How to Train a Brain: Crash Course Psychology #11

I'm sure you've heard of Pavlov's Bell, but what was Ivan Pavlov up to, exactly? And how are our brains trained? And what is a "Skinner Box"? All those questions and more are answered in today's Crash Course Psychology, in which Hank talks about some of the aspects of learning.

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Chapters:
Introduction: Ivan Pavlov 00:00
Associative Learning 1:33
Classical Conditioning 2:47
Behaviorist Theory 4:22
Watson's Experiments 4:46
Operant Conditioning 5:42
Positive & Negative Reinforcement 7:18
Primary Reinforcers & Conditioned Reinforcers 8:54
Reinforcement Scheduling 9:32
Review & Credits 11:00
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Want to find Crash Course elsewhere on the internet?

[carissakasper]

My teacher called us Pavlov's dogs when she saw our cellphones buzz and we check it immediately.

[EmoNinjaGirl]

After watching this, it reminded me of something that happened to me when I was younger. I didn't realize that I was doing it, but for a period of a month or two I always chewed on this certain flavour/brand of gum while reading this certain book series. I guess I didn't realize it because I just didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary to chew gum while reading, it was only until I decided to chew this gum while not reading the books did I realize what had happened. Almost as soon as the taste hit me, I felt the strongest urge to read my usual favourite book. I dismissed it as coincidence at first, but it happened again some time later, and then I realized my brain associated the flavour of that gum with the by now familiar text of my favourite book. It was pretty cool, so I began trying to intentionally associate things using senses, mainly taste. I bought 3 packs of gum of distinctly different flavours, then chose things to do while chewing each of these flavours. It was a little more difficult than I imagined, doing it intentionally, but eventually I got it. Month later I found myself actually wanting to do homework at the taste of strawberry gum, and cleaning things at the taste of mint gum. Funny how that works, it can be a very useful tool.

[allanperl]

So if i eat chocolate while learning for exams, will i start liking exams or start hating chocolate?

[Timx]

Great. A ten minute video effectively covered what I've learned over several weeks of my college psychology course.

[SamUndomiel]

That face Hank makes right after "rings a bell" is priceless. I want that giffed.

[Timmie]

If you want an example of classical conditioning in humans: people who undergo chemotherapy often get sick and throw up because of the stuff. This may make it so that when they see the setup in which they will get their chemo, they will get sick. Eventually, they may even get sick because of a white coat, since doctors wear those, and there was a doctor when they got their chemo.
This really happens to people, and it's a classical example of classical conditioning.

[ruhroh]

are you an unconditioned stimulus?
cause gurl, you're making me drool

[CalifOlivia]

i have a psychology exam tomorrow lol god bless these videos

[nicsnort]

My favorite example of classical conditioning is the school bell. What, you say. Yeah, we've all been conditioned during our school years to leave class when the bell rings even if the teacher is the one that is supposed to dismiss us.

[crashcourse]

I'm sure you've heard of Pavlov's Bell (and I'm not talking about the Aimee Mann song), but what was Ivan Pavlov up to, exactly? And how are our brains trained? And what is a "Skinner Box"? All those questions and more are answered in today's Crash Course Psychology, in which about some of the aspects of learning.

How to Train a Brain - Crash Course Psychology #11

[Corbald]

I am REALLY loving this series! I can't stress enough how much I hope this continues for a LONG time! You guys ring my bell, Hank!

Fun fact: little Albert was never unconditioned. He feared white fluffy things for the rest of his short life (he died from hydrocephalus, a condition he had from birth, therefore compromising the validity of the entire experiment). 
... actually that fact wasn't that fun.

[laianaisabel]

I think I actually learned more watching this ten minute episode than I have all semester trying to tackle extremely extensive chapters in my textbook:/ Thank you so much for the videos! 

[BREANNALASHEA]

I just wanna say, that I've always been interested in psychology, sociology, and neurological disorders and I plan to go into that career path after high school and college. I found this page and I'm currently sitting and watching the crash course for psychology, I love it.
Since I'm not old enough to take psychology at my high school yet...
(Have to be in 11th or 12th.)
I can't get all the information I wanna learn about from just Google. Yet I found this and I just yeah, love it, like a lot.

[trentshaffermidwestronin]

Who else is here cramming for a Psych exam?

[lancelovecraft]

I remember learning this from The Office in 2008

[Sophia-bpeu]

Is this why I hate the sound of my wake up-alarm

[brunon.]

That's learning, not the bullshit that our kids suffer at school.

[jackarnold]

You forgot Thorndike's law of effect.

[antivanti]

My favorite experiment is when they put a bird in something that is essentially a Skinner box but the reward is purely random. The bird quickly develops extreme superstitious behavior as it tries to figure out what it did when it got the food. Even better is when you do the same thing with people... hilarious.