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Biological and Learning Psychology > Applying principles of Learning Theory and the study and measurement of behaviour > Flashcards

Applying principles of Learning Theory and the study and measurement of behaviour Flashcards

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1
Q

Reflex

A

An involuntary response that arises automatically in response to an appropriate stimulus, e.g. salivation at the smell of food

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2
Q

Theory of Classical Conditioning

A

Aims to account for the way in which reflex behaviour may become associated with a new stimulus that does not naturally activate the behaviour

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3
Q

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

A
  • Involuntarily elicits the unconditioned response (UCR)

- E.g. meat or food, hot air out of oven into eye

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4
Q

Unconditioned response (UCR)

A
  • An innate or unlearned response to the UCS

- Usually reflexive and a response of the autonomic nervous system

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5
Q

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

A
  • Starts as a ‘neutral’ event (NS) that does not elicit an UCR
  • The CS is then paired with the UCS during the experiment
  • E.g. bell / tone, flash of light
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6
Q

Conditioned response (CR)

A
  • A learned response to the CS, which occurs as a result of the UCS and CS being paired
  • Resembles the UCR but often is not identical
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7
Q

Process of classical conditioning (before conditioning)

A

UCS -> UCR

NS -> no response

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8
Q

Process of classical conditioning (during conditioning)

A

UCS + NS -> UCR

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9
Q

Process of classical conditioning (after conditioning)

A

CS -> CR

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10
Q

Little Albert experiment

A
  • Watson and Rayner paired a rat (CS) with a loud noise (UCS), which resulted in a startle and fear in little Albert
  • This conditioned emotional response was then found to occur when Albert was presented with any other small furry object (generalisation)
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11
Q

Advertising and classical conditioning

A
  • Advertisers will pair a product (initially NS, then CS) with an attractive or popular person, or exciting place (UCS)
  • After pairing these together during a campaign, the product may become a conditioned stimulus that evokes pleasant feelings and emotions
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12
Q

Reinforcement

A

Temporal or spatial pairing of the 2 stimuli (CS and UCS)

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13
Q

Acquisition

A
  • Initial stage of learning
  • Usually several pairings of the CS and UCS are needed before CR fully develops
  • Proceeds more quickly if intensity of UCS increases, i.e. louder bell / tone
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14
Q

Extinction

A
  • Procedure produces a reduction and eventual disappearance of CR
  • Involves repeatedly presenting the CS without the UCS
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15
Q

Spontaneous recovery

A
  • The reappearance of extinguished response after a period of non-exposure
  • Extinction does not simply “erase” the previous learning, or permanently “destroy” the CS-UCS pairing
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16
Q

Generalisation

A
  • After classical conditioning with a CS, similar stimuli will elicit the CR
  • e.g. different bells may elicit salivation
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17
Q

Discrimination

A
  • The opposite of generalisation
  • The subject learns to respond to one stimulus and not to a similar stimulus
  • Important in some animals, e.g. impalas learn to discriminate between a hungry wild dog and a full wild dog
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18
Q

Law of effect

A

States that behaviour resulting in pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated in the same situation

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19
Q

Thorndike and operant conditioning

A
  • Thorndike investigated how voluntary (not reflex) behaviours can be modified by experience (learning)
  • Formulated the law of effect
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20
Q

Differentiate operant and classical conditioning

A
  • Classical conditioning focuses on reflexive / involuntary behaviours (largely controlled by the stimuli that precede the response
  • Operant conditioning focuses on voluntary / non-reflexive behaviour
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21
Q

Operant conditioning

A
  • A form of learning in which the organism operates on the environment (does not just react to stimuli)
  • Learning happens as responses come to be controlled by their consequences
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22
Q

3-term contingency

A

The operant response is emitted and reinforced in the presence of the discriminative stimulus

Discriminative stimulus Sd : Operant response R -> Reinforcing stimulus Sr

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23
Q

Operant response

A

According to Skinner, an operant response is a behaviour that operates on its own environment

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24
Q

Discriminative stimulus

A
  • Stimuli that precede an operant response can also influence behaviour
  • If behaviour is consistently followed by a reinforcer in the presence of a particular stimulus, then that stimulus can act as a ‘signal’ (that the behaviour is likely to lead to a reinforcer)
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25
Q

Positive reinforcement

A
  • delivers a pleasant stimulus
  • response rate increases due to reward
  • e.g. rate receives food for pressing a lever
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26
Q

Positive punishment

A
  • delivers unpleasant stimulus
  • response rate decreases due to punishment
  • e.g. rat received shock for pressing lever
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27
Q

Negative reinforcement

A
  • removal of unpleasant stimulus
  • response rate increases to avoid / escape
  • e.g. pressing lever serves to avoid / escape shock
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28
Q

Negative punishment

A
  • removal of pleasant stimulus
  • response rate decreases due to omission
  • e.g. pressing lever produces timeout from food
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29
Q

Punishment

A

Punishment suppresses unwanted behaviour without strengthening desirable behaviour

30
Q

Stimulus-response (S-R) behaviourism

A

Tries to show relationships between stimulus and response by examining behavioural change in relation to environmental change

31
Q

Skinner’s operant conditioning

A
  • Formulation of behaviour based on observations of individual rats responding in a carefully controlled experimental environment
  • Stressed the need to only investigate directly observable behaviour
  • Like Thorndike’s ‘law of effect’, Skinner showed that a response is strengthened when it leads to rewarding consequences
32
Q

Shaping

A

Modelling of desired behaviour, required if the organism does not, on its own, emit the desired response

33
Q

Resistance to extinction

A

Occurs if the organism continues to make responses after reinforcement has been stopped

34
Q

Delayed reinforcement

A

Conditioning proceeds slowly if there is a delay between a response and the delivery of the reinforcer

35
Q

Conditioned reinforcement

A

Through repeated pairings with a primary reinforcer (unconditioned), a secondary reinforcer (conditioned) can also act as a reinforcer

36
Q

Primary reinforcer

A

Satisfies biological needs, e.g. food, water, shelter

37
Q

Secondary reinforcer

A

Reinforces primary reinforcers, e.g. money to buy shelter, possessions

38
Q

fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement

A
  • the reinforcer is given after a fixed number of non-reinforced responses
  • e.g. getting paid for every 10 cars sold
39
Q

variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement

A
  • the reinforcer is given after a variable number of non-reinforced responses
  • on average, every nth response is reinforced, but the exact number varies
  • e.g. slot machines
40
Q

fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement

A
  • the schedule reinforces the first response that occurs after a fixed period of time has elapsed
  • e.g. getting paid every Monday
41
Q

variable-interval schedule of reinforcement

A
  • reinforces the first response that occurs after a variable period of time has elapsed
  • the interval length varies around a predetermined average
  • e.g. the principal is visiting sometime between 1-3pm, so behaviour must be appropriate etc
42
Q

2 main purposes of behavioural enrichment

A
  1. behavioural and cognitive challenges facilitate normal development and physical and psychological wellbeing to enhance quality of life
  2. promote retention of species specific behaviours vital to survival (maintains behavioural diversity)
43
Q

How do captive environments differ from captive environments re: conflict

A

In natural environments an animal can flee or offer appeasement / submissive suggestions. In captivity, an animal cannot flee, which can lead to extreme stress and result in stereotypic behaviours

44
Q

Characteristics of stereotypic behaviours

A
  • abnormal or aberrant behaviours
  • repetitive behaviour patterns
  • have no obvious function or goal
  • can indicate welfare problems
45
Q

Examples of stereotypic behaviours

A
  • pacing
  • head flicking
  • excessive digging
  • bar gnawing
46
Q

5 determinants of behaviour

A
  1. Function
  2. Causation
  3. Ontogeny
  4. Phylogeny
  5. Private experience
47
Q

Determinant of behaviour: 1. Function

A
  • survival / adaptive value
  • what is the function for?
  • how does behaviour contribute to survival and reproductive success?
  • what are the consequences?
  • populations

E.g. function of chest beating by gorillas is: alarm, display, distance, communication

48
Q

Determinant of behaviour: 2. Causation

A
  • control
  • how does it work?
  • what are the mechanisms which enable the behaviour to be performed?
  • physiology, learning, morphology, ecology
  • individual

E.g. causation of chest beating by gorillas is: arm and hand flexibility, inflatable chest sacs

49
Q

Determinant of behaviour: 3. Ontogeny

A
  • development
  • how the behaviour pattern develops in the individual and how the environment modifies it

E.g. ontogeny of chest beating by gorillas: begins as feeble chest slapping in young gorillas, full range of expression only in silverback males

50
Q

Determinant of behaviour: 4. Phylogeny

A
  • evolution
  • evolutionary history of behaviour in a population or lineage
  • the genetics, culture etc. of the population

E.g. phylogeny of chest beating by gorillas: related to drumming in chimpanzees and humans?

51
Q

Determinant of behaviour: 5. Private experience

A
  • what is the private experience of the animal presenting the behaviour?
  • the personal world and subjective experience of the individual

E.g. private experience of chest beating by gorillas: probably confidence building

52
Q

Ethogram

A

A descriptive catalogue of behaviours that occur within a species

53
Q

Problems with ethograms

A
  • Purely descriptive (i.e. could be innate or learned)

- Catalogue headings not fixed (different categories used by different researchers)

54
Q

2 types of innate behaviours

A
  1. Rituals

2. Displays

55
Q

Rituals

A
  • stereotyped (same throughout a species)
  • shaped by natural selection
  • strongly controlled by genetic mechanisms
56
Q

Displays

A
  • exaggerated ritualised signals
  • more stereotyped
  • more complex
  • may include autonomic responses (e.g. piloerection, changes in blood flow, intention movements, displacement movements)
57
Q

Learning

A

The modification of behaviour as a result of experience

58
Q

3 types of learning

A
  1. Latent learning
  2. Imprinting
  3. Insight learning
59
Q

Latent learning

A

Learning without reward

60
Q

Imprinting

A

Early learning limited to a short, critical period; irreversible; prefigures later responses

61
Q

Insight learning

A

Solving a problem through perceiving interrelationships

62
Q

Signal

A

Behaviour (act) or structure that alters the behaviour of others; effective because of receiver response

63
Q

Cue

A

Feature of the world, animate or inanimate, that can be used as a guide for future action

64
Q

Ritualisation

A

Evolutionary process that stereotypes a cue into a signal

65
Q

Handicap

A

A signal whose cost is greater than required by sheer efficacy (effectiveness)

E.g. signal may be costly to produce, i.e. huge size, cheek flanges in adult male orangutans; vulnerability, i.e. colouration

66
Q

Cost

A

Loss of fitness resulting from making a signal

67
Q

4 types of signals

A
  1. Index
  2. Minimal-cost signals
  3. Icon
  4. Symbol
68
Q

Index

A

A signal whose intensity is causally related to quality being signalled and which cannot be faked

e.g. olfactory secretions used for marking territory

69
Q

Minimal-cost signals

A

Signal whose reliability does not depend on its cost, i.e. not a handicap, and which can be made by most members of the population, i.e. not an index

e.g. communal troop defensive vocalisation

70
Q

Icon

A

A signal whose form is similar to its meaning

e.g. pointing

71
Q

Symbol

A

A signal whose form is unrelated to its meaning

e.g. language

Biological and Learning Psychology (1 decks)

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