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psychology
objectives - learning
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| learning | relatively permanent change, often in behaviour, that occurs as a result of experience |
| classical conditioning | a form of learning based on the repeated association of two normally unrelated stimuli. depends on reflex responses. |
| reflex | involuntary stimulus and response connection that is innate. essential for survival due to allowing us to react quickly to stimuli that may do us harm |
| neutral stimulus | stimulus that elicits no response |
| unconditioned stimulus | stimulus that elicits a specific reflex response |
| unconditioned response | reflex response to the unconditioned stimulus |
| conditioned stimulus | was once the neutral stimulus now associated with the response from the unconditioned stimulus |
| conditioned response | was once the unconditioned response, but is now elicited from the conditioned stimulus |
| stimulus generalisation | when stimuli similar to the CS trigger the CR. why companies carry imitations of nationally known products |
| stimulus discrimination | when an organism will only produce the CR when exposed to the CS; they will not have the CR to other stimuli, even if they are similar |
| extinction | the gradual decrease in strength or frequency of a response, to the point of no response, that has been conditioned when the UCS is no longer present |
| spontaneous recovery | the reappearance of a CR following a period of apparent extinction. usually weaker and more short-lived than the original CR. |
| Pavlov (1902) aim | to investigate the salivatory response of dogs to a metronome/bell before and after pairing of that stimuli with food |
| Pavlov (1902) method | dogs harnessed in lab. food bowl positioned before them, devices employed to gauge frequency of salivary gland secretion. dogs shown food = salivate. metronome = no response. ding metronome and give food = salivate. over many trials, metronome = salivate. |
| Pavlov (1902) findings | after conditioning, dogs salivated at the sound of the metronome |
| Pavlov (1902) strengths | demonstrated how reflex responses can be transferred from one stimuli to another || showed how some learning results from experience of patterns in environment || produced quantitative data allowing for replication and further development of theory |
| Pavlov (1902) weaknesses | not generalisable to humans || dogs were held in unpleasant conditions || missed that some stimuli are more easily associated with others, such as taste before vomiting |
| Watson and Rayner (1920) 'Little Albert' - aim | to test if fears could be conditioned in children/humans |
| Watson and Rayner (1920) 'Little Albert' - method | albert's fear response tested - presented with several stimuli that produced no response. then presented with same stimuli as a steel bar was struck behind his head. albert presented with same objects, and a response was observed. |
| Watson and Rayner (1920) 'Little Albert' - findings | albert produced a fear response to previously neutral stimuli. this response was generalised to similar stimuli |
| Watson and Rayner (1920) 'Little Albert' - strengths | showed how fears can be conditioned || more generally applies classical conditioning to humans || showed how fears can be generalised |
| Watson and Rayner (1920) 'Little Albert' - weaknesses | ethical criticisms: harm to albert, no debrief, no informed consent || tiny sample size || didn't control pseudo-conditioning (noise makes fearful of any novel stimulus) || unclear what CS was: could have been presence of researchers || went extinct fast |
| operant conditioning | the learning process in which the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated is determined by the consequences of that behaviour |
| antecedent | the stimulus that comes before, or is the precursor to, the response in operant conditioning. e.g. food getting stuck in a vending machine. |
| behaviour | the response the organism makes because of the antecedent stimulus. voluntary, as learner decides what their response will be. e.g. shaking the vending machine in hopes the snack will fall |
| consequence | follows the behaviour and may result in either pleasant or unpleasant circumstances, influencing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated. can be reinforcement or punishment. e.g. the snack falling out; a reinforcement. |
| positive reinforcement | a pleasant or desirable event following a behaviour, increasing the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again |
| negative reinforcement | an unpleasant stimulus is removed, reduced or prevented, increasing the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again |
| positive punishment | an unpleasant event following a behaviour, decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again |
| negative punishment | a pleasant stimulus is removed, decreasing the likelihood that a behaviour will occur again |
| fixed-interval reinforcement schedule | an exact amount of time passes between each reinforcement. e.g. getting a paycheck every two weeks |
| variable-interval reinforcement schedule | a varying amount of time passes between each reinforcement, e.g. checking your phone for a text |
| fixed-ratio reinforcement schedule | reinforcement occurs after a fixed number of responses. e.g. losing your license after 12 demerits |
| variable-ratio reinforcement schedule | reinforcement occurs after a varying number of responses. e.g. playing the lottery |
| characteristics of effective punishment | appropriate deterrent; not too harsh, but severe enough to deter repeated behaviour || most occur as the response is being made or directly after || must be repeated each time the behaviour occurs |
| Law of effect - Thorndike (1898) - aim | to investigate the frequency of behaviours of cats in a puzzle box across numerous trials |
| Law of effect - Thorndike (1898) - method | recorded the type and frequency of behaviours displayed by a hungry cat after being put in a box containing a lever which would enable the cat to escape and reach some food |
| Law of effect - Thorndike (1898) - findings | behaviours that preceded escaping the box became more frequent and quicker to be shown over time compared to other behaviours, such as scratching the box |
| Law of effect - Thorndike (1898) - strengths | laid ground work for study of operant conditioning || showed likelihood of behaviour determined in part by the consequences || provided clear trial and error model of learning |
| Law of effect - Thorndike (1898) - weaknesses | only investigates learning by consequences, and not by construction of mental models || neglected role of internal motivation to learn and understand || not generalisable to humans due to more complex cognition |
| Skinner box (1948) - aim | investigate qhow random reward can change behaviour in pigeons |
| Skinner box (1948) - method | pigeons starved to 3/4/ body weight placed in box. timer used to present food at fixed intervals (intervals varied in different experiments as an IV). |
| Skinner box (1948) - findings | 6/8 pigeons showed learnt behaviour. behaviours were different. 15-second intervals proved most effective at conditioning behaviour. shorter interval = behaviour more likely to be occurring when reward was given |
| Skinner box (1948) - strengths | automatised study of learning by consequences; easier to study systematically || showed how behaviour can be accidentally reinforced || showed smaller intervals between rewards are more likely to reinforce random behaviour |
| Skinner box (1948) - weaknesses | proposed human learning to be no different than animals || don't address cognitive factors or the building of mental models || overlooked internal states such as wanting and fearing and their roles in learning || ethical issues of starving animals |
| social learning theory: observational learning (Bandura, 1977) | occurs when we watch/observe the actions of a model and note the consequences of their actions, then decide whether we will imitate their behaviour or not. |
| factors of observational learning: attention | learner must pay attention to the model: must perceive the model as interesting. no attention paid = no learning. models with interesting qualities are more likely to grab attention of learners. |
| factors of observational learning: retention | the learner must remember what was done by the model so that the information can be encoded and stored in their memory system. makes mental representations of the behaviour. |
| factors of observational learning: reproduction | learner must be able to reproduce the modelled behaviour; they must have psychological and physical capacity to demonstrate the modelled behaviour |
| factors of observational learning: motivation | the learner must have the desire to repeat the observed behaviour |
| factors of observational learning: reinforcement | the learner must perceive some form of wards for repeating the observed behaviour. normal reinforcement determines if it will be repeated thereafter. |
| vicarious reinforcement | occurs when we watch a model experience reinforcement, and therefore decide to replicate their behaviour to receive the same reinforcement. |
| social learning theory: strength | empirical support; demonstrated in real-world scenarios || practically applicable in various domains; education, parenting, therapy, etc. |
| social learning theory; weakness | doesn't explain some learning. some behaviours do not need to be copied || sometimes there is no direct model for a behaviour, but we perform it anyway |
| Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) 'bobo dolls' - aim | to test if aggressive behaviour can be learnt through observation of aggressive models |
| Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) 'bobo dolls' - method | matched pairs design according to aggressive tendencies; children in 1 of 4 conditions; watch video of aggressive model being rewarded, aggressive model being punished, two models without aggression, and a control. child left alone to play with toys |
| Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) 'bobo dolls' - findings | children who observed film of rewarded attacker displayed significantly more aggressive acts than any other condition. boys more likely to imitate same-sex models. boys more physically aggressive. |
| Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) 'bobo dolls' - strengths | prompted research into violent media || demonstrated children can learn by observing others || highlighted importance of role models in parenting || highlighted possible gender differences in aggression |
| Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) 'bobo dolls' - weaknesses | convenient sampling || ethical issue of leaving children alone with possible aggressive tendency || possible low ecological validity || possible demand characteristics (though children possibly too young for this to be applicable) |
| token economy | form of behaviour modification in which tokens are earned for performing target behaviours, and can be exchanged later for a reinforcer. tokens can be phased out over time, and replaced with simple praise |
| token economy set-up | identify and set out good behaviours needed for a token, identify what reinforcers the participants want, organise a 'price list' of how many tokens are needed for each reward, set up a score card to track tokens that have been attained |
| token economy strengths | avoids problem of satiation; building up points rather than direct reward each time prevents them getting accustomed to the reward || behaviour can be immediately rewarded || easy to use |
| token economy weaknesses | hard to replace or compensate || can be prone to extinction if reward is not achieved || learners are extrinsically motivated, and are only performing the action for reward |
| systemic desensitisation | the application of classical conditioning to fears and phobias. involves drawing up an anxiety hierarchy, allowing the gradual introduction of stimulus from least to most fearful in graded exposure. |
| systemic desensitisation 2 | person is taught to relax, then is exposed to least frightening situation and practices relaxation until they are comfortable to proceed to the next. takes place over time. |
Created by:
Millie Cullender
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