This document defines and explains different types of learning, including classical and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response. Operant conditioning is learning through rewards and punishments for behaviors. Reinforcers strengthen behaviors while punishment weakens behaviors. Different schedules of reinforcement like continuous, partial, and fixed ratio schedules influence how behaviors are learned. Generalization and discrimination also impact conditioning. Shaping uses reinforcement to teach complex behaviors through successive approximations.

1. LEARNING

2. A relatively permanent change in behavior
brought about by experience.

3. Classical Conditioning
A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus comes to
bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus
that naturally brings about that response
Neutral stimulus – a stimulus that, before
conditioning, does not naturally bring about the
response of interest.

4. Classical Conditioning (Cont’d)
Unconditioned stimulus – a stimulus that naturally brings
about a particular response without having been learned
Unconditioned response – a stimulus that is natural and
needs no training (e.g., salivation at the smell of food).

5. Classical Conditioning (Cont’d)
Conditioned stimulus – a once neutral stimulus that has been
paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a
response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned response – a response that, after conditioning
follows a previously neutral stimulus (e.g., salivation at the
ringing of a bell)

6. Applying Conditioning Principles
to Human Behavior

7. Extinction & Spontaneous
Recovery
Extinction – is a basic phenomenon of learning that occurs when a
previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and
eventually disappears
Spontaneous recovery – the reemergence of an extinguished
conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further
conditioning

8. Generalization and Discrimination
Stimulus generalization is a process in which, after a stimulus has
been conditioned to produce a particular response, stimuli that are
similar to the original stimulus produce the same response
Stimulus discrimination is the process that occurs if two stimuli
are sufficiently distinct from one another that one evokes a
conditioned response but the other does not; the ability to
differentiate between stimuli.

9. Operant Conditioning
Learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or
weakened depending on its favorable or unfavorable
consequences.
The term operant emphasizes this point: the organism operates on its
environment to produce a desirable result.

10. Thorndike’s Law of Effect
Responses that lead to satisfying consequences are
more likely to be repeated.
The principle of effect is that learning is strengthened when
accompanied by a pleasant or satisfying feeling, and that learning is
weakened when associated with an unpleasant feeling.

11. The Basics of
Operant
Conditioning • Reinforcement is the
process by which a stimulus
increases the probability
that a preceding behavior
will be repeated.
Reinforcement:
The Central
Concept of
Operant
Conditioning

12. Reinforcement: The Central Concept of
Operant Conditioning
• A reinforcer is an stimulus that increases the probability that
a preceding behavior will occur again.
• A primary reinforcer satisfies some biological need and works
naturally, regardless of a person’s previous experience.
• A secondary reinforcer, in contrast, is a stimulus that becomes
reinforcing because of its association with a primary
reinforce.

13. Positive Reinforcers, Negative Reinforcers,
and Punishment
• A positive reinforcer is a stimulus added to the environment that
brings about an increase in a preceding response.
• A negative reinforcer refers to an unpleasant stimulus whose
removal leas to an increase in the probability that a preceding
response will be repeated in the future.

14. Positive Reinforcers, Negative Reinforcers, and
Punishment (Cont’d)
• Punishment refers to a stimulus that decreases the probability
that a prior behavior will occur again.
• Positive punishment weakens a response through the application
of an unpleasant stimulus.
• Negative punishment consists of the removal of something
pleasant.

15. Schedules of Reinforcement: Timing Life’s
Rewards
Different patterns of frequency and timing of reinforcement
following desired behavior.
• Continuous reinforcement schedule: reinforcing of a
behavior every time it occurs.
• Partial or intermittent reinforcement schedule: reinforcing of
a behavior some but not all of the time.

16. Schedules of Reinforcement: Timing Life’s
Rewards (Cont’d)
• Fixed ratio schedule: A schedule by which reinforcement is
given only after a specific number of responses are made.
• Variable ratio schedule: A schedule by which reinforcement
occurs after a varying number of responses rather than after
a fixed number.

17. Discrimination and Generalization
in Operant Conditioning

18. Shaping: Reinforcing What Doesn’t Come
Naturally
Shaping is the process of teaching a complex behavior by
rewarding closer and closer approximations of the desired
behavior.

19. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbJJL-35Z1Y -
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I68Y81ZpjNM