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PSYC1002 > Learning and Motivation > Flashcards

Learning and Motivation Flashcards

1
Q

what is learning?

A

An enduring change within an organism brought about by experience that makes a change in behaviour possible

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2
Q

What influences performance

A

Learning
Opportunity
Motivation
Sensory/motor capabilities

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3
Q

What is a reflex?

A

Reflexes are automatic and usually very fast
Learning is not required - innate

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4
Q

what are the components of a relfex?

A

eliciting stimuli and corresponding response

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5
Q

arm withdrawal

A

Touch an unpleasant stimulus, withdrawal
Involve very few neurons
Doesn’t even travel to brain: spinal cord

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6
Q

reflex arc

A

sensory nerves detect stimuli
motor nerves stimulate mucles
intensity must reach a certain threshold for a response to be elicited

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7
Q

What is an instinct?

A

behavioural sequence made up of units which are largely genetically determined and, as such, are typical of all members of a species

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8
Q

what is maturation?

A

changes that take place in your body and in your behaviour that are developmental

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9
Q

Why is walking something that is not ‘learned’?

A

It is more so determined by the strength of the baby’s legs and structure. As they start developing they will try out their legs.

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10
Q

why fatigue doesn’t indicate learning

A

it is a transient state of discomfort and loss of efficiency as a normal reaction to emotional strain, physical exertion, boredom, or lack of rest - it is not stable

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11
Q

what is habituation?

A

Decreased responding produced by repeated stimulation
stimulus and response specific

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12
Q

what is habituation not?

A

fatigue or sensory adaptation

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13
Q

what is sensitisation?

A

Increased responding produced by repeated stimulation

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14
Q

why is habituation and sensitisation important?

A

help us sort out what stimuli to ignore and what to respond to, help us to organise and focus our behaviour in a world of meaningless stimuli

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15
Q

disorders in habituation

A

schizophrenic people lack capacity to habituate

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16
Q

clinical applications of habituation

A

Use habituation to form diagnostic tests to diagnose mental illness before obvious symptoms arise.

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17
Q

why should we use animals for experiments?

A

inexpensive
simpler conditions
easily controlled
wider scope

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18
Q

what is classical conditioning?

A

conditioning something to evoke the same response in the absence of the original stimulus - When a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US), it comes to elicit a conditioned response (CR)

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19
Q

appetitive conditioning

A

Eye-blink conditioning
Food preferences
Place preference

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20
Q

aversive conditioning

A

Conditioned fear
Anticipatory nausea

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21
Q

Little Albert experiment

A

Albert was conditioned to fear certain stimulus (large sound was made when interacting with stimulus) - feared things that were associated with the stimuli (generalisation)

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22
Q

What is second order conditioning?

A

introduce another stimulus that is not directly paired with the food - becomes second-order reinforcer

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23
Q

How does volume affect classical conditioning?

A

Strength of conditioned response increases after more trials - experience associations

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24
Q

How does intensity affect classical conditioning?

A

Intensity of CS: when intensity is higher, learning is faster (time)
Intensity of US: how tasty a food is, max amount of learning (amount)

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25
Q

How does contiguity affect classical conditioning?

A

Having a short time between CS and US allows for the association and understanding of the correct behaviour

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26
Q

what is ISI

A

Inter-stimulus interval

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27
Q

How does contingency affect classical conditioning?

A

What is the probability that the US follows the CS?
What is the probability that the US occurs anyway? - we need things to occur after certain events

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28
Q

Extinction

A

Reversing the learning process - repeated CS-alone presentations following acquisition resulting in a reduction in the CR

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29
Q

What is classical conditioning used for?

A

Advertising (associations)
Removing phobias

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30
Q

what is instrumental conditioning?

A

Trial by error learning - In the presence of a discriminative stimulus (Sd), a response (R) is followed by a reinforcer (Sr) or punisher (Sav).

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31
Q

Thorndike’s law of effect

A

What a human or animal does is strongly influenced by the immediate consequences of such behaviour in the past

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32
Q

What is good about the Skinner box?

A

Automated - measures effect of reinforcement on behaviour continuously Behaviour can be continued without interruption - unlike Thorndike where he had to remove the cat from box

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33
Q

Free operant procedure

A
  1. Rat placed in Skinner box
  2. Rat makes ‘right’ response
  3. Rat gets food
  4. Repeat from 2
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34
Q

Skinner’s Tripartite contingency

A

Antecedent the stimulus controlling behaviour - discriminative stimulus (Sd)
Behaviour what is the response being reinforced?
Consequence what is the immediate outcome of a behaviour - the reinforcing stimulus (Sr)

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35
Q

Difference between classical and instrumental?

A

classical: subject has to respond to control the outcome
instrumental: subject has no control over events, but response to them with some instinctive behaviour

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36
Q

Shaping

A

introduce new behaviours outside the behavioural repertoire

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37
Q

Principle of successive approximation

A

Reinforce behaviours that are closer and closer to a target behaviour
Gradually make the conditions of reinforcement more stringent, more precise

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38
Q

Primary reinforcers

A

Intrinsically valued
High Contiguity
Contingency

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39
Q

Secondary reinforcers

A

Acquire their reinforcing properties through experience e.g., “who’s a good boy/girl??”

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40
Q

avoidance

A

prevents a stimulus

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41
Q

escape

A

removes a stimulus

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42
Q

punishment

A

decreases a behaviour

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43
Q

reinforcement

A

increase behaviour

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44
Q

negative

A

absence of stimulus

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45
Q

positive

A

presence of stimulus

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46
Q

If you want an animal to establish conditioned learning quickly…

A

use fixed ratio

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47
Q

If you want to train a behaviour that is steady that is longer lasting, more sustainable…

A

use interval schedule

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48
Q

ratio

A

number of responses till reinforcer is present

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49
Q

interval

A

time until reinforcer is present

50
Q

interval and ratio schedules can be either…

A

fixed or variable

51
Q

The likelihood that a behaviours will increase or decrease is determined by…

A

The nature of the events that follow (appetitive/aversive)
Whether the behaviour produces terminates theses events

52
Q

Stimulus control

A

Learning to discriminate which outcome is likely to lead to a reward

53
Q

Why is generalisation good?

A

helps us interact with out environment

54
Q

How do humans generalise

A

More generalisation from the meaning rather than the physical similarity of stimuli. Semantically related

55
Q

generalisation

A

conditioned performance occurs in the presence of cues similar to original CS

56
Q

discrimination

A

learning to differentiate between cues; e.g. two CS’s. Learning to respond only (or differently) when the presence of a sue signals that the response will be reinforce

57
Q

Thorndike claimed that the likelihood of a response was due to 2 factors…

A
  1. Whether the response was followed by pleasant or unpleasant events.
  2. Whether cues that were present when the response was reinforced or punished are still present
58
Q

successive discrimination

A

alternating presentation of eliciting stimuli

59
Q

simultaneous discrimination

A

both S+ and S- are present e.g. a T-maze

60
Q

learning by exemplar

A

To what extent can you generalise the knowledge of what fits into a category - chairs and tables

61
Q

learning from punishment

A

short-lived
very specific, you have to punish every single ‘unwanted’ behaviour

62
Q

Social learning

A

learning behaviour from watching others (models) - exponential growth of behaviour

63
Q

goal enhancement

A

Getting access to some wanted goal might facilitate later trial and error learning

64
Q

stimulus enhancement

A

Observe others and are often more likely to approach places that they are

65
Q

Increased motivation to act…

A

Try more new things in the company of friends and parents

66
Q

Contagious behaviour

A

Mimicking an already established behaviour, e.g. yawning/smiling

67
Q

Mimicry

A

A copied action that is made without reference to a goal, or that may not be reinforced by some consequence - regardless of result

68
Q

Emulation

A

There is understanding of the goal but the specific response required to obtain the goal may not be well understood

69
Q

Imitation

A

Copied actions made with respect to the goal/consequence

70
Q

modelling

A

Children will not only imitate an adult’s specific behaviour but also model general styles of behaviour (anger etc)

71
Q

Observed modelling

A

reinforcement dependent
can occur through TV, not just in person.

72
Q

social cognition theory

A
  1. Attention to the model,
  2. Incorporate the model’s actions into memory,
  3. Requires having the ability to reproduce the actions of the model,
  4. The motivation to reproduce the actions of the model. Was the model reinforced? Is the reinforcer currently desired?
73
Q

Motivation

A

Why individuals initiate, choose, or persist in specific actions in specific circumstances - condition of behaviour, impels action

74
Q

Fixed Action Pattern (FAP)

A

genetically determined stereotyped sequence of behaviour which is often triggered by highly specific stimuli

75
Q

Sign stimuli

A

sign stimuli initiates FAP (full belly of female stickleback)

76
Q

How can we tell if behaviour is instinctive?

A
  1. Biological basis
  2. Cross-species similarity
  3. Cross-cultural similarity
  4. Separated identical twin-studies
  5. Developmental studies
77
Q

non-verbal communication

A

Facial expressions
Smiling
Acting coy/Flirting

78
Q

problems with instinct only theories

A
  1. Circularity
  2. Proliferation
  3. Behavioural flexibility & Learning - don’t account for learning
79
Q

problems with drive theroies

A

predicts a linear relationship between arousal & performance.
Drive reduction is not necessary for reinforcement (e.g., saccharin)
Ignores role for qualitative differences between reinforcers

80
Q

Even when all drives are satisfied…

A

their is still motivation for stimulation

81
Q

The survival of the fittest (Darwin):

A
  1. There are limited resources & there is competition for these resources,
  2. Individuals who are best suited to their environment will tend to survive,
  3. They will pass on their characteristics to their offspring (via genes).
82
Q

discriminant stimulus

A

a cue that indicates whether a behaviour is likely to be reinforced or not
sd: will produce rein
sdelta: will not produce rein

83
Q

acquisition

A

initial learning phase in classical conditioning

84
Q

unconditioned stimulus

A

naturally occurring stimuli

85
Q

unconditioned response

A

innate

86
Q

conditioned stimulus

A

neutral stimuli

87
Q

conditioned response

A

learnt

88
Q

constraints successive approximation

A

relies on animals (sleep)
physical or reward limitations
time

89
Q

how are humans usually rewarded

A

Money
Gifts
Positive social interactions
Praise

90
Q

Why are conditioned reinforcers often used in humans to shape behaviour?

A

Money is associated with natural rewards
It is like motivation

91
Q

avoidance behaviour is a form of…

A

instrumental conditioning

92
Q

instinct is sensitive to motivational factors:

A

hormone levels for sexual behaviours
fatigue

93
Q

Action Specific Energy (ASE)

A

Specific source of energy associated with a FAP
The level of which controls the intensity with which the FAP is performed

94
Q

what is incentive value determined by?

A

liking (hedonic value)
biological need
current arousal state
preferred activity

95
Q

humanist

A

reaction to behaviourist psychodynamic theory - emphasises unique qualities of humans (what makes humans the best they can be, how can we understand this behaviour)

96
Q

Rogers

A

people want to become “fully functioning”
only one motive - innate tendency to fulfil one’s potential for growth

97
Q

Maslow

A

people move towards “self-actualisation” - complete an image of your self (ceo etc)

98
Q

humans are motivated to become fully functioning through…

A

maintenance
enhancement
reproduction
wealth

99
Q

importance of self-concept

A

need for unconditional positive regard - consistent, leads to growth
conditional regard - anxiety, constantly trying to get praise

100
Q

a fully functioning person has…

A

openness to experience
existential living
trust in one’s own organism
sense of freedom
creativity

101
Q

hierarchy of needs

A

physiological - first
safety
love/belonging
esteem
self actualisation - last (more complex and human)

102
Q

frustration of these needs…

A

generates pathology

103
Q

criticism of humanistic psychology

A
  1. weak empirically
  2. hierarchy - can be safe but hungry
  3. who is self-actualised - circularity
  4. cultural concerns & elitism - primarily based on western ideals
104
Q

Rorschach

A

a qualitative approach to probe your aspirations - ask to describe an ambiguous image and the description is analysed for themes

105
Q

Thematic apperception tests

A

use ambiguous pictures of people and how they feel etc.

106
Q

long-term human needs

A

achievement (nAch) - increase self-regard, surpass others, accomplish difficulties, organise, independent

107
Q

do differences in nAch translate into long-term behaviour?

A

people who are executives tend to more strongly express nAch

108
Q

what can we predict about nAch

A

career
positive feeling of success should increase the harder that task is
people high in nAch will attempt harder tasks

109
Q

High nAch

A

much more conscious of failure and competition
weighing the expected utility of their choice

110
Q

expectancy-value theories

A

consider a person’s expectancy pf actually obtaining the goal - no point attempting a really hard task if there will be no sense of satisfaction.

111
Q

expected utility of an action =

A

value of the goal x probability of obtaining goal

112
Q

nAch and Career choice

A

personal responsibility for solving problems
sets moderate goals
needs concrete rapid performance feedback

113
Q

releasing stimuli

A

initiate FAP
Trigger stereotyped sequence of behaviours

114
Q

supernormal stimuli

A

Are more effective than the normal stimulus for eliciting FAP - More intense version

115
Q

drives…

A

energise and activate certain behaviours

116
Q

ethology

A

the study of innate factors in behaviour - stressed the importance of observing behaviour in a natural setting

117
Q

How to address a behaviour pattern

A
  1. What is the cause? The ‘mechanism’ question.
  2. How did it develop within the individual? The ‘ontogeny’ question.
  3. What is its survival (adaptive) value? The ‘function’ question.
  4. How did it evolve? The ‘phylogeny’ question.
118
Q

List two sources of motivation

A

hunger and happiness

119
Q

what is an example of genetic predisposition

A

Learning a language when young. Universal human skill that shows we have an innate predisposition to learn rules of grammar and syntax and apply them to describe the world and ourselves to others

120
Q

what is an example of a regulatory drive?

A

Seeking warmth when sick, flexible demand that can be changed if other concerns arise (threats etc.)

121
Q

what is an example of a universal motive?

A

gossiping, present in lots of cultures but is not biologically determined.

122
Q

what is an instinctual response?

A

cuddling a baby and finding its large eyes, short limbs, big head very cute

PSYC1002 (6 decks)

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