Learning theory

• Who are the key psychologists for learning theory?

  Dollard and miller 1950
• what is dollards and millers approach also known as?

  cupboard love.
• what did dollard and miller propose?

  children learn to love whoever feeds them
• before classical conditioning what was each thing?

  • food - unconditioned stimulus
  • pleasure from being fed - unconditioned response
  • caregiver - neutral stimulus
• what happens when the same person provides food over time?

  • they become associated with food
  • when the baby sees them, there is an expectation of food
• what was the caregiver after conditioning?

  conditioned stimulus
• what happened when baby saw the conditioned caregiver?

  produced conditioned response of pleasure
• what can operant conditioning explain?

  why babies cry for comfort
• how is crying reinforced?

  • crying leads to a response from caregiver
  • as long as the response is correct, crying is reinforced
• what does the baby then direct crying for comfort towards?

  the caregiver who responds with comforting social suppressor behaviour
• what is comforting social suppressor behaviour?

  actions or words intended to soothe someone
• Why is reinforcement said to be a two-way process?

  • Baby is reinforced for crying
  • Caregiver receives negative reinforcement because crying stops
• what are primary drives?

  innate biological motivators
• who was the key psychologist for secondary drive?

  sears et al 1957
• what did sears et al 1957 state?

  attachment is a secondary drive
• what is a secondary drive?

  a learned drive that develops through association with primary drives
• explain the drives in terms of hunger

  • primary drive- satisfying hunger
  • as caregiver provides food, the primary drive is generalised to the caregiver.
  • A secondary drive is attachment which is learned by an association between caregiver and satisfaction of primary drive