LEARNING

Question 1

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING procedure

Answer 1

Procedure
Unconditioned Stimulus - naturally triggers an unconditioned response.

Unconditioned Response - natural reflex to UCS.

Neutral Stimulus - doesn’t trigger a response.

Conditioned Stimulus - pairing the NS with the UCS.

Conditioned Response - the UCR is now the CR to the CS.

Question 2

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING S W

Answer 2

Strength
Pavlov
Dogs salivate when they saw an empty food bowl.
Learned to associate the bowl with food as presented together.
Shows that animals can be classical conditioned.

Weakness
Unethi

Some research is unethical like Watson and Rayner inw which they produced a fear response making him fear the white rat more than he would in real life not only making it unapplicable to in real life situations but also harming the child

Question 3

OPERANT CONDITIONING procedure

Answer 3

Procedure
positive reinforcement- add pleasant 
Negative reinforcement- remove bad 
Positive punishment- add bad
Negative reinforcement- remove good
Primary reinforcer- water sleep food- 
Secondary- money (to buy food job(more attractive mate

Question 4

operant conditioning s w

Answer 4

Strength
Skinner
- Conducted many studies on animals demonstrating the effects of modifying behaviour
- skinner box where a rodent learn to push a leaver to earn a reward of food pellets and avoid being electrocuted

COUNTER
Humans physiology different-application?

Weakness

• only explains how existing behaviours are strengthened/ weakened
• doesn’t show where the behaviours originate from. Doesnt account for the learning of these behaviours
• not a full explanation

Question 5

Watson and rayner procedure

Answer 5

Procedure
Aim- if fear can be conditioned
- emotional response baseline measure
- presented white rate no fear response- touched it
- loud sound when he reached out
- 7 trials to make him avoid it and cry
NS:rat - UCS:noise UCR: cry
- exposed 5 more times to rat and sound and a wooden block and wasnt scared of wooden block
- end of session 2 he would crawl away from rat
- cry anything that looked like rat
- taken from room- not scared of room

Question 6

watson andrayner sw

Answer 6

Strength
High internal validity
- wooden blocks- good way to measure that albert’s response were only to phobic furry objects not just a general increase of anxiety
The change in room
- Albert’s fearful response were not specific to a single context

COUNTER
Not all aspects controlled: white rabbit placed there and dog was pushed twds him- it could have startled him and triggered a response

Weakness
Low population validity
- Little Albert may be unusual compared to other children- described as rarely being afraid or crying
- no way of telling how representative it is of children’s behaviour it is
Might be unique to him

Question 7

schedules of reinforcement procedure

Answer 7

Procedure
Continuous
Partial
Fixed ratio- after action completed a fixed amount of times
Variable ratio- given after a varying amount of times
Fixed interval- reinforcement given after a period of time if action is completed
Variable interval- after varying periods of time if action is completed

Question 8

schedules of reinforcement s w

Answer 8

Strength
Behaviour modification lends itself to treatments and interventions. It is used for a range of treatments ranging from schizophrenia to autism spectrum disorder

Weakness
Understanding the properties of reinforcement does not provide full account of human motivation for learning
There are other factors like money which is is an external reward therefore this is only a partial reinforcement

Question 9

bobo doll study pocedure

Answer 9

Procedure
- he wanted to investigate if children being exposed to aggressive behaviour would influence aggressive behaviour
36boys and 36 girls aged 3-6 were selected from stanford uni nursery
Variables
- Sex of the model, sex of the child , the aggression being modeled
Children with similar levels of aggression put tgt
Model either hits or shouts at bobo children see this then get put with the doll

Question 10

bobo doll study s w

Answer 10

Strength
High internal validity - children were matched based on existing aggression; reduces potential effects of individual differences.

Levels of controls shows that their aggression was as a result of observing the models.
Weakness
Low ecological validity - tasks and environment were very artificial and controlled.

Bobo doll and conditions they observed the model is different to typical environments (e.g. a classroom fighting over a toy).

Findings of observational learning of aggression may not apply to settings outside the laboratory.

Question 11

bandura 1963 procedure

Answer 11

Procedure
To investigate whether a filmed model would have the same effect as a live model on children’s aggression.

48 boys, 48 girls (independent groups design) aged 39-52 months from Stanford University Nursery.

Live aggression
Filmed Realistic aggression
Cartoon aggression
Control group

Question 12

bandura 1963 s w

Answer 12

Strength
High internal validity - children were matched based on existing aggression; reduces potential effects of individual differences.

Levels of controls shows that their aggression was as a result of observing the models.

Weakness
Low ecological validity - tasks and environment were very artificial and controlled.

Bobo doll and conditions they observed the model is different to typical environments (e.g. a classroom fighting over a toy).

Findings of observational learning of aggression may not apply to settings outside the laboratory.

Question 13

bandura 1965 procedure

Answer 13

Procedure
To investigate whether reinforcement would influence the aggression displayed.

33 boys, 33 girls (independent groups design) aged 42-71 months from Stanford University Nursery.

Model reward - 2nd adult praise model with drink and chocolate.
Model punished - 2nd adult scolded and spanked model.
No consequence - control group

Question 14

bandura 1965 s w

Answer 14

Strength
High internal validity - children were matched based on existing aggression; reduces potential effects of individual differences.

Levels of controls shows that their aggression was as a result of observing the models.

Weakness
Children displayed demand characteristics. Noble 1975 - child said ‘Look Mummy, there’s the doll we have to hit’. Lead to believe they were expected to hit the doll.

Lower internal validity as can’t be sure the aggression results were affected by demand characteristics.

Question 15

social learning theory procedure

Answer 15

Procedure
Observation-observer focuses attention on the model’s behaviour
Imitation- copying the observed behaviour
Attention- all the attention placed on observed behaviour
Retention-recall of observed behaviour
Reproduction- behaviour is replicated in the appropriate situation
Motivation: what drives the child to replicate(vicarious reinforcement)

Question 16

social learning theory s w

Answer 16

Strength
supported by studies- banduras- demonstrate children were more likely to imitate an aggressive model ifd the model was the same sex
and in 1965 proved that they child will be more iin clined to imitate if rewarded
observation and imitation

Weakness
kendler et al
identical twins had a higher concordance rate than non idnetical theredore individual dfferences in aggressiveness may be explained - differe explanation

Question 17

phobia procedure

Answer 17

Phobia- anxiety disorder which interferes with daily living it something that produces a conscious avoidance of the feared object

Classical conditioning
- associating a NS (object or event) to UCS (bad experience) leading to fear
Albert-classical conditioning

Operant Conditioning
- reinforcement
- an individual gets attention when they show fear- positive reinforcement and this encourages it maintaining it
We may avoid flying- negatively reinforce it

Social learning theory
- observation, vicarious learning imitation
Child watches sister fear something and imitates

Question 18

phobia s w

Answer 18

Strength
Learning theories
- good application to real lids as its used in therapies
The two treatments are based on classical conditioning
- has practical applications
Weakness
- learning theories cannot explain some of phobias
Seligman- we can acquire certain phobias more easily than others (evolutionary)
Learning is an incomplete explanation

Question 19

systematic desensitisation

Answer 19

Systematic Desensitisation
Relaxation techniques - meditation, deep breaths
Anxiety hierarchy - tier list of what experiences would cause greatest fear.

Strength: good treatment, improve in therapy more than those who don’t SD.

Weakness: cannot treat all phobias. Fears such as the dark are ingrained in survival instincts.

Question 20

flooding

Answer 20

Flooding
Overwhelming the individual’s senses with the item or situation that causes anxiety so they realise that no harm will occur.

Strength: fast form of treatment, leading to lower therapy costs - can lead symptom free lives.

Weakness - not effective for social phobia. Patients have accompanying unpleasant thoughts or feelings. Only be used to tackle behavioural responses and not cognitive aspects.

Question 21

becker et al procedure

Answer 21

Procedure
63 girls in 1995 aged 17 < 1 month of TV exposure.
65 girls in 1998 aged 17 > 3 years of TV exposure.

Completed EAT-26 questionnaire.

Translator there to prevent misunderstandings.

1998 group were asked questions ‘have u ever changed diet to change weight’.

TV models affected girls bodies.

Question 22

becker et al s w

Answer 22

Strength
Good reliability of findings and scores. Similar findings to other studies and EAT-26 is reliable scale.

The differences were reflecting real changes over time and not due to scale being unreliable.

Weakness
Poor generalisability - Fiji thinks high BMI attractive - different to Western culture. Clash between America’s TV’s beauty standards and in Fiji is more prominent.

Results on TV affecting body image may not be applicable to other countries due to Fiji’s unique culture.

Question 23

animal research

Answer 23

Procedure
Replacing - use alternatives if possible.
Reducing - use as little animals as possible.
Refining - minimise suffering

Strength
It may be preferable to use animals for research as there are fewer ethical issues.

Informed consent and protection from harm are lesser issues for animals than for humans.

Weakness
Humans have culture and social reasons behind the behaviours - peer pressure, academic pressure, work pressure, trauma.

Animals don’t experience these so the way they respond may not be applicable to humans.

Question 24

learning key question

Answer 24

Jade runs a blog giving tips and tricks on how to deal with Anorexia.
Problem to society-doubling in hospital admissions for ED in the past 6 years
90% of cases are female between 13-18 girls stop menstruating

SLT: thinspiration to followers - who pay attention and retain the images of their body and reproduce that body. Copy dieting. Seen them get praise for it and want to as well.
Operant: negative reinforcement- where she hated her body less as she got thinner
Positive punishment: got shamed for being fat when posting herself and wanted to avoid gaining more weight