Why the Great Wall?
Growing the picture over our fireplace was the Great Wall. It was in a red lacquer frame. It reminded my parents the years they living in Asia. It turns out that it was also symbolic of my being conceived in China. To visitors it was an example of embroidered silk artistry. But to me it was just normal.
For you, it is an example of the three types of things we can learn: facts, concepts and behaviors. The existence of the Great Wall is a fact, the kind of answer you might give to “List one the Seven Wonders of the World.”
As a concept, the Great Wall describes our wanting to isolate ourselves from “outsiders” and the futility of trying to do so.
As a behavior, you can visit, stand or walk on the Great Wall.
Honors Classical
This includes Pavlov and his dogs, taste aversion, and why your cat comes when the can-opener makes whirly noises.
Outline
- Associated stimuli elicit a response
- reflex plus triggering stimulus produces reflex-like response
- phobias: irrational fears
- claustrophobia
- PTSD
- Ivan Pavlov
- Pavlov’s dogs
- food produces salivation
- neutral stimulus produces some salivating
- multiple pairing (50+)
- bell, click, etc.
- unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
- unconditioned response (UCR)
- conditioned stimulus (CS)
- conditioned response (CR)
- Sometimes, the UCR and the CR can be the same level
- conditioning happens gradually.
- trial: any pairing of stimuli
- examples: elevators, emotional response (shoes), smell, arousal, and drugs
- acquisition stage
- extinction
- spontaneous recovery
- stimulus generalization
- Bekterev
- John B Watson
- Little Albert experiment
- stimulus discrimination: respond to one stimulus but not another
- higher-order conditioning: CS functions as UCS
- Guthrie
- HAM
- FITS
- Others
- instinctive drift: innate response tendencies (rooting)
- John Garcia: taste aversions (smell & nausea, but not other senses)
- Edward Tolman: latent learning (see it later)
- Robert Rescorla: signal relations (predictive value of a CS). Strong CS-US means CS predicts the coming of US. Rescorla-Wagner model: how surprised at US. Explains blocking effect (hard to learn new CS-US relationship if familiar CS is present. Math formula.
- Edward Thorndike
- Instrumental Learning
- Law of Effect – If a Response in the presence of a Stimulus leads to Positive Effects, the Associations between the Stimulus and Response is Strengthened.
- Learning is Gradually “Stamped In” to the Mind.
- B.F. Skinner
- Reinforcement – Occurs when an event following a Response increases the Organisms tendency to make that Response.
- A Response is Strengthened because it Leads to Rewarding Results.
Honors Operant
A general overview of rewards and their impact on our behavior.
Outline
- B. F. Skinner
- Operant Conditioning – A Form of Learning in which Responses come to be Controlled by their Consequences.
- Principles
- functional analysis
- Grandma’s Law
- Premack
- Schedules
- Punishment
- Rotter
- Terminology & Procedure
- Operant Chamber / Skinner Box – Small Enclosure where an Animal can make a specific Response that is recorded, while the consequences are controlled.
- Reinforcement Contingencies – Circumstances or Rules that determine whether Responses lead to the Presentation of Reinforcers.
- Cumulative Recorder – Creates Record of a Responding and Reinforcement in a Skinner Box as a function of Time.
- Basic Processes in Operant Conditioning.
- Acquisition, Then Shaping.
- Shaping – The Reinforcement of closer and closer Approximations of a Desired Response.
- Key to training for Extraordinary Things. (E.g. Animal Tricks.)
- Resistance to Extinction – Occurs when an Organism continues to make a Response after Delivery of the Reinforcer has been Terminated.
- Stimulus Control: Generalization & Discrimination
- Discriminative Stimulus – Cues that influence Operant Behavior by indicating the Probable Consequences of a Response.
- Reinforcement – A Favorable Outcome.
- Non-Reinforcement – A Negative Outcome.
- Reinforcement: Consequences that Strengthen Response
- Primary Reinforcers – Events that are Inherently Reinforcing because they Satisfy Biological Needs.
- Secondary/Conditioned Reinforcers – Events that acquire Reinforcing Qualities by being Associated with Primary Enforcers.
- (Ex. Money, Good Grades, Attention, Flattery, Praise, etc.)
- Schedules of Reinforcement
- Schedule of Reinforcement – Determines which Occurrences of a Specific Response result in the Presentation of a Reinforcer.
- Continuous Reinforcement – When Every Instance of a Designated Response is Reinforced.
- Intermittent/Partial Reinforcement – When a Designated Response is Reinforced Only Some of the Time.
- Partial Reinforcement makes a Response more Resistant to Extinction than Continuous Reinforcement does.
- Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedule – The Reinforcer is given after a Fixed Number of Non-Reinforced Responses.
- Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule – The Reinforcer is Given after a Variable Number of Non-Reinforced Responses.
- Fixed-Interval (FI) Schedule – The Reinforcer is Given for the First Response that Occurs after a Fixed Time Interval has Elapsed.
- Variable-Interval (VI) Schedule – The Reinforcer is Given for the First Response after a Variable Time Interval has Elapsed.
- Variable Schedules Yield Steadier Responding and Greater Resistance to Extinction.
- Ratio Schedules Yield Faster Rate of Responding.
- Positive Reinforcement vs. Negative Reinforcement.
- Positive Reinforcement – When a Response is Strengthened because it is followed by the Presentation of a Rewarding Stimulus.
- Negative Reinforcement – When a Response is Strengthened because it is followed by the Removal of an Unpleasant Stimulus.
- Escape Learning – An Organism Acquires a Response that Decreases or Ends some Aversive (Unpleasant) Stimuli.
- Avoidance Learning – An Organism Acquires a Response that Prevents some Aversive (Unpleasant) Stimulation from Occurring.
- Classic Conditioning and Operant Conditioning can Work Together.
- Punishment: Consequences that Weaken Responses
- Punishment – When an Event following a Response Weakens the Tendency to make that Response. Adding an Aversive Stimulant.
- Make Punishment More Effective
- Apply Punishment Swiftly – Delaying Punishment Undermines its Impact.
- Use Punishment Just Severe Enough to be Effective – Sever Punishments is more effective in weakening Unwanted Responses, but has side-effects.
- Make Punishment Consistent – If you want to Eliminate a Response, Punish the Response Every time it Occurs.
- Explain the Punishment – The More Understanding of why being Punished, the More effective the Punishment.
- Use Non-Corporal Punishments, such as Withdrawal of Privileges – It lasts longer then pain.
- Changing Directions in Conditioning
- Organisms Actively try to Figure out what leads to what in the World around them.
Things To Explore
Is
People
- Bekterev
- Skinner
- Watson
- Pavlov
- Guthrie
- Thorndike
- Garcia
- Rescorla
- Tolman
