Learning and conditioning Flashcards
What is behaviourism?
Developed in the first half of the 20th century. Psychologists decided to study and analyse behaviour instead of continuing with introspection (examination of mental/emotional processes).
What is associative learning?
Learning something new about a new kind of stimulus. Non-associative learning would lead to habituation (decreased response to repeated stimulus) or sensitisation (increased response to a repeated stimulus).
Definition of Classical/Pavlovian conditioning
Learning through association. Pairing stimulus to response. The response is always a reflex and already part of the behavioural repertoire.
Definition of operant/instrumental conditioning
Consequence of behaviour reinforces or eliminates it.
Give an example for Classical conditioning
Pavlov's dog! Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)- Food Unconditioned response (UCR)- Drooling Neutral Stimulus (NS)- Bell Conditioned stimulus (CS)- Bell Conditioned response (CR)- Drooling
UCS + NS = CS = CR!
What is stimulus generalisation?
When classical conditioning also reacts to other, similar stimuli as the original stimulus (often less though)
What is Locke’s assumption about our behaviour?
He said our mind at birth is a “Tabula rasa”- a blank state. Therefore, all behaviour is learned from the environment.
Compensatory reaction hypothesis
In some cases, the CS results in the opposite response as the UCS! For example:
Heroin use: UCS
Injection situation/environment: CS
Body balance is distorted: UCR to UCS
BUT: Body anticipation to the distortion, when exposed to the CS, leads to a counteraction of the body to the distortion effects, before they have actually begun!- CR!!
Biological predisposition
Some behaviour is more easily learned by certain people than others.
Trial and error vs insight
Through trial and error, there is a gradual increase of some kind of connection established between behaviour and consequence. Insight is connected to understanding- an “aha” moment.
Describe Thorndike’s law of effect
Behaviour followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and vice versa. This is the basis of operant conditioning: Behaviours are controlled by their consequences.
Difference between punishment and reinforcement
Punishment: Decreases chance of undesirable behaviour
Reinforcement: Increase the chance of desirable behaviour.
Negative and positive reinforcement/punishment
Positive: The addition of something
Negative: The removal of something
What is the learned helplessness effect?
Experiment by Seligman and Maier.
If no avoidance learning has happened, we have learned that we are helpless, and will not try to avoid something later, even if we are eventually presented with the opportunity to do so.
Escape and avoidance learning
UCS: Shock. UCR: Fear. CS: Light. CR: Fear.
Operant behaviour: Run
Reward: Fear reduction
So, avoidance= Fleeing from the stimulus, but not ending it
Escape= Managing to end negative stimulus completely
What is observational learning?
Learning while watching others, retaining the information, and then later replicating the observed behaviours.
This is how media violence evolves
List 3 characteristics of media violence
- Decreases viewer’s concerns about the suffering of victims
- Habituates us to the sight of violence
- Provides aggressive models, that increase viewer tendencies to act aggressively too
- BUT pro-social models increase people’s helping behaviour!
Bandura and social learning theory (his experiment)
The bobo doll study:
- 66 nursery children divided into three groups
- All groups watched a video of a person kicking and punching a bobo doll
- Group 1: Person was rewarded. Group 2: Person was punished. Group 3: Nothing was done.
Overall, the boys and girls watching the video were more aggressive than kids who had not watched the video, with levels of aggression varying within the groups of course! Male and female kids were more aggressive when seeing a person of their own gender beat up the bobo doll.
