General Psychology

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 Today’s Class
Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning
Observational learning
Relational vs. analytic styles

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 Learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior
brought about by experience.
Changes brought about by experience, in
VS
contrast to changes due to maturation
Relatively permanent changes in behavior, in
contrast to temporary variation in performance
VS

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 Classical Conditioning
Pavlov’s discovery

Why
does a
dog drool
in the
absence
of food?

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Classical Conditioning

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 Classical Conditioning
Key terms
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (Meat)
Unconditioned response (UCR) (Salivation)
Conditioned stimulus (CS) (Ring)
Conditioned response (CR) (Salivation)

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 Classical Conditioning
Key principles 要幾耐Bell先有變成CS

Acquisition: The process

in which a neutral
stimulus becomes a
conditioned
引出
stimulus
（Bell sound）

(which elicits a
conditioned response)
after being consistently
followed by an
unconditioned stimulus.（Meat）

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 Classical Conditioning
Key principles 當repeatedly響鐘但沒有⾁肉時，🐶 幾時唔會再流⼝口⽔水
Extinction: The
weakening and
eventual disappearance
of the conditioned
response when the
conditioned stimulus is
repeatedly presented
without the
unconditioned stimulus.

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 Classical Conditioning
經過⼀一段時間（休⽌止期）後，若單獨出現CS（無US），仍然可以再度顯現微弱的CR

Key principles
Spontaneous recovery: The temporary return of
an extinguished conditioned response after rest.

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 Classical Conditioning
Key principles与之类似的刺刺激也能激发相同的条件反应
Stimulus generalization
Stimulus discrimination
辨别相似但不不同刺刺激的能⼒力力

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 Classical Conditioning
Watson’s experiment with little Albert

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 Classical Conditioning
Watson’s experiment with little Albert

Sound (Unconditioned stimulus)—> Scared (Unconditioned response)

Mouse (Neutral stimulus)—> Scared (Unconditioned response)
Mouse (Conditioned stimulus)—> Scared (Conditioned response)
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 Classical Conditioning
Examples in real life
Learning to fear (and not to fear)
Phobia 恐懼症
Systematic desensitization
(Cognitive behaviour therapy)

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 Classical Conditioning
Examples in real life
Learning to like

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 Classical Conditioning
Examples in real life
味覺厭惡惡
Taste aversion: The association between food and
sickness tends to be particularly strong
Normal food (CS) is followed by sickening treatment
(UCS) after a relatively long period of time, which elicits
feelings of sickness (UR);
It may take only one trial to establish the association
between food (CS) and feelings of sickness (CR);
Such taste aversion is quite hard to extinguish.

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 Operant Conditioning
Thorndike’s discovery

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 Operant Conditioning
Thorndike’s discovery
Law of effect
Responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular
situation become more likely to occur again in that
situation
Responses that produce a discomforting effect in a
particular situation become less likely to occur again in
that situation.

in a maze, a duck will have lots of responses,

some can help to get away from the maze—> Remember and likely to occur again

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 Operant Conditioning
The learning process in which a response
becomes
more likely to occur
or
less likely to occur
depending on
its consequences
B. F. Skinner

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 Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement increases the frequency of a
response A mother gives her獲得喜歡的東⻄西
son praise for doing homework

Positive reinforcement:
Give something desirable
when the response occurs
Negative reinforcement:
Remove something
undesirable when the
response occurs 移除不不喜歡的東⻄西
Bob does the dishes to stop his mother’s nagging

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 Operant Conditioning
Punishment decreases the frequency of a
response drive over the speed limit through a school zone and receive a ticket.
Positive punishment:
Give something 不不喜歡的後果
undesirable when
the response occurs
Negative punishment:
Remove something
desirable when 移除喜歡的東⻄西
the response occurs
If a child does not acts inappropriately,
he loses a token for good behavior that can later be cashed in for a prize.
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 Operant Conditioning
Reinforcement increases the frequency of a response
Positive reinforcement: Give something desirable when the
response occurs
Negative reinforcement: Remove something undesirable
when the response occurs
Punishment decreases the frequency of a response
Positive punishment: Give something undesirable when the
response occurs
Negative punishment: Remove something desirable when
the response occurs

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 Operant Conditioning
Billy likes to camp out in the backyard. He camped
out on every Friday during the month of June. The
last time he camped out, some older kids snuck up to
his tent while he was sleeping and threw a bucket of
cold water on him. Billy has not camped-out for three
weeks. This is an example of:
A. positive reinforcement
B. negative reinforcement
C. positive punishment
D. negative punishment

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 Operant Conditioning
The sky looked overcast so Marissa took her
umbrella to work. As she was walking from the
parking lot to her office it started to rain heavily, but
Marissa didn't get wet because she had her umbrella
handy. Marissa is more likely to carry her umbrella in
the future. This is an example of:

A. positive reinforcement
B. negative reinforcement
C. positive punishment
D. negative punishment

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 Operant Conditioning
On Monday, Angelina had supper ready when her
dad came home from work. Her dad was pleased,
and he spent an extra half hour reading to Angelina
that evening. Angelina is more likely to get supper
ready in the future. This is an example of:

A. positive reinforcement
B. negative reinforcement
C. positive punishment
D. negative punishment

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 Operant Conditioning
This afternoon, Andrew had a fight with another boy
in the playground. A neighbor told Andrew’s mom
about it and she was quite upset. She decided not to
let Andrew watch TV in the evening as he is allowed
to, hoping that Andrew may be less likely to get into
fights in the future. This is an example of:

A. positive reinforcement
B. negative reinforcement
C. positive punishment
D. negative punishment

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 Operant Conditioning
Schedules of reinforcement
Continuous reinforcement schedule 每當⽬目標⾏行行為出現即增強
Partial/intermittent reinforcement schedule
Based on number of responses
Fixed-ratio schedule
Variable-ratio schedule
Based on amount of time
Fixed-interval schedule
Variable-interval schedule

「固定時距時制」講求每隔⼀一個指定時段便便給予獎賞，例例⼦子有⽉月薪。
「可變時距時制」講求⼀一段時間必定會有獎賞，不不過給予的時間不不定，例例⼦子有⽼老老闆的突擊檢查。
「固定⽐比例例時制」講求⾏行行為累積⾄至指定次數數即給予獎賞，例例⼦子有按件計酬制。
「可變⽐比例例時制」講求獎賞視乎⾏行行為出現次數數⽽而次數數並不不固定，例例⼦子有佣⾦金金制。
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Operant Conditioning

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 Operant Conditioning
Key principles
Extinction & spontaneous recovery
Stimulus generalization & discrimination
Shaping: The process of teaching a complex
behavior by reinforcing closer and closer
approximation of it.
Biological constraints

⼈人类或动物为达到某种⽬目的，会于所处的环境下采取特定⾏行行为；
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当这种⾏行行为带来的某種反應或后果对他有利利时, 这种⾏行行为就会在以后重复出现，⽽而該結果就稱為“增強物”
 Operant Conditioning
Something special about human learners?
Internalization: Behavior is guided by internal
standards, rather than external reinforcement
or punishment.

“Conscience is the inner voice that

warns us somebody may be looking.”
– H. L. Mencken

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 Operant Conditioning
Something special about human learners?
Rewards may backfire…
Extrinsic reinforcers: Reinforcers that
are not inherently related to the
response, such as prizes and praise.
Intrinsic reinforcers: Reinforcers that
are inherently related to the response,
such as enjoyment and sense of
accomplishment.

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 Operant Conditioning
Something special about human learners?
Turning play into work…

Red bars: The

experimental group of
children who received
prizes for drawing after
the experiment.
Blue bars: The control
group of children who
received nothing after
the experiment.

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 Observational Learning
Learning by observing the behavior of
another individual (“model”) – social learning
Learning by watching what others do and what
happens to them for doing it
Attention
Retention “榜样的力量是无穷的。”
Production (The power of a model.)
Motivation - Chinese saying

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Observational Learning

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 Observational Learning
Bandura’s Bobo doll study
Procedure:
- 4 to 6 years old children watch an adult model
“attack” a plastic clown “Bobo doll”
- Children are led to a different playroom for
free play

Results:
- 88% of the children imitated the model’s
aggressive actions.
- 40% of the children repeated the aggressive
actions 8 months later.

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 Observational Learning
Bandura’s Bobo doll study

Implications:
Violence
in the media
is of concern!

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 Observational Learning
Potato washing in Japanese monkeys

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 Relational vs. Analytic Styles
“The Geography of Thought” – Richard Nisbett

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 Relational vs. Analytic Styles
What makes a pair?

Relational style:
typical Chinese

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 Relational vs. Analytic Styles
What makes a pair?

Analytic style (typical Americans)

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