The Learning Perspective

History and cultural context:

  • Origins from the start of the 20th century
  • A contrast to introspection and psychoanalytical theory
  • Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson developed a which emphasized environmental stimuli and behavioural response
  • It grew in popularity the first fifty years
  • It became the dominant framework for experimental research.

Framework:

Key concepts:

-Classical conditioning:

“the study of learning which involves reflex responses, in which a neutral stimulus comes to elicit an existing reflex response due to learning.”

-Pavlov found that ringing a bell and then immediately giving the dog some food, the bell came to evoke the same response as the food itself – salvation.

-Salvation at the presence of food is a basic neural reflex that requires no learning.

-Reflex responses; unconditional responses (a reflexive response produces by a specific stimulus, such as pupil contraction to bright light)

-The stimulus which elicits (triggers) an unconditional response (like food)is called an unconditional stimulus; (a stimulus which elicits (triggers) a reflexive (unconditioned) response.)

-conditioned refers to learned

-the bell = neutral stimulus which normally has an orienting response, (a stimulus which initially produces no specific response other than provoking attention; as conditioning proceeds the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus)

-the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus.

-salivating which is the response is called a conditioned response, since it comes from the bell, the conditioned stimuli (a response to a  previously neutral stimulus which has become a conditioned stimulus by repeated pairing with an unconditioned stimulus)

-The same response to different stimuli, by forming an association.

-blocking, one CS is already good enough, e.g. flashing a light to signal food is unnecessary, if a bell already serves that purpose.

-Classical conditioning seems to be a very fundamental form of learning in a variety of species, but of little significance in people.

-stimulus generalization; in classical conditioning, the tendency to produce a CR to both the original CS and to stimuli which are similar to it in some way (like a bell, and another bell)

-Stimulus discrimination; Pavlov, dog who started salivate when it saw a black square because it was a CS, but it also started to salivate when it saw a grey square because of stimulus generalization, but when Pavlov continued to give food after the black square, and none after the grey square, the dog stopped salivating by seeing the grey square. (selective responding to the CS, but not to stimuli which are similar in some way, as result of learning) stimulus discrimination always requires training.

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-Operant Conditioning

-as important as classical conditioning is, it must be recognized that it only deals with how new stimuli some to control existing involuntary responses.

-deals with how voluntary (emitted) responses change over time as a function of their consequences.

-Thorndike studied situations where an animal was actively interacting with its environment. In a typical experiment, a cat was confined in a “puzzle box”, a cage-like structure from which it could free itself by pressing a lever. Thorndike increased the incentive by depriving the animals of food prior to the testing, and then placing food outside the puzzle ...

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