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PSYC 387 Course website

Psychology (PSYC) 387
Learning (Revision 4)

View previous syllabus.

Delivery mode: Individualized study or grouped study. Online-enhanced.

Credits: 3 - Social Science*
*Course can also be used to fulfill Science area of study (credential students only). Please check the degree regulations for the program you are enrolled in, as not all credentials allow this.

Prerequisite: PSYC 289 or professor approval.

Centre: Centre for Psychology

PSYC 387 has a Challenge for Credit option.

Course website

Overview

PSYC 387 introduces students to the principles of learning and how those principles can be used to modify human behaviour. The course emphasizes the application of learning theories and principles to solve behavioural problems as they exist in oneself; one's family; schools; the workplace; and in larger social, economic, and political groups.

Topics include reinforcement, extinction, punishment, schedules of reinforcement, stimulus discrimination, prompting and fading, stimulus-response chaining, generalization, modelling, rule-governed behaviour, problem-solving, cognitive therapy, feedback, Pavlovian conditioning, concept learning, general case instruction, and stimulus equivalence.

Outline

Unit 1: Introduction

Unit 2: Pavlovian Conditioning and its Applications

Unit 3: Operant Reinforcement

Unit 4: Operant and Vicarious Processes

Unit 5: Generalization, Discrimination, and Stimulus Control

Unit 6: Schedules of Reinforcement

Unit 7: Remembering and Forgetting and the Limits of Learning

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Evaluation

To receive credit for PSYC387, you must achieve a mark of at least 50 per cent on the examination and obtain a course composite grade of at least “D” (50 per cent). The weighting of assignments is as follows:

Seven Unit Quizzes Project Final Exam Total
42% 8% 50% 100%

To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University's online Calendar.

Course Materials

Textbook

Chance, P. (2006). Learning and behavior (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth.

Other Materials

The course materials include a student manual, a study guide, and a resource file consisting of a reading and exercises supplementary to the course textbook.

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