5.1 Learning Approaches

• the behaviourist approach beleives that we are 


  born with our mind as a blank slate and everything we become is due to the environment in which we are raised
• John Watson claimed that...


  we are conditioned by and learn from our environment via experience, and lab experiments are the best way to back our theory. Not worth investigating mental processes as they are too vague and hard to measure.
• Classical Conditioning is learning


  through association and is one of the behaviourist approaches to key learning principles. Both animals and humans can learing from CC.
• Classical conditing occurs 


  with a neutral stimulus and reflex response
• Classical conditioning was first demonstrated by 


  Ivan Pavlov (1927) - Dog can be classical conditioned NS NR UCS UCR
• Operant Conditioning is learning through 


  consequence and is another key feature of the behaviourist approach.
• Conseuquence is learnt through 


  3 types of reinforcement - Positive Reinforcement, Negative reinforcement, punishment
• Positive reinforcement involves giving a positive reward 


  for good behaviour
• Positive reinforcment is when we give something pleasant or rewarding to encourage desired behaviours. This increases the likelihood of it happening again.
• Negative reinforcement is when we remove an unpleasant situation/stimuli to encourage desired behaviours. This increases the likelihood of it happening again.
• Punishment is when we give something unpleasant or painful to discourage undesired behaviours. It decreases the likelihood of it happening again.
• the works of Skinner (1953) suggests that learning is an


  active process where humans and animals operate in their environment . Skinner studied how animals learn from the consequences of their actions
• Skinner devised the 'skinners box' where he


  placed one rat at a time. Each box contained a different stimuli and the rats learned how to release food by pressing a lever (positive reinforcement), overtime the rats learned to avoid the electric shock (punishment) by pressing the lever when the light turned on (negative reinforcement)
• Social learning theory was pioneered by Bandura where he 


  agreed with behaviourists that behaviour was learnt with experience, but he proposed that people learn from observation and the limitation of others
• SLT suggests learning happens via ARRM


  A:Attention

  R:Retention

  R:Reproduction

  M:Motivation
• Identification 


  before the behaviour of others is immitated it is important the behaviour being observed is coming from someone whom the individyal sees as a role model eg similar characteristics, attracriveness, charasmatic
• Role models do NOT have to be physically present in the environment for vicarious reinforcement to take place
• Vicarious Reinforcement


  SLT suggests that simply observing others receiving a reward is enough to motivate the desire to imitate the behaviour also to receive the reward