process by which two pieces of information from the environment are repeatedly linked (occur together) so that we begin to connect them inour minds

usually happens in higher level organisms

class example: pets that hear a can opener and associate it with getting food

personal example: associating eating tots with a bad/bloated/uncomfortable feeling

form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus to which one has an automatic, inborn response

involuntary!

Unconditioned stimulus

UCS

Conditioned Stimulus

CS

Conditioned Response

(CR)

the study that John Watson did to prove his hypothesis that he could mold any infant into anything he wanted through the practice of classical conditioning

experimented with baby albert to make him fear rats

UCS: loud noise

UCR: fear

NS: White rats

CS: White Rats

CR: Fear of white rats

**experienced stimulus generalization because ended up not liking anything that was white and fuzzy

Automatically shift attention toward a new stimulus

involuntary

You get used to a constant stimulus so you don't notice it as much anymore

example in class: hearing the refridgerator consistantly so it eventually becomes unnoticable

personal example:

listening to ipod while studying, soon the music drains into the bakcground and i forget i'm listening to it

UCS: meat powder

UCR: sallivation

NS: bell sounding

CS: Bell sounding

CR: salivation

found the concept of classical conditioning on accident while trying to study the enzymes in dog's saliva

related to conditioned response ONLY

opposite of stimulus discrimination

a response that happens due to a generalized assumption

example with pavlov's dogs

if it was generalized, the dogs would salivate at any high pitched sound

usually occurs UNLESS the are trained to experience only stimulus discrimination

response only occurs if SPECIFIC stimulus occurs

pavlov's dog experiment:

while being conditioned; dogs hear other high pitched sounds and don't get food so only have a response when the specific bell sounds

refined the conditioned learning model

theory: cannot link just any response to any stimulus, they must be related somehow

example: "bright and shiny water" experiment

conditions: pain induced (shocking); Nausia induced 

Shiny water (flashing lights/sound); Sweet water (sacharine)

people were more likely to experience conditioning with 

Nausia and sweet water

pain and shiny water

VOLUNTARY BEHAVIOR

- follows Thorndike's law fo effect: Consequences affect the frequency of a behavior

idea of manipulating the consequences to affect behavior

-coined the term operant

When you want to increase the behavior (aka when something "good" happens) you ADD a stimulus (reward) for the action

therefore, trying to increase the frequency of that behavior

example: your roommate does the dishes so you give them a cupcake as a reward

Attempting to increase the frequency of a behavior by removing a negative stimulus from the environment

example: roommate does the dishes so you take out their bedroom garbage

trying to decreae the frequency of a behavior by adding a stimulus to the enironment

example: roommate does not ever do the dishes so you purposely dirty more dishes in order to convince him/her to change their behavior

Trying to decrease the frequency of a behavior by taking a stimulus away from the environment

example: roommate doesn't ever doe the dishes so you take all the dishes out of the cupboards and hide them so they can't use any of them

in reference to opperant conditioning

-reinforcing every single step until the whole process is completed

example: training your dog to get you a beer from the fridge; you would have to first teach the dog to go near it, open it, grab the beer, bring it to you. and all the steps in between

an internal or external event that increases the frequency of a behavior

-has to be the thing the learner wants in order for it to work in "training" them

example: the smile a mom gets when the baby smiles. the baby likes when mom smiles so it will smile more often

reinforcers that are learned by association, usually via classical conditioning

example: money, grades, peer approval

-continuous reinforcement

-intermittent reinforcement

patterns of reinforcement distinguished by whether reinforcement occurs after a set number of responses or after a certain amount of time has passed since the last reinforcement

does not occur after every time a behavior happens

-fixed ratio; variable ratio

-fixed interval; variable interval

-produces stronger behavioral response because the learner never establishes a direct pattern and therefore always tries just as hard in hopes of receiving the reward

the reinforcement is awarded consistently after a set number of behaviors

Example: tater gets a cheetoe after every 3 successful sits

is scheduled according to how many TIMES the learner completes the behavior. 

-no consistent amount that gives a reinforcement

-different from fixed ratio because there is no pattern

-based on amount of time spent on a behavior

-reinforcement occurs on a consistent basis

-EXAMPLE: tater gets a treat every time he sits nice for 2 minutes

based on the amount of time spent on the behavior

reinforcement does not have a consistent pattern

tater could receive a treat after 2 minutes of sitting nice, or 3, or 4, or 30 seconds

-instinctive drift

-Bilogical Constraint Model

-Latent Learning

refers to the instincts learners have that interfere with their ability to be conditioned

-reinforcement has to override the natural instinct

EXAMPLE: raccoons instinct to rub things together to get a feel for them before they eat them

-things that the learner is legitimately unable to do, due to biological restraints

-cannot condition an organism to do something they cannot physically do

-exampe: cannot teach an animal to speak english

-Trollman: found that even rats he wasn't reinforcing learned the maze

creating cognitive map so when reinforcement did happen (cheese) it did it very quickly/efficiently

challenged the idea that you can ONLY learn through reinforcement

-we can learn by observing others

-how did you learn to tie your shoes?

-how did you learn to drive?

-modelling theory

-watching agression increased aggressive behavior in children

selection bias - sampled the same kind of kids, from the same background

-childrens age; too young, had no moral reasoning

-previous level of aggresssion was not controlled for

-immitation begins in first hour of life

-involved in immitation/social learning (social behavior)

-autism could be linked to mirror neurons

-learning = growth of new neurons and synapses

-use it or lose it theory; if you don't use those neurons/synapses they will go away

-provide ample opportunity for play/activity

-impoverished environment-only the essentials

-longer exposure to enriched environmetn leads to more neural growth in hippocampus