PSY402 Theories of Learning

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PSY402Theories of Learning

• Wednesday
• March 5, 2003

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Expectancies

• Expectancy mental representation of event
  contingencies.
• Dickinson an expectancy contains two kinds of
  information
• Associative link between two events classically
  conditioned, mechanistic.
• Behavior-reinforcer belief consequences of
  action, operant, intentional.

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Testing Associative Links

• Two groups trained to bar press
• One group reinforced with sodium (Na)
• Other group reinforced with potassium (K)
• Both tested when deprived of sodium.
• Irrelevant incentive effect sodium deprivation
  activated associative link for Na rats but not K
  rats.
• Could be due to beliefs not links.

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Testing for Beliefs

• Reinforcer devaluation effect what happens if
  reinforcer is diminished in value after training?
• One group got sucrose for bar-pressing and food
  regardless of behavior.
• Other group got food for bar-pressing and sucrose
  non-contingently.
• Sucrose devalued during testing.
• Bar pressing was lower when the sucrose was
  behavior-contingent.

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Importance of Disgust

• Devaluation is a two-stage process
• A disgust reaction is associated with the
  reinforcer (devalued by illness).
• The reinforcer must be reexperienced.
• Devaluation of the reinforcer occurs when
  reexperience activates the associated disgust.
• Studied using ondansetron a strong anti-emetic
  (reduces nausea).

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Importance of Habits

• Dickinson acknowledged that habits do exist and
  can control behavior.
• Expectancies (behavior-reinforcer beliefs)
  control actions before habits are established.
• Behavioral autonomy control of responding by
  habit rather than expectancy.
• Habit responds to devalued reinforcer.

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Learned Helplessness Theory

• Seligman depression is learned.
• Depression occurs when people believe
• Failures are due to uncontrollable events.
• Failure will continue as long as events are
  beyond their control.
• Depression arises from helplessness.

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Animal Research

• Step 1 -- three groups of dogs
• Inescapable shock no control.
• Escapable shock -- terminated if the dog pressed
  a panel.
• No shock
• Step 2 10 trials of signaled avoidance training
  in shuttle box.
• 2/3 of inescapable shock dogs did not learn to
  jump during step 2.

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Helplessness in Humans

• Hiroto three groups of college students
• Uncontrollable group wrongly told that pushing
  button would end noise.
• Escapable group pushing button ended noise.
• Control no noise.
• Tested using finger shuttle box.
• Uncontrollable group did not escape

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Characteristics of Helplessness

• Motivational impairment unable to initiate
  voluntary behavior.
• Mice in water maze.
• Nonspecific carries over to a variety tasks and
  test situations.
• Intellectual impairment incapable of benefiting
  from future experience even if they jump, dont
  learn.
• Emotional trauma neg. affect.

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Studies of Depressives

• Show similar results to learned helplessness
  studies.
• Depressed individuals do not escape noise,
  responding like inescapable non-depressed
  individuals.
• Depressed individuals do not adjust likelihood of
  succeeding upward when they experience success.
• They credit chance not skill.

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Criticisms of Seligmans Theory

• There is more to depression than learned
  helplessness.
• Helplessness subjects described the task as a
  skill task, even though acting as if it were a
  chance task.
• Failure to replicate performance deficits in
  humans facilitation of performance instead.
• May be due to attributions.

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Attribution Theory

• Causal attributions of failure have three
  dimensions
• Internal-external internal traits or
  characteristics vs environmental forces
• Stable-unstable past causes will persist vs new
  forces will determine future outcomes
• Global-specific outcome relates only to one
  task vs outcome effects everything.

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Two Kinds of Helplessness

• Personal helplessness an individuals inability
  causes failure.
• Universal helplessness the environment is
  structured so that no one can control future
  events.
• Abramson -- both kinds lead to depression.
• Vary on external-internal dimension.
• Low self-esteem only with personal.