The Psychology of Learning
Fall 2001
Instructor: Michael
Addis, Ph.D.
Meeting Times: MW: 2:25 –
3:40
office: 314 JC
office hours: M 9-10; W
1-2
email: maddis@clarku.edu
phone: 793-7266
Overview:
This course
is designed to provide you with an overview of the psychology of
learning and the basic principles of behavior analysis. What is
learning? How do human and non-human organisms learn? How can we
understand the role of the environment and consequences in the
process of learning? What does all this have to do with you and your
life? These are some of the questions we will attempt to address
thoroughly in this course. We will explore these questions
theoretically, and by examining relevant experimental findings with
human and non-human organisms.
Background
Requirements:
You
should have completed and a received a satisfactory grade in
introductory psychology in order to be enrolled in this course. You
should be willing to temporarily suspend your disbelief and
suspicion of BEHAVIORISM as you have understood it previously. If,
after taking this course, you are still convinced that behaviorists
are concerned with nothing more than teaching pigeons to peck and
rats to run, then I have not done my job (or you didn’t come to
class!). If, on the other hand, you come away from this course with
a more deeply educated understanding of behavioral analysis then I
have done my job (and you came to class).
Readings:
Barker, L.M. (2001). Learning and
Behavior: Bilogical, Psychological, and Sociocultural Perspectives.
(third edition). Prentice Hall, N.J.
Barker does a good job of teaching
the basic terms, concepts, and studies that form the basis of
modern learning theory. He’s less interested in the philosophical
and applied aspects of the psychology of learning and I will
emphasize these more during class lectures and discussions.
Skinner, B.F. (1974). About
Behaviorism. Random House, N.Y.
Straight from the horse’s mouth.
Few people actually read Skinner in the original, and yet they
still reject his ideas. This is his most accessible treatment of
the core ideas surrounding radical behaviorism. The book will not
be easy, but it’s short and you should read it slowly and
carefully.
Baum, W.M. (1994). Understanding
Behaviorism: Science, Behavior, and Culture. Harper Collins, New
York.
Baum’s book is similar to Skinner’s
though considerably more didactic. This book is out of print and
copies of selected chapters are available at the bookstore.
Evaluation and
Grading:
Your grade will be based on 7
bi-weekly quizzes (typically on Mondays, 20 points each), a short
paper (40 points), and the quality of your questions (40 points -
explained below). There will be no make-up quizzes for any reason.
However, you may drop your lowest grade from one of the 7 quizzes.
If you miss one of the quizzes, this will automatically be the one
you drop. The total points possible in the class are:
120 (6 counted quizzes / 20 points
each) + 40 (one paper) + 40 (questions) = 200.
Final grades are based on a
percentage of the total possible points in the class (200).
A = 200 - 185
A- = 186 - 180
B+ = 179 - 174
B = 173 - 165
B- = 164 - 160
C+ 159 - 154
C = 153 - 145
C- = 144 - 140
D+ = 139 - 134
D = 133 - 125
D- = 124-120
< 120....yikes!
Discussion
Sections:
You are all
required to attend weekly discussion sections (times to be
arranged). These are not lectures or review sessions. They’re really
intended for you to discuss the material. In preparation for this,
you will bring two questions (based on the readings or the lectures)
to each discussion period. They should be written or typed clearly
on a single sheet of paper with your name and the date on the top of
the paper. The T.A.’s will collect the questions at the beginning
and use them to foster discussion. Therefore, your questions should
be designed to clarify concepts, or stimulate discussion. Questions
such as, “What did professor Addis cover on Wednesday?” are not
stimulating or clarifying. Questions such as, “If thoughts don’t
exist, how can we explain creativity?” are very stimulating. Or,
“What is the difference between rule-governed and contingency
shaped-behavior?” High quality questions are ones which demonstrate
that you are thinking about the material you are reading.
Course Schedule
1. week of: 8/27//01 -- Introduction,
Overview of the Course, What is Learning? Mentalism versus
Functionalism; Animal versus Human Learning
Barker: Ch. 1
Skinner: Introduction, Ch. 1
Baum: Ch. 1
2. week of 9/3/01 -- Biological basis
of learning / Natural Selection
NO CLASS ON MONDAY: Labor Day Holiday
Barker: Ch. 2
Skinner: Ch. 3 pp. 37-44
Baum: Ch. 4
3. week of 9/10/01 – Simple
Conditioning / Beginning of Associative Learning
MONDAY QUIZ
Barker Ch. 3-4
4. week of 9/17/01 – Associative
Learning / Classical Conditioning
Barker Ch. 4-5, Skip pp 165-178
5. week of 9/24/01 – Instrumental
Learning / Operant Conditioning/ Schedules of Reinforcement
MONDAY QUIZ
Barker Ch. 6
Skinner Ch.3 pp. 44-50
6. week of 10/1/01 – Instrumental
Learning Continued (Learned and Unlearned Reinforcers, Response
Classes, Differential Reinforcement, Shaping)
Barker Ch. 6
Skinner Ch. 4
7. week of 10/8/01 – Aversive Control
/ Avoidance and Escape Learning
MONDAY QUIZ
Barker Ch. 8
Skinner
8. week of 10/15/01 – Verbal Behavior
NO CLASS MONDAY: mid-semester break
Skinner Ch. 6
Baum Ch 7.
9. week of 10/22/01 – Rule Governed
Behavior
MONDAY QUIZ
Baum Ch. 8 pp. 130-141
10. week of 10/29/01 – Thinking and
Problem Solving
Skinner Ch. 7
Baum Ch. 88 pp. 142-147
11. week of 11/5/01 – Knowledge /
Knowing / Self-Knowledge
MONDAY QUIZ
Skinner Ch. 9
Baum: Ch. 6
12. week of 11/12/01 – Culture
Baum Ch. 13
13. week of 11/19/01 - ??? catch up
MONDAY QUIZ
NO CLASS WEDNESDAY: Thanksgiving
Holiday
14. week of 11/26/01 – Moral and Legal
Control
Skinner Ch. 12
Baum: Ch. 2, 10
15. week of 12/3/01 – Clinical
Applications of Learning Theory
PAPER DUE
Goldfried, M.R., & Davison, G.C.
(1994). Clinical Behavior Therapy. New York. Wiley. Ch 1-2
16. week of 12/10/01
MONDAY QUIZ – Last day of class
Paper
Assignment
This paper
is a chance for you to apply material from the course to your own
life. Your assignment is to take a particular behavior, or class of
behaviors and describe from a behavioral perspective (1) what the
behavior is, (2) why it occurs, and (3) how you would go about
changing it. You may either choose to focus on your own behavior or
that of another person.
Your paper should be divided into
three sections.
I.
Description of the behavior. In this section I want you to describe
as completely yet concisely as possible what the behavior is. Be
sure to describe the behavior as specifically as possible including
examples. Avoid mentalistic or dualist descriptions and
be sure to specify the contexts
(occasions) in which the behavior takes place. If you choose your
own behavior, please do not choose anything too personal (we trust
your judgement). Some behaviors might include procrastination,
overeating, lack of assertiveness, self-critical thinking, playing a
sport or musical instrument, etc.
II. History
of the behavior and maintaining variables. This section should
describe the learning history of the behavior. What kinds of
reinforcers, punishers, escape contingencies, establishing
operations, discriminative stimuli, conditioned emotional reactions,
response classes etc. have led to this behavior? What current
behavioral processes maintain the behavior? In this section, it is
very important to specify both the general behavioral process (e.g.
escape contingency, discriminative stimulus etc.) and the specific
example. For example, if you think a behavior is maintained by an
avoidance contingency, what is the aversive condition to be avoided?
What are the consequences of avoidance?
III. Plan
for changing the behavior. This section should describe exactly how
you would go about changing the behavior. For example, what sorts of
changes would you make in the existing contingencies, discriminative
stimuli, schedules of reinforcement, conditioned stimuli,
rule-governed behavior, and so on. What changes in the behavior
would you expect to see? How would you know if your intervention
worked? How would you measure the outcome of the intervention?
Your paper
should be typed, double-spaced and 7-10 pages long. Make absolutely
sure to spell-check your paper and have someone else check the
grammar (if you’re not sure). Section 1 should be about 1-2 pages
and the rest of the paper split between sections II and III. Papers
are due at the beginning of class on Monday 12/3/01.