8 - Causal Learning

Question 1

define contingency judgement

Answer 1

evaluating whether there is a causal relationship between the action/response and the outcome

Question 2

define negative contingency

Answer 2

don’t make a response but the outtcome occurs or vice versa

Question 3

define zero contingency

Answer 3

no causal relationship between the action/response and outcome

Question 4

behavioural potential equation

Answer 4

reinforcement value X expectancy

Question 5

define behavioural potential

Answer 5

likelohood of specific bhvr pccuring in a particular situation

Question 6

define reinforcement value

Answer 6

our preferences amongst the possible reinforcements available, which have different associated expectancies

Question 7

define expectancy

Answer 7

subjective estimate of the likely outcome of our course of bhvr and the probability of it receiving a particular reinforcement

Question 8

with expectancy, what do we have a preference for

Answer 8

the reinforcement not the engaged bhvr

Question 9

why may we rely on generalised expectancies

Answer 9

if we have no experience to guide us

Question 10

define locus of control

Answer 10

based on other learning experiences, we generalise expectancies and believe they’re controlled by external forces or our behaviour

Question 11

what type of locus do supportive parents foster

Answer 11

internal as they encourage responsibility and independence

Question 12

define learned helplessness

Answer 12

learning bad things happen and it’s pointless to try and avoid them, so don’t bother, and attribute failures to internal, stable, and global factors

Question 13

in a study into fear conditioning influencing bhvr and learned helplessness, what were the results

Answer 13

dogs didn’t try to escape the shock, just passively waited until the shock was over as learnt there is a contingency meaning they had no control over escaping the shock

Question 14

in the human learned helplessness study, what was found

Answer 14

Group 1 learned they had causal control so escaped
Group 2 did learned helplessness
Group 3 escaped as didn’t learn anything about control

Question 15

what shapes inferences of how much control we have

Answer 15

prior experiences, e.g. learn we have no control so won’t attempt to escape future events and -ive outcomes

Question 16

define statistical learning contingencies/stimulus-stimulus associations

Answer 16

learning and causal inference of how much one thing had a causal relationship to another but not making responses

Question 17

what is needed for causal inference

Answer 17

temporal nature and sequence as response and outcome need to occur closely and outcome has to happen after the response otherwise no associations and causal inferences

Question 18

defie contingency

Answer 18

action done and desired outcome occurs each time

Question 19

when making contingency judgements what do we look at

Answer 19

whether the outcome is present or absent when the stimulus isn’t present

Question 20

what is the contingency equation

Answer 20

outcome and response present/(O and R present + O absent and R present) - O present and R absent/(O present and R absent + O and R absent)

Question 21

what does it mean if the contingency equation = 0

Answer 21

zero contingency

Question 22

how do we make positive contingencies

Answer 22

high # of trials were outcome and response are present, and outcome and response are absent

Question 23

how do we make negative contingencies

Answer 23

high # of trials where outcome is present and response is absent, and vice versa

Question 24

how do we get a high outcome density

Answer 24

if there are many trials where the outcome occurs when the response is present and absent

Question 25

what were the results of Alloy and Abramson’s study

Answer 25

high OD meant a higher perception of own control and low OD meant participants judged themselves as having less control

Question 26

how did optimism bias possibly affect Alloy’s results

Answer 26

non-depressed studied only and they may think they have more control than actually

Question 27

what were the findings in depressed people when Alloy’s study was repeated

Answer 27

no difference in their perception of control in the low/high density outcome conditions

Question 28

define depressive realism

Answer 28

depressed are more rational in perceiving their own causality

Question 29

depression scores were found to be correlated with what

Answer 29

judgement control scores

Question 30

Msetfi thought what about contingency judgements and ITIs

Answer 30

ITIs may be a no response-no outcome trial form affecting the outcome density proportion, affecting contingency judgements as there is learning during the ITIs

Question 31

Msetfi et al found what in their study

Answer 31

depressed judged themselves to have more control in short ITIs than non-depressed whereas vice versa in long ITIs

Question 32

what do depressed people learn in long ITIs

Answer 32

Cue and context compete for the limited assoc strength of outcome w more exposure to context in absence of outcome extinguishing the assoc since the response isn’t occurring

Question 33

define learned optimism

Answer 33

using optimism to deal w stressful situations, move on from negative things, and see setbacks as temporary and not pervasive

Question 34

in a different experiment w dogs, what was found

Answer 34

dogs who learnt they could avoid shocks and to be optimistic when puppies didn’t learn to be helpless but jumped to the other side w no shock, showing learned helplessness can be prevented

Question 35

define explanatory style

Answer 35

how we explain problems and setbacks to ourselves and whether we choose a +/-ive way to solve them

Question 36

what do people w a stable exp style believe

Answer 36

situation won’t go away and is permanenet

Question 37

what do people w a global exp style believe

Answer 37

situation affects our whole life

Question 38

what does ABCD stand for

Answer 38

Adverse experience
Beliefs
Consequences
Disupting

Question 39

define distraction

Answer 39

putting problems and adversities to a side to re-evaluate a situation and have a fresh outlook whilst negating emotional issues of the situation

Question 40

a study into accessing a positive psychology website a lot found what

Answer 40

increase in wellbeing

decrease in anxiety and depression