the probability of a desired response in
operant conditioning by being applied or effected following the desired response.

Reinforcement: refer to anything that increases the likelihood that a response will occur. Note that reinforcement is
defined by the effect that it has on behaviour - it increases or strengthens the behaviour.

There are two types of reinforcers:

1. Primary reinforcers - events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs (food, water, safety).
These work especially well with animals but can also work with humans.
2. Secondary reinforcers - events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers (less
tangible rewards such as praise, money, acceptance or affection).

For example, reinforcement might involve presenting praise (the reinforcer) immediately after a child puts away her toys
(the response). By reinforcing the desired behaviour with praise, the girl will be more likely to perform the same actions
again.

Shaping - method of teaching complex behaviours by reinforcing each step of the behaviour until the complex
behaviour is achieved.
For example, when a child is learning to tie their shoelaces, parents don't usually wait until the child ties a perfect bow to
praise him. He get praised the first time he tries, the first time he crosses the laces, the first time he makes the loops, etc.
• Positive reinforcement involves the addition of something to increase a response, such as giving a bit of candy to a
child after she cleans up her room.
Example: Whenever a rat presses a button, it gets a treat. If the rat starts pressing the button more often, the treat serves
to positively reinforce this behaviour.
Example: A father gives candy to his daughter when she picks up her toys.

•Negative reinforcement involves removing something in order to increase a response.

Example: Taking a child's toys away after they failed to pick them up

Albert Bandura:
What is Social Learning Theory?
• While rooted in many of the basic concepts of traditional learning theory, Bandura believed that direct reinforcement
could not account for all types of learning.
• His theory added a social element, arguing that people can learn new information and behaviours by watching other
people. Known as observational learning (or modelling), this type of learning can be used to explain a wide variety of
behaviours.

Observational learning:
• Occurs when an organism responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models.
• In his famous "Bobo doll" studies, Bandura demonstrated that children learn and imitate behaviours they have
observed in other people. The children in Bandura's studies observed an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll.
When the children were later allowed to play in a room with the Bobo doll, they began to imitate the aggressive
actions they had previously observed.

Basic processes:
The Modelling Process:
- Not all observed behaviours are effectively learned. Factors involving both the model and the learner can play a role in
whether social learning is successful.
Certain requirements and steps must also be followed. The following steps are involved in the observational learning
and modelling process: Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation.

Attention:
In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that detracts your attention is going to have a negative
effect on observational learning. If the model is interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more
likely to dedicate your full attention to learning.

Retention:
The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process. Retention can be affected by a number
of factors, but the ability to pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning.

Reproduction:
Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time to actually perform the behaviour you
observed. Further practice of the learned behaviour leads to improvement and skill advancement.

Motivation:
Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behaviour that has
been modelled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in motivation. While experiencing these
motivators can be highly effective, so can observing others experience some type of reinforcement or punishment.