Human Learning
Conditioning, Social Learning & Info Processing Theory
Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Focuses on the learning of involuntary emotional or physiological responses such as fear, increased muscle tension, salivation, or sweating.
What are those involuntary emotions called?
Respondents, because they are automatic responses to stimuli.
The process of classical conditioning
Humans and animals can be trained to react involuntarily to a stimulus that previously had no effect - or a very different effect on them.
Who discovered classical conditioning?Ivan Pavlov in the 1920s who was a Russian physiologist who was trying to determine how long it took a dog to salivate after it had been fed.
What is a stimulus?
Stimulus that evokes an emotional or physiological response after conditioning.
(Anita Woolfolk 254)
Example
When I have lots on my schedule and I forget to eat breakfast and lunch I tend to get a little frustrated. Then when I have a break I think about what I am going to get to eat and while I am in the car on the way to whichever restaurant I start to salivate before I even get my food.
Operant conditioning
Learning in which voluntary behavior is strengthened or weakened by consequences or antecedents.
Who discovered it?
B. F. Skinner
Here is a video of operant conditioning...
Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory
Theory that emphasizes learning through observation of others.What is it?
Out interpretations of the consequences create expectations, influence motivation, and shape beliefs (Schunk,2012)
Also called
Observation learning
Who discovered this?
Albert Bandura, suggested that we all may know more than we know.
Example
Bandura did an experiment of pre school children watching a film of a model kicking and punching an inflatable "Bobo" doll. And then placing the children in a room with the "Bobo" doll to see their reaction.
Watching the film
Group 1 - saw the model rewarded for the aggression
Group 2 - saw the model punished
Group 3 - observed no consequences
Post watching the film
Group 1 - most aggressive
Group 2 - least aggressive
Group 3 - all of them demonstrated that they had learned the behavior (Woolfolk 278,279)
Information Processing Theory
Information Processing Theory
The human mind's activity of taking in, storing, and using information.
Focuses on
Internal mental process that occur as opposed to external behaviors
How does it work?
The mind takes information, performs operations to change its form, stores it, and retrieves it when needed.
3 major Categories
Sensory memory - It is the power to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli have ended.
Working on (short-term) memory - Is like a note pad of notes, for temporarily recall of information which is be processed at any point and time
Long term memory - Information that is retained for a long period of time
Who discovered it?
Ashcraft and Radvansky and Sternberg and Sternberg (Woolfolk, 292,293)