Exam (elaborations)
PSYCHIATRY 1 USMLE RX BRICKS
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STEP 1 PSYCHIATRY NOTES FOR THE USMLE
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Principles of LearningLast Updated: August 28, 2020
access_time11 min
Learning Objectives (5)
After completing this brick, you will be able to:
● Name and briefly describe the three major theories of learning.
● 1
● Define classical conditioning, including unconditioned stimulus,
unconditioned response, neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus, and
conditioned response.
● 2
● Define operant conditioning and differentiate between positive
reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and
negative punishment.
● 3
● Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning.
● 4
● Describe examples of social learning theory.
● 5
CASE CONNECTION
You are working with your attending at the psychiatry clinic when
TC, a 31-year-old man, visits for counseling. TC is undergoing
therapy to help with a fear of heights. Your attending begins the
session by showing TC photos of cliffs and tall buildings. When TC is
asked how he feels, he answers, “These photos make me feel really
uncomfortable. Like physically nervous.” Your attending encourages
,TC to take some deep relaxing breaths while continuing to study
photos of elevated areas. Eventually, TC starts to feel more at ease.
What type of conditioning is the attending using with TC? Consider
your answer as you read, and we’ll revisit at the end of the brick.
How Do We Learn?
Learning is traditionally defined as acquiring knowledge through
study, experience, or being taught. In psychology, it is often defined
as a relatively lasting change in behavior that results from experience.
Learning is an ongoing process; we continue learning throughout our
entire lives.
What Are the Primary Theories of
Learning?
During the 20th century, three major theories of learning emerged:
● Classical conditioning: Learning through association
● Operant conditioning: Learning through reinforcement or
punishment
● Social learning: Learning through observation
,What Is Classical Conditioning?
Let’s start with some important definitions. In psychology, behavior is
defined as an organism’s reactions to its environment. A target
behavior is an observable behavior that has been selected for change.
Behavioral psychology (also known as behaviorism) is based on the
idea that behaviors are acquired through conditioning, which occurs
through our interactions with the environment. Behaviorism
originated with psychologist John Watson in 1913. From the 1920s to
the 1950s, it became the dominant school of thought in psychology.
Classical conditioning is learning that occurs when a reflexive
response elicited by an unconditioned stimulus can be evoked by a
second conditioned stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus is something
that naturally triggers a certain response without any prior learning. It
results in an unconditioned response (the reflexive response). The
conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that becomes
associated with the unconditioned stimulus to eventually produce the
reflexive response. When that happens, the reflexive response is
known as the conditioned response.
Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered this type of learning in
1902 when researching the physiology of digestion in dogs. Pavlov
observed that dogs naturally salivated in response to food. He noticed
, that they also salivated when they saw the lab assistant’s white coat,
and he thought that this response to a different stimulus was
interesting. In his experiments, he paired the natural stimulus (the
sight and smell of food) with the sound of a bell (Figure 1). After
multiple trials, the dogs would salivate in response to the sound of the
bell alone. In this example, the unconditioned stimulus (US) is the
food and the unconditioned response (UR) is salivation. The sound of
the bell is the conditioned stimulus (CS) that produced the
conditioned response (CR).
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