8 - Causal Learning Flashcards
define contingency judgement
evaluating whether there is a causal relationship between the action/response and the outcome
define negative contingency
don’t make a response but the outtcome occurs or vice versa
define zero contingency
no causal relationship between the action/response and outcome
behavioural potential equation
reinforcement value X expectancy
define behavioural potential
likelohood of specific bhvr pccuring in a particular situation
define reinforcement value
our preferences amongst the possible reinforcements available, which have different associated expectancies
define expectancy
subjective estimate of the likely outcome of our course of bhvr and the probability of it receiving a particular reinforcement
with expectancy, what do we have a preference for
the reinforcement not the engaged bhvr
why may we rely on generalised expectancies
if we have no experience to guide us
define locus of control
based on other learning experiences, we generalise expectancies and believe they’re controlled by external forces or our behaviour
what type of locus do supportive parents foster
internal as they encourage responsibility and independence
define learned helplessness
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
in a study into fear conditioning influencing bhvr and learned helplessness, what were the results
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
in the human learned helplessness study, what was found
Group 1 learned they had causal control so escaped
Group 2 did learned helplessness
Group 3 escaped as didn’t learn anything about control
what shapes inferences of how much control we have
prior experiences, e.g. learn we have no control so won’t attempt to escape future events and -ive outcomes
define statistical learning contingencies/stimulus-stimulus associations
learning and causal inference of how much one thing had a causal relationship to another but not making responses
what is needed for causal inference
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
defie contingency
action done and desired outcome occurs each time
when making contingency judgements what do we look at
whether the outcome is present or absent when the stimulus isn’t present
what is the contingency equation
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)
what does it mean if the contingency equation = 0
zero contingency
how do we make positive contingencies
high # of trials were outcome and response are present, and outcome and response are absent
how do we make negative contingencies
high # of trials where outcome is present and response is absent, and vice versa
how do we get a high outcome density
if there are many trials where the outcome occurs when the response is present and absent
