Psychology 2a - Learning Theory Flashcards
Define learning
A process by which experience produces a relatively
enduring change in an organism’s behaviour or
capabilities
Define non-associate learning
Response to repeated stimuli
Define classical conditioning
Learning what events signal
Define operant conditioning
Learning one thing leads to another - behaviour and learned and maintained by its consequences
Define observational learning
Learning from others
List the basic learning processes
- Non-associative learning
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
- Observational learning
What are the two forms of non-associative learning
- Habituation (decrease in strength of response to a repeated stimulus)
- Sensitisation (increase in strength of response to a repeated stimulus)
- Responses happen simultaneously and compete to determine behaviour
Compare an unconditioned and conditioned stimulus
- Unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that elicits a reflexive or innate response without prior learning
- Conditioned stimulus is a stimulus that, through association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to elicit a conditioned response similar to the origional UCR
Compare unconditioned and consitioned response
- Unconditioned response (UCR) is a reflexive or innate response that is elicited by a stimulus (the UCS) without prior learning - Conditioned response (CR) a response elicited by a conditioned stimulus.
Describe Pavlovs dog experiment
- Ringing a bell caused no salivation
- Food causes salivation (UCS caused UCR)
- After conditioning (combining bell and food) salivation occured after the bell was rang alone (CS causing CR)
When is classical conditioning strongest?
– There are repeated CS-UCS pairings
– The UCS is more intense
– The sequence involves forward pairing (i.e. CS ->
UCS)
– The time interval between the CS and UCS is short
Describe acquisition and extinction in classical conditioning
- Acquisition occurs from CS-UCS pairings
- Extinction occurs when CS alone is given
- Decrease in response to CS
- After a rest there is recovery of the CR, showing the learning is still there
- Overtime the effect becomes smaller
Define stimulus generalization
- A tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to a conditioned stimulus.
- Can elicit the response, but in a weaker form (closer to the tone of the bell the more saliva produced by Pavlovs dogs - normally distributes)
Define stimulus discrimination
- The ability to respond differently to various
stimuli. - Eg. different bells, fear of dogs only include certain breeds
Describe a clinical example of classical conditioning
- 25-30% chemotherapy patients experience anticipatory nausea and vomiting (CR)
- Blood samples form patients at home and at the hospital prior to chemotherapy, looked at NK cell activity and nausea. In the home, there was less nausea and higher NK cell function. In the hospital, patients had nausea and lowered immune function.
- Hospital had become a conditioned stimulus
What is overshadowing? Use cancer patients to explain
- Cancer patients divided into two groups. One group given water, and another an unpleasant novel drink
- Patients in group one showed significantly reduced nausea to clinic setting alone (CS altered)
- Therefore, patients would associate the unpleasant drink to nausea rather than the clinical setting
Describe the little albert experiment
- Fear learning
- Created association between a white rat and a loud noise
- After conditioning tested alberts response to the rat (he became upset and tearful)
- 5 days later, presented albert with different objects to observe CR (he became scared of anything white and fluffy, eg. Santa, white cotton, rabbit)
Apply fear learning and the two factor theory to needle phobia
- Traumatic injection causes pain/fear
- Trauma (UCS) and needle (CS) causes fear response (UCR)
- Clinical setting (CS) causes fear response (CR)
- Two factor theory of maintenance of classically conditioned associations - avoiding injections due to fear, which immediately reduces fear so the tendency to avoid is reinforced
Describe thorndikes law of effect
- A response followed by a satisfying consequence will be more likely to occur. - A response followed by an aversive consequence will become less likely to occur
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Define primary reinforcement.
Occurs when a response is strengthened by the subsequent presentation of a reinforcer
Compare primary and secondary reinforcers
- Primary reinforcers are those needed for survival (food, water, sleep, sex)
- Secondary reinforcers are stimuli that acquire reinforcing properties through their association with primary reinforcers (money, praise)
Define negative reinforcement
Occurs when a response is strengthened by the removal or avoidance of an aversive stimulus
Define negative reinforcer
The aversive stimulus that is removed or added in negative reinforcement
Compare positive and negative punishment
- Positive Punishment occurs when a response is weakened by the
presentation of a stimulus (e.g. squirting a cat with water when it jumps on dining table) - Negative Punishment occurs when a response
is weakened by the removal of a stimulus (e.g. phone confiscated)
Is reinforcement or punishment more powerful?
- Skinner maintained that reinforcement is a much more potent influence on behaviour
than punishment - Largely because punishment can only make certain responses less frequent – you cant
teach new behaviour
Compare the effect of continuous and variable reinforcement schedules
- Continuous reinforcement produces more rapid learner (as association is easier to understand)
- However, continuously reinforced responses extinguish more rapidly than variably reinforced responses (shift to no reinforcement is sudden)
- Variable is where the reinforcement is seen every 3 or 5 times for example (used in gambling)
List the types of reinforcement schedules
- Fixed interval schedule: reinforcement occurs after fixed time interval
- Variable interval schedule: the time interval varies at random around an average
- Fixed Ratio Schedule: reinforcement is given after a fixed number of responses
- Variable Ratio Schedule: reinforcement is given after a variable number of responses, all centered around an average
Give an example of operant conditioning and health behaviour
- Chronic pain behaviour includes
limping, grimacing, and medication requests. - This is often reinforced by family
or staff e.g. by being overly sympathetic, encouraging rest,
increasing medication - This behaviour is likewise reinforced by gratitude signals
from the patient - A cycle is created in which the patient receives positive consequences for “being in pain“,
so pain is more likely to occur in frequency
Compare cognitive and social learning theory approaches
- Cognitive based on reinforcement and punishment
- Social imitation may short-cut the acquisition of new behaviours - looking at role models
- Observational learning is obsering the behaviours of others and the consequences of those behaviours
- Vicarious reinforcement is imitating behaviours if someone elses behaviour is reinforced
List the steps to successful modeling (observational learning)
- Pay attention to model
- More likely if the model is seen to be rewarded, high status, similar to us, friendly
- Remember what was done
- Must be able to reproduce modeled behaviour
- If successful or behaviour is rewarded, it is more likely to recur
Describe Bobo doll experiment
- Observational learning
- 72 children (Mean aged 4yrs) recruited from Stanford University Nursery.
- All children spent time in a playroom with an adult who modelled either nonaggressive (building tinker toy) or aggressive play (punching and striking
the Bobo doll with mallet) - All children then spent a further 20 minutes in the room alone and their
behaviour was observed. Aggressive behaviour both imitative and nonimitative was recorded. - Children who observed aggressive behaviour showed a much higher level of
aggression towards the doll
Give examples of social learning
- Expert by experience where patients learn more about chronic conditions from those who have had their disease or similar
- Advertising to patients in hard to reach communities using celebrities
- Advertising to health care professionals so they have their flu jab using higher up members of staff
