Learning and Conditioning

Question 1

What is learning

Answer 1

Learning
- The activity or process of gaining knowledge or skill by studying, practicing, being taught or experiencing something

Psychology aspect
- Any relatively permanent change in the behaviour, feelings, or thoughts as a consequence of prior experience

Question 2

What are the five major learning theories in psychology

Answer 2

• Cognitive
• Biological
• Humanistic
• Psychodynamic
• Behavioural

Question 3

describe the five major learning theories in psychology

Answer 3

Cogntivie
- Your expectations and emotions from what you already know determine your learning behaviour

Biological
- You biology such as you brain, genetics, hormones determines your thoughts moods and action

Psychodynamics
- Early conscious and subconscious childhood experiences determine your learning behaviour

Humanistic
- Individuals desire to discover knowledge and understanding

Behavioural
- Environmental stimuli influence your learning behaviour

Question 4

what are the three behaviour types of learning

Answer 4

• observational
• classical
• operant

Question 5

describe an observational learning

Answer 5

• Alterative name can be shaping, modelling, or vacarious reinforcement
• Reinforcement – stimulus which strengthens and increases the chance of a specific response
• Basically, is watching and imitating others
• Process of learning through watching others, retain the information and then replicate the observed behaviours
• Most common during childhood as children learn from authority figures and peers

Question 6

what is conditioning

Answer 6

this is when a subject associates two things that do not normally go together

Question 7

what is classical conditioning

Answer 7

this is when you associate an involuntary response and stimulus

Question 8

describe the 3 stage process of classical conditioning

Answer 8

1, before conditioning

• 1a - Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces an unconditioned response (UCR) e.g a juicy stake causing salivation response which is a natural reflex
• 1b - Neutral stimulus produces no response e.g. a bell ringing produces no behaviour response

2, during conditning
- The uncondinted stimulus (UCS) and the neutral stimulus (NS) are carried out at the same time e.g. the juicy stake and bell ringing are done at the same time and produces salivation

3, after conditioning
- Conditionined stimulus (CS) produces a conditionined response (CR), e.g. bell ringing produces the conditioned reflex of salivation

Question 9

what is emotional conditioning

Answer 9

• A form of classical conditioning in which a subject associates a perceptual information e.g see and hear to an emotional response e.g. happiness, anxiety, sadness, pain
• Emotions can include stage fright, test anxiety (e.g. written exam), social anxiety,

Question 10

what system does the emotional response involve

Answer 10

The autonomic nervous system including …

• Parasympathetic nervous system
• Sympathetic nervous system
• Enteric nervous system

for example
- The fight and flight situation cause increased heartbeat, sweating, weak knees, butterfly in your stomach

Question 11

define operant

Answer 11

any active behaviour that operates upon the environment to generate consequences

Question 12

describe operant conditioning

Answer 12

• If a behaviour is followed by a positive/negative response then the behaviour will be repeated/discontinued
• Learning can be through rewards and punishment for voluntary behaviour

Question 13

describe operant conditioning

Answer 13

• Generalization and discrimination – provide a similar response when responding to a similar stimuli
• Extinction – disappearance of learned response due to the removal of the reinforcement
• Spontaneous recovery – reappearance of a certain conditioned response following a break period after extinction
• Reinforcement punishment – positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement

Question 14

what is a

• positive reinforcement
• positive punishment
• negative reinforcement
• negative punishment

Answer 14

Positive reinforcement – aiming to increase behaviour - got an A in a test more likely to want to get an A again so will study more

Positive punishment – aiming to decrease a behaviour – attempt skateboarding, got a broken leg will not do it again

Negative reinforcement – aim to increase a behaviour – clean the house, no more rats in the house, will clean house more often

Negative punishment – aim to decrease a behaviour – using phone in lecture, phone taken away, less likely to use phone again

Question 15

What is the behaviourist theory

Answer 15

• Behaviourist theory suggest that an abnormal behaviour has been learned so concentrate on unlearning this negative behaviour by replacing one response with another ( anxiety with relaxation)

Question 16

what is a phobia

Answer 16

• Phobias – this is an unreasoning fear to a dangerous thing or situation associated with pain

Question 17

name the classical conditioning methods that are used for phobias

Answer 17

• Aversion therapy
• Systemic desensitization
• Flooding (implosion therapy)

Question 18

name the operant conditioning methods that are used for phobias

Answer 18

• Token economy
• Contingency management
• Extinction

Question 19

describe aversion therapy and give an example

Answer 19

• Patient is exposed to stimulus while simultaneous subjected to some discomfort
• This is counter conditioning
  Chemical aversion (emetic) therapy for alcohol use disorder
• Repeated drinking laced with drug disulfiram that causes severe nausea, temporary conditioned aversion to alcohol can occur
• Success rate 70% after 1 year post treatment, without aversion therapy its 15%

Question 20

describe flooding

Answer 20

• Actual exposure to the stimulus of fear
• Based on the idea that autonomic arousal such as adrenaline and cortisol involving fight or flight will eventually subside
• 75% effectiveness, some patients drop out due to anxiety before treatment becomes effective

Question 21

Who is flooding not appropriate for and what are the positive and negatives

Answer 21

• not appropriate for children, elderly or patients with heart issues,
• time and cost effective as only take a few hours and one session,
• patients are exposed to high stress levels so require patient to be fully aware of the procedure and give full informed consent

Question 22

describe systemic desensitization

Answer 22

this involves a 3 stage process

• Stage 1 – relaxation – patients are taught deep muscle relaxation and meditation
• Stage 2 – fear hierarchy – patients create a ranked list of fear hierarchy
• Stage 3 – exposure – over a period of time patients are exposed to the fear with the least fear first, relaxation/meditation are used to overcome the fear, once the fear is overcome patient moves to the next fear, if the patient is too upset then they return back to earlier step
• This aims to use classical conditioning to treat phobias by associating their phobic stimulus with relaxation

Question 23

describe the effectiveness of systemic desenitization

Answer 23

• 75% patients with learned anxiety of specific objects/situations respond effectively with systematic desensitisation
• More effective in vivio (e.g. exposed to a real spider) than in vitro (picture of spider)

Question 24

describe the appropriatness of systemic desenitization

Answer 24

• Appropriate for all ages as involve relaxation/meditation techniques and patients are not exposed to high stress levels
• Suitable for paitents with limited insight to the cause of the phobia

Question 25

describe token economy

Answer 25

• Targeted behaviour using tokens (secondary reinforcer) and later exchanged for a rewards (primary reinforcer)

Question 26

describe contingency management

Answer 26

• Utilizes a formal written contract between patient and therapist
• Outlines an agreement in behaviour change goals reinforcements, rewards that will be given and penalties for failing
• Effective for behaviour changes as rules are clearly written, so preventing bother parties from backing away from their promises
• Suitable not only for therapists but also teachers and parents in the form of behaviour contracts

Question 27

describe extinction

Answer 27

• related to flooding
• Produce behaviour change by stopping the reinforcing behaviour in order to remove the response
• Time out – remove the person from the situation that provides reinforcement (e.g. talking student is removed from the lecture and required to sit alone with no opportunity for attention and reinforcmenet)
  taking away the attention the individual finds rewarding the unwanted behaviour is eventually removed