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
danger: punishment arouses emotion
- punisher gets carried away (satisfying to be angry, aggressive)
- emotions in punishee may interfere with learning (pain, discomfort, humiliation_
danger: difficult to be consistent
- punishment tends to vary with punisher’s mood.
- good day vs bad day = diff punishment
danger: difficult to gauge the severity of punishment
- cause more distress than the punisher imagines and can make the situation worse
danger: teaches misuse of power
big + powerful hurt smaller, less powerful
- kid may want to be punisher = cycle of abuse
danger: motivates concealment
aversive, punishee hides behaviour to avoid consequences.
danger: motivates concealment
aversive, punishee hides behaviour to avoid consequences.
shortcomings of behaviourism
- ignores motivation, thought, cognition
- based on animals
- ignores the social dimension of learning
- treats organism as essentially passive
shortcoming: ignores motivation, thought, cognition
- social learning theorists claim thought, plan, perceive is v important to learning
shortcoming: based on animals
may have led behaviourists to concentrate too much on elements of learning that are important for animals, not enough on uniquely human aspects
- wanted to ID universal laws
shortcoming: ignores social dimensions of learning
ordinary human learning tends to be social. not in isolation, learn by observation, dont need direct experience
shortcoming: treats organism as essentially passive
humans choose environment + change these environments as a result of what we do in them.
social learning theory 3 ways
- dollard+ miller’s: habit hierarchy
- rotter’s: role of expectancies
- bandura’s: efficacy expectation
what is dollard + miller’s social learning theory
HABIT HIERARCHY
- behaviour most likely to perform at the top of your habit hierarchy.
- rewards, punishments, learning rearrange the habit hierarchy
- habit hierarchy = personality.
what is rotter’s social learning theory?
DECISION MAKING AND ROLE OF EXPECTANCIES
- expectancy value theory: behavioural decisions determined by reinforcement AND beliefs about likely results of behaviour
- if 50% likely , lowers value..
what is an expectancy
individual’s belief, or subjective probability, about how likely it seems that the behaviour will attain its goal
what is the difference between Rotter’s theory and classic behaviourism
classic: focuses on actual rewards + punishment
rotter: focus about reward + punishment
2 types of expectancies
specific: belief that certain behaviour, at certain time + place, will lead to a specific outcome
generalized: general beliefs about whether anything you do is likely to make a difference (broad personality variable)
high vs low generalized expectancy
low: belief that u have low control of things that happen.
what is locus of control?
AKA generalized expectancy
- internal: My actions affect my outcome
- external: nothing I do changes my experience
- locus of control can vary across domains
define internal locus of control?
those with high generalized expectancies
- think that what they do affects what happens to them
define external locus of control?
low generalized expectancies
- think that what they do will not make much difference
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory - how is it different than Rotter’s
bandura gives less emphasis to stable differences between people
- reinterpreted expectancies as efficacy expectations.
bandura’s efficacy expectation?
belief about the self; perceived probability that you can PERFORM THE BEHAVIOUR (Rotter is whether you will succeed/get desired outcome)
efficacy expectations + self-judgement?
belief about oneself changes whether you expect to accomplish something.
- if think ur hot, ull try to date someone hot.
bandura’s therapy?
efficacy expectations are key target
- better match btw what you THINK and what you ARE = more SUCCESS.
- efficacy can create capacity
efficacy + self-judgement study
W+M vs
- bum knee
- olympic runner
performed better in 1 vs 2. altho M are stronger on average, average W performed better in 1 than average M in 2.
what is observational learning?
learning a behaviour by seeing someone else do it
- animals can do it
- can learn for violence (Bobo doll)
- can learn for pro-social interactions.
what is reciprocal determinism?
how ppl influence their enviro.
- ppl choose enviro that influence them
- social situations change because you are there
- self system develops that has its own effects on behaviour, independent of environment
what is the self-system
self, enviro and behavioural influences all interact with each other.
bandura suggests enviro comes first!
3 main contributions of learning approach
- research established psychology as objective science (strong empirical research)
- behaviour depends on environment + specific immediate situation.
- contributed a technology of behaviour change (enviro affects us. change behaviour to be more adaptive.)
2 limitations of learning approach?
- people are more complicated than behaviourist’s acknowledge.
- understand AND learn - underappreciate degree to which the way ppl think can cause them to respond differently to the same situation.
Overall, too simple.
