Learning and conditioning Flashcards
What is classical conditioning?
Classical conditioning as a form of learning in which a conditioned stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus in order to produce a behavioural response, the conditioned response.
What is extinction?
Removing the unconditioned stimulus is described as extinction
Conditioned stimulus is applied repeatedly without being paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
Context learning is greater when
Cue or outcome are uncorrelated.
How does learning about one event influence learning about other events?
Blocking
Train to learn a relationship then when another stimulus is added, this interferes with their initial learning.
Schizophrenics are more likely to
Learn and associate correlations
How are phobias likely generated?
Conditioning
Main phobia treatment and why?
Exposure therapy is thought to be one of the main therapies for phobias - due to development of blocking.
White coat effect
People provide higher blood pressure readings when taken in the GP’s office then when taken at home, suggesting that observations and measurements in the clinic are inherently biased.
Medication to reduce BP is more likely to be given if the patient thinks hypertension is
A chronic disorder
Recall vs memory
Recall is a reconstructive process
Memory includes actual events + knowledge, experiences, expectations
Improving compliance to existing treatments can be
More effective than improving treatment itself
How much of a GP consultation is forgotten?
50%
Reasons for non-adherence
Forgetting
Cultural reasons, beliefs
Way in which one views their illness (chronic more likely to take hypertensive meds)
What is somatised symptom disorder
SSD is the expression of psychological illness through physical symptoms - as in the term ‘somatised depression’ or somatisation.
