Learning theory

Question 1

Classical conditioning

Answer 1

• Ivan Pavlov
• events which occur together are associated and acquire a similar meaning.
• responds to stimuli

Question 2

Operant conditioning

Answer 2

• B F Skinner
• people learn by operating (interacting) with their environments.
• It involves reinforcement and punishment
• response to behaviour

Question 3

Observational model

Answer 3

• is learning that occurs through observing the behavior of others.
• It is a form of social learning which takes various forms, based on various processes.

Question 4

Cognitive model

Answer 4

-The cognitive model describes how people’s perceptions of, or spontaneous thoughts about, situations influence their emotional, behavioral (and often physiological) reactions.

Question 5

Extinction

Answer 5

-If a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus then the conditioned response will disappear

Question 6

Reinforcement

Answer 6

• operant conditioning

- reward

Question 7

Fixed-ratio reinforcement

Answer 7

a reward occurs after a behavior is repeated x number of times

Question 8

Fixed-interval reinforcemeent

Answer 8

a reward occurs after a fixed amount of time

Question 9

Variable interval reinforcement

Answer 9

a reward after a varying amount of time

Question 10

Generalisation

Answer 10

This is the extension of the conditioned response from the original conditioned stimulus to other similar stimuli

Question 11

Secondary reinforcement

Answer 11

(aka conditioned reinforcers)

• not innately appreciated and people have to learn to like them
• Secondary reinforcers include things such as money.

Question 12

Primary reinforcement

Answer 12

instinctual desires such as food, water and sex

Question 13

Incubation

Answer 13

This occurs in fear responses.
-When a person is exposed to a stimulus which causes fear, the fear response can increase over time due to brief exposures to the conditioned stimulus

Question 14

Stimulus preparedness

Answer 14

-is a concept developed to explain why certain associations are learned more readily than others. For example, phobias related to survival, such as snakes, spiders, and heights, are much more common and much easier to induce in the laboratory than other kinds of fears.

Question 15

Escape conditioning

Answer 15

• classical and operant conditioning.
• an aversive situation is removed after a response.
• It is a form of negative reinforcement.

Question 16

Avoidance conditioning

Answer 16

-the person learns to respond to a signal in a way that avoids an aversive stimulus before it arrives

Question 17

Reciprocal inhibition

Answer 17

The technique is used for treating phobias, where a state incompatible with anxiety (such as anger or relaxation) is evoked at the same time as an anxiety-provoking stimulus is presented. A new response to the stimulus is thereby learned.

Question 18

Habituation

Answer 18

• There is a decrease in response to a stimulus over time (overtime you pay less attention to repeated sounds in your environment).
• If the stimulus is removed for a period of time and then reintroduced then the response will reappear at full strength. This is referred to as spontaneous recovery.

Question 19

Shaping

Answer 19

• reward successive, increasingly accurate approximations to the behaviour to achieve required goal.

Question 20

Chaining

Answer 20

-Chaining involves breaking a complex task into smaller more manageable sections.

Question 21

Cueing

Answer 21

Cueing is the use of signals to indicate that a certain behavior is desired or that a certain behavior should stop” (Ormrod, 517)

Question 22

Psychology of punishment

Answer 22

In operant conditioning, punishment is any change in a human or animal’s surroundings that occurs after a given behavior or response which reduces the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future.
As with reinforcement, it is the behavior, not the animal, that is punished.