Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

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


See full index

A-Level Pyschology (Edexcel) > Learning Psychology > Flashcards

Learning Psychology Flashcards

1
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

Learning by association. It occurs when a neutral stimlus is repeatedly paired with an uncondtioned stimulus.

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

What is a neutral stimlus (NS)?

A

A stimulus that does not produce the target response.

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

What is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?

A

A stimulus that produces a response without any learning taking place.

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

What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?

A

A stimulus that only produces the target response, AFTER it has been paired with the UCS (unconditioned stimulus).

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

What is an unconditioned response (UCR)?

A

An unlearned response to unconditioned stimulus.

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

What is a conditioned response (CR)?

A

The response elicited by the CS, i.e a new association has been learned so the NS/CS produces the UCR which is now the CR (conditioned response).

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

What happens before conditioning?

A

The UCS triggers a reflex response i.e salivation. This is the UCR. An unrelated NS does not produce this response.

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

What happens during conditioning?

A

The UCS and NS are experienced close together in time; this is called pairing. The effect is greatest when the NS occurs just before the UCS. Usually, pairing has to take place many times for conditioning to occur.

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

What happens after conditioning?

A

Following pairing, the NS produces the same response as the UCS. The NS is now a CR (conditioned response).

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

What is ‘extinction?’

A

When the CS and UCS have not been paired together for a while and the CS ceases to elicit the CR.

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

What is ‘spontaneous recovery’?

A

An extinct response that activates again so that the CS once again elicits the CR.

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

What is stimulus generalisation?

A

When an individual who has acquired a conditioned response to one stimulus begins to respond to similar stimuli in the same way.

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

What was Pavlov (1927)’s aim?

A

His intial aim was to learn about the salivation reflex,

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

What was Pavlov (1927)’s procedure?

A

He collected saliva from an immoblised dog.
This was done in a laboratory so the production of saliva could be easily measured.
It was done in a soundproof chamber in order to minimise effects of extraneous variables.
He established a baseline by measuring salivation in response to a NS and pair the NS with the UCS of food, around 20 times.
He also varied the presentation so that the NS was presented before or after the UCS.

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

What were Pavlov (1927)’s results?

A

An NS didn’t intially elicit a salivation response, whereas the UCS of food elicited immediate salivation. After foward pairings, the NS did elicit salivation after presented for a few seconds. There was no salivation recorded in the backwards pairing.

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

What was the conclusion of Pavlov (1927)’s study?

A

There is a link likely to be made in the brain between a UCS and a NS that occurs before the UCS.

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

lWhat is operant conditioning?

A

Operant conditioning states that we learn behaviour as a result of consequences we recieve.

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

How did Skinner’s Box (1948) help us with our understanding of operant conditioning?

A

He started experimenting with an operant chamber (the box) and animals, like rats and pigeons.
He dispensed food as a reward for good behaviour or administered electric shocks as a punishment for bad behaviour.

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

What is reinforcement?

A

When there is encouragement of behaviour to be repeated.

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

What is positive reinforcement?

A

When a particular behaviour produces a pleasant consequence, a reward is introduced. For example, getting money after doing your chores.
Therefore, the behaviour is more likely to be repeated, due to the introduction to the reward.

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

What is negative reinforcement?

A

When something unpleasant is removed from the individual following a behaviour, increasing the probablity of that behaviour being repeated.

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

What is punishment and when does it take place?

A

An event following behaviour that is not ideal, making the repetition of that behaviour less likely.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What is positive punishment?

A

Takes place when something unpleasant or aversive is introduced, following a behaviour i.e a slap.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is negative punishment?

A

Takes place when something nice is removed i.e being fined or grounded.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What is a reinforcement schedule?

A

A plan of how often and when reinforcement will be provided i.e vary or keep constant the ratio of behaviour to reinforcer and the time intervals between reinforcements.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

A strength of reinforcement schedules?

A

They are supported by many studies conducted on humans and animals.

Latham and Dossett (1978) found that beaver trappers responded better to variable ratio pay rather than fixed ratio pay.

The variable ratio pay was that they recieved $4 for a trapped animal if they also guessed correctly guessed the colour of a marble rather than the fixed ratio pay where they only gained $1 for each animal.

27
Q

What is a weakness of a reinforcement schedule?

A

It fails to take account of intrinsic (natural) motivation.

The properties of reinforcement don’t provide a complete account of human motivation.

28
Q

Reinforcement properties provide an account…?

A

Reinforcement properties provide an account of extrinsic motivation - the effect of ‘outside’ factors.

29
Q

Human behaviour is a result of…?

A

Human behaviour is a result of intrinsic or ‘inside’ motivation.

30
Q

What is behaviour modification?

A

The use of operant conditioning techniques to chnage the frequency of desired behaviours.

31
Q

What is shaping?

A

A process of modifying behaviour by reinforcing sucessive approximations to a desired behaviour.

32
Q

What did Ford et al (2017) say about behaviour modification?

A

Ford assessed head impact using sensors in American footballers’ helmets.

Mentoring was used individually to reinforce the high-risk players.

It improved safety and the mean impact intensity went down by 3.9% and by 4.7% on the top-of-head.

33
Q

What is the social learning theory?

A

A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors.

34
Q

What is modelling from the observer’s perspective?

A

Imitating the behaviour of a role model.

35
Q

What is modelling from the role model’s perspective?

A

The demonstration of a specific behaviour that may be imitated by an observer.

36
Q

What is modelling in SLT (social learning theory)?

A

It takes place when one person displays a particular social behaviour in the prescence of another. Models are mostly likely to be imitated if they are the same age and sex as the observer. It also helps if they are likeable, conventionally attractive and appear to have high social status.

37
Q

What is observation and imitation?

A

Observation is an active process in which the observer chooses to focus their attention on the modelled behaviour and watch it. Imitation is copying observed behaviour and is the most important mechanism of learning.

38
Q

What is vicarious reinforcment?

A

Reinforcement that is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour.

39
Q

What are the 4 stages of social learning, suggested by Bandura?

A
  1. Attention to the behaviour of the model.
  2. Retention of the observed behaviour, i.e, storage in memory. This is the main cognitive element of SLT.
  3. Reproduction of the behaviour in an appropriate situation.
  4. Motivation to repeat the behaviour because of vicarious reinforcement.
40
Q

A strength of SLT?

A

It is supported by studies, human and animals both.

Bandura’s studies showed that children would imitate an aggressive model who demonstrated aggression against an inflatable doll, especially if the model was the same sex and was rewarded for doing so.

41
Q

A weakness of SLT?

A

Genetic factors are important as well as environmental influences.

Kendler et al. (2015) showed that identical twins are more similar in their levels of aggression than fratenal twins. This strongly suggests that individual differences in social behaviour are genetically influenced.

42
Q

Who proposed the two-process model?

A

Mowrer (1960).

43
Q

What does the two-process model suggest?

A

It suggests that phobias are acquired, initially by classical conditioning (learning by association) and is then maintained through operant conditioning.

44
Q

How does classical conditioning apply to the acquisition (development) of a phobia?

A

We learn to associate something we do not fear, such as a dog (neutral stimulus), with something that triggers a fear response, such as being bitten (unconditioned stimulus).

After an association has formed, the dog (now a conditioned stimulus) causes a response of fear (conditioned response) and consequently, we develop a phobia.

45
Q

How is a phobia maintained through operant conditioning?

A

Phobias are maintained through operant conditioning (learning through rewards/punishments).

The person avoids the phobic stimulus, and gains a reward i.e constantly avoiding situations involving dogs. This avoidance reduces the person’s feelings of anxiety and negatively reinforces their behaviour which maintains the phobia because the feared association is never ‘unlearned’.

46
Q

What is the social learning of phobias?

A

In modelling, a person replicates the behaviour, fears and response of another person, indirectly learning the phobia.

The observed person is called the model. If the model shows signs of fear or anxiety towards a certain object or situation, the observer might also develop the same fear or anxiety.

47
Q

What did Cook and Mineka (1989) suggest about the social learning of phobias?

A

They demonstrated that infant monkeys who watched adult monkeys display fear of fear-relevant stimuli like toy snakes and crocodiles acquired fear of those toys, supporting the theory.

48
Q

A strength of the two-process model?

A

Evidence from human and animal studies for the role of conditioning - Watson and Rayner study of Little Albert, Cook and Mineka’s monkeys study.

49
Q

A weakness of the two-process model?

A

Does not explain all aspects of phobias - some phobias don’t follow a traumatic experience, i.e a person may have a fear of snakes without ever having encountered a snake.

This suggests some phobias have not been acquired through learning, weakening this explanation.

50
Q

What is systematic desensitisation?

A

Systematic desensitisation is a behavioural therapy designed to reduce phobic anxiety through
gradual exposure to the phobic stimulus.

51
Q

What are the two components to systematic desensitisation?

A

Counter-conditioning: learning to associate the thing you fear with something relaxing or pleasant.

Graduated exposure: introducing you to the thing you fear in stages, starting with brief and remote encounters (a photograph, at a distance, for a second) and building up to longer, closer and more immediate encounters.

52
Q

What are the three processes involved in systematic desensitisation?

A

The anxiety hierarchy, relaxation and exposure,

53
Q

What is the anxiety hierarchy - systematic desensitisation?

A

A list of situations related to the phobic stimulus that provoke anxiety is arranged in order from least to most frightening, which is constructed by the client and therapist.

54
Q

What is relaxation - systematic desensitisation?

A

The therapist teaches the client to relax as deeply as possible through meditation or alternatively, drugs.

55
Q

What is exposure - systematic desensitisation?

A

The patient is then exposed to the phobic stimulus whilst practising the relaxation techniques as feelings of tension and anxiety arise.

When this has been achieved, the patient continues this process by moving up their hierarchy.

56
Q

A strength of systematic desensitisation?

A

Research shows that systematic desensitisation is effective - Gilroy et al (2003) found SD was effective in treating spider phobias, when compared with a control group who only received relaxation training. This shows the treatment does work.

57
Q

A weakness of systematic desensitisation?

A

Not suitable for all cases - clients with multiple phobias or other symptoms linked to trauma could benefit from different therapies; SD only tackles behavioural symptoms.

58
Q

What is flooding?

A

The phobic client is exposed immediately to their phobic stimulus without a gradual build-up with an anxiety hierarchy.

During a flooding session a person is unable to avoid their phobia and through continuous exposure, anxiety levels eventually decrease.

59
Q

What are the three processes involved in flooding?

A

Unavoidable exposure and extinction.

60
Q

What is unavoidable exposure - flooding?

A

The introduction of the phobic stimulus in the most immediate and unavoidable way. A person’s fear cannot be avoided, and with continued exposure, anxiety eventually lessens.

61
Q

What is extinction - flooding?

A

It exposes the patient to their phobic stimulus for long periods of time in order
to reduce anxiety, with the aim that the patient will soon learn that their fear is
harmless.

62
Q

A strength of flooding?

A

It is cost-effective - the quick effect that flooding can have means that patients are free of their symptoms as soon as possible and this makes the treatment cheaper than
alternatives and it takes less time in achieving positive results.

63
Q

A weakness of flooding?

A

It is less effective for some types of phobias - flooding is less effective for treating social phobias. This
may be because social phobias have cognitive aspects – an individual does not simply experience an anxiety response but thinks unpleasant thoughts about the social situation.

The treatment is traumatic for patients (ethical issues) - flooding produces high levels of fear and this can be very traumatic and as a result
many patients refuse to start or complete treatment.

A-Level Pyschology (Edexcel) (13 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions