CH4 Approaches to Understand Learning

Question 1

Learning

(Define, approaches)

Answer 1

• A relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience.
• Can occur intentionally or unintentionally, can be active or passive.
• Approaches to (ways to explain and understand) learning can be behaviourist (i.e. classical and operant conditioning) or social-cognitive (i.e observational).

Question 2

Behaviourist approach to learning

(Including the two types)

Answer 2

• States that behaviours are learnt through interactions with the environment.
• Studies observable behaviour alone, without regard to underlying mental processes and states such as thoughts, feelings, motives and consciousness.
• E.g. classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Question 3

Classical conditioning (CC)

Answer 3

• Refers to a type of learning that occurs through the repeated association of two (or more) different stimuli.
• Learning is only said to have occurred when a particular stimulus consistently produces a response that it did not previously produce.
• The response is said to be involuntary and occurs automatically.
• Developed by Ivan Pavlov; experimented on a dog

Question 4

The three-phase process of CC

Answer 4

• Before conditioning
  
  • Neutral stimulus (NS) → no relevant response
    
    • i.e. bell
  • Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) → unconditioned response (UCR)
    
    • i.e. eating/being presented with food → salivation
• During conditioning
  
  • NS + UCS → UCR
    
    • bell + food → salivation
• After conditioning
  
  • Conditioned stimulus (was once neutral; same thing as NS) → conditioned response (was once unconditioned; same as UCR)
    
    • bell → salivation

Question 5

For CC to be successful…

Answer 5

• The NS and the UCS occur close together in time and always in the same sequence.
  
  • Repeated pairing of NS and UCS
  • UCS must be present immediately after the NS (i.e. ideally less than 0.5s)

(U) comes after (N) in the alphabet

Question 6

Operant conditioning (OC)

Answer 6

• Is a learning process whereby the consequences of behaviour determine the likelihood that it will be performed again in the future.
• Developed by B.F. Skinner; tested on mice and pigeons
• Proposes that an organism will tend to perform or repeat a behaviour (an operant) that has desirable consequences and avoid undesirable consequences.

Question 7

Key terms in OC

Answer 7

• An antecedent is any environmental stimulus that triggers and predicts the likely outcome of a behaviour.
• A behaviour is any voluntary action.
• An operant is any voluntary action that acts on its environment to trigger a consequence. It is influenced by the consequences that proceed them.
• A consequence is something that makes the behaviour more or less likely to occur again.

All operants are behaviours, but not all behaviours are operants.

Question 8

The three-phase process of OC

Answer 8

• Before behaviour: antecedent
  
  • Stimuli relevant to who is being trained – triggers behaviour.
  • Through its association with a consequence (due to prior experience), the antecedent stimulus signals whether certain behaviour will lead to a particular consequence (but does NOT actually elicit a response as in classical conditioning).
• Behaviour
  
  • Is the voluntary action that occurs in the presence of the antecedent stimulus.
  • In all cases, it involves activity that has an effect on the environment in the form of a consequence that follows it.
• After behaviour: consequence
  
  • Reinforcements increase likelihood of performing the behaviour again in the future. (+/-)
  • Punishments decrease the likelihood of performing the behaviour again in the future. (+/-)

Question 9

Positive v negative consequences

In operant conditioning

Answer 9

• Postitive refers to adding a stimulus, whereas negative refers to taking away a stimulus.
  
  • Vivienne was banned from the Year 12 formal for wagging class; (-) punishment.
  • Mohammad is going back to the same dry cleaner because they did a good job cleaning the stains off his favourite shirt last week; (-) reinforcement.
  • Raffaele was severely injured when trying to climb a fence to skip the queues at the festival; (+) punishment.
  • Employees are given a free coffee for completing their tasks on time; (+) reinforcement.

In ‘confusing’ examples, just focus on what information is provided in the scenario, rather than going in a technical or round-a-bout way.

Question 10

For OC to be successful….

Answer 10

• Order → wait for the desired response and then present the punishment or reinforcement (same one; consistently).
• Timing → consequence should be immediate
• Appropriateness → reinforcements must actually be desirable; punishments must actually be undesirable

Question 11

Stimulus discrimination

In operant conditioning

Answer 11

• Behaviour occurs in response to specific antecedent only.
• E.g. a dog who is being taught how to sit (by positive reinforcement) only responds to the command from their trainer

Question 12

Stimulus generalisation

Answer 12

• Behaviour occurs in response to a similar, but different, antecedent.
• E.g. an infant who is being taught how to call its “Mum” calls every middle-aged woman “Mum.”

Question 13

Differences between CC and OC

Answer 13

• Role of the learner/participant
  
  • Passive in CC
  • Active in OC
• Nature of response
  
  • Involuntary in CC
  • Voluntary in OC
• Timing of stimulus and response
  
  • Stimulus (i.e. CS) presented BEFORE response (i.e. CR) in CC
  • Stimulus (i.e. consequence) presented AFTER response (i.e. behaviour) in OC
• Triggering responses
  
  • Stimulus (i.e. UCS) directly produces a response (i.e. UCR) in CC
  • Antecedent does not directly produce a response (i.e. behaviour) in OC

Question 14

Extinction and spontaneous recovery

Question 15

Social-cognitive approach to learning

Answer 15

• Proposes that learning occurs in a social setting and involves cognitive processes that influence the individual and the learning process.
• Theory founded by Bandura
• E.g. observational learning

On the other hand, behaviourist approaches emphasise learning through association of different stimuli

Question 16

Observational learning (OL)

Answer 16

• A social-cognitive approach to learning
• Occurs when a learner observes a model’s action and their consequences to guide their future actions
• Is a more active process than CC and OC

Question 17

5 stages for OL to occur

Answer 17

• Attention
  
  • The learner actively watches the model’s behaviour and their consequences..
• Retention
  
  • The learner retains a mental representation of the model’s behaviour for future use.
• Reproduction
  
  • The learner has the physical and mental capabilities to reproduce the behaviour.
• Motivation
  
  • The learner desires to perform the behaviour
• Reinforcement
  
  • The consequence of the behaviour influences the learner’s likelihood of reproducing the behaviour

(ARRMR) Adorable Rabbits Ride Miniature Rockets

Question 18

When are we more likely to pay attention to a model in OL?

Answer 18

• When the model:
  
  • Is perceived positively, is liked and has a high status
  • Has similarities between features and traits of the model and the observer, such as age and sex
  • Is familiar to the observer and is known through previous observation
  • Has visible behaviour and stands out clearly against other ‘competing’ models
  • Is demonstrating behaviour that the observer perceives themselves as being able to imitate.

Question 19

Types of reinforcement in OL

Answer 19

• Can be external, vicarious or self-reinforcement
  
  • External → learning through external reinforcement i.e. receiving an award
  • Vicarious → occurs indirectly by observing the modelled behaviour being reinforced without personally experiencing the reinforcement.
  • Self → learning through internal reinforcement i.e. by meeting certain standards of performance we set for ourselves

Question 20

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander approaches to learning

Answer 20

• Is embedded in relationships (i.e. is dependant on a person’s place in the kinship structure of the clan).
• Is part of a multimodal system (i.e. takes many forms).
• Is patterned on Country

Question 21

Common ground between western and Aboriginal teachings

Answer 21

• Story sharing
• Learning maps
• Non-verbal (e.g. facial expressions, gestures)
• Symbols and images
• Land links (e.g. knowledge is associated to a place)
• Non-linear (e.g. putting together different ideas to create new knowledge)
• Deconstruct/reconstruct
• Community links