Just as a response can be learned it can also be extinguished or unlearned.
In classical extinction is achieved by presenting the CS but not the UCS (e.g., metronome --> no food, over and over). Eventually, the dog quits salivating, now it is estinguished (but see Spontaneous Recovery below)
The re-appearance of a learned response following extinction (less strong)
Returning to the conditioning situation leads to the organism once again giving the CR even though the UCS is not presented. The response is less strong and re-estinguishes quicker.
Eventually, in total, complete extinction (created by many extinction trials) the organism will not make the CR
Spontaneous recovery is important in behavioral therapy. Think of an alcoholic trying to quit drinking. What happens if that person returns to a bar? (They will likely drink.)
In classical conditioning generalization occurs when a stimulus similar to original CS elicits the conditioned response. Ringtones are a good example, when you hear someone else's ringtone and it is similar to yours you might try to answer your phone.
Discrimination
In classical conditioning discrimination occurs when a new stimulus is sufficiently different from the original CS that the conditioned response is not given to the new stimulus. When I let my dogs back in from outside I always give them a treat. But, when my wife lets them back in she never gives them a treat. Consequently, when I let them in the dogs look up at where their treats are stored over the refrigerator. But, when she lets them in they do not. I am the original CS and my wife is the new stimulus.
UCR--unconditioned response (also not learned, "built in", salivating, eating, drinking)
CS--conditioned stimulus, learned, (could be nearly anything, tone, light...)
CR--conditioned response, learned, (performing a response similar to UCR, but BEFORE UCS happens)
In classical, organisms learn to ANTICIPATE the UCS and perform the CR in response to the CS, not the UCS
Note: the response now occurs before it normally would. Think of Pavlov's dogs: they will naturally salivate when they detect food, but in classical they now salivate when the hear the CS (the metronome) and salivate to it.
Read the link above. Before Garcia's research psychologists believed that any CS could be paired with any UCS equally well. Garcia showed that some pairings (e.g., CS of taste and UCS of nausea) conditioned much more strongly and easily.
it "sets the occasion" or informs the organism that a response will be followed by a SR or reinforcer
SR is the reinforcer (see more info below)
R is the response
In operant conditioning a reinforced response is repeated (e.g., a hungry rat learns to press a lever and food follows, eventually it presses it over and over until it is no longer hungry)
Positive reinforcement is delivered after the response and the response continues
e.g., you raise you hand in class and $20 comes out of your desk. What do you do? (Raise hand again)
Negative reinforcement is taken away after the response and the response continues
e.g., Your seat is shocking you (in a future classroom) and you raise your hand, the shock stops. What do you do? (Raise hand again when shock recurs)
Good examples: raise umbrella when it's raining (you are no longer wet); take out trash when spouse nags you (nagging stops)
Shaping
Shaping is reinforcing successive approximatins of a final desired response. In the video below notice how Skinner gradually gets the pigeon to execute a full turn (the final desired response) by first reinforcing left turns, later only reinforcing half turns. The light tells the pigeon that reinforcement has been delivered. Notice how quickly the pigeon makes the full turn. Skinner could have just waited a long time for the pigeon to make a full turn and then reinforced it, but shaping makes that wait unecessary.
Shaping, then, is a technique for getting to a final desired response more quickly. See Skinner shaping a pigeon in class (below)
He rewards the pigeon with food for making more and more of a circle by turning to the left
Primary and Secondary Reinforcement
Primary: biologically relevant reinforcers such a food, water, pleasure, pain (there are only a few primary reinforcers and they are, essentially, the same as UCSs.
Secondary: secondary reinforcers come to act as reinforcers when they are associated with primary reinforcers
Consider the following sequence in dog training: "sit" (dog eventually sits)->"good dog" (give a treat, repeat)
Eventually the dog will treat the words "good dog" as a reiforcer, a secondary reinforcer
Most human behavior is reinforced by secondary reinforcers
You, for example, will do things to increase your number of points in this class
I'd bet many of you would wash my car for 10 points added to your score, right? (Too bad that's unethical)
Money, by definition, is a secondary reinforcer (you can't eat it or drink it)
NOTE: Punishment is NOT the exact opposite of reinforcement because punishmnent arouses negative emotions while reinforcement does not arouse positive emotions
Positive punishment is delivered after the response and the response stops
e.g., your raise your hand in class and you get a shock. What do you do? (Not raise hand again.)
Negative punishment is when something is taken away and the response stops
e.g., you raise your hand in class and points toward your grade are taken away (like a fine). What do you do? (Not raise your hand again.
Good examples: child smarting off, take away phone, defensive football player delivers illegal hit, sent out of game. (What does player do in subsequent games?)
Premack provided a different definition of reinforcement
Reinforcement was the response, not the stimulus
In addition, everyone has a reinforcement hierarchy at any point (e.g., people would rather watch TV than wash dishes)
Premack Principle says that lower level responses can be reinforced by higher level ones
e.g., make child practice violin (low level response) for 30 minutes and reinforce by allowing child to watch TV program (high level response)
can also self-reinforce that way: make yourself clean the garage (low level response) by not reading good book (high level response) until garage is cleasn
Applying the principles of classical conditioning and operant conditioning to real world
Classroom management: most likely you were subject to some kind of classroom management routine in K-12. (green card/red card, points for good behavior)
Therapy: managing therapeutic situations: reinforce patients for making their beds, coming to dining room, not being disruptive by giving them primary or secondary reinforcement
Skinner discovered that organisms pay close attention to relationship between behavior and what follows
He fed pigeons a treat after they made just one random response. The pigeons continued to make that response even though they were never fed again for making that response.
Humans, too, develop superstitious behaviors: e.g., athletes wearing same underwear for every game
Imagine you don't do well on your first test so you buy a lucky rabbit's food and do well on next test. What will you bring to subsequent tests? (The rabbit's foot). Is there a real connection between your success and rabbit's foot? Of course not.
We learn how to react in certain situations because of our experience.
Think of test taking. The more tests you take the better you get at it because you have "learned to learn" the successful strategies required for any test, regardless of the subject.
So, seniors should make better grades, all other factors being equal, than freshmen.
Pro football players should perform better, all other factors being equal, than rookie pro players.
Another form of learning that DOES NOT depend on classical or operant conditioning is observational learning.
Observational learning is seen in humans and in some animals
We watch others and what happens to them
So, if the person in front of you at the Pepsi machine does not get a drink and loses money, what to you do? (You go to another machine. You learned by observation that the machine you are at does not work.)
Bandura emphasized observational learning in humans via his famous Bobo Doll research
He showed that watching violent behavior was not cathartic. Instead, it could lead to new violent behavior inspired by observation
TV shows and movies are now rated to show viewers what to expect.
Children, especially, are influenced via observation (on TV). Bandura suggests that watching TV with your child and explaining that it is not a model of reality helps lessen violent behavior
COGNITIVE FACTORS IN LEARNING (p. 202)
Insight Learning
Köhler researched insight learning in chimpanzees
The chimpanzee Sultan was especially good at insight learning
Insight learning occurs after a period of incubation when a solution suddenly appears
Sultan was confronted with such tasks by Köhler
One task was to retrieve a banana outside of a cage with a stick, but the two sticks provided were not long enough. The sticks, however, could be joined together (like a fishing pole). After a while, Sultan jumped up, put the two sticks together and retrieved the banana.
Another task was to grab a banana hanging out of reach above. Again, Sultan was unable to do so. But, after a time he jumped up, got a box and put it under the banana so he could reach it.
Insight learning will not occur without some thought beforehand
So, the answer to a test question will not come to you if you have not studied before
BIOLOGICAL, CULTURAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN LEARNING (p. 205)
Renner, M. J., & Mackin, R. S. (2000). A life stress instrument for classroom use (pp. 11-12). In M. E. Ware, & D. E. Johnson (eds.), Handbook of demonstrations and activities in the teaching of psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
