Behavioural Theories Flashcards
What is it called when removal of a reward makes a behaviour less likely?
Extinction
What type of psychotropic drug is fluoxetine (Prozac)?
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.
What is biological preparedness?
Phobias develop for things that are more likely to be dangerous, e.g snakes
What three behavioural symptoms of anxiety does CBT allow patients to drop?
Avoidance behaviours
Safety behaviours
Asking for reassurance
What is learning?
A relatively permanent change in behaviour which occurs as a result of experience, essential for enabling an organism to adapt to its environment.
Which part of the medial temporal lobe, which is involved in fear and stimulating the HPA axis, is also involved in learning?
Amygdala
What are the 4 types of learning?
Associative - learning that events go together (operant and classical conditioning)
Vicarious - learning by direct observation (modelling)
Factual transmission
Complex - social learning, emotional intelligence, managing people and your own emotions
What is the difference between operant and classical conditioning?
In classical conditioning the subject is passive and learns one event predicts another stimulus.
In operant conditioning the subject is active and learns a particular response predicts an event.
What is classical conditioning?
A previously neutral stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus by repeated pairing.
What is operant conditioning?
Certain responses are learnt because the affect the environment, and behaviour is altered by reward or punishment.
How do operant and classical conditioning relate to phobias?
Classical conditioning is responsible for the origin of phobias, operant conditioning is responsible for the maintenance of phobias (by negative reinforcement).
What are the four steps of classical conditioning?
1) start with an unconditioned stimulus that produces an unconditioned response (the response is natural and innate)
2) next have a conditioned stimulus that on its own produced no response
3) pair the conditioned stimulus to the unconditioned stimulus to elicit the unconditioned response (conditioning phase)
4) after repeated pairing, the conditioned stimulus alone will produce the conditioned response
What is it called if behaviour is increased by a stimulus being given?
Positive reinforcement
What is it called if behaviour is increased by a stimulus being removed?
Negative reinforcement
What is it called if behaviour is decreased by a stimulus being given?
Punishment
What is it called if behaviour is decreased by a stimulus being removed?
Extinction
What is Thorndike’s law of effect (the basis of operant conditioning)?
A successful behaviour will be repeated
What is the difference between primary and secondary reinforcers?
Primary reinforcers represent an innate biological need e.g water, food
Secondary reinforcers are things that are not necessary for survival e.g money, praise, attention
What does the reinforcer need to be for operant conditioning to be successful?
Immediate
What are the types of positive reinforcers and which are the most successful?
Continuous
Partial (more successful than continuous)
Ratio schedules (reinforcement given after a certain number of responses)
Interval schedules (reinforcement given at certain time intervals)
Fixed (predictable)
Variable (unpredictable)
Variable ratio reinforcement is the most effective and has the slowest extinction BUT continuous reinforcement is necessary to initially establish the behaviour.