3- Learning and conditioning

Question 1

Who is responsible for the rise of behaviourism?

Answer 1

Thorndike

Question 2

If psychology wants to be a science, then it has to be based on…

Answer 2

Replication and observation

Question 3

What experiment did Thorndike carry out?

Answer 3

Thorndike did experiments with cats. He out them in a box and cats had to learn to get out of the box. Cats learned quickly.

Question 4

What is the law of effect?

Answer 4

Aka reinforcement
Behaviour with a good outcome is more likely to occur again
Bad outcome will make behaviour less likely to occur

Question 5

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 5

• Involves law of exercise and effect
• S-R = stimulus response association
• Type of associative learning
• Positive outcomes make associations stronger
• Negative outcomes make associations weaker

Question 6

What is a reinforcer?

Answer 6

Something that increases the probability of a response

Question 7

Reinforcers- Positive and negative

Answer 7

Positive- good outcome
Negative- negative outcome taken away e.g. seatbelt stops beeping

Question 8

Reinforcer- Punishment

Answer 8

Less effective than positive reinforcement
e.g. naughty step or getting smacked

Question 9

Reinforcer- Avoidance and escape

Answer 9

Avoidance- doing the dishes so you don’t get nagged
Escape- doing the dishes to stop the nagging

Question 10

Does reinforcing every response good for long term change?

Answer 10

No

Question 11

What is fixed interval reinforcement?

Answer 11

Event or time interval that’s consistent e.g. reward behaviour after 60 seconds

Question 12

What is fixed ratio reinforcement?

Answer 12

Individual needs to do a behaviour a certain amount of times e.g. 5 times. 5th behaviour is reinforced

Question 13

What is variable intervals reinforcement?

Answer 13

can be based on time or number of responses

Question 14

What is variable ratio?

Answer 14

produces steady rates of responding

Question 15

Pavlov

Answer 15

• Associative learning in dogs
• Dogs would salivate before feeding
• Relationship between sound of bell and salivation

Key elements
- Unconditioned stimulus: food
- Unconditioned response: salivation
- Conditioned stimulus: bell
- Conditioned response: salivation

Question 16

Little Albert

Answer 16

• Phobias caused by conditioning
• Associated the loud banging noise with rats which caused a phobia of the rats

Question 17

Hull

Answer 17

• Formed a theory about how associations between stimuli and responses (S-R) were formed
• Needs and drive reduction
• Drive provides motivation for behaviour

Question 18

Need and drive reduction

Answer 18

• We have biological needs
• These needs activate drives
• Whenever a response reduces the level of drive, the S-R association is strengthened

Question 19

Biological bs acquired drives

Answer 19

• We have naturally occurring drives (biological)
• We also have acquired drives such as money
• Complex behaviours were explained by the process of S-R chaining

Question 20

General process learning theory (GPLT)

Answer 20

• Learning is a gradual process
• Requires contiguity (punished right away or reinforced right away.)
• All stimuli and responses are equally conditionable (equipotentiality)

Question 21

Challenges to radical behaviourism

Answer 21

1) Tolman and stimulus-stimulus associations and expectancies
2) Constraints on learning
3) Biological preparedness
4) Conditioned taste aversion
5) Leaning without drive reduction
6) Language acquisition

Question 22

Tolman

Answer 22

• Behaviourist but thought associations were between stimuli
• Learning didn’t depend on reinforcement
• Macfarlane demonstrated that rats could navigate a maze by running then could continue to navigate it when it was filled with water
• Tolman demonstrated that rats could navigate a maze without reinforcement
  o One group reinforced as they got out the maze. They did it quicker over time
  o Second group that wasn’t reinforced. No change in behaviour.
  o Third group didn’t get reinforced for first 10 days. 11th day they got reinforced and numbers of errors were reduced.
  o Fourth group reinforced for 10 days. 11th day their behaviour went back to what it was before

Question 23

2) Constrains on learning

Answer 23

• Some stimuli were harder to associate with particular type of responses
• E.g. hard to condition pigeons to flap their wings to get food but easy to condition them to flap their wings to avoid electric shock. Also hard to condition them to peck to avoid shock but easy to condition them to peck to get food

Question 24

3) Biological preparedness

Answer 24

• Some types of naturally occurring behaviours are easier to condition than others
• E.g. pigeons peck on a pedal to get food
• E.g. raccoons taught to put coins in piggy bank to get food. They started washing their coins like they wash their food.

Question 25

4) Conditioned taste aversion

Answer 25

• Garcia and Koelling. Tried to poison wolves but wolves learned to avoid the food. Wolves learned an association between a flavour and being ill.
• No equipotentiality, incremental learning or contiguity.

Question 26

5) Learning without drive reduction

Answer 26

• Male rats would learn to run towards a rat in heat even if they weren’t allowed to copulate
• Female rat in heat would push a lever to get a male rat into their chamber even if they cant copulate

Question 27

6) Language acquisition

Answer 27

• Infants learn language very rapidly
• Goes against the idea that learning is gradual?

Question 28

Modern associative learning

Answer 28

• Based on more cognitive knowledge
• What can or cannot be learned is based on the predictive value of the association
• Rather than classing stimuli and responses separately, modern theorists think of both as events