AC2.2 Flashcards
Name 2 learning theories
Operant conditioning
Social learning theory
Talk about operant conditioning
It’s based on the work of BF Skinner.
If a particular behavioir ‘rewarded’ it is likely to be ‘repeated’.
If a behaviour is ‘punished’ it is ‘NOT’ likely to be repeated.
Behaviour shaped by reinforcing wanted behaviour and punishing unwanted behaviour.
Explain Thorndike’s ‘Law of Effect’
Any behaviour that is followed by favourable consequences is likely to happen again. Any behaviour that is followed by unfavourable consequences is likely to not happen again.
What was the goal of the Skinner Box experiment?
Teach the mouse to touch to lever.
What did Skinner call rewards?
Reinforcements.
How did Skinner reinforce behaviour in the mouse?
What happened to the behaviour of the mouse as a result of the reinforcement?
By giving it food whenever it touches the lever.
Mouse would push the lever more to get more food.
What did Skinner do to the mouse in the Skinner Box to demonstrate negative reinforcement?
Electrocute the mouse when it didn’t touch the lever so it touched the lever more.
Punishment vs negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is when a negative consequence encourages someone to do something whereas a punishment encourages to stop doing something.
Describe how Skinner demonstrated punishment in the Skinner Box
Everytime mouse touches lever it shocks the mouse so it will stop touching the lever.
(Extension to operant conditioning)
Talk about Differential Reinforcement Theory (Jeffrey)
Jeffrey argues that criminal behaviour is learned through the reinforcement of particular behaviours.
If crime has more REWARDING consequences than punishing ones for an individual, they will be more likely to engage in criminal behaviour. These rewards could be financial (money) or emotional (e.g. respect of peers/friendships etc.)
Criminal behaviour can be explained by looking at the balance of rewards and punishments for a particular individual.
Evaluation of Operant Conditioning as an explanation for crime
(Strengths)
Skinner experiment shows that mice can learn a new behaviour.
Behaviour shaping can be used with humans too - i.e. the learning of language.
Operant conditioning can be applied to criminal behaviour - Jeffrey states that if crime leads to more rewarding than punishing outcomes for the individual, they will be more likely to offend.
Evaluation of Operant Conditioning as an explanation for crime
“Weaknesses”
Skinner experiment was on mice. Mice aren’t humans. Not adequate model of how humans learn criminal behaviour.
Operant conditioning ignores internal mental processes such as thinking, personal values and attitudes. It explains criminal behaviour purely on the basis of rewards and punishments.
Humans have free will and can choose their course of action. E.g. we can choose to do something that causes us suffering in order to help someone else.
Explain Social Learning Theory
SLT was proposed and researched by Albert Bandura in the 1960s.
Individual learn through OBSERVING other people and then COPYING their behaviour.
We are more likely to copy a behaviour when the person we are watching (the ROLE MODEL) receives a REWARD for it.
This is known as voracious reinforcement. If the role model is punished for the behaviour it will not be copied.
Experiment - Bobo Doll Studies.
What is SLT also sometimes referred to as? Why?
SLT is also sometimes referred to as observational learning. This is because a person learns by observing the behaviour of others. This takes place primarily in:
In the family
In the prevalent sub-culture, e.g peers
Through cultural symbols such as TV and books.
What characteristics do role models have?
The same gender
The same age or older
Someone we look up to (parent/celebrity)
Someone of higher status
