Learning Flashcards
What you need to know for the Learning Topic
Principles of classical conditioning:
UCR;UCS
CR;CS
Extinction
Spontaneous Recovery
Generalisation
Discrimination
The contributions of Pavlov
Principles of Operant conditioning:
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
Contributions of Skinner
Behaviour shaping
Distinction between positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment
Descriptions and Evaluation of attempts to apply conditining procedures to the treament of phobias:
Flooding and systematic desensitisation
and to change unwanted behaviour:
Aversion therapy and Token Economy
Ethical implications of these attemtps
What is a reflex response?
Give some examples
Humans have a number of reflex / involuntary actions
(E.g. breathing, eye blink, knee jerk, infants involuntary sucking when something touches the roof of the mouth, yawning, startle reflex, shivering, and pupil light reflex in response to light …) These would not be examples of learning. Why not?
What has to happen for learning to occur?
In Psychology we make the distinction between
Behaviours that occur naturally versus Behaviours that have to be learned
For learning to occur there has to be change in behaviour. An activity that could not be performed previously can now be done.
Give a definition of Learning.
Give an example
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour due to experience.
What is the definition of classical conditioning?
Classical conditioning:
a procedure during which an animal or person learns to associate a reflex response with a new stimulus
What is a definition of a Classical conditioning Schedule
Give an example
The procedure in classical conditioning is named the Classical conditioning schedule
Classical conditioning schedule: the steps in the procedure to condition a new response
Describe Pavlov’s background and how he came to begin his conditioning trials
One of the earliest explanations of how animals and humans learn was proposed by Pavlov (1927)
He noticed that his dog started to salivate (his mouth watered) when it heard the food buckets being brought in/ the lab assistant approaching. Think about Poppy and Fudge and ways in which they do the same
Pavlov knew that salivation is a reflex response – an automatic response that should occur when food is in the mouth. So why was the dog’s mouth watering?
Pavlov realised that the dogs had learnt to salivate to a new event – the sound of the food buckets / footsteps. Fascinated, he decided to study whether dogs could learn to salivate to other events. So …… he started an experiment.
Pavlov’s first trial
Pavlov
In his trials over the next few days he –
Rang a bell for a few seconds then fed his dog
Then he measured the amount of saliva the dog produced
Rang a bell for a few seconds then didn’t feed his dog
Then he measured the amount of saliva the dog produced
Results:
= He discovered that the same amount of saliva was produce with no food than with food.
Define Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS):
The stimulus that produces a reflex response
Such as the food for Pavlov’s dog
Define Unconditioned Response
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
The reflex response to an unconditioned stimulus
Such as Pavlov’s dog’s salivation
Define Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
A new stimulus presented with the UCS
Such as the bell in Pavlov’s experiment
Define Conditioned Response (CR)
Conditioned Response (CR)
The response that is learnt; it now occurs when the CS is presented
Such as Pavlov’s dog’s salivation
What is a definition of Extinction?
Extinction
A conditioned response dies out
Explain how Pavlov found out about extinction
Further trials
Pavlov then tried other procedures to investigate e.g.
How long the learning would last.
He discovered that if he continued to ring the bell without giving the dog any food, after a short time the dog would no longer salivate. He called this
Extinction
What is a definition of Spontaneous Recovery?
Spontaneous recovery
A conditioned response that has disappeared suddenly appears again
Explain how Pavlov found out about Spontaneous recovery
In his second lot of trials after a short period during which no bell had been rung, Pavlov would suddenly ring the bell and the dog would immediately salivate again. He called this response Spontaneous recovery.
What is a definition of Discrimination?
Discrimination
(with reference to conditioning) the conditioned response is only produced when a specific stimulus is presented
Explain how Pavlov found out about Discrimination.
Finally he learned he could STOP generalisation by:
Ringing a number of bells of different tones, but only presenting food when ONE particular bell was rung.
The dog stopped salivating at all the other bells and only salivated when the bell that had been reinforced by food was rung.
Pavlov said this was
Discrimination
Because the dog had learned to narrow its response to a particular stimulus (that one particular bell sound).
What is a definition of Generalisation?
Generalisation
The conditioned response is produced when a similar stimulus to the original conditioned stimulus is presented
Explain how Pavlov found out about Generalisation
In another series of trials Pavlov found that if he changed the tone of the bell the dog would still salivate.
He said this was
Generalisation
Because the dog was widening its learned response, the CR (conditioned response) to a similar conditioned stimulus (CS), i.e. a new bell sound.
Describe the study by Watson and Rayner about conditioning fear.
Aim:
To see if the emotional response of fear could be conditioned in a human being
Method:
Albert was 11 months old.
He seemed to like a white laboratory rat and had no fear of any white furry objects.
In the conditioning trials the rat was shown to Albert and, as he reached for it, a metal bar was hit very hard with a hammer, behind Albert’s back.
This was done several times.
Results:
After seven times, when the rat was presented again, Albert screamed and tried to get away. He did this even though the bar was not hit by the hammer and there was no loud noise.
Albert also screamed when he was shown a Santa Claus mask and a fur coat.
Conclusion:
Watson and Rayner showed that fear responses could be learnt and even very young children can learn in the way suggested by classical conditioning. It also indicates generalisation as Albert widened his learned response (to white furry coats and masks).
Evaluate the Study by Watson and Raynor about conditioning fear.
Weaknesses:
This was not a very ethical thing to do to a small child. Code of Ethics – do no harm.
This study only involved one child and maybe the researchers needed more evidence that fear can be learnt this way.
Strength:
However the study certainly seems to fit with what you might already know about any phobia you have. It has intuitive appeal [fits with our experience].
What is Thorndike’s Law of Effect?
Thorndike proposed a hypothesis:
If a certain response has pleasant consequences, it is more likely than other response to occur in the same circumstances.
This became known as the Law of Effect
DEFINITION of Law of Effect:
Behaviours that are followed by rewards are usually repeated; those that are punished are not usually repeated.
DEFINITION of Law of Effect:
Behaviours that are followed by rewards are usually repeated; those that are punished are not usually repeated.
