Learning Approach

Question 1

What two parts does the learning approach consist of?

Answer 1

1. The Behaviourist approach
2. The Social learning theory

Question 2

Who founded the behaviourist approach and when was this?

Answer 2

JB Watson in 1915

Question 3

What does the behaviourist approach focus on?

Answer 3

It focuses on how the product of our learning, experience and environment were, rejecting the vagueness of introspection.

Question 4

What are the 3key assumptions of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 4

1) Psychology must only study observable and measurable behaviour.
2) Were born ‘Tabula Rasa’- all behaviour is learned and shaped through direct experience with our environment
3) We learn behaviour through general laws of learning: Classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Question 5

Who pioneered the study of classical conditioning?

Answer 5

A psychologist named John B Watson (1878- 1958).

Question 6

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 6

Where you associate instinctive reflexes with new stimuli.

Question 7

What are the 5 concepts of classical conditioning?

Answer 7

1. UCS (Unconditioned stimulus)
2. UCR (Unconditioned response)
3. NS (Neutral stimulus)
4. CS (Conditioned stimulus)
5. CR (Conditioned response)

Question 8

Which two study’s supported the theory of classical conditioning?

Answer 8

1) The Little Albert Experiment (1920)
2) The Palovian dog conditional experiment

Question 9

Explain the Little Albert Experiment.

Answer 9

It demonstrated that a little child could be conditioned to fear a stimulus that the child was not previously afraid of by attempting to condition a baby boy, Albert B., to fear a white laboratory rat.

Question 10

Explain the theory of Pavlov’s dog.

Answer 10

He could make dogs salivate on command through a series of experiments where he paired the sound of a bell with the presentation of food. Over time, the dogs began to associate the bell with food and would start to salivate at the sound of the bell, even when no food was presented.

Question 11

Who studied operant conditioning?

Answer 11

BF Skinner

Question 12

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 12

The act of associating voluntary responses with consequences (reinforcement/ punishment).

Question 13

What did Skinner hypothesis about the best way for students to learn?

Answer 13

That students learn best when taught by positive reinforcement and that students taught via punishment learn only how to avoid punishment. Moreover, that students should be engaged in the process, not simply passive listeners.

Question 14

What is Skinner’s box?

Answer 14

The Skinner box is a chamber that isolates the subject (usually a rat or pigeon) from the external environment and has a behaviour indicator such as a lever or a button.
When the animal pushes the button or lever, the box can deliver 3 different things:
- a positive reinforcement (such as food).
- a punishment (such as noise).
- a token conditioner (such as light) that is correlated with either the positive reinforcement or punishment.

Question 15

How did Skinner 1948 support the idea of operant conditioning?

Answer 15

The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box. The consequence of escaping the electric current ensured that they would repeat the action again and again.

Question 16

Operant conditioning shows that behaviour + reward or behaviour + merit = behaviour ____ likely to happen. Its also shows that behaviour + punishment or behaviour + detention = behaviour ____ likely to happen.

Answer 16

1. more
2. less

Question 17

List 4 examples of positive reinforcement increasing the likelihood of a response occurring because it rewards the behaviour:

Answer 17

• A worker getting paid a bonus for working hard.
• A dog getting a treat for returning when called.
• A child getting desert for eating her vegetables.
• When merits are given for good work.

Question 18

List 3 examples of negative reinforcement increasing the of a response occurring because it involves the removal of, or escaping from unpleasant consequences:

Answer 18

• The car buzzer turns of when you put on your seatbelt.
• Torture stops once victims confess.
• A baby stops crying when you give it a pacifier.

Question 19

List 3 examples of punishment:

Answer 19

• If a puppy pees on a rug its punished with a swat of the newspaper.
• A driver speeding results in a ticket and a fine.
• The baby’s hand is burned when it touches the stove.

Question 20

What are 4 assumptions of The Social Learning theory?

Answer 20

• Human behaviour is learned through observation and imitation of role models (Modelling).
• Vicarious reinforcement (indirect reinforcement)
• Cognitive factors mediate between stimulus and response
• Attention, retention, reproduction (expectancy), motivation (ARRM)

Question 21

Who proposed social learning theory as a development of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 21

Albert Bandura

Question 22

What did Albert Bandura propose?

Answer 22

He believed there were important mental (cognitive) processes that lie between the stimulus and response proposed by the behaviourist approach.
- We can learn purely by observation without consequences.
- Learning and motivation depend on self-efficiency.

Question 23

What is observational learning?

Answer 23

The process of learning through observing the behaviour of others (also known as modelling).

Question 24

Describe what is meant by a ‘role model’.

Answer 24

The people that are watched and then copied.

Question 25

What two types of model’s are there?

Answer 25

1) Live model’s
2) Symbolic model’s

Question 26

What is the definition of a live model?

Answer 26

These are people who are present in our environment (teachers, parents, siblings etc.)

Question 27

What is the definition of a symbolic model?

Answer 27

These are people who are present in the media (e.g., celebrities).

Question 28

Much of what a child learns is acquired through _________ of the behaviours and attitude modelled by their _______.
Whole _________ of behaviour can be rapidly acquired.

Answer 28

1. imitation
2. parents
3. patterns

Question 29

What study by Bandura proved the argument that children learn merely by observing the behaviour of others?

Answer 29

The Bobo doll study (Bandura, 1965).

Question 30

What is vicarious reinforcement, give 1 example?

Answer 30

When you learn about the consequences of behaviours from others (indirectly) you adjust your own behaviour accordingly.
For example, seeing the social acceptance or reward those smoking with peers get from the group encourages you to start smoking.

Question 31

Describe the 5 mediational processes (cognitive processes) that must be present for modelling.

Answer 31

1) Attention- A person pays keen attention or notices someone else’s behaviour.
2) Retention- how well the behaviour is remembered/ retain in long term memory.
3) Reproduction- the physical ability of the observer to perform the behaviour.
4) Motivation- the will to perform the behaviour determined by reward or punishment.
5) Self- efficacy: people’s beliefs about their abilities.

Question 32

List 3 strengths of the social learning theory:

Answer 32

1) Recognition of cognitive factors in learning
2) Real- world application
3) Social learning is very scientific

Question 33

List 4 limitations of the social learning theory:

Answer 33

1) The assumption that all behaviour is learned ignores the role of biology- soft determinism.
2) It doesn’t fully explain individual differences- reinforcement for one individual may not have the same effect with another.
3) It doesn’t account for all behaviour (e.g., why might someone become a criminal when they haven’t associated with criminals and/ or observed criminal behaviour.
4) Laboratory experiments are artificial, particularly the criticism of the Bobo doll study, which is the basis of the theory for its contrived nature, may lead to demand characteristics.)

Question 34

How does operant conditioning link to aggression?

Answer 34

Skinner proposed that aggression can be learned directly through that process of positive or negative reinforcement.

Question 35

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 35

A method used to teach specific behaviours through taking away something uncomfortable or unpleasant when responding to a stimulus.

Question 36

What is an example of negative reinforcement?

Answer 36

You take away your child’s chores for the weekend because they kept their room clean all week.

Question 37

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 37

Positive reinforcement: Where a behaviour is followed by a reward, increasing behaviours as a result.
- Skinner believes it occurs when rewards happen occasionally (timing of the reward) referred to as a variable reinforcement schedule or variable retrieval reinforcement.

Question 38

What is an example of positive reinforcement?

Answer 38

Gambling.

Question 39

What two main types of rewards does aggression bring?

Answer 39

1) Tangible rewards
2) Intangible rewards

Question 40

What are tangible rewards?

Answer 40

Physical (not imaginary rewards). These are rewards you can touch or experience, e.g., money and food.

Question 41

_________ et al., study shows that up to 80% of aggressive behavior from children is a result of ____________.

Answer 41

1. Patterson
2. tangibility

Question 42

What are intangible rewards?

Answer 42

More imaginary than real- bullies tend to thrive on intangible rewards like social status or positions in a group (gang) gained through fighting.

Question 43

How else can aggression be learned seeing as aggression can’t be explained fully by direct forms of reinforcement?

Answer 43

It can be learned indirectly through observation, imitation, and vicarious reinforcement or through role models (weather live, verbal, or symbolic).

Question 44

What is self-efficacy?

Answer 44

An individual’s ability to achieve rewards through aggressive behaviour (symbolic role models tend to have this).

Question 45

What 4 mediational/cognitive processes did Bandura believe need to be present to increase the use of aggression?

Answer 45

1. Observer should pay close attention to the model’s aggressive behaviour.
2. The observer needs to remember the aggressive at through the process of retention.
3. The observer must be able to reproduce the behaviour.
4. Finally, the observer has to be motivated to reproduce the behaviour as they expect a reward.

Question 46

What is a strength of the learning theory?

Answer 46

Their ability to provide a clear and testable explanation for attachment and their emphasis on the role of environmental factors in shaping attachment.

Question 47

What is a weakness of the learning theory?

Answer 47

There are many different perspectives and approaches to learning, and no single theory can capture the complexity and diversity of human learning.

Question 48

How does operant conditioning link to gender?

Answer 48

Seeing as operant conditioning operates through the application of rewards (positive reinforcement) and punishment (consequences) it can reinforce gender appropriate behaviour.

Question 49

What is differential reinforcement?

Answer 49

A method of rewarding behaviours that are considered either ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’.

Question 50

According to Patricia Kerig et al (1993), who are the driving force’s behind differential reinforcement?

Answer 50

Fathers

Question 51

According to SLT, how is gender learned in a social context?

Answer 51

Role models.

Question 52

How gender appropriate behaviour learned?

Answer 52

Indirectly through the process of observation, imitation, and vicarious reinforcement through these role models.

Question 53

When is the process of social learning or imitation is more powerful for a child?

Answer 53

When the child ‘identifies’ with a model.

Question 54

When is identification is more likely to take place?

Answer 54

When the child perceives the model to be ‘like me’. This could happen for gender typical behaviour like make-up or the gender atypical or gender-fluid dressing of the same sex celebrity.

Question 55

What did the Baby X studies detail about gender?

Answer 55

Most of the findings, however, reflected a differential response of men and women to the absence of gender information. In this condition, male subjects employed a neutral toy most frequently and handled the child least; in contrast, females used more stereotyped toys and handled the child more.