Learning

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

Any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs through practice or experience.

Question 2

Classical conditioning

Answer 2

Founded by Ivan Pavlov

One signal serves as signal for second stimulus; individual gains info on relation between two stimuli

UCS - Stimulus that evokes UCR, automatically triggers response
UCR - Unlearn reaction that occurs naturally in presence of UCS
CS - Previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response.
CR - Learned response to previously neutral stimulus through acquisition.

Question 3

Extinction

Answer 3

Occurs when the CS is applied repeatedly without being paired with the UCS. Over time, the learned behavior occurs less often and eventually stops altogether, and CS returns to neutral.

Question 4

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 4

Reappearance of the conditioned response after a rest period or period of lessened response.

Question 5

Generalization in classical conditioning

Answer 5

Tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit CR.

Eg: If you’re scared of bees, you’ll be scared of other flying insects

Question 6

Theories about classical conditioning

Answer 6

Stimulus substitution - CS acquires capacity to substitute for UCS.

Information & expectation - CS becomes signal for expected UCS. UCS is seen as a novel event. So brain tracks all previous experiences and sees that a consistent CS was present. Link forms and when CS is presented, there is the CR because the UCS is anticipated.

Question 7

Stimulus discrimination in CC

Answer 7

Learning to differentiate between two stimuli; and give one response to one and a different or no response to the other.

Question 8

Places where CC is applied

Answer 8

Behaviour therapy: If behavior is learned, then it can be unlearned by associating less disturbing responses to stimuli that gave disturbing reactions

Question 9

Instrumental / operant conditioning

Answer 9

Pioneered by Thorndike

Then Skinner brought in reinforcements and punishment

Question 10

Examples of reinforcements and punishment

Answer 10

Reinforcers increase likelihood of behaviour.
Punishments decrease likelihood of behaviour.

Positive reinforcement - Adding desired stimulus to increase behaviour (praise or rewards)

Negative reinforcement - Removal of undesirable stimulus increases behaviour (beeping of car alarm)

Positive punishment - Adding an aversive stimulus decreases behaviour (adding more work when work isn’t complete)

Negative punishment - Removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior (taking away child’s toy)

Question 11

Thorndike’s cat experiment / puzzle box

Answer 11

Cat in put in a box where if it pulls a loop, a door will open and it can reach food.

First trial - cat scrambles around and by fluke pulls the loop and gets out

Same process the second time.

With increase in trials, the length of time decreased for the cat to pull the loop.

Finally it just went straight to the loop and pulled it.

Question 12

Skinner’s pigeon/rat experiment

Answer 12

Created an operant chamber where rats had to press a lever or pigeons had to peck a key for food pellets to fall

First researcher gives pellets a few times then stops.

Rat scampers about and accidentally presses the lever which releases a pellet. Same process follows and faster 4th-5th times, the rat presses the lever more rapidly.

Rate of response - number of responses in a unit of time.

Question 13

Shaping

Answer 13

A gradual, behavior modification technique in which successive approximations to the desired behavior is rewarded

Skinner while training a rat noticed that any movement in the direction of the lever had to be rewarded, until finally, the rat was trained to push a lever.

Eg: Teaching piano, slight improvements until the whole piece is learnt properly

Question 14

Learned helplessness

Answer 14

Developed after exposure to situations where no efforts create or affect outcome.

Question 15

Schedules of reinforcement

Answer 15

Fixed-ratio: Receiving rewards after fixed number of responses. [Eg: being paid a stipend for completing 10 articles]

Variable-ratio: Receiving rewards after varying number of responses [Eg: slot machines, casinos]

Fixed-interval: Regardless, of number of responses, reward is given after certain amount of time. [Eg: monthly salary]

Variable-interval: Regardless, of number of responses, reward is given after random amount of time [Eg: boss praising randomly]

Question 16

Therapies based on classical conditioning

Answer 16

Theory that phobias develop due to attaching a US to a CS. Like fear of cats.

Flooding [eg: forced to hold a cat, when the cat is harmless, phobia reduces]

Implosion [imagining being around cats]

Systematic desensitization [exposure to levels of anxiety-causing stimuli while remaining in a deep relaxed state]

Conditioned aversion [used for addicts; given a nausea inducing drugs and then made to smell their favourite alcohol]

Question 17

Therapies based on operant conditioning

Answer 17

Contingency management [method of changing behavior by changing consequences]

Behavioural contract - Negotiated agreement on consequences of behaviours

Token economy - Sometimes used in mental institutions

Time-out - Removal from reinforcing environment and kept in an un-stimulating situation [face the wall]

Premack principle - Using a more preferred activity to reinforce less preferred activity [child can play every day after completing 1 hour of studying]

Question 18

Latency of response

Answer 18

Time taken to respond to a stimulus once presented

Question 19

Avoidance learning

Answer 19

When an organism learns a response in order to avoid experiencing an unpleasant stimulus. When a signal is given before an escape stimulus. The reinforcement results from not experiencing the negative stimulus.

PREVENTS PRESENTATION OF NEG STIMULUS

Eg: Leaving a building when fire alarm goes off.

Question 20

Escape learning

Answer 20

The process by which a subject acquires a response that results in the termination of an aversive stimulus.

TERMINATES THE NEG STIMULUS

Eg: Running away from a building fire when you see it

Question 21

When do punishments work

Answer 21

• intensity of punishment
• given closer to the time of the behavior
• consistency
• stronger the response tendency, less effective the punishment
• adapting to punishment makes it less effective
• effective when combined with positive reinforcement to inculcate desired behaviour

Question 22

Programmed learning

Answer 22

Material to be learnt is broken into small easy steps. Learner is allowed to choose pace and receive feedback at each step.

Question 23

Personalized system of instruction

Answer 23

Material is divided into small units, which learner needs to master at high proficiency before moving to next unit

Question 24

Cognitive map

Answer 24

A representative expression of an individual’s cognitive map knowledge, where cognitive map knowledge is an individual’s knowledge about the spatial and environmental relations of geographic space.

Question 25

Latent learning

Answer 25

Learning that occurs but behaviour is not depicted until situation presents itself

Question 26

Insight learning

Answer 26

Ah-ha experience

Showing not much learning for a period of time, but suddenly almost all learning is complete

Question 27

Imitation

Answer 27

Individual observes and replicates another’s behavior

Question 28

Prepared behaviours

Answer 28

The ability adaptive for evolution, allowing certain associations to be learned more readily than others

Flavour-aversion learning [poisonous fruit, avoid after 1st time]

Species-typical defensive reactions [fight or flight]

Language in humans

Question 29

Contraprepared behaviours

Answer 29

Those behaviours not natural to organism and learnt with great difficulty [Eg: Circus animals]

Question 30

Learning sets

Answer 30

A phenomenon observed when a participant is given a succession of discriminating problems to learn (such as learning that one object contains a food reward and a different object does not).

After a large number of such problems, the participant acquires a rule or mental set for solving them, and successive discriminations are learned faster.

“Learning to learn’ - Harry Harlow demonstrated learning to learn by teaching monkeys to discriminate between pairs of objects. The animals eventually became skilled at rapidly learning new discriminations, sometimes in a single trial.

Question 31

Social cognitive learning

Answer 31

Learning is likely to happen whether we see someone else punished or rewarded for behavior.

Question 32

Kohler’s experiment

Answer 32

Chimpazees and insight learning

To show that all learning (unlike what Thorndike said) is not trial and error.

Question 33

______ founded ethology.

Answer 33

Lorenz

Question 34

E. O. Wilson was a major proponent of _____.

Answer 34

Sociobiology

Question 35

Pavlov originally used the term “_____” to explain that the salivation was due to the physiological power of the digestive system through nervous input.

Answer 35

Psychic secretions

Question 36

Transfer of learning theory

Answer 36

Based on Gestalt theory of learning - Transfer implies that what is learned in one situation can be shifted directly to another situation only when similarity (in content, method, or attitude) of the two situations is perceived by the learner.