Learning Flashcards
1
Q
What is learning?
A
Relatively permanent change that is the result of an experience
2
Q
What is classical conditioning?
A
The pairing of 2 stimuli that results in a learned response
3
Q
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
A
Anything that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction
4
Q
What is an unconditioned response?
A
An automatic reaction produced by the unconditioned stimuli
5
Q
What is a neutral stimulus?
A
A stimulus that initially produces no response
6
Q
What is a conditioned stimulus?
A
Initially, a neutral stimulus that has now been associated with with the unconditioned stimulus
7
Q
What is a conditioned response?
A
Reaction that resembles the unconditioned response but is caused by the conditioned stimulus
8
Q
What were 2 studies conducted uncovering classical conditioning?
A
- Pavlov’s Dogs
- Little Albert
9
Q
What Was the aim of Pavlov’s experiment?
A
To test his hypothesis of the dogs associating the footsteps with food, by replacing the footsteps with a bell, seeing the resulting behaviour
10
Q
What were the methods of Pavlov’s experiment?
A
A bell was rung before feeding the dogs and this was repeated many times
11
Q
What were the results of Pavlov’s experiment?
A
- Originally the dogs only salivated when seeing or smelling food
- Soon the dogs would drool whenever the bell was rung even when food wasn’t present
12
Q
What were the conclusions of Pavlov’s experiment?
A
The dogs unconsciously associated the bell stimulus with the stimulus of the food, resulting in the same unconscious response for both stimuli.
13
Q
A
14
Q
What does extinction mean?
A
The gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the neutral stimulus
15
Q
What does spontaneous recovery mean?
A
Describes how a conditioned behaviour can be recovered from extinction after a rest period (like relearning, happens faster 2nd time)
16
Q
What does stimulus generalisation mean?
A
When the conditioned response still occurs even when the conditioned stimulus is slightly different
17
Q
What does discrimination mean?
A
Capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli
18
Q
Who conducted the Little Albert experiment?
A
Watson & Rayner
19
Q
What was the aim in the Little Albert experiment?
A
To find out if an infant could be classically conditioned
20
Q
What were the methods of the Little Albert experiment?
A
- 8 month old presented with many stimuli, was unafraid of all of them
- 2 months after the baseline session, a conditioning session was conducted where Albert was shown a white rat paired with a loud banging sound
21
Q
What were the results of the Little Albert experiment?
A
- After pairing the loud noise with the rat, Albert only needed to be shown the rat without the loud noises to display signs of fear and avoidance
- Fear faded as time went on but the association could be relearned by repeating the procedure
- Albert developed phobias of objects with similar characteristics to the rat, generalisation occured
22
Q
What were 3 limitations of the Little Albert experiment?
A
- Loud noise could have made Albert fear any object in the laboratory setting
- Alberts’s responses were inconsistent, much calmer when allowed to suck on his thumb
- As it is a case study there was no control and results cannot be generalised
23
Q
What principle is operant conditioning based off?
A
Behaviour is increased through reinforcement and decreased through punishment
24
Q
What are 3 things that need to be present for behaviours to occur consistently?
A
- Antecedent: The stimulus that triggers a desired behaviour
- Behaviour: The desired action made by the animal
- Consequence: the reward or punishment recieved for the behaviour
25
What is reinforcement?
A consequence that increases the likelihood of a behaviour
26
Name and describe the 2 types of reinforcement
- Positive reinforcement: The addition of a positive stimulus
- Negative reinforcement: The removal of a negative stimulus
27
What is punishment?
A consequence that decreases the likelihood of a behaviour
28
Name and describe the 2 types of punishment
- Positive punishment: The addition of a negative stimulus
- Negative punishment: Removal of a positive stimulus
29
What are the 4 schedules of reinforcement?
- Fixed ratio
- Variable ratio
- Fixed interval
- Variable interval
30
Explain a fixed ratio schedule and the response and extinction rate.
Reinforcement of a behaviour after a specific number of responses
- Response rate: Fast
- Extinction rate: Medium
31
Explain a variable ratio schedule and the response and extinction rate.
Reinforcement of a behaviour after an average or unpredictable number of responses
- Response rate: Fast
- Extinction rate: Slow (due to the unpredictability)
32
Explain a fixed interval schedule and the response and extinction rate.
Reinforcement of a behaviour after a specific amount of time. Behaviour is strong leading up to reinforcement but drops off after
- Response rate: Medium
- Extinction rate: Medium
33
Explain a variable interval schedule and the response and extinction rate.
Reinforcement of a behaviour after an average or unpredictable amount of time.
- Response rate: Fast
- Extinction rate: Slow
34
Which reinforcements cause the slowest and fastest extinction?
- Continuous reinforcement causes the fastest extinction
- Variable ratio schedules cause the slowest extinction
35
Who theorised the Law of Effect?
Thorndike
36
What does the Law of Effect state?
Behaviours with satisfying outcomes are more likely to occur again while behaviours with unsatisfying outcomes are less likely to occur again
37
What was the aim of Thorndike's experiment?
To test his Law of Effect by putting cats in puzzle boxes to see how they learned to escape for food
38
What were the methods of Thornsikes experiment?
Cats were put inside puzzle boxes, food was placed outside the box and Thorndike recorded how long it took for the cats to escape.
39
What were the results of Thorndikes experiment?
Cats became more likely to hit the lever to get out as they received a reward straight after, the cats got faster at opening the door
40
What were the conclusions of Thorndikes experiment?
As pressing the lever on the door led to a favourable outcome it was more likely to be repeated, it led to Thorndike developing his Law of Effect theory. It is used in therapeutic sessions today
41
What were the criticisms of Thorndikes experiment?
As he held sexist and racist views, his generalisation of findings to humans were likely skewed
42
What term was coined by Skinner?
Operant conditioning
43
Who conducted the 'Superstition in the Pigeon' experiment
Skinner
44
What was the aim in Superstition in the pigeon?
To explore the effects of non-contingent (fixed variable) reinforcement on pigeons
45
What were 3 methods of Superstition in the pigeon?
- Pigeons were placed in a Skinner Box
- Instead of food being given as a result of behaviour, it was given at
regular intervals regardless of the behaviour
- Behaviours were recorded
46
47
What were 4 conclusions of Superstition in the pigeon?
- Behaviours can be conditioned without cause & effect relationships
- Skinner believed the pigeons developed a superstition that their
behaviour was causing the food delivery
- Shows intricacies of operant conditioning
- As well as parallels between animal and human behaviours
regarding random reinforcements
48
Who made the Social Learning Theory?
Bandura
49
What is observational learning?
Learning by observing the actions and consequences of others and determining whether to imitate or not
50
What is a model?
An individual who is observed by a learner, they can impact the learners behaviour in both positive and negative ways
51
What is vicarious reiforcement?
When a model's behaviour results in the learner getting a reward, the actions are more likely to be replicated
52
What are the 5 steps of observational learning?
1. Attention
2. Retention
3. Reproduction
4. Motivation
5. Reinforcement
53
Explain the 1st step of observational learning
Attention
- Learner must show interest and pay attention to the model's
behaviour to decide whether to imitate their behaviour or not
54
Explain the 2nd step of observational learning
Retention
- Learner must retain the model's behavior in their memory, as the
better a behavior is retained, the more likely it is to be remembered
55
Explain the 3rd step of observational learning
Reproduction
- Learner must have the ability to perform the model's behaviour,
physical ability can limit us in reproducing a behaviour
56
Explain the 4th step of observational learning
Motivation
- Learner will consider the rewards and punishments that follow a behaviour and they must have a desire to perform it. If perceived pros outweigh perceived cons the behaviour is more likely to be imitated
57
Explain the 5th step of observational learning
Reinforcement
- The actual rewards or punishments received for displaying the behaviour will affect the likelihood of it happening again (same principles as operant conditioning)
58
Who conducted the Bobo Doll experiment?
Bandura, Ross and Ross
59
What was the aim of the Bobo doll experiment?
To test whether children will imitate an adult behaving in an aggressive way to a bobo doll
60
What were 3 methods of the Bobo doll experiment?
- Experiments tested 36 girls and boys aged 3 to 6 whose aggression levels were measured and equally distributed into 3 groups
- Bandura filled a room full of toys for the kids to play with
- Before the kids entered the room they saw an adult role model play with the toys:
Group 1: Observed an aggressive role model who hit and threw the toys around
Group 2: Observed a non-aggressive role model who played with the toys normally
Group 3: Observed no role model
61
What are 4 results of the Bobo doll experiment?
- Children who observe the aggressive model made far more aggressive responses than those in other groups
- Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls
- Girls were more likely to be physically aggressive with a male model, but more verbally aggressive if the model was a female
- Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls, with little difference in verbal aggression between boys and girls
62
What are 2 conclusions of the Bobo doll experiment?
- Demonstrated that children can learn social behaviour (eg. aggression) through watching the behaviour of another person, or observational learning
- Results support Bandura's Social Learning Theory
63
What are 4 criticisms of the Bobo doll experiment?
- Lacks validity as it occurred in a lab, doesn't replicate real-life
- Selection bias as all children from upper-class white families
- Model was a stranger, doesn't replicate 'normal' modelling
- Retention was not measured
64
What is behaviour modification?
Use of conditioning techniques to alter human behaviour. Used to change unwanted behaviours and strengthen desirable ones
65
What is systematic desensitisation?
Uses classical conditioning techniques to reduce fears and phobias. Fear is replaced with relaxation techniques to result in a more appropriate response
66
What are the 5 steps to systematic desensitisation?
1. Find the extent of the fear (eg. big/live/all snakes)
2. Find the source of the fear (what events caused it)
3. Create a list of least to most scary situations (picture, video, in-person, holding)
4. Relaxation techniques are taught and practised
5. Fears are gradually introduced from least to most scary until subject is comfortable with graded exposure
67
What is a strength and criticism of systematic desensitisation?
- When paired with therapy and relaxation it is a great way to conquer phobias and fears
- Can take months of regular therapy sessions to see results
68
What are token economies?
Use operant conditioning by introducing symbolic markers (stickers, counters, fake money) as a currency to reward good behaviours. Markers can be exchanged for something more valuable eg. goods or priverlages
69
What are 3 examples of uses of token economies?
- Used in classrooms, psychiatric hospitals and prisons to alter undesirable behaviours
- Loyalty programs eg. coffee cards, frequent flyer points
- Casino chips
70
What are 2 strengths of token economies?
- More effective than simple reinforcement techniques, as simple operant conditioning can cause someone to be 'full' and stop responding to the reinforcement as the reward loses value
- Slow accumulation of tokens means secondary goals aren't attained at an unsustainable rate
71
What is a criticism of token economies?
Once individuals leave the environment with the tokens, there is difficulty maintaining an improvement in behaviour as there is no longer a reward system
