Overview
This lecture introduces the basic principles of learning, focusing on classical conditioning, and explains how associative learning shapes behavior in humans and animals.
Principles of Learning
- Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or thoughts due to experience, not biology.
- Principles of learning like reinforcement and punishment apply broadly across disciplines and everyday life.
- Misunderstanding learning principles can lead to ineffective or counterproductive behaviors, e.g., poor use of punishment.
Behaviorism and Historical Perspectives
- Behaviorism studies observable behavior and emphasizes environmental influences (nurture).
- John Watson, an extreme behaviorist, claimed he could train any infant to become any type of specialist regardless of biology.
- Modern psychology recognizes both environmental (nurture) and biological (nature) factors in learning.
Classical Conditioning: Basics and Terminology
- Pavlov discovered classical conditioning by observing dogs associating neutral stimuli (sounds) with food, leading to salivation.
- Classical conditioning involves learning to associate one stimulus with another to elicit a reflexive response.
- Unconditioned Stimulus (US): Naturally elicits response (e.g., food).
- Unconditioned Response (UR): Automatic response to US (e.g., salivation).
- Neutral Stimulus (NS): Initially elicits no response (e.g., bell/metronome).
- Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Previously neutral, now elicits learned response after pairing with US.
- Conditioned Response (CR): Learned response to CS (e.g., salivation to bell).
Key Steps and Examples in Classical Conditioning
- During acquisition, the CS should precede the US by about half a second for strongest learning.
- Examples: Pairing onion breath (neutral) with kissing (US) can create sexual arousal (CR) to onion breath (CS).
- Phobias can form via classical conditioning by pairing neutral objects (e.g., bridges) with fear-inducing events.
Principles and Phenomena
- Extinction: Conditioned response weakens and disappears when CS is presented without US.
- Spontaneous Recovery: After extinction, the conditioned response can suddenly reappear.
- Stimulus Generalization: Conditioned response occurs to stimuli similar to the original CS (e.g., Little Albert fearing all furry animals).
- Discrimination: Learning to respond only to the specific CS and not similar stimuli (e.g., discriminating between musical notes).
Key Terms & Definitions
- Learning — A relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.
- Behaviorism — The study of observable behavior and environmental influences.
- Classical Conditioning — Associative learning where a neutral stimulus becomes a CS that elicits a CR.
- Unconditioned Stimulus (US) — A stimulus that naturally elicits a response.
- Unconditioned Response (UR) — The automatic, natural response to a US.
- Conditioned Stimulus (CS) — A formerly neutral stimulus that elicits a learned response.
- Conditioned Response (CR) — The learned response to a CS.
- Extinction — Weakening of a CR when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US.
- Spontaneous Recovery — Reemergence of a previously extinguished CR.
- Stimulus Generalization — Producing the CR to stimuli similar to the CS.
- Discrimination — Ability to distinguish between different stimuli and respond only to the CS.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review textbook sections on classical conditioning.
- Prepare for the next lecture on operant conditioning and observational learning.
- Reflect on personal examples of classical conditioning in your own life.