LEARNING & COGNITION PSY 390WEEK 2

Mario L. Marberry, MSW, MBA, LMSW University of Phoenix

Objectives

Functionalistic Theories
Describe

the major theoretical concepts of functionalistic theories. Analyze the modern-day relevancy of functionalistic theories. Examine operant conditioning theory.

Edward Lee Ted Thorndike (1874-1949)

The intellect, character and skill possessed by any man are the product of certain original tendencies and the training which they have received. Edward Thorndike

Thorndike (cont.)

Known as the Father of Educational Psychology Spent his entire career at the Teachers College of Columbia University studying human learning, education, and testing Used his observation of animals (i.e. mice, chicks, and cats) to develop his human learning theories
His

research was the first in the field of psychology to be conducted on nonhumans

Thorndike (cont.)

Thorndike specified three conditions that maximized learning:

The

law of effect stated that the likely recurrence of a response is generally governed by its consequence or effect generally in the form of reward or punishment. The law of recency stated that the most recent response is likely to govern the recurrence. The law of exercise stated that stimulus-response associations are strengthened through repetition.

Thorndikes Theories of Learning

Connectionism
Thorndike

called the association between sense impressions and impulses to action a bond or a connection. This marked the first formal attempt to link sensory events to behavior. Mental phenomena can be described by interconnected networks of simple and often uniform units Regarded as the first modern theory of learning

Thorndikes Puzzle Box

Trial and Error Learning or Selecting and Connecting Animal placed in an apparatus When the animal made a certain kind of response, it escaped Animal received reward

Thorndikes Conclusions

Noting the gradual decrease in time to solution as a function of successive trials, Thorndike concluded that learning was incremental rather than insightful. In other words, learning occurs in very small systematic steps rather than in huge jumps. He noted that if learning was insightful, the graph would show that the time to solution would remain relatively stable and high while the animal was in the unlearned state. At the point where the animal gained insight into the solution, the graph would drop very rapidly and remain at that point for the duration of the

Learning is not Ideational

The cat does not look over the situation, much less think it over, and then decide what to do. It bursts out at once into the activities which instinct and experience have settled on as suitable reactions to the situation confinement when hungry with food outside. It does not ever in the course of its success realize that such an act brings food and therefore decide to do it and thenceforth do it immediately from decision instead of from impulse. (p. 55)

Thorndikes Law of Readiness

1. When someone is ready to perform some act, to do so is satisfying. 2. When someone is ready to perform some act, not to do so is annoying. 3. When someone is not ready to perform some act and is forced to do so, it is annoying.

Thorndikes Law of Exercise

If the bond between a stimulus and a response is strengthened, the next time the stimulus occurs there is an increased probability that the response will occur. If the bond is weakened, there is a decreased probability that the next time the stimulus occurs the response will occur. In brief, the law of exercise says we learn by doing and forget by not doing

Thorndikes Law of Effect

If a stimulus leads to a response, which in turn leads to reinforcement, the S-R connection is strengthened. If, on the other hand, a stimulus leads to a response that leads to punishment, the S-R connection is weakened.

Thorndikes Theory of Transfer of Training

What determines how we respond to a situation we have never encountered before? Thorndikes answer, response by analogy, was that we respond to it as we would to a related situation that we previously encountered. The amount of transfer of training between the familiar situation and the unfamiliar one is determined by the number of elements that the two situations have in common.

Thorndikes Principle of Polarity

A learned response is most easily given in the direction in which it was formed. For example, almost everyone can recite the alphabet forward, but it is difficult to recite it backward.

Burrhus Frederick B. F. Skinner

(3/20/1904 8/18/1990)

Ranked Most Influential Psychologist of all time (2002)

Burrhus Frederick Skinner (3/20/1904 8/18/1990)

Emphasized that who we are as adults is clearly the result of rewards & punishments received as a child Life & personality were determined & controlled by environmental events Influenced by Edward Thorndikes Law of Effect: Consequences of a behavior will either strengthen or weaken the behavior

Burrhus Frederick Skinner (3/20/1904 8/18/1990)

Learning comes through trial & error and we learn to do those things that bring us rewards or help avoid pain There is no free will Credited with creation of Operant Conditioning: Behavior is changed by consequences Done by shaping or successive approximations to the desired behavior

Burrhus Frederick Skinner (3/20/1904 8/18/1990) Felt the word personality was meaningless as the only thing that matter was what was observable or an individuals collective responses to the environment Believed a child was a function of the environment

Skinners Radical Behaviorism

Skinner rejected terms such as drives, motivation, purpose because they refer to private, mental experience and represent, in his view, a return to nonscientific psychology. For Skinner, observable and measurable aspects of the environment, of an organisms behavior, and of the consequences of that behavior are the critical material for scientific scrutiny.

Respondent Versus Operant Behavior

Skinner distinguished two kinds of behavior:

Respondent
Examples

Behavior, which is elicited by a known stimulus

of respondent behavior include all reflexes, such as jerking ones hand when jabbed with a pin, the constriction of the pupil of the eye when it is exposed to bright light, and salivation in the presence of food.

Operant

Behavior, which is not elicited by a known stimulus but is simply emitted by the organism.
Examples

include beginning to whistle, standing up and walking about, or a child abandoning one toy in favor of another. Most of our everyday activities are

Type S versus Type R Conditioning

Type S Conditioning is also called Respondent Conditioning and is identical to Classical Conditioning. It is called Type S Conditioning to emphasize the importance of the stimulus in eliciting the desired response

In Type S conditioning the strength of conditioning is usually determined by the magnitude of the conditioned response.

Type R Conditioning is called Operant Conditioning to emphasize the importance of the response

In Type R conditioning, the strength of conditioning is

Operant Conditioning Principles

Two general principles are associated with Type R conditioning: 1. Any response that is followed by a reinforcing stimulus tends to be repeated; and 2. A reinforcing stimulus is anything that increases the rate with which an operant response occurs.

Operant Conditioning

Positive Reinforcement: increases behavior by giving a reward following the behavior Negative Reinforcement: increases behavior by removing an aversive stimulus following a behavior Positive Punishment: decreases behavior by adding aversive stimulus following behavior Negative Punishment: decreases behavior by removing a reward

Reinforcers

Reinforcer: a stimulus that increases the probability that a preceding behavior will happen again

Positive reinforcer: a stimulus added to the environment that brings about an increase in a preceding response Ex: giving a bonus at work for performance Negative reinforcer: an unpleasant stimulus whose removal leads to an increase in a preceding response Ex: Putting on seat-belt to avoid loud noise
24

Punishment
Punishment:

a stimulus that decreases the probability that a preceding behavior will happen again
Positive

punishment: adding an unpleasant stimulus to the environment Ex: Spanking Negative punishment: removing a pleasant stimulus from the environment Ex: Removing privileges

25

Schedules of Reinforcement

Continuous Reinforcement: Reward given after desired behavior every time

Hard

to teach new behavior Difficult to extinguish effect once behavior learned

Partial Reinforcement: Behavior only rewarded some of the time

Intermittent Fixed Ratio Interval

Schedules of Reinforcement

Fixed-ratio schedules are those where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses. Ex: Rewarded every 5th correct answer Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. Ex: Slot-machines Fixed-interval schedules are those where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. Ex: Paid every two weeks on a job

Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. Ex: Random drug screens at your job

Shaping: Reinforcing What Doesnt Come Naturally

Shaping: the process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior
First,

reinforce any behavior that is remotely similar to the desired behavior Then reinforce only responses that are closer to the desired behavior Then reinforce only the desired behavior

28

Behavioral Modification Plans

Select a specific goal Select type of reward or punishment

Select schedule of reinforcement

1.

2.

Punishment vs. Reward Group Activity Criminal behavior can be controlled using punishment Criminal behavior can be controlled using reward

Superstitious or Gamblers Fallacy

Imagine what happens to the baseball player who, after stepping to the plate, adjusts his or her cap in a certain way and hits the very next pitch out of the ballpark. There will be a strong tendency on his part to adjust the cap in a similar way the next time he or she is at bat. Same concept as Operant Conditioning

Concept of Programmed Learning

1.

2.

3.

4.

Small steps. Learners are exposed to small amounts of information and proceed from one frame, or one item of information, to the next in an orderly fashion. Overt responding. Overt responding is required so that students correct responses can be reinforced and their incorrect responses can be corrected. Immediate feedback. Immediately after making responses, students are told whether they are correct. This immediate feedback acts as a reinforcer if the answers are correct and as a corrective measure if the answers are wrong. Self-pacing. Students proceed through the program at their own pace.

Programmed Learning Activity

Need a volunteer, please!

Next Weeks Assignment

Learning Team Assignment: Functionalistic & Associationistic Theories Presentation Select one theorist from each of the following paradigms in preparation for this assignment:

Functionalistic Associationistic Edward Lee Thorndike Ivan Pavlov B. F. Skinner Edwin R. Guthrie Clark Leonard Hull William K. Estes Prepare a 10- to 15-minute oral presentation, accompanied by 10- to 12Microsoft PowerPoint slides, in which you analyze the functionalistic and associationistic theories associated with your selected theorists. In your presentation, address the following items: Discuss the contributions that your selected theorists made to the field of learning and cognition. Describe the major theoretical concepts associated with the models. 34 Analyze the modern-day relevancy of the models, such as in media

Questions?