Learning Week 7 Cognitive-Social Theory Flashcards
learning Theory that incorporates concepts of conditioning but adds two new features:
a focus on cognition
and
a focus on social learning.
Cognitive - Social Theory
humans and other animals are always developing
mental images of, and expectations about, the environment, and these cognitions:
influence their behaviour.
mental representations or images
cognitive maps —
Tolman called learning that has occurred but is not currently manifest in behaviour:
latent learning
(ie. even though they had received no reinforcement. Once the rats were reinforced, their learning became observable.)
Cognitive–social theory proposes that an individual’s ———-expectations, or expectancies, about the consequences
of a behaviour are what render the behaviour more or less likely to occur.
expectations, or expectancies
expectancies that influence a broad spectrum of
behaviour.
generalised expectancies —
refer to the generalised expectancies people hold about whether or not their own behaviour can bring about the outcomes they seek
locus of control of reinforcement (or simply locus of control)
Individuals with an —— —— – ——– believe they are the masters of their own fate
internal locus of control
People with an —- —— – ——- believe their lives are determined by forces outside themselves.
external locus of control
the expectancy that one cannot escape aversive events and the motivational and learning deficits that result
from this belief.
Learned helplessness
the way people make
sense of bad events
explanatory style—
Individuals with a ——- explanatory style blame themselves for the bad things
that happen to them. In the language of helplessness theory, pessimists believe the causes of their misfortune
are internal rather than external, leading to lowered self-esteem.
depressive or pessimistic
pessimists believe the causes of their misfortune
are internal rather than external, leading to lowered self-esteem. They also tend to see things as ——- and ——-
stable, (unlikely to change)
global (broad, general and widespread in their impact). When a person with a pessimistic style does poorly on a biology exam, he may blame it on his own stupidity—an explanation that is internal, stable and global.
the belief that you can cultivate positive thinking by consciously challenging any negative self-talk is an example of
Learned Optimism
People’s ——— about what they can and cannot accomplish, about societal barriers to their goals (e.g., prejudice) and so forth — influence all aspects of their lives, from how hard they work to whether they feel hopeful or depressed
expectancies
intermittent reinforcement is more effective than continuous reinforcement because of the ,
expectations
Theory that proposes that individuals learn many things from the people around them, with or without reinforcement, through social learning mechanisms other than classical and operant conditioning.
Cognitive–social theory
learning by observing the behaviour of
others
observational learning
the lesson intended in observational learning is not always the lesson —— .
learned
Observational learning in which a person learns to
reproduce behaviour exhibited by a subject is called
modelling
Whether an individual actually performs modelled behaviour also depends on the behaviour’s likely
outcome. This outcome expectancy is, itself, often learned through an observational learning mechanism
known as
vicarious conditioning.
, a person learns the consequences of an
action by observing its consequences for someone else.
vicarious conditioning
teaching concepts or procedures primarily through
verbal explanation or instruction.
direct tutelage (tutor)
——- occurs when people learn through direct instruction.
Tutelage
operant conditioning is akin to a continuation of —— ——–. Just as nature selects organisms whose characteristics
are adaptive to their environment, the environment selects responses by organisms that have ——– consequences.
natural selection
adaptive
Skinner
and others who called themselves radical behaviourists argued that the best way to keep psychology
scientific is to focus on what can be —- ——-
directly observed (behaviours and environmental events.)
Psychologists now speak more freely of thoughts,
emotions,motives, goals and stresses that interact to produce —— ——-
behavioural outcomes
Today, many psychologists disagree with Skinner’s belief that scientific explanation is incompatible with
mentalistic explanation, particularly now that we can ——— ——- ——- as people look at objects,
recall past experiences or solve mathematical problems.
watch the brain in action, use diagnostic tools to see brain activity
