How Do We Learn?
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Learning is the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors through experience.
Automatically responding to stimuli we do not control is called respondent behavior.
In associative learning, we learn that certain events occur together. These associations produce operant behaviors.
Through cognitive learning, we acquire mental information, such as by observation or language, that guides our behavior.
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Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which we learn to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. The process involves stimuli and responses:
A UR (unconditioned response) is an event that occurs naturally (such as salivation), in response to some stimulus.
A US (unconditioned stimulus) is something that naturally and automatically (without learning) triggers the unlearned response (as food in the mouth triggers salivation).
A CS (conditioned stimulus) is originally an NS (neutral stimulus, such as a tone) that, through learning, becomes associated with some unlearned response (salivating).
A CR (conditioned response) is the learned response (salivating) to the originally neutral but now conditioned stimulus.
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In classical conditioning, the first stage is acquisition, or the association of the NS with the US so that the NS begins triggering the CR. Acquisition occurs most readily when the NS is presented just before (ideally, about a half-
Extinction is diminished responding, which occurs if the CS appears repeatedly by itself (without the US).
Spontaneous recovery is the appearance of a formerly extinguished conditioned response, following a rest period.
Responses may be triggered by stimuli similar to the CS (generalization) but not by dissimilar stimuli (discrimination).
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Ivan Pavlov taught us how to study a psychological process objectively, and that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that applies to all species.
Classical conditioning is applied to further human health and well-
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Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.
Expanding on Edward Thorndike’s law of effect, B. F. Skinner and others shaped the behavior of rats and pigeons placed in operant chambers by rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior.
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Positive reinforcers add a desirable stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior. Negative reinforcers remove or reduce a negative stimulus to increase the frequency of a behavior.
Primary reinforcers (such as receiving food when hungry) are naturally satisfying—
Reinforcers may be immediate or delayed.
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A reinforcement schedule is a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced.
In continuous reinforcement (reinforcing desired responses every time they occur), learning is rapid, but so is extinction if reinforcement stops.
In partial (intermittent) reinforcement (reinforcing responses only sometimes), learning is slower, but the behavior is much more resistant to extinction.
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Punishment administers an undesirable consequence (such as spanking) or withdrawing something desirable (such as taking away a favorite toy).
Negative reinforcement aims to increase frequency of a behavior (such as putting on your seat belt) by taking away something undesirable (the annoying beeping).
The aim of punishment is to decrease the frequency of a behavior (such as a child’s disobedience). Punishment can have unintended drawbacks: it can (1) suppress rather than change unwanted behaviors; (2) encourage discrimination (so that the undesirable behavior appears when the punisher is absent); (3) create fear; and (4) increase aggression.
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Critics say that Skinner’s approach dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom and seeking to control their actions. Skinner replied that external forces shape us anyway, so we should direct those forces with reinforcement, which is more humane than punishment.
Teachers can control students’ behaviors with shaping techniques, and use interactive media to provide immediate feedback. (For example, the LearningCurve system available with this text provides such feedback and allows students to direct the pace of their own learning.)
Managers can boost productivity and morale by rewarding well-
Parents can reward desirable behaviors but not undesirable ones.
We can shape our own behaviors by stating realistic goals, planning how to work toward these goals, monitoring the frequency of our desired behaviors, reinforcing these behaviors, and gradually reducing rewards as our desired behaviors become habitual.
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Both types of conditioning are forms of associative learning and involve acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.
In classical conditioning, we associate events we do not control and respond automatically (respondent behaviors). In operant conditioning, we link our behaviors (operant behaviors) with their consequences.
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We come prepared to learn tendencies, such as taste aversions, that aid our survival. Learning is adaptive.
Despite operant training, animals may revert to biologically predisposed patterns. Learning some associations is easier than learning others due to these biological constraints.
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More than the behaviorists supposed, expectations influence conditioning. In classical conditioning, animals may learn when to expect a US and may be aware of the link between stimuli and responses.
In operant conditioning, cognitive mapping and latent learning research illustrate learning that occurs without immediate consequences. This demonstrates the importance of cognitive processes in learning.
Other research shows that excessive rewards (driving extrinsic motivation) can destroy intrinsic motivation for an activity.
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Observational learning, as shown in Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment, involves learning by watching and imitating, rather than learning associations between different events. We learn to anticipate a behavior’s consequences because we experience vicarious reinforcement or vicarious punishment.
Our brain’s frontal lobes have a demonstrated ability to mirror the activity of another’s brain. (Some psychologists believe mirror neurons enable this process.) The same areas fire when we perform certain actions (such as responding to pain or moving our mouth to form words) as when we observe someone else performing those actions.
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Children tend to imitate what a model does and says, whether the behavior modeled is prosocial (positive, helpful) or antisocial.
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If a model’s actions and words are inconsistent, children may imitate the hypocrisy they observe.
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Media violence can contribute to aggression. This violence-
Correlation does not equal causation, but study participants have reacted more cruelly when they have viewed violence (instead of entertaining nonviolence).