Approaches: The Learning Approaches (Behaviourism) Flashcards
What are the two learning approaches?
Behaviourism and Social Learning Theory
What do both learning approaches believe?
- Both support the role of nurture: believe we develop through experiences.
- Both believe in the role of reinforcement: consequences of behaviour make them more or less likely to happen again.
What are the key assumptions of the behaviourist approach.
- BEHAVIOUR IS LEARNT FROM EXPERIENCES.
(we are born clean slates + have no predisposition to behave in a certain way.) - ONLY OBSERVABLE BEHAVIOURS SHOULD BE STUDIED AND IN A SCIENTIFIC WAY. .(behaviourists are not interested in thought processes as these are hard to measure and test objectively)
- IT IS VALID TO STUDY ANIMALS TO UNDERSTAND BEHAVIOUR.
(animals follow the same principles of learning as humans, so animals studies are appropriate as thought processes and biology are unimportant)
What is classical conditioning?
- Learning through association.
- Over time, when two things happen together often, we learn to associate them with each other.
Define these terms:
- Unconditioned stimulus
- Neutral stimulus
- Unconditioned response
- Conditioned stimulus
- Conditioned response
UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS:
- the stimulus that causes a reflex/ natural response before conditioning.
NEUTRAL STIMULUS:
- the stimulus that causes no response before conditioning.
UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE:
- the reflex reaction caused by a stimulus before conditioning.
CONDITIONED STIMULUS:
- the stimulus (previously the neutral stimulus) that causes a response after conditioning.
CONDITIONED RESPONSE:
- a learnt action to what used to be the neutral stimulus.
Outline Pavlov’s classical conditioning study.
1) Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) produced an unconditioned response (salivation) in dogs.
2) During conditioning, the UCS (the food) was repeatedly paired with the neutral stimulus (a bell) to produce the same unconditioned response of salivation.
3) An association was made between the UCS and the NS.
4) After conditioning, the neutral stimulus became the conditioned stimulus, and the unconditioned response of salivation became the conditioned response.
Outline Watson and Rayner’s 1920 ‘Little Albert’ study.
- They classically conditioned a boy named ‘Little Albert’ to become phobic of rats.
- UCS (loud noise) shown at the same time as a white rat (NS). UCR was his fear/ crying.
- Little Albert started to cry (CR) whenever he was shown a rat (CS), even though he had not been previously scared of it.
What did Pavlov mean by ‘stimulus generalisation’?
If a stimulus has characteristics close to the conditioned stimulus, then the association would also be made to that new stimulus.
E.g., Watson and Rayner (1920): not only was the little boy frightened of the original white rat, he was also frightened by small furry animals and white fluffy objects.
What did Pavlov mean by ‘stimulus discrimination’?
The cut off point where the association will not be made and the stimulus generalisation will not occur.
Happens when the characteristics of the unconditioned stimulus and an object become too different to be generalised.
E.g., Little Albert would not associate a large brown dog with fear as it varies in terms of size, colour and type to the original rat.
Define the term ‘time contiguity’
Pavlov found that association only occurs if the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus are presented at the same time, or around the same time, as each other.
If there is too great of a time lapse between presentations, then there will be no association made.
Define the term ‘operant conditioning’
- Learning through consequences
- Consequences of a behaviour makes it more or less likely to happen again.
State the three types of consequences.
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
- Punishment
Outline the term ‘positive reinforcement’
- An individual receives a reward/ good outcome due to their behaviour, so they are more likely to repeat the behaviour.
Outline the term ‘negative reinforcement’
- An individual avoids/ stops something negative from happening due to their behaviour, so they are more likely to repeat it.
Outline the term ‘punishment’
- An individual receives a negative consequence due to their behaviour, so they are less likely to repeat it.
