26. Learning and conditioning Flashcards
What is meant by ‘learning’?
Any permanent change in the behaviour, feelings or thoughts of an individual as a consequence of a prior experience
Generally involves an adaptation of the individual to the environment
What are the different types of learning?
Auditory - hearing
Kinsthetic - touching
Visual - seeing
What types of behaviours are not learned?
Reflexes - behaviours built into us
Orienting reflexes - allow us to learn from our environment e.g. flash or loud noise then we turn to the source to see if we are in danger
Habituation - simple unconscious learning - tune out background stimuli e.g. background talking
What are instincts?
These are complex, preprogrammed behaviours
These often involve a stimulus which then prompts some degree of learning
What is classical conditioning?
This is a learning procedure whereby a biologically potent stimulus e.g. food is paired with a previously neutral experience e.g. a bell
What is meant by the ‘unconditioned stimulus’ in classical conditioning?
This is the stimulus which already elicits a response
What is the ‘unconditioned response’ in classical conditioning?
A response that does not have to be learned
What is the ‘conditioned stimulus’ in classical conditioning?
The previously neutral stimulus which the individual now responds to
What is the ‘conditioned response’ in classical conditioning?
This is the learned response that is elicited by classical conditioning
What are the different phases involved in classical conditioning?
Acquisition -
Extinction -
Spontaneous recovery -
Savings -
What is meant by stimulus generalisation?
This is where the response to a specific stimulus becomes associated with other, similar stimuli
What is meant by stimulus discrimination?
This is a response to one specific stimulus and not to another
What is meant by conditioned emotional responses and why is this relevant?
These are classically conditioned feelings that an individual experiences in association with particular events e.g. a certain phobia after a negative experience
Important because this is an example of classical conditioning in the real world
Give some specific examples of conditioned emotional responses
Garcia effect - where you avoid eating certain food/drink because of a past unpleasant experience
Addictions - pleasant feeling of alcohol/drug (US) induces a taste of alcohol (CS)
What is the theory of tolerance in classical conditioning?
The ceasing of the conditioned stimulus intake does not break the association of the conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response
What psychological treatments have been based on classical conditioning?
What are these treatments known as?
Counterconditioning - a positive association between an unconditioned stimulus and a conditioned stimulus is replaced with a negative one e.g. drugs - causing violent nausea when consumed with alcohol
Extinction procedures - weaken the maladaptive responses e.g. anxiety or flooding
These are known as behaviourist approaches
Give particular examples of counterconditioning
Aversion therapy - client is taught to experience negative feelings in the presence of a stimulus e.g. electroshocks or nauseating drugs
Systematic desensitisation - replacing one response (anxiety) with another response (relaxation) - this is this antithesis of aversion therapy
Give a particular example of an extinction procedure
Flooding - the client is placed into a situation which induces anxiety however where no harm can happen to them and they therefore realise that they can cope with the situation e.g. a person with a phobia of heights is taken to the top of buildings - repetition of these experiences can remove the fear or the phobia
What is meant by operant conditioning?
What is the idea behind this?
A type of learning where the strength of the behaviour is modified by the behaviours consequences e.g. reward or punishment
Idea is that the actions that are rewarded will be strengthened and those that are not will be weakened
What is the ‘operant’ in operant conditioning?
The behaviour that has some effect on the environment
What are the ‘reinforcers’ in operant conditioning?
These are the responses which will increase the probability of behaviour occurring:
Positive - reward, pleasant stimulus following a behaviour e.g. praise from a teacher
Negative - stimulus whose removal increases the behaviour e.g. removes the problematic stimuli and behaviour (putting up an umbrella when rain is making you wet)
What is meant by: 1 - Fixed ratio reinforcement 2 - Variable ratio reinforcement 3 - Fixed interval reinforcement 4 - Variable interval reinforcement
Which of these has the strongest form of learning?
1 - Reinforcement is fiven after every response
2 - The reinforcement given is not stable and is randomisd
3 - Time must pass before the reinforcement is given
4 - The time interval between the action and the reinforcement varies
The variable ration reinforcement !! Because you are not expecting it - do not know exactly what/how much you have to do to get your reward
What are the ‘punishers’ in operant conditioning?
These are responses which decrease the probability of a behaviour occuring:
Positive punishment - the application of the unpleasant stimuli e.g. being hit/laughed at/poor grade
Negative punishment - the removal of a pleasant stimulus e.g. restricted from enjoyable activities
What is social learning?
This is a theory that people learn by watching what other people do and then they copy that behaviour
A result of observing others’ behaviour and its outcomes
