learning theories

Question 1

what are three assumptions of learning theories?

Answer 1

• human behaviour is learnt after birth
• all individuals are born as a blank slate (tabula rasa)
• every experience teaches an individual a near behaviour

Question 2

Describe classical conditioning

Answer 2

developed by: Pavlov
Key idea: learning a new behaviour is a process of association so that two stimuli are linked together to produce a newly leaned response

1. unconditioned stimulus produces and unconditioned response
2. neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus to create an unconditioned response
3. conditioned stimulus now creates a conditioned response

Pavlov Dogs: 35 dogs of various breeds

unconditioned stimulus - food
unconditioned response - salivation
neutral stimulus - sound of buzzer or tuning fork
conditioned stimulus - sound
conditions response - salivation

Question 3

What are three things that can happen after classical conditioning?

Answer 3

Extinction:
- association can simply disappear between conditions stimulus and conditions response

Spontaneous recovery:
- after extinction sometimes the association recurs for no specific reason

Stimulus generalisation:
- tendency for the conditioned stimulus to produce the same behaviour to a similar situation after the response has been conditioned

Question 4

Evaluate classical conditioning as an explanation for human learning

Answer 4

Alternative theory:
- social learning theory

Methodology:
- scientifically credible as its based on empirical evidence from lab experiments
- generalising from dogs to humans is difficult
- reductionist experiment so lacks validity

Evidence:
- pavlov made dogs salivate
- Watson and Rayner conditioned fear in a baby
- deterministic as it assumes a person has no control over their reactions

Applications:
- effective treatments such as aversion therapy and systematic desensitatisation

Question 5

What is the aim of Watson and Rayners study?

Answer 5

To test wether classical conditioning occurs in humans
- wether they could condition fear of an animal by simultaneously presenting the animal and striking a steel bar to make a loud noise
- wether the fear would be transferred to other animals or objects
- the effect of time on the conditioned response

Question 6

What was the procedure of Watson and Rayners study?

Answer 6

• Little albert was healthy from birth and was clam and unemotional

9 Months:
- watson and rayner carried out emotional baseline tests to asses his fear reactions
- showed no fear to a white rat, rabbit or cotton wool
- banged a hammer against a steel bar, his lips puckered and tumbled and had a crying fit

11 Months and 3 days:
- checked his responses again
- white rat presented (no fear and reached his hand out)
- as his hand touched the rat the bar was struck (did not cry but jumped and fell forward)
- as other hand touched rat bar was struck again (jumped violently and whimpered)

11 Months and 10 days:
- rat presented without sounds (reached but did not touch)
- given blocks to play with (control)
- after more conditioning
- white rat presented and albert cried immediately, turned and started to crawl away

11 Months and 15 days:
- rabbit alone (negative response, cried)
- blocks (played well and energetically)
- fur coat ( withdrew and began to fret)
- cotton wool (would not touch)
- santa mask (negative)

11 Months at 20 days:
- presented rat alone and alberts reaction was less marked than previously
- association had weakened so they renewed it
- conditioned fear to dog and rabbit (stimulus generalisation)
- experiment moved to lecture room to study effects of different environments

Question 7

What are the conclusions from Watson and Rayners study?

Answer 7

• A fear response could be conditioned
• A fear response could be transferred to different stimuli (stimulus generalisation)
• conditioning had remained after a month (follow up procedure)
• infants could be classically conditioned to develop a fear of a white rat
• conditioned emotional responses have the possibility of lasting a life time
• objects similar to the feared stimulus can also elicit a fear response

Question 8

Evaluate Watson and Rayners study

Answer 8

Generalisability:
- case study of one individual
- young child so not representative

Reliability:
- high reliability
- standardised procedures such as being in same room and only watson and rayner being there

Applicability:
- treatments to unlearn responses
- systematic desensitisation for phobias
- cbt

Validity:
- high validity as lab expeirement with high levels of control
- used blocks as a control
- cause and effect is shown
- ecological validity is low as babies tend to learn in more complex environments

Ethics:
- unethical
- psychological harm
- mother/father may not have been clear about what was happening

Question 9

What is classified as a phobia?

Answer 9

• the fear of the object, item or situation is marked an persistent which affects a persons functioning in everyday life
• exposure to the phobic stimulus provokes an immediate anxiety response
• the object, item or situation is excessively avoided
• symptoms must be present for at least 6 months

Question 10

Describe systematic desensitisation

Answer 10

Developed by: Wolpe

• focusses on providing a methodical way to introduce an individual to their feared stimulus in a gradual manner
• step by step process where an individual with a phobia becomes more and more familiar with the feared object, item or situation
• carried out over a long period of time
• can be introduced in vivo (real object) or in vitro (imaginary)
• individuals are taught how to relax their muscles suing progressive muscle relaxation
• over the period of time, anxiety should reduce
• the learnt stimulus and response will be broken

Question 11

Evaluate systematic desensitisation

Answer 11

ALEE

Alternatives:
- flooding therapy
- CBT
- Virtual reality therapy (Freeman)

Limitations:
- individuals differences must be taken into account (this therapy may not suit everyone)
- cannot be applied to those with a more generalised anxiety disorder
- reductionist as it assumes all phobias develop by classical conditioning
- less effective for phobias that have a survival component such as dangerous animals (may be evolutionary)

Effectiveness:
- generalisable to many types of phobias
- Capafons found it was effective to treat fear of flying
- evidence such as McGrath found that 75% of individuals with phobias respond to this treatment
- this treatment is preferred by NHS

Ethics:
- ethical as exposure to the fear is gradual and agreed with the individual prior
- enables individual to feel empowered and involved

Question 12

Describe flooding therapy

Answer 12

Developed by: Stampfl

• involves phobic person being placed in a situation with their feared object/situation for a prolonged period with no means of removing themselves from the situation
• involves exposing individual to their fear all at once
• uses the idea that a phobia response is caused by an alarm reaction that only have a certain longevity before they subside
• alarm reaction makes blood sugar available for energy in fight or flight
• as the body uses up all the blood sugar then it will start to calm

Question 13

Evaluate Flooding therapy

Answer 13

ALEE

Alternatives:
- systematic desensitisation
- CBT
- virtual reality

Limitations:
- treatment is not useful for other mental health difficulties
- some clients adquire more anxiety

Effectiveness:
- can be used with many different phobias
- faster then other therapies
- wolpe carried out an experiment with a girl afraid of cars, drive her around for just a few hours until she was calm

Ethics:
- individual is put into a situation of great distress
- trauma for patient
- wolpe study although the girl eventually calmed, for a long time she was hysterical
- issues of social control as the patient cannot leave the fearful situation

Question 14

What was the aim and participants for Capafons study?

Answer 14

Aim: To investigate the effects of systematic desensitisation as a treatment programme to treat fear of flying

Participants:
- 41 participants recruited by media campaign (volunteer sample)
- treatment group had 20 p’s
- control group had 21 p’s

Question 15

What was the procedure of capafons study?

Answer 15

Step one:
- all participants interviewed individually
- all subjects completed IDG-FV diagnostic test

Step two:
- p’s called back individually to watch videotape of plane visit whilst undergoing psychophysical measurement
- temp of room maintained at 22.5 degrees
- p sat in armchair 1.8m from tv
- before the video, p’s had a habituation session where they became familiar with the recording instruments
- p’s responses were measure for 3 minuted before starting the video
- patient then watched the video

Step three:
- at the end of the video another appt was made for thither next treatment session or next assessment
- interval between first and second was 8 weeks

Step four:
- p’s receiving treatment had two one hour sessions per week
- minimum 12 session maximum 15
- training techniques of breathing, progressive relaxation and imagination

Step five:
- after 8 weeks, both groups came back to retake questionnaire and video test

Question 16

What were the results and conclusion from capafons study?

Answer 16

Pre-treatment:
- no marked difference between two groups on all variables and all were similar in their fear of flying

Post-treatment:
- marked difference between control waiting list group and treatment group
- after therapy heart rate measure for treatment group was 0.99 but control group was 1.31
- after therapy, self report measure for treatment group was 13.25 but control group was 25.81

CONCLUSION:
- there was no significant decrease in the fear of flying in the control group whereas there was a significant decrease in the experimental group that had treatment
- therefore, systematic desensitisation is an effective treatment for reducing fear of flying

Question 17

Evaluate Capafons study

Answer 17

Generalisability:
- only 20 participants in treatment group
- self selected sample so may be biased
- not representative of everyone with phobias of flying

Reliability:
- high
- sand raised procedures such as temp and distance from tv
- increases scientific credibility

Applicability:
- effective treatment for fear of flying
- therapy does not work for everyone (10% of treatment group showed little improvement)

Validity:
- high internal validity
- lab experiment
- control over extraneous variables such as having a control group
- objective and quantitive methods used
- self report questionnaire lowers validity
- low ecological validity

Ethics:
- participants all gave consent
- all p’s supported throughout the study
- researchers made the control group wait some time before treatment

Question 18

What are the main principled and the ABC method of operant conditioning?

Answer 18

Developed by: B.F Skinner

• behaviour is shaped by its consequences
• behaviour is learnt through positive and negative reinforcement

ABC Model:
A = Antecedent (the situation or stimulus that triggers a behaviour)
B = Behaviour (the response made by the organism)
C = Consequence (what happens because go the behaviour

Two types of consequence:
Reinforcer - increase the probability of a behaviour being repeated
Punisher - decrease the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated

Question 19

Describe Skinners initial research into operant conditioning using rats

Answer 19

• Placed a hungry rat inside a skinner box
• box contained a lever on the side, if the rat accidentally pressed the lever, a food pellet would drop into a box next to it
• rats learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box
• consequence of them receiving food (positive reinforcer) ensured they would repeat the behaviour
• also used an electric shock generator wired to the floor of the cage
• used as a punisher, if he used this the rates were less likely to repeat the behaviour

Question 20

What are the 4 different types of reinforcers?

Answer 20

Reinforcements:
- the process of encouraging or establishing a belief or pattern of behaviour

Primary reinforcer:
- rewards focussed on meeting basic needs
- food, water, sleep, shelter, pleasure

Secondary Reinforcer:
- reward can satisfy a basic need but is not a basic need
- sweets, fruit juice, money

Positive reinforcement:
- offering a reward when a behaviour is exhibited

Negative reinforcement:
- removing an unpleasant stimulus after desired bevahiour is displayed

Question 21

What is punishment and what are the two types?

Answer 21

Punishment:
- doing something unpleasant to stop the behaviour

Positive punishment:
- adding an aversive stimulus that will reduce the likelihood of the behaviour (being told off, sent to room)

Negative punishment:
- the removal of a liked/desirable stimuli to reduce the likelihood of a behaviour (no passing, no screen time)

Question 22

What is a token economy and how do they work?

Answer 22

A treatment method that provides secondary reinforcement for a desirable behaviour that can be saved up for or exchanged for a primary reinforcer

How do they work?
Encourage desired behaviour through a system of reward and reduce undesired behaviour through withdraws of reward
- the more tokens received the better the reward
- used in schools and prisons

Example:
- house points at school

Question 23

Evaluate Operant condition as an explanation of human behaviour

Answer 23

Evidence and Methodology:
- skinner search provides quanttitve statistical evidence
- cause and effect links established
- high internal validity
- high reliability in skinners research
- low generalisability as they used rats
- ethical issues

Application:
- shows how behaviours sre learnt ushc as drug addiction
- shows how behaviour can be changed through reinforcement
- useful in education and criminal justice system
- paul and lenta used token economies for the treatment of people with schizophrenia

Alternatives:
- reductionist as it only focusses on reinforces
- social learning theory

Question 24

What are schedules of reinforcement?

Answer 24

Schedules of reinforcement:
- Reinforcers have to be used at a particular time to reinforce behaviour
- different patterns of reinforcement have different effects on the speed of learning and wether or not extinction occurs

Question 25

What are the 4 schedules of reinforcement?

Answer 25

Fixed Ratio:
- behaviour is reinforced only after the behaviour occurs for a set number of times
- for every 5 presses on the lever, a reward or punishment is given
- response rate is fast, extinction rate is medium

Fixed interval:
- reinforcement given after a fixed time interval providing at least one correct response has been made
- having a reward or punishment every 5 min
- response rate medium, extinction rate medium

Variable ratio:
- reinforcement or punishment is given randomly in regard to number of responses achieved
- being reinforced after 3 responses, then 7, then one (gambling)
- response rate is fast, extinction rate is slow

Variable Interval:
- reinforcement is given after variable amounts of time
- given at one min, given at 5 min, then given at 2 min
- response rate is fast, extinction rate is slow

Question 26

What is shaping in terms of behaviour modification?

Answer 26

shaping is the use of rewards or punishment to form a complex behaviour.
This complex behaviour would not naturally occur so could not be reinforced itself.
The behaviour is broken down into components and each component is reinforced until the full behaviour has been shaped

3 steps of shaping:
- rewarding moves towards the desired behaviour
- waiting for an action that is nearer the desired behaviour before rewarding
- waiting for the actual behaviour before rewarding

e.g squirrel taught to complete an assault course, training dogs tricks

Question 27

What is the aim and participants of Bandura’s first experiment (1961)?

Answer 27

Aim:
to see wether aggressive behaviour could be acquired through observation of aggressive role models

4 hypothesis:
1. children exposed to aggressive role models would imitate the modelled aggression

2. observation of non aggressive models would inhibit aggressive behaviour
3. children will imitate the behaviour of the same sex model more than model of the opposite sex
4. boys would display more aggression than girls

Participants:
- 72 children from Stanford university nursery
- 36 boys and 36 girls
- three conditions ( witness aggressive role model, witness non aggressive role model, did not see a role model)
- within each group half saw same sex model, half saw opposite sex model

Question 28

What was the procedure of Banduras first experiment (1961)?

Answer 28

Stage one - Modelling stage (10 min)
- child lead to first room, seated at table and encouraged to play with stickers
- model escorted to opposite corner of room and told the mallet and bobo doll was theirs to play with
Aggressive condition - model acted aggressively to bobo doll
- sat on it an punched nose
- hit it on the head with mallet
- kicked it around room
- said pow, throw him in the air, kick him
Non aggressive model - procedure same except the model played with tinker toy, ignoring bobo doll

Stage two - midl aggression arousal (2 min)
- child taken into second room
- room filled with may toys and they were allowed to play
- experimenter stopped child saying these are my best toys so they can’t play with them ( all kids at similar emotional levels)

Stage three - test for delayed imitation (20)
- child taken to room 3
- room contained aggressive toys such as bobo doll, mallet, dart guns
- non agressive toys were tea set, crayons, cars, bears and trucks
- bevahour observed for 20 min through one way glass
- observed for follwing categories (imitative physical aggression, imitative verbal aggression, non imitative aggression, mallet aggression and gun play)

Question 29

What were the results and conclusions from Banduras first experiment (1961)

Answer 29

Results:
- participants in aggressive conditions showed more aggressive behaviour than those in non aggressive or control condition (boys who saw male role model has a mean psychical aggression score of 25.8 whereas non aggressive group has mean of 1.5)

• participants in the non aggressive conditon showed no significant difference in aggressive behaviour to the control group
• sex of the model impacted the participants, children more likely to copy same sex model than opposite sex (boys with male model showed verbal aggression score of 12.7 but with a female model showed 4.3)
• boys imitated more aggressive acts than girls (gun play in boys with male model was 15.9 whereas girls with female model and gun play was 1.8)

Conclusions:
- if a child is exposed to an aggressive model, it is likely that they would imitate the behaviour
- boys were more likely to imitate the same sex model than girls
- behaviour is learnt when a role model is observed and imitated

Question 30

Evaluate Banduras first experiment (1961)

Answer 30

Generalisability:
- not representative of target population
- all from same nursery
- all from middle class white background
- cannot generalise to older children or adults

Reliability:
- high reliability
- standardised procedures such as having exact same toys to play with, same phrase said
- used two observers so inter-rater reliability is high

Applications:
- added development of policies that censor what children can watch (certificates on movies)

Validity:
- low ecological validity
- artificial enviroment and bobo doll is an unusual toy
- high internal validity due to high controls
- children matched on aggression levels
- children may have though adult was instructing them to hit the doll so validity is lowered

Ethics:
- not clear how consent was granted
- kids trained to be aggressive
- many children upset when they couldn’t play with toys in room 2

Question 31

What was the aim of Banduras second experiment (1963)

Answer 31

Aim:
to investigate wether a filmed model would have the same effect as a live model on children aggression.
A secondary aim was to investigate wether cartoon violence would have a similar impact to realistic filmed aggression

Question 32

What was the procedure of Banduras second experiment?

Answer 32

Stage one - modelling stage (10 min)
real life aggression - same as study one

human film aggression model:
- kids take to semi darkened room and while they played a film would be on
- film was shown for 10 min, 6 feet away from table
- models in the film were the same people from the real life condition

Cartoon film aggression:
- same as human film
- cartoon performed by a female model costumed as a black cat
- cat shown hitting the bobo doll
- cat also had verbal aggression

Stage two - Mild Aggression arousal (2 min)
- same as first experiment

Stage three: test for delayed imitation
- same as first experiment

Question 33

What were the results and conclusions from Banduras second experiment (1963)

Answer 33

Mean total real life agression: 83
Mean total human film aggression: 92
Mean total cartoon aggression: 99
Mean total control group aggression: 54

film mediated aggression has a bigger influence on children considering the film scores of aggression were 92 and 99 and real life aggression was 83

Conclusions:
- observing filmed aggressive acts will leas to imitation of aggression acts by children
- indicates that learning is vicarious as the model exhibiting the behaviour was not punished

Question 34

What was the aim of Banduras Third experiment (1965)

Answer 34

Aim:
To investigate which reinforcements would influence the performance of a participant when imitating behaviour

Question 35

What was the procedure of Banduras third experiment (1965)

Answer 35

All Participants:
- All participants brought to a semi darkened room
- while waiting kids told they would watch TV
-Film lasted 5 minutes
- model walked up to bobo doll and ordered him to clear the way
- model acted aggressively towards doll

Model rewarded condition:
- second adult appears and reward model verbally
- was given candies and soft drinks
- said he was a strong champion

Model Punished condition:
- second adult shook his finger
- said stop you big bully, quit picking on that clown
- other adult sat on model and smacked him

No consequence:
- watched sam film but no reinforment at the end

Experimental room:
- kids taken to room after watching film
- contained bobo doll, a mallet, cars, farm animals and a doll house
- each part-chat remained in room for 10 min

Question 36

What were the results and conclusions from Banduras third experiment (1965)

Answer 36

Results:
- boys showed significantly more imitative responses than girls
- the model rewarded condition showed significantly more imitative responses compared to the model punished conditions
- there was no significant difference in imitative responses between the model rewarded condition and no consequence condition

Conclusions:
- reinforcements administered to the model influence the observers performance
- observations alone will not provide sufficient conditions for imitative or observational learning
- behaviour can be vicariously transmitted through consequences

Question 37

What is the main essence of social learning theory and what are the 4 stages?

Answer 37

developed by: Bandura

people learn behaviour through observations of others

1. the behaviour is modelled by a role model
2. the observer identifies with the role model
3. the behaviour is observed and noted
4. the behaviour is imitated so it is learned

Question 38

What are the 4 cognitive processes in social learning theory?

Answer 38

ARRM

ATTENTION:
- attention must be paid to role model

RETENTION:
- information from role model must be retained
- imagery and language assist this process

REPRODUCTION:
- showing the behaviour
- influenced by psychical capabilities of the individual

MOTIVATION:
- if a reward is offered we are more likely to reproduce behaviour
- intrinsic motivation is ones satisfaction
- extrinsic motivation is a physical reward

Question 39

What is vicarious learning?

Answer 39

Learning that is derived from indirect sources such as hearing or observation

• vicarious reinforcement
• vicarious punishment
• vicarious extinction

Question 40

Evaluate social learning theory as an explanation to human behaviour

Answer 40

Evidence:
- bandura
- Raine explains aggression in terms of biological factors

Methodology:
- lab based experiments
- high internal validity
- cause and effect established
- low ecological validity

Applications:
- explains how humans learn aggressive behaviour
- modelling therapies to learn alternatives to aggressive behaviour

Alternatives:
- biological factors

Question 41

What is the title of your practical in learning theories?

Answer 41

An observation to investigate differences in safe and unsafe road crossing behaviours in adults with children and adults without children

Question 42

What was the aim of your practical in learning theories?

Answer 42

The aim of this naturalistic observation is to investigate the difference in behaviour of adults with and without children whilst crossing the road at a set of traffic lights

Question 43

What is the hypothesis of your practical in learning theories?

Answer 43

There is a significant difference in adults behaviour, measured by safe or unsafe, with or without children at a crossing with traffic lights

Question 44

What are two strengths and two weaknesses of your practical in learning theories?

Answer 44

STRENGHTS:
- high validity as it was a covert observation so p’s did not change their behaviour
- both qualitative and quantitive data found as we recorded number of behaviours and also noted what the behaviour was

WEAKNESSES:
- not totally generalisable as it was one small town at a quiet time of day
- not very reliable as we did not use many standardise procedures

Question 45

What is your key question in learning theories?

Answer 45

Should airline companies offer treatment programmes to passengers with a fear of flying?

Question 46

What are the three theories to talk about when discussing your key question?

Answer 46

Operant conditioning:
- people with areophobia, when they do not fly their anxiety is reduced
- this acts as a negative reinforcer

Social learning theories:
- children may observe adults being scared of flying

Classical conditioning:
- people may have associated turbulence with flying and are now scared

Question 47

What are two treatments to discuss when talking about the key question

Answer 47

Flooding therapy

Systematic desensitisation (capafons)