Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology

Overview of Adaptive Problems

Chapter 7: Learning & • How do we recognize significant events

when they occur and react to them
Conditioning appropriately?
Module 7.1: Intro. and Classical
Conditioning, Part 1 • How do we learn about the signaling
properties of events in the environment?
Psychology 100
• How do we learn about the
Introduction to Psychology consequences of our behavior?
• How do we learn from observing others?
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Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology

Recognizing and Reacting to Events Learning Overview

• Orienting response: Inborn tendency to • Classical Conditioning

notice and respond to surprising events • Operant Conditioning
• Repeated exposure to an event can
• Observational Learning
change behavior:
• Habituation: Decline in the tendency to
respond to an event that has become
familiar through repeated exposure
• Sensitization: Increased responsiveness,
or sensitivity, to an event that has been
repeated

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Fig.Psyc
7.1100 – Introduction to Psychology Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology
Learning What Events Signal: Classical
Conditioning

• A set of procedures used to investigate

how organisms learn about the signaling
properties of events
• Involves learning of relations between
events that occur outside of one’s
control
• Events: Conditioned and unconditioned
stimuli
• Example: Association between flash of
lightning and noise of thunder
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Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology

Pavlov’s Discovery
• Pavlov (1849-1936): Russian physiologist
interested in learning
• Used dogs as research subjects
Fig. 7.2 • Studied salivation in response to different foods
• Salivation often began before food placed in their
mouths
• For example: See food dish -> Salivation begins
• Pavlov observed that some stimuli produce
automatic responses, and other stimuli can start
to produce those responses too through a
process of learning
• This learning process termed classical conditioning

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Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology

Classical Conditioning: Important Terms &
Fig. 7.3 Concepts
• Unconditioned stimulus (US): A stimulus that
automatically leads to an observable response prior to
any training
• Example: Food
• Unconditioned response (UR): The observable response
that is produced automatically, prior to training, on
presentation of US
• Example: Salivation
• Conditioned stimulus (CS): Neutral stimulus that is
paired with the US during classical conditioning
• Example: Feeder’s footsteps
• Conditioned response (CR): The acquired response
produced by the conditioned stimulus in anticipation of
the US
• Example: Dog salivates (CR) when hearing the
9 feeder’s footsteps (CS) 10

Fig. 7.5
Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology Psyc 100 – Introduction to Psychology

Fig. 7.4

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