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- Psychology 1ooo (PSYC1000)
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- University Of Western Ontario (UWO )
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Tutorial 9: Learning1. What is extinction?
In psychology, extinction refers to the gradual weakening of a conditioned
response that results in the behavior decreasing or disappearing. In other words,
the conditioned behavior eventually stops.
For example, imagine that you taught your dog to shake hands. Over time, the
trick became less interesting. You stop rewarding the behavior and eventually
stop asking your dog to shake. Eventually, the response becomes extinct, and
your dog no longer displays the behavior.
2. What is spontaneous recovery?
Spontaneous recovery is a phenomenon that involves suddenly displaying a
behavior that was thought to be extinct. This can apply to responses that have
been formed through both classical and operant conditioning
Spontaneous recovery can be defined as the reappearance of the conditioned
response after a rest period or period of lessened response.
If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are no longer associated,
extinction will occur very rapidly after a spontaneous recovery.
In Pavlov's classic experiment, dogs were conditioned to salivate to the sound of
a tone. The sound of a tone was repeatedly paired with the presentation of food.
Eventually, the sound of the tone alone led the dogs to salivate. Pavlov also
noted that no longer pairing the tone with the presentation of food led to the
extinction, or disappearance, of the salivation response
So, what would happen if there was a "rest period" where the stimulus was no
longer present. Pavlov found that after a two-hour rest period, the salivation
response suddenly reappeared when the tone was presented. Essentially, the
animals spontaneously recovered the response which was previously extinct.
3. What is the difference between stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination?
Discrimination results when different situations occasion different responses
based on the contingencies of reinforcement. Inappropriate stimulus
generalization occurs when those different situations fail to produce
discriminative operant responding.
Stimulus discrimination focuses on an individual to discriminate
between two stimuli and respond to them differently
o For example, a dog barks when the doorbell rings. He then barks when
the oven timer dings because it sounds very similar to the doorbell. On
the other hand, stimulus discrimination occurs when an organism learns a
response to a specific stimulus but does not respond the same way to
new stimuli that are similar.
Stimulus generalization focuses on the individual to respond to the two
different stimuli in the same way
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, o For example, Ivan Pavlov conditioned dogs to salivate using the sound of
a bell and food powder.
o The unconditioned stimulus (food powder) was paired with a conditioned
stimulus (sound of a bell) until the conditioned stimulus produced the
response (salivation) in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus (food
powder). The dogs were then noted to salivate in response to other
noises similar to the bell used in conditioning, even though these noises
had never been used during conditioning.
4. What are some of the strengths and limitations of classical conditioning?
Strengths
o Classical conditioning emphasizes learning from our environment
o It suggests that nurturing is more critical t development than nature
o This response to stimuli becomes a method of self-protection
o It can help people to modify destructive behaviours
o We can use it every day or receive it to create changes
o It can be used to boost the positive feelings that individuals have to other
people
o Classical conditioning offers the potential to eliminate phobias
Limitations
o Classical conditioning does not account for the idea of free will
o This learning process underestimates how unique human beings really
are
o There is no predictive quality to classical conditioning
o We must remember the difference between creating and learning
o The are numerous variables which can change the possible outcomes
o It requires someone to have positive associations to be useful
o People can choose to act against their conditioning
5. How was the theory of Operant conditioning developed?
The theory of Operant conditioning was developed BF Skinner
There are 4 types of operant conditioning: positive and negative reinforcement,
punishment and extinction.
He used a mouse in a box and used positive and negative stimulus to reward a
treatment.
Skinner is regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning, but his work was
based on Thorndike's (1898) law of effect. Skinner (1948) studied operant
conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which he placed in a
'Skinner Box' which was similar to Thorndike's puzzle box
6. Explain Thorndike’s “Law of Effect”.
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