Learning Approach

Question 1

Learning approach summary

Answer 1

We are born as ‘a blank slate’ - ‘tabula rasa’: everything we become is shaped by the process of learning from our environment

Behaviour is observed and measured

Basic processes for learning are the same in all species: Animals could replace humans as experimental subjects

Two forms of learning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Question 2

Classical conditioning

Answer 2

Learning by association - Ivan Pavlov noticed that dogs not only salivated with food, but with things associated with food (sound of the bell presented at the same time)
1) Unconditioned stimulus (food) – neutral stimulus
2) Unconditioned response (salivating) – triggered by stimulus
3) Natural stimulus (bell) – something that initially gives no response
4) Conditioned stimulus (bell) – something learned to trigger a response
= Conditioned response (salivating) – triggered by stimulus

Question 3

Operant conditioning:

Answer 3

Learning by consequences - B.F Skinner
Skinner’s box:
1) Conducted experiments with rats
2) Every time the rat activated a lever it was rewarded with a food pellet
3) After many repetitions the animal would continue to perform the behaviour

Question 4

Positive reinforcement

Answer 4

receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed - increases the likelihood behaviour will be repeated

Question 5

Negative reinforcement

Answer 5

avoiding an unpleasant consequence - increase the likelihood behaviour will be repeated

Question 6

Punishment

Answer 6

unpleasant consequence of behaviour - decreases the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated

Question 7

Three consequences of behaviour

Answer 7

Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment

Question 8

Real-world application

Answer 8

Operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been used successfully in prisons and psychiatric hospitals. These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges

Classical conditioning - treatment of phobias using systematic desensitisation has increased quality of life for some

Question 9

Scientific credibility

Answer 9

Use of the experimental methods = high internal validity

Controlled conditions are able to accurately measure the dependent variable to establish a cause and effect relationship between the consequence of a behaviour and future frequency of its occurrence

Question 10

Ethical and practical issues in animal experiments

Answer 10

Many have questioned the ethics of skinner and pavlov - the animals involved were exposed to stressful and aversive conditions

Question 11

Mechanistic view of behaviour:

Answer 11

animals (including humans) are seen as passive and machine-like responders

Conditioning is reductionist (Ignores our free will and motivation) - we can decide whether to learn a behaviour or not

Different to animals, who aren’t as cognitively developed - Theory is not generalisable to humans