Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

PSYCHOLOGY : approaches > learning approach > Flashcards

learning approach Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
AP® Psychology flashcards Psychology 101 flashcards GRE® Psychology flashcards
1
Q

Why is it a weakness that operant conditioning is deterministic?

A

It assumes people dont make choices due to free will

instead skinner believed that they act in a way that they have been reinforced to act

its criticised by humanistic theorists- believe we have free will

and those who believe it is unhealthy to believe we have no control over maladaptive behaviours

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Why is it unethical that rats were used?

A

rats were put under harm when given electric shocks

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Why does skinner lack generalisability?

A

*Used rats
*may not be able to be extrapolated to humans
*animals and humans act differently and humans have high order thinking and can actively think about their environment

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What are the practical applications of operant conditioning?

A

token economy

a type of behaviour modification

uses positive reinforcement as it is encouraging a positive behaviour through rewards

good behaviour gets the tokens (secondary reinforcer) which can be exchanged for primary reinforcers

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Why is skinner reliable?

A

been repeated and same results were found

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Why does skinners box support operant conditioning?

A

*positive reinforcement was shown when the rats pressed down on the lever to recieve food as a reward, they learnt to repeat this action to increase their rewards
*negative reinforcement was shown when the rat learnt to press down the lever to avoid the unpleasant consequence of an electric shock

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Why is it a strength that skinners research was a lab experiment?

A

*high internal validity
*High control over extraneous variables- e,g amount of food dispensed and how much food rats had aten before experiment to make sure it didnt interfere with conditioning

replicable: it is a lab experiment and a standardised procedure so it can be repeated many times

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What are the weaknesses of skinners research?

A

lacks generalisability

used animals - unethical

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What are the strengths of skinner?

A

high internal validity

reliable results

practical applications

supports operant conditioning

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

outline skinners research

A
  • Skinner’s Research examines operant conditioning in rats and pigeons.

*The animal would move around the Skinner box, and when it pressed the lever (by accident), it would be rewarded with a food pellet.

*The animal would learn, throughpositive reinforcement,that each time it pressed the lever, it would be rewarded with food

*Because the animal was rewarded for its behaviour, it would continue to press the lever and demonstrate the new behaviour.

*However, Skinner also found that if the rewarded was stopped and the animal pressed the lever and was not rewarded with food, it’s behaviour would quickly stop and this is known asextinction.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

What is negative punishment?

A

Decreases the likelihood of a beheaviour reoccuring

something is removed

an example of a negative punishment is taking away a kids phone

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What does punishment do?

A

Decreases the likelihood of a behaviour reocurring

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

What is positive punishment?

A

Decreases the chance of a behaviour happening again

something is introduced

e.g smacking a child as a smack has been introduced

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

What is positive reinforcement ?

A

Increases the chance of a behaviour happening again

Something is introduced to the scenario

e.g giving a sweet to a kid who has done their chores- this is positive reinforcement because something has been introduced

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

What does punishment do?

A

decreases the likelihood of a behaviour happening again

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What does reinforcement do ?

A

Increases the likelihood of a behaviour occuring again

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What does the operant conditioning theory suggest?

A

We learn through positive and negative reinforcement and positive and negative punishment

behaviour is the result of learning through the consequences of our actions

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

is the behaviourist approach nurture or nature?

A

Since behaviourist approach suggests that all behaviour is learned it falls on the nurture side of the debate

our experiences and surrounding factors shape our behaviour directly rather than any internal or biological factors

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Why is it a weakness that operant conditioning is deterministic?

A

It assumes people dont make choices due to free will

instead skinner believed that they act in a way that they have been reinforced to act

its criticised by humanistic theorists- believe we have free will

and those who believe it is unhealthy to believe we have no control over maladaptive behaviours

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Why is the behaviorist approach a limited explanation of behaviour?

A

Evidence to suggest that genetic predisposition is an important factor in behaviour

the behaviourist approach may not provide a complete explanation of human behaviour

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Limitation of uses animals in behaviourist approach?

A

lacks generalisability- humans have higher thought processes

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Why is it a positive that behavioursit approach is a scientific theory?

A

the theory focuses on obersvable behaviour

increases objectivity and reduces bias

the focus on lab experiment rasies the scientific value of psychology

23
Q

What are practical applications of the behaviourist approach?

A

classical conitioning: been used to develop aversion therapy

Operant conditioning: token economy

24
Q

What is the supporting evidence for the behaviourist approach?

A

pavlov

watson and rayner

skinner

25
Q

What is part of learning approach?

A

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning

26
Q

How does little albert support classical conditioning?

A

Watson and raynor presented little albert with a white rat and he showed no fear

the rat was then presented with a loud bang that made albert startled and made him cry.

Aftercontinous associationof the white rat and loud noise albert was:
classically conditioned to experience fear at the sight of the rat

27
Q

Why does pavlovs study lack generalisability?

A

Animals and humans may react differently to stimuli
Just because pavlovs research on dogs supports classical conditioning it doesnt mean it will happen with humans as they have high order thoughts

However little albert can coutneract this

28
Q

Why is it unethical that pavlov used animals in his research?

A

The dog was harnessed

surgery was used to attach tubes to collect saliva

29
Q

What practical applications does pavlovs study have?

A

Aversion therapy was created based on what pavlov found

30
Q

Why is pavlovs study reliable?

A

Pavlov repeated the study many times and the same results were found

31
Q
A
31
Q

Why does pavlovs dog study have high inetrnal validity?

A

Lab experiment means there is high level of control over extraneous variables

E.g pavlov could control the times the dogs were fed and the other stimuli present during feeding time

this reduced the chance of confounding variables affecting results

32
Q

What are the limitations of pavlovs dog study?

A

Use of animals in research - unethical
Use of animals in research- may lack generalisability

33
Q

What are the strengths of pavlov dog study?

A

high internal validity
reliable results
practical application

34
Q

What became the conditioned response in pavlovs dog study?

A

salivation

35
Q

What is the now conditioned stimulus in pavlovs dog study?

A

A bell

36
Q

What was the neutral stimulus in pavlovs dog study?

A

the bell

37
Q

What is the unconditioned response in pavlovs dog study?

A

salivation

38
Q

What was the unconditioned stimulus in pavlovs dog study?

A

food

39
Q

Why did the dogs salivate at the bell?

in terms if US, NS, UR,CR

A

1.Before conditioning, theunconditioned stimulus (food)produced anunconditioned
response (salivation).

  1. During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus was repeatedly paired with aneutral

stimulus (a bell), to produce the same unconditioned response of salivation.

  1. An associationwas made between the unconditioned stimulus(food)and theneutral
    stimulus.(bell)
40
Q

What is stimulus generalisation?

A

the tendency for the conditioned response to be shown towards stimuli that share characteristics with the conditioned stimulus

41
Q

What is extinction?

A

The learned behaviour may become extinct if the unconditioned stimulus is never presented again

42
Q

What is temporal time contiguity ?

A

the association only occurs if the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus are presented at or around the same time as each other. if you wait too long to present the neutral stimulus then no association will be mad

43
Q

What is stimulus discrimination?

A

when a stimulus is not associated with the conditioned reponse as it is too different from the original stimulus

e.g dogs wouldnt associate a whistle with salivation

44
Q

What is stimulus generalisation ?

A

when a stimulus becomes generalised with other related stimuli

e.g other bell sounds other than the original bell also produced salivation in the dogs.

45
Q

is the relationship between a conditioned stimulus and response learned or natural ?

A

it is learnt - they get associated with eachother

46
Q

What is the conditioned response ?

A

the neutral stimulus has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus

and now the unconditioned stimulus is felt with the conditioned stimulus

the feeling towards the stimulus has been associated and learnt

the bee - sting has been associated with the bee so now a person feels upset when they see one due to association

47
Q

What is a neutral stimulus ?

A

something that does not cause an unconditioned response (natural response )

e.g a bee is a neutral stimulus it did not cause a feeling of upset a sting did

48
Q

What is the unconditioned response ?

A

the response that is natural and hasnt been learned

e.g feeling upset after a bee sting

49
Q

What is the unconditioned stimulus ?

A

the stimulus that causes the unconditioned response

it is unconditioned because it was natural and didnt need to be learned

e.g a sting from a bee

50
Q

What is the formula for classical conditioning ?

A

unconditioned stimulus —-> unconditioned response

unconditioned stimulus —> neutral stimulus —> unconditioned response

conditioned stimulus —–> conditioned response

51
Q

What is classical conditioning ?

A

classical conditioning is learning through association

it involves associating a neutral stimilus with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response.

52
Q

What are the parts to the behaviourist approach?

A

classical conditoning
pavlovs research
operant conditioning
types of reinforcement
skinners research

53
Q

What are the assumptions of the behaviourist approach?

A

The behaviourist approach is split into two theories : classical conditioning and operant conditioning

They share the same key assumptions:

all people are born as blank slates we dont know anything when we are born and all healthy and unhealthy behaviours are learned.

if all behaviours are learned we can unlearn unhealtybehaviours and replace them with new behaviours

only observable behaviour should be studied as its the only way to remain objective

humans are no different from animals and shouldnt be regarded as more complex. humans and animals learn in the same ways so we can generalise results from animal studies to humans

PSYCHOLOGY : approaches (9 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2025 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions