Learning Perspective Flashcards
What is behaviourism?
only valid way to know about somebody is to observe the person’s behaviour
- cause of behaviour can be found in the individual’s environment
- b-data
- unobservable structures aren’t important.
3 fundamental ideas of behaviourism?
- empiricism
- associationism
- hedonism
what is empiricism?
all knowledge comes from experience.
- structure of reality determines structure of the mind
- at birth mind is empty; tabula rasa by john locke.
john watson on topic of empiricism?
only as a person encounters reality does he or she begin to accumulate experiences and thereby build a characteristic was of reacting to the world.
what is associationism?
the claim that any two things, including ideas, become mentally associated into one if they are repeatedly experienced close together in time.
- cause and effect
what is hedonism?
people learn to seek pleasure and avoid pain
- explains why rewards+ punishments shape behaviour
- *MOTIVATION**
What is habituation
repeated presentations of a stimulus results in a dimished response with each repetition, until it almost disappears
- response nearly as strong as original can be maintained, but only if sitmulus changes/increases with every rep.
what does habituation explain?
AFFECTIVE FORECASTING
- why people tend to overestimate the emotional impact of future events, both good + bad
what is classical conditioning
ivan pavlov (originally interested in studying the physiology of digestion) - demonstrated associationism is slightly wrong.
why did Pavlov say associationism is slightly wrong?
concepts become associated not merely because they occurred together, but because the meaning of one concept has changed the meaning of another
why does anxiety arise?
experiencing unpredictable negative events without an associated stimulus results in anxiety.
- unpredictability = stress
what is learned helplessness
receiving random rewards + punishments, independent of what one does, can lead to belief that nothing one does really matters.
- stop doing anything bc nothing they do helps them control their lives.
“why-bother’ syndrome: depression in humans. everything is too much effort.
behaviourism + Personality?
individuals personality consists of repertoire of learned S-R associations
- essential activity of life was to learn a vast array of responses to specific environmental stimuli.
- each person’s pattern will be idiosyncratic
what is operant conditioning?
animal learns to operate on its world in such a way as to change it to it’s advantage.
- behaviour => good (reinforcement) = more likely to occur again
pavlov’s dogs was what kind of conditioning?
respondent, passive, no impact of its own.
what is reinforcement?
increases likelihood of a response
- positive: occurrence of positive, PLEASURABLE OUTCOME after the behaviour has been expressed
- negative: behaviour results in TERMINATION of aversive, unpleasurable event
what is punishment?
aversive consequence that follows an act in order to stop it + prevent its repetition
difference between negative reinforcement vs negative punishment
- both involve aversive events
- punishment decrease likelihood of behaviours.
- reinforcers, increase likelihood of behaviours
5 steps in how to punish
- availability of alternatives (alternative to punishment that is rewarding)
- behavioural and situational specificity (clear + specific, know what, when and how will be punished)
- timing and consistency (apply punishment immediately after behaviour)
- conditioning secondary punishing stimuli (use 2-ary stimuli in addition to punishment; will condition 2-ary stimuli as punishment)
- avoid mixed messages (dont coddle kid after punishment)
5 dangers of punishment
- punishment arouses emotion
- difficult to be consistent
- difficult to gauge severity of punishment
- teaches misuse of power
- motivates concealment