Learning psychology

• CLASSICAL CONDITIONING - PAVLOV
• classical conditioning:


  how does he say we learn behaviours?via association
• classical conditioning:


  what is the diagram for CC?before: UCS -> UCR

  
  

  NS -> no response

  
  

  during: UCS + NS. -> UCR

  
  

  after: CS -> CR
• classical conditioning:


  what is extinction?fear disappears after the UCS and NS are not paired together for a while
• classical conditioning:


  what is spontaneous recovery?fear randomly returns
• classical conditioning:


  what is stimulus generalisation?where you generalise a response in relation from one stimulus to the other stimulus

  e.g little Albert generalised fear to white fluffy things after he was made to fear white rats
• evaluation of classical conditioning:

  supporting evidence?pavlovs dog

  conditioned dogs to salivate in response to various sounds they had associated them with food. e.g a bell
• evaluation of classical conditioning:

  what is more supporting evidence?little Albert - Watson and Rayner

  conditioned young boy to have a fear of white rats because they associated with the sound of a hammer and a steel bar

  later found this was transferred to different objects and locations
• evaluation of classical conditioning:

  what conflicts CC?it is only a partial explanation for how phobias are acquired not maintained
• evaluation of classical conditioning:

  is this theory useful?useful to understand how phobias are acquired

  we can use things such as aversion therapy to get rid of phobias

  has great link to treatment for phobias
• CLASSICAL CONDITIONIG - PAVLOVS DOG
• pavlovs dog:


  what was the aim?to explain the role of conditioned reflexes in dogs eating behaviour

  and to explain how salivation becomes associated with new stimuli unrelated to food
• pavlovs dog:


  what was the procedure?dogs response to neutral stimuli was tested before

  sounding of metronome or bell produced no response beforehand

  dogs were put in soundproof chamber to ensure other stimuli would not interfere

  salivation was measured objectively by the use of a cannula
• pavlovs dog:


  what were the results?it is possible to condition dogs to salivate in response to stimuli unrelated to food

  salivation would not happen if salivation was after the food

  - NS has to presented first for it to work

  dogs must always be alert with no distractions
• evaluation of pavlovs dog:

  is it generalisable?not generalisable to humans - our brains are far more developed

  little albert doesn't prove that CC can work on humans either
• evaluation of pavlovs dog:

  is it reliable?very standardised procedure, easily replicable because all the stages can be followed again
• evaluation of pavlovs dog:

  is it applicable?can understand how phobias are acquired

  and how to treat them
• evaluation of pavlovs dog:

  valid?sound proof chamber

  no extraneous variables

  increases validity
• OPERANT CONDITIONING - SKINNER
• operant conditioning:


  what does operant conditioning suggest?that behaviours are voluntary

  they are reinforced by rewards

  or not reinforced by punishments
• operant conditioning:


  what is positive reinforcement?desired behaviour is rewarded
• operant conditioning:


  what is negative reinforcement?do something good to avoid a bad outcome
• operant conditioning:


  what is a primary reinforcer?basic human need such as water, shelter etc...
• operant conditioning:


  what is a secondary reinforcer?can be exchanged for a basic human need such as money for buying water from the shop

  or tokens
• operant conditioning:


  what are the schedules of reinforcement?interval fixed

  interval variable

  ratio fixed

  ratio variable
• operant conditioning:


  what is interval fixed?get given a reward after a certain amount of time

  e.g every 5 seconds
• operant conditioning:


  what is interval variable?get given a reward after a random amount of time

  e.g every 5 seconds, 10 seconds etc...
• operant conditioning:


  what is ratio fixedget given a reward after a certain amount of behaviours are done

  e.g when the behaviour is done 5 times
• operant conditioning:


  what is ratio variableget given reward after a random amount of behaviours is carried out
• operant conditioning:


  what is shaping?can be used to reinforce behaviours leading to the overall desired behaviour

  e.g teaching a baby to walk isn't as simple as just walking

  they will learn to crawl first

  and then stand

  and then baby steps

  and then walking
• operant conditioning:


  what is behaviour modification?it is aimed at changing specific behaviours in individuals

  involves using reinforcement and punishment to encourage desired behaviours and discourage unwanted ones
• operant conditioning:


  how can you evaluate behaviour modification?skinners box
• evaluation of operant conditioning:

  supporting evidence?skinners box study on rats and pigeons

  they were rewarded if they got the behaviour right

  and punished if they did it wrong
• evaluation of operant conditioning:

  conflicting evidence?most research is done on animals which is not generalisable to humans

  can only explain maintenance not acquisition
• evaluation of operant conditioning:

  other theories explain behaviour?classical conditioning

  social learning theory
• evaluation of operant conditioning:

  usefullness?application to society

  token economy

  therapies
• SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY - BANDURA
• social learning theory:


  how does it suggest we learn behaviours?through the process of observation and imitation of a role model
• social learning theory:


  what are the conditions for SLT?modelling

  observation

  imitation

  vicarious reinforcement
• social learning theory:


  what does Bandura suggest the 4 stages are?Attention

  Retention

  Reproduction

  Motivation