Behaviour and learning

Question 1

Behaviour

Answer 1

• Action, function and response to stimuli
• 5 leading causes of death in Aus have behavioural risk factors

1. Heart disease
2. Dementia
3. Cerebrovascular disease
4. Lung cancer
5. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Question 2

Learning

Answer 2

• Acquisition of knowledge and skills
• Leads to a permanent change in (potential) behaviour

Question 3

Social learning/social cognitive theory

Answer 3

Vicarious learning
- Success = behaviour imitated
- Failure = behaviour avoided

Question 4

Classical conditioning

Answer 4

• Neutral stimulus deliberately paired with an unconditioned stimulus eventually elicits a conditioned response
• Involuntary
• Consequence learnt BEFORE response

Question 5

Operant conditioning

Answer 5

• Voluntary
• Consequence learnt AFTER response

Positive reinforcement: ADDING pleasant stimulus to encourage behaviour

Negative reinforcement: REMOVING unpleasant stimulus to encourage behaviour

Positive punishment: ADDING unpleasant stimulus to discourage behaviour

Negative punishment: REMOVING pleasant stimulus to discourage behaviour

Question 6

Prochaska-Di-Clemente cycle

Answer 6

Pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance, relapse

Question 7

Components of attitude

Answer 7

Cognition: ideas and thoughts about a subject

Affect: emotions stimulated by a subject

Behavioural intentions: predisposition to act in a certain way towards a subject

Question 8

Features of attitude

Answer 8

1. Relatively enduring/permanent
2. Generalisable
3. Involves abstraction (dealing with ideas rather than events)
4. Relate to socially significant subjects

Question 9

Dimensions of attitude

Answer 9

• Strength (impact and durability)
• Importance
• Accessibility (ease of activation)
• Complexity
• Implicit vs. explicit
• Ambivalence (mixed feeling)
• Coherence (internal consistency)

Question 10

Elaboration likelihood model

Answer 10

• How likely attitude change is based on persuasion techniques

1. Central Route (cognitively persuasive)
   - Motivated audience
   - High elaboration
   - Explicit communication
   - ENDURING change
2. Peripheral Route (emotionally persuasive)
   - Audience not receptive to message
   - Low elaboration
   - Non-message cues
   - TEMPORARY change
   - CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: linking message with emotional response

Question 11

Health Action Process Approach

Answer 11

Task self-efficacy: belief in one’s ability to make change

Outcome expectations: positive and negative outcomes associated with behaviour change

Risk perception: risks of maintaining CURRENT behaviour

Coping self-efficacy: belief in one’s ability to cope with challenge during behaviour change

Recovery self-efficacy: belief in one’s ability to cope with failure, lapse, and continue