Learning
I. General information
Meetings: Tuesday, & Thursday, 12:30-1:45
Office hours: Tuesday, & Thursday, 11:00 – 12:00;
Wednesday, 11:00-1:00; and
by appointment
Contact information: Office – Beaven
413
Voice
– x2278
Email:
clocurto@holycross.edu
II. Readings
Text: Schwartz, B. & Robbins, S. J. (1995).
Psychology of Learning and Behavior, 4th ed., New York:
Norton.
Book of Readings: O’Donohue (1998) (Ed.), Learning and
Behavior Therapy, Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Reserve Readings (Readings are on reserve in Science
Library)
Domjan, M. (1987). Animal learning comes of age. American Psychologist,
42, 556-564.
Epstein, R., Lanza, R. P., & Skinner, B. F. (1980). Symbolic
communication between two pigeons (Columba livia domestica). Science, 4,
123-124.
McDowell, J. J. (1982). The importance of Herrnstein's mathematical
statement of the law of effect for behavior theory. American Psychologist,
37, 771-779.
Rescorla, R. (1988) Pavlovian conditioning: It's not what you
think it is. American Psychologist, 43, 151-160.
Skinner, B. F. (1960). Pigeons in a pelican. American
Psychologist, 15, 28-37. (Skinner I)
Skinner, B. F. (1972). A lecture on “having” a poem. In B.
F. Skinner (Ed.), Cumulative record: A selection of papers (3rd ed.), pp.
345-355. (Skinner II)
III. Exams and Grading
1. First exam (October 14,
1999) 10% (last
year's exam)
2.
Second exam (November 16, l999) 15% (last
year's exam)
3.
Paper (due November 30, 1999) 15%
4. Unannounced
quizzes 25% (sample
quizzes)
5. Final
exam (to be scheduled) 20% (last
year's exam)
6.
Class Participation 15%
Each exam
may include multiple choice questions and both short and long
essays. The final exam will be cumulative. There will be ten
unannounced quizzes. Your lowest three quiz grades will be
dropped. As the quizzes concern the assignment scheduled for a
particular day (text and other readings) they cannot be made up.
If an exam is missed it can be made up but only if we have
discussed why the exam must be missed before the exam is given. If
problems arise at the last minute please try to contact me by phone or
contact the Psychology Department secretary (793-2218).
Class Participation
Class participation refers to your daily work in class, both in terms
of answering questions and in posing them. Your grade is based not so much
on the amount you speak during the semester, but more on the quality of
what you say or ask. This part of your grade is obviously the most
subjective to assess, and I encourage you to come in and talk with me
about your grade for this part of the course whenever you wish.
Paper
The paper is to be no longer than 10 typed, double-spaced pages,
excluding title page, reference list and any tables and/or figures you
wish to include. The topic of the paper must concern a contemporary
issue in behavior theory for which there is, at present, no
universally-accepted answer. That is, the title of your paper must be in
the form of a question. Periodically, we'll talk about this assignment and
I'll propose possible topics. (Some topics, although still
researched, are nonetheless not of continuing theoretical interest.)
Be sure to talk with me about your topic. Not all topics are
acceptable, especially topics that are applied in nature and those that
are unrelated to basic learning theory. There are no extensions for the
paper.
IV. Course
Syllabus
|
DATE |
TOPIC |
ASSIGNMENT |
|
August 31 |
Course introduction |
|
|
September 2 |
Human nature and Behavior Theory |
Chapter 1 ("Chapter" assignments refer to
Schwartz & Robbins text)
O'Donohue 1
(refers to chapter 1 in O'Donohue book of
readings) |
|
7 |
Habituation and Introduction to Pavlovian Concitioning |
Chapters 2 & 3 |
|
9 |
Pavlovian Conditioning: Basics |
Chapter 3 |
|
14 |
Pavlovian Conditioning: Basics |
Chapter 3 |
|
16 |
Pavlovian Conditioning: Causal Factors |
Chapter 4 |
|
21 |
Pavlovian Conditioning: Causal Factors |
Chapter 4 |
|
23 |
Pavlovian Conditioning: Explanations |
Chapter 5;
(chapter by Williams et. al) |
|
28 |
Pavlovian Conditioning: Explanations |
Chapter 5;
O'Donohue 6 (chapter by Lubow) |
|
30 |
Pavlovian Conditioning: Storage and Response Output |
Chapter 6 |
|
October 5 |
Pavlovian Conditioning: Storage and Response Output |
Chapter 6 |
|
7 |
Review |
Rescorla (author's name refers to article on
reserve) |
|
14 |
FIRST EXAM |
Last
year's exam |
|
19 |
Operant Conditioning: Basic Phenomena |
Chapter 7 |
|
21 |
Operant Conditioning: Basic Phenomena, Causal Factors, and
Explanations |
Chapters 7-8;
O'Donohue (chapter by Branch &
Hackenberg) |
|
26 |
Operant Conditioning: Causal Factors and Explanations |
Chapter 8;
O'Donohue (chapter by Overmier and
LoLordo) |
|
28 |
Aversive Control |
Chapter 9
|
|
November 2 |
Aversive Control |
Chapter 9;
O'Donohue 7 (chapter by Ayres) |
|
4 |
The Maintenance of Behavior: intermittent Reinforcement, Choice,
and Economics |
Chapter 10 |
|
9 |
The Maintenance of Behavior: intermittent Reinforcement, Choice,
and Economics |
Chapter 10;
O'Donohue 13 (chapter by Logue) |
|
11 |
The Maintenance of Behavior: intermittent Reinforcement, Choice,
and Economics |
Chapter 10;
McDowell |
|
16 |
SECOND EXAM |
last
year's exam |
|
18 |
Stimulus Control of Operant Behavior |
Chapter 11;
Skinner I |
|
23 |
Stimulus Control of Operant Behavior |
Chapter 11 |
|
30 |
Interactions Between Pavlovian and Operant Conditioning
PAPERS DUE |
Chapter 12;
|
|
December 2 |
Interactions Between Pavlovian and Operant Conditioning |
Chapter 12;
O'Donohue 16 (chapter by Falk &
Kupfer) |
Last
year's final exam
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|
