Daniel Stillwell

Fall 2012
 What is Psychology?

The study of the mind
Observe behaviors
Ask about feelings and thoughts
Measure the brain
 Classical Conditioning
and Ivan Pavlov

Used dogs to study salivation when dogs
were presented with meat powder
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): something
that elicits an unconditioned response (UCR)
Unconditioned Response (UCR): a “natural”
response to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Conditioned Stimulus: (CS): a stimulus to
which subject has “learned” response
Conditioned Response (CR): the “learned”
response
An apparatus for Pavlovian conditioning. A tube carries saliva from the dog’s mouth to a lever that
activates a recording device (far left). During conditioning, various stimuli can be paired with a dish of food
placed in front of the dog. The device pictured here is more elaborate than the one Pavlov used in his
early experiments.
 

The classical conditioning procedure.

 Principles of Classical
Conditioning

 Acquisition: Training period when a response is
strengthened
 Higher Order Conditioning: A conditioned stimulus
(CS) is used to reinforce further learning
 Expectancy: Expectation about how events are
interconnected
 Extinction: Weakening of a conditioned response
through removal of reinforcement
 Spontaneous Recovery: Reappearance of a learned
response following apparent extinction
 Principles of Classical
Conditioning (cont.)

 Stimulus Generalization: A tendency to respond to
stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to a
conditioned stimulus (i.e. Little Albert being afraid
of all little white animals)
 Stimulus Discrimination: The ability to respond
differently to various stimuli
 Classical Conditioning
in Humans

 Phobia: Fear that persists even when no realistic
danger exists
 Systematic Desensitization: Exposing phobic people
gradually to feared stimuli while they stay calm and
relaxed
 Flooding: Exposing phobic people to large amounts
of the feared stimuli at once to decrease phobia
 Operant vs. Classical
Conditioning

 Classical conditioning: reflexive responses
 Operant conditioning: voluntary responses
 Definition: Learning based on the consequences of
responding; we associate responses with their
consequences
 Law of Effect (Thorndike): The probability of a
response is altered by the effect it has; responses that
lead to desired effects are repeated; those that lead to
undesired effects are not
 Operant Conditioning
(cont.)

 Shaping
 Conditioning Chamber (Skinner Box): Apparatus
designed to study operant conditioning in animals
 Response-Contingent Reinforcement: Reinforcement
given after a desired response occurs
The Skinner box. This simple device, invented by B. F. Skinner, allows careful study of operant
conditioning. When the rat presses the bar, a pellet of food or a drop of water is automatically released.
 More Op. Cond. Terms

 Positive Reinforcement: When a response is followed by
a reward or other positive event
 Negative Reinforcement: When a response is followed
by the removal of an unpleasant event (e.g., the bells in
your car stop when you put the seatbelt on); ends
discomfort
 Punishment: Any event that follows a response and
decreases the likelihood of it recurring (e.g., a spanking)
 Response Cost: Reinforcer or positive thing is removed,
e.g., losing X-Box privileges
 Timing of
Reinforcement

 Operant reinforcement most effective when given
immediately after a correct response
 Shaping: Molding responses gradually in a step-by-
step fashion to a desired pattern – ie. Teaching
pigeons to play ping-pong
 Types of Reinforcers

Primary Reinforcer: Non-learned and natural;
satisfies biological needs (e.g., food, water, sex)
Secondary Reinforcer: Learned reinforcer (e.g.,
money, grades, approval, praise)
Token Reinforcer: Tangible secondary
reinforcer (e.g., money, gold stars, poker chips)
Social Reinforcer: Provided by other people
(e.g., learned desires for attention and
approval)
Poker chips normally
have little or no value for
chimpanzees, but this
chimp will work hard to
earn them once he learns
that the “Chimp-O-Mat”
will dispense food in
exchange for them.
 Schedules of Partial
Reinforcement

 Fixed Ratio Schedule (FR): A set number of correct
responses must be made to obtain a reinforcer
 Variable Ratio Schedule (VR): Varied number of
correct responses must be made to get a reinforcer
 Fixed Interval Schedule (FI): The first correct
response made, after a certain amount of time has
elapsed, is reinforced
 Variable Interval Schedule (VI): Reinforcement is
given for the first correct response made after a
varied amount of time
 Schedules of Reinforcement, con’t.

 Fixed schedules promote quick and easy learning
 Variable schedules are more difficult to extinguish
 Modeling or
Observational Learning

 Albert Bandura
 Model: Someone who serves as an example
 Occurs by watching and imitating actions of another
person or by noting consequences of a person’s
actions
 Occurs before direct practice is allowed
 

A nursery school child imitates the aggressive behavior of an adult model he has just seen in a movie.
 Successful Modeling

Pay attention to model
Remember what was done
Reproduce modeled behavior
If a model is successful or his/her behavior is
rewarded, behavior more likely to recur
Bandura created modeling theory with
classic Bo-Bo Doll (inflatable clown)
experiments
 Learned Helplessness

 Martin Seligman
 Dogs, elephants, & people
 Learned Optimism
 How to Break Bad Habits

Behavioral Contract: Formal agreement
stating behaviors to be changed and
consequences that apply; written contract
State the rewards you will get, privileges you
will forfeit, or punishments you must accept
Type the contract, sign it, and get a person
you trust to sign it
 Toilet Train a Cat?

 P. 204
 Human Memory

 Encoding: forming a memory code
 Storage: maintaining encoded information in
memory over time
 Retrieval: recovering information from memory
stores
 Encoding

 Attending to the stimulus
 Structural Encoding: remember the physical
structure of the syllabus
 Phonemic Encoding: remember how the word
sounds
 Semantic Encoding: remember the meaning of
verbal input
 Elaboration: linking the stimulus to other
information at the time of encoding
 Imagery: the creation of visual images
 Storage (Information Processing
Theory)

 Sensory Memory: a fraction of a second
 Short-Term (Working) Memory: +/- 7 “chunks” of
information for up to 20 seconds
 Long-Term Memory: an unlimited capacity store
that can hold information over lengthy periods of
time
 Short-Term Memory

 Rehearsal of information can maintain information
past 20 seconds
 Interference by new data can cause forgetfulness
 Can increase amount of information by “chunking”:
storing familiar stimuli as a single unit., ie. 636
 Long Term Memory

 May or may not be permanent
 Develop schemas: organized clusters of knowledge
about a particular place or event; people are more
likely to remember things consistent with their
schema
 Long-Term Memory
 Semantic network:
nodes representing
concepts that are joined
together by related
concepts
 Retrieval

 Context Cues are helpful
 Misinformation Effect: participant’s recall of an
event they witnessed is altered by introducing
misleading postevent information
 Memory

 Recall: reproducing information without cues
 Recognition: selecting previously learned
information from an array of options
 Forgetting

 Ineffective encoding may appear to be forgetting
 Decay over time
 Interference: other material may compete
 Motivated Forgetting: Freud – you may forget
things that are anxiety-provoking
 Repressed Memories

 “Amnesia” of childhood sexual abuse
 False Memory research (Loftus)
 Implicit vs. Explicit
Memory

 Implicit Memory: retention without intentional
remembering
 Explicit Memory: intentional recollection of
previous memories