Learning By Conditioning

Question 1

Classical conditioning

Answer 1

Learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone) becomes associated with a stimulus (e.g., food) that naturally produces a behaviour.”

Question 2

Operant conditioning

Answer 2

Learning that occurs based on the consequences of behavior

Question 3

Reinforcement schemes / Forsterkningsskjemaer

Answer 3

How a behavior is reinforced.

Question 4

Pavlov´s research

Answer 4

The russian physician researching the digestive system of dogs when he noticed that dogs would salivate when lab technicians who usually fed them came into the room, even before receiving any food. Pavlov realised that dogs were salivating because they knew they were going to be fed, they had begun associating the arrival of technicians with food.

After research where Pavlov and his team of researchers exposed the dogs to a sound before giving them food, he was able to make the dogs start to salivate when they heard the sound. The animals had started associating the sound with the food.

Question 5

Classical conditioning example

Answer 5

If a father always comes home and takes off his baseball hat before taking his kid to play in the park, the kid will start associating the father taking his baseball hat off with going to play in the park.

Question 6

Learning

Answer 6

A relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that comes from experience.

Question 7

Unconditioned stimulus

Answer 7

Ubetinget stimuli (US): et stimuli (for eksempel mat) som trigger en naturlig respons også kalt for ubetinget respons

Question 8

Conditioned stimulus

Answer 8

Betinget stimuli: naturlig stimuli som etter å ha bli presentert før den ubetingede responsen nok ganger maner fram en lik respons som den ubetingede stimulusen

Neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly presented prior to the unconditioned stimulus, evokes a similar response as the unconditioned stimulus.

Question 9

Conditioned response

Answer 9

Betinget respons: respons på betinget stimuli

Betinging er en evolusjonær fordel, for eksempel om et dyr spiser en type mat og kaster opp og da lærer seg å forbinde en viss type matlukt med den opplevelsen så vil de unngå dårlig mat

Question 10

Extinction

Answer 10

Refers to the reduction in responding that occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus.

Question 11

Is classical conditioning something that happens consciously?

Answer 11

Klassisk betinging skjer ikke bevisst - men påvirker fenomener som stress, trivsel, hva og hvem vi liker - mange av våre umiddelbare reaksjoner.

Question 12

Second-order conditioning:

Answer 12

Dersom man har et eksisterende betinget stimulus (for eksempel mørket) som skaper frykt for de som er mørkeredde, og vedkommende også hører en lyd i mørket, så kan lyden også utløse redsel selv om lyden i seg selv ikke er skremmende, men den assosieres med en skremmende stimulus.

Eksempel: angstlidelser, hvordan følelser/tanker kan utløse andre følelser/tanker

Question 13

Anxiety

Answer 13

Gjennom adferdsterapi kan stimuli som opprinnelig ga angst isteden assosieres med ro og avslapning. Da sier vi gjerne at angstresponsen er ekstingvert, dvs. «slukket».

Hvis stimuli som før utløste angst nå isteden utløser ro og avslapning, også når man møter lignende stimuli, sier vi at avslapningsresponsen er generalisert.

Question 14

Generalization

Answer 14

The tendency to respond to stimuli that resemble the original conditioned stimulus.

EXAMPLE:

The ability to generalize has important evolutionary significance. If we eat some red berries and they make us sick, it would be a good idea to think twice before we eat some purple berries. Although the berries are not exactly the same, they nevertheless are similar and may have the same negative properties.

Question 15

Discrimination

Answer 15

The flip side of generalization is discrimination — the tendency to respond differently to stimuli that are similar but not identical.

Pavlov’s dogs quickly learned, for example, to salivate when they heard the specific tone that had preceded food, but not upon hearing similar tones that had never been associated with food.

Courtney and Sarah, may look a lot alike, they are nevertheless different people with different personalities.

Question 16

Edward Lee Thorndike (operant conditioning)

Answer 16

• Pioner i studiet av instrumentell (operant) betinging
• Formulerte effektloven

“Responses that create a typically pleasant outcome in a particular situation are more likely to occur again in a similar situation, whereas responses that produce a typically unpleasant outcome are less likely to occur again in the situation.” (Pensumbokas formulering.)

• I 1930 reviderte Thorndike effektloven. Han mener nå at straff ikke har noen effekt.

Konsensus i dag: straff er problematisk, men kan ha effekt.

Question 17

Differences between operant and classical conditioning

Answer 17

Classical: Doesn’t change the behavior. The same behavior on different stimuli.

Operant:

• • Viljestyrt adferd som påvirkes av konsekvenser
  • Operant betinging: Prosessen der adferd selekteres av sine konsekvenser
  • R: respons
  • S-D: Diskriminative stimulus: diskriminativ stimulus, er noe som skiller mellom når en respons kan lede til en forsterker VS når en respons ikke leder til en forsterkende stimulus
    S-R: Reinforcing stimulus: forsterkende stimulus, en stimulus som får responsen til å øke

Question 18

OC: Positive reinforcement

Answer 18

Add or increase a pleasant stimulus

Behaviour is strengthened

Giving a student a prize after he or she gets an A on a test

Question 19

OC: Negative reinforcement

Answer 19

Reduce or remove an unpleasant stimulus

Behaviour is strengthened

Taking painkillers that eliminate pain increases the likelihood that you will take painkillers again

Question 20

The role of evolution in punishment

Answer 20

spiller en rolle hva man tenker på som straff eller belønning for eksempel mat, sosialt fellesskap, varme, vennskap, verdsetting og sex VS ting som skader kroppen, svekker status eller kan gi sosial utstøting.

Question 21

Partial (or intermittent) reinforcement schedule

Answer 21

A schedule in which the responses are sometimes reinforced and sometimes not.

Question 22

Continuous reinforcement schedule

Answer 22

The desired response is reinforced every time it occurs; whenever the dog rolls over, for instance, it gets a biscuit.

Question 23

Fixed ratio

Answer 23

Behaviour is reinforced after a specific number of responses.

Example: Factory workers who are paid according to the number of products they produce

Ratio: pertains to the amount of responses

Question 24

Variable-ratio

Answer 24

Behaviour is reinforced after an average, but unpredictable, number of responses.

Example:
Payoffs from slot machines and other games of chance

Ratio: pertains to the amount of responses

Question 25

Fixed-interval

Answer 25

Behaviour is reinforced for the first response after a specific amount of time has passed.

Example:
People who earn a monthly salary

Interval: pertains to passing of time

Question 26

Variable-interval

Answer 26

Behaviour is reinforced for the first response after an average, but unpredictable, amount of time has passed.

Example:
Person who checks email for messages

Interval: pertains to passing of time

Question 27

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 27

The increase in responding to the conditioned stimulus following a pause after extinction is known as spontaneous recovery.

Question 28

OC: Positive punishment

Answer 28

Present or add an unpleasant stimulus

Behaviour is weakened

Giving a student extra homework after he or she misbehaves in class

Question 29

OC: Negative punishment

Answer 29

Reduce or remove a pleasant stimulus

Behaviour is weakened

Taking away a teen’s computer after he or she misses curfew

Question 30

OC: Thorndike´s Law of effect

Answer 30

The principle that responses that create a typically pleasant outcome in a particular situation are more likely to occur again in a similar situation, whereas responses that produce a typically unpleasant outcome are less likely to occur again in the situation.

Question 31

Research operant Conditioning: Skinner box

Answer 31

A Skinner box (operant chamber) is a structure that is big enough to fit a rodent or bird and that contains a bar or key that the organism can press or peck to release food or water. It also contains a device to record the animal’s responses.

The most basic of Skinner’s experiments was quite similar to Thorndike’s research with cats. A rat placed in the chamber reacted as one might expect, scurrying about the box and sniffing and clawing at the floor and walls. Eventually the rat chanced upon a lever, which it pressed to release pellets of food. The next time around, the rat took a little less time to press the lever, and on successive trials, the time it took to press the lever became shorter and shorter. Soon the rat was pressing the lever as fast as it could eat the food that appeared. As predicted by the law of effect, the rat had learned to repeat the action that brought about the food and cease the actions that did not.

Question 32

Research on operant conditioning: Thorndike´s cats

Answer 32

Psychologist Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949) was the first scientist to systematically study operant conditioning. In his research Thorndike (1898) observed cats who had been placed in a “puzzle box” from which they tried to escape (“Video Clip: Thorndike’s Puzzle Box”). At first the cats scratched, bit, and swatted haphazardly, without any idea of how to get out. But eventually, and accidentally, they pressed the lever that opened the door and exited to their prize, a scrap of fish. The next time the cat was constrained within the box, it attempted fewer of the ineffective responses before carrying out the successful escape, and after several trials the cat learned to almost immediately make the correct response.

Question 33

OC: Shaping

Answer 33

The process of guiding an organism’s behaviour to the desired outcome through getting them closer and closer to the final desired behavior.

If you want to train rats to only get food when they press the lever two times, one could first give them food when they’re close to it, then when they touch it once, and finally when they touch it twice.

Question 34

Primary reinforcer

Answer 34

Stimuli that are naturally preferred or enjoyed by the organism, such as food, water, and relief from pain.

Question 35

Secondary reinforcer

Answer 35

Sometimes called conditioned reinforcer) is a neutral event that has become associated with a primary reinforcer through classical conditioning.

An example of an everyday secondary reinforcer is money. We enjoy having money, not so much for the stimulus itself, but rather for the primary reinforcers (the things that money can buy) with which it is associated.

Question 36

Phobia, classical conditioning

Answer 36

Clinical psychologists make use of classical conditioning to explain the learning of a phobia — a strong and irrational fear of a specific object, activity, or situation.

EXAMPLE: driving a car is a neutral event that would not normally elicit a fear response in most people. But if a person were to experience a panic attack in which he or she suddenly experienced strong negative emotions while driving, that person may learn to associate driving with the panic response.

The driving has become the conditioned stimulus that now creates the fear response.

One is more likely to develop phobias against things that have been dangerous for people in the past (evolution): spiders, snakes, open landscapes and high locations.

Question 37

PTSD (classical conditioning)

Answer 37

PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a fearful event.

PTSD occurs when the individual develops a strong association between the situational factors that surrounded the traumatic event (e.g., military uniforms or the sounds or smells of war) and the US (the fearful trauma itself).

As a result of the conditioning, being exposed to or even thinking about the situation in which the trauma occurred (the CS) becomes sufficient to produce the CR of severe anxiety

PTSD develops because the emotions experienced during the event have produced neural activity in the amygdala and created strong conditioned learning.

In addition to the strong conditioning that people with PTSD experience, they also show slower extinction in classical conditioning tasks

In short, people with PTSD have developed very strong associations with the events surrounding the trauma and are also slow to show extinction to the conditioned stimulus.