Psychology of Learning Flashcards

Stage 2 Exams

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1
Q

at is classical conditioning?

A
  • Classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired. (When you associate two or more things together and anticipate a particular outcome)
  • describes the relationship between the US, CS, UR and CR
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2
Q

What does UCS stand for?

A

Unconditioned Stimulus - is the stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response

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3
Q

What does CS stand for?

A

Conditioned Stimulus - is a previously neutral stimulus that now produces a classically conditioned (learned) response

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4
Q

What does NS stand for?

A

Neutral stimulus -

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5
Q

What does CR stand for?

A

Conditioned response - is a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

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6
Q

What is acquisition?

A
  • Process where the organism learns to associate two events
  • when the CS alone produces the CR
  • it is during conditioning
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7
Q

What is contiguity?

A

The timing of the stimulus being presented in order for the conditioning to occur

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8
Q

Why is contiguity important?

A

The time between the NS and the UCS is crucial to get right, otherwise the conditioning will not occur.

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9
Q

what is learning?

A
  • a relatively permanent change in thinking and behaviour
  • can be instinctive or through other forms that require interaction of conscious
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10
Q

The principle of classical conditioning can be demonstrated through…

A

Pavlovs experiment (dog, bell and food)

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11
Q

what is performance?

A

When the learning has occurred (after acquisition phase) and the NS turns into the CS and the UCS is no longer required for the CR to occur

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12
Q

What 2 phases are contained in classical conditioning?

A
  • Acquisition phase
  • Performance Phase
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13
Q

What 2 factors influence the classical conditioning process?

A
  • contiguity
  • contingency
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14
Q

What is contiguity?

A
  • Timing of the stimulus being presented in order for the acquisition to occur
  • UCS and NS need to be presented close to each other (0.5 seconds)
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15
Q

What is contingency?

A
  • refers to the relationship between stimulus and the the expectation that the UCS will follow the NS
  • Occurs after the conditioning has occurred
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16
Q

What 2 concepts of stimulus suggest the conditioned stimulus can be specific or broad?

A
  • stimulus discrimination
  • stimulus generalisation
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17
Q

What is stimulus discrimination?

A
  • when a person or animal responds to the CS only, but not any other stimulus that is similar to the CS
  • CR does not occur
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18
Q

What does UCR stand for?

A

Unconditioned response - is a reflex or innate response. It does not require learning or conditioning

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19
Q

What is stimulus generalisation?

A
  • where the CR is elicited on presentation of other similar stimulus other than the CS
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20
Q

the association between the UCS and CS stimuli can undergo?

A

Extinction

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21
Q

What is extinction?

A
  • when the CR no longer occurs when presented with the CS
  • this is due to the CS being presented without the UCS multiple times
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22
Q

what is spontaneous recovery?

A

occurs after an interval where the CS and the UCS are reintroduced, the CS will elicit the CR

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23
Q

What is prepardness?

A

Animals and humans alike are biologically predisposed to from associations between the stimulus that threatens our survival or expose us to harm - aids our survival by avoiding stimulus

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24
Q

some associations such as those that result in taste aversion and phobias, are more easily learned than others due to?

A

Preparedness

25
Q

what psychological intervention is used in classical conditioning?

A

Systematic desensitization

26
Q

What is systematic desensitisation?

What are the steps?

A

behaviour therapeutic tool widely used to modify learned behaviours associated with phobias

  1. the person is taught a relaxation technique such as deep breathing or deep muscle relaxation
  2. Various anxiety-provoking situations related to the particular problem are listed in order from weakest to strongest (hierarchy)
  3. Each of these situations is presented in imagination or in reality, beginning with the weakest while the client practices muscle relaxation - continue up heirachy until the fear has been desensitised
  4. client must progress, if not, start again
27
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

explains how learning occurs through the consequences that follow a behaviour

28
Q

what does operant conditioning occur through?

A

reinforcment and/or punishment

29
Q

The process of reinforcement can occur through?

A

positive and negative components

30
Q

The process of punishment can occur through

A

Aversive punishment or response cost

31
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A
  • the procedure of presenting a positive reinforcer after a response
  • add to encourage behavior to happen again
32
Q

what is the difference between punishment and reinforcement?

A

R: any stimulus (action or event) that strengthens or increases the likelihood of a response (behaviour occuring again) - add/remove to encourage behaviour to happen again

P: any stimulus (action or event) that weakens or decreases the likelihood of a response (behaviour) occuring again - add/remove to stop behaviour

33
Q

What is negative reinforcement?

A
  • the removal of an unpleasant stimulus as a consequence of a response, which will increase the probability of that response
  • remove to encourage behaviour to happen again
34
Q

what is aversive punishement?

A

occurs when aversive or unpleasant stimuli is given or applied after an undesired behaviour takes place/occurs, with the aim of making the behaviour less likely to occur in the future

35
Q

What is response cost?

A

occurred when certain responses results in the loss (or cost) of something pleasurable - When a pleasant stimulus is removed

36
Q

Why reinforcement over punishment?

A

reinforcement focuses on increasing a desired behaviour and punishment focusses on reducing a desired behavior but does not teach a replacement

37
Q

What are the advantages of reinforcment and limitations of punishemnt

A

Advantages of reinforcement:
- Teaches correct behaviour.
- Creates feeling of love or appreciation.
- Helps develop self-esteem.
- Increases motivation to do the correct behaviour again in the future.

Limitation of using punishment :
- Feeling of resentment, frustration, aggression, helplessness may develop in a person who is punished frequently
- punished behaviours not forgotten, its supressed and may return when the punishment or threat of punishment in no longer present.
- Can create fear in people in authority, which can be generalised to other situations.

38
Q

Importance of contiguity in operant conditioning

A
  • refers to the timing during the learning phrase, or how ideas, memories and experiences are linked closely together in time.
  • the consequence needs to be provided as close as possible to the behaviour for the association to occur
39
Q

Importance of contingency in operant conditioning

A
  • relationship between a response and a reinforcer, or a response and the punisher (dependent on each other)
  • outcome needs to be consistent and appropriate
40
Q

What are the four different schedules applied through reinforcement in operant conditioning

A
  • fixed and variable
  • ratio and interval schedules
41
Q

What is fixed and variable, ratio and interval schedules?

A

F: reinforcement is delivered at predictable times

V: reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable times

I: reinforced based on time intervals that behavior is performed

R: reinforced based on frequency of of the behavior being performed

42
Q

How do different schedules of reinforcement affect the effectiveness of learning through the process of operant conditioning, extinction and performance?

A

FI = Once the interval is learned, performance will drop off until the next time interval approaches. Eg, students don’t study, until the night before the next test.

VI = Useful for teachers to keep students studying on a regular basis, as they may not know when they are going to be tested

FR = Useful when learning something new, but you don’t want to reinforce every correct behaviour

VR = Useful once a behave has already been learned, a variable ratio schedule is the best way to maintain behaviour

43
Q

What is the placebo effect?

A

the placebo effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a person believes he or she is receiving real treatment and reports an improvement in his or her condition

44
Q

How is the placebo effect induced through operant conditioning

A
  • negative reinforcement e.g., someone taking a placebo pill for a headache
  • operant conditioning through experiments such as giving a drink to someone that smells and tastes like alcohol = they will feel the effects
45
Q

What is behaviour modification?

A
  • therapies/techniques based on operant conditioning theory

-is the process of changing behaviours over the long-term using various motivation techniques and reinforcement strategies

  • aim to replace problem behaviours with positive ones
  • no punishment is used

steps:

  1. monitor
  2. negotiate realistic goal
  3. agree on reinforcement schedule
  4. start program, reward imporvmnt
  5. slowly remove reward
46
Q

Steps of behaviour modification

A
  1. Monitor
  2. Negotiate goal
  3. reinforcement schedule
  4. start behaviour modification -> reward
  5. Gradually remove reward
47
Q

What is observational learning?

A

is a type of learning that happens indirectly through a process of watching others and then imitating their behaviour (also known as modelling)

48
Q

What did Bandura suggest?

A
  • Demonstrated that application of consequences was not necessary for learning to take place
  • Learning could occur though the simple process of observing someone else’s behaviour (vicarious learning)
49
Q

What are the steps for the cognitive process of observational learning?

A
  1. Attention – the individual notices something in the environment
  2. Retention – the individual remember what was noticed
  3. Reproduction – the individuals produces action that is a copy of what was noticed
  4. Motivation – the environment delivers a consequence that changes the probability the behaviour will be produced again
50
Q

How is learning through observation different from operant conditioning?

A
  • Bandura noted that motivation to reproduce a learned behaviour will depend on the outcome for the model
  • If the model is reinforced (rewarded) for their behaviour, you will be more likely to reproduce this behaviour yourself -> vicarious reinforcement
  • If a model is punished for their behaviour, you are less likely to reproduce the behaviour -> vicarious punishment
  • Banduras believes that mind, behaviour and environment all play an important role in the learning process
51
Q

What are some characteristics of the model that have impact on the process of observational learning?

A
  • Number of factors that increase the likelihood that a behaviour will be imitated.
  • Such as being warm and nurturing, receive rewards for behaviour, authoritative, similar in age, sex and interests, admire, reward for imitating behaviour, we lack confidence in own knowledge, when situation is confusing, ambiguous or unfamiliar
52
Q

Advantages of using behavioural counts

A
  • Used to gather data on behaviours observed by researcher with inter-rater reliability shown to be very high
  • allows for objective quantitative data to be collected reducing observer error
53
Q

Explain mirror neurons

A
  • Mirror neurons: a type of cell in the brain of certain organism that response in the same way to a given action whether the organism performs the action itself or sees another organism perform the action
54
Q

Compare the 3 major types of behavioural learning

A

Classical conditioning: a neutral stimulus is associated with a natural response

Operant conditioning: a response is increases or decreased due to reinforcement or punishment

Observational Learning: learning occurs through observation and imitation of others

55
Q

What are some characteristics of the learner that have impact on the process of observational learning?

A
  • The speed at which an individual learns is dependent upon a combination of many personal characteristics:
  • Personal characteristics (age, gender, maturity, disabilities, cultural background)
  • Academic Characteristics (education, goals, prior knowledge)
  • Social/emotional characteristics (group structure, place of individual within group, self image, motivation)
  • Cognitive characteristics (attention span, memory, mental procedures)
56
Q

What are the advantages of CBT

A
  • can be modified to meet individual needs
  • Can be used to treat anxiety and depression
  • Found in classical condition, operant conditioning and social learning
  • Views problematic behaviour as fundamentally learned – therefore makes sense that undesired behaviour unlearned
  • Every persons diagnosis will be unique to them
57
Q

Research must be conducted in a way that…

A

protects the research participants, the reputation of psychology, and the psychologists themselves

58
Q

Name the previous studies into learning and their contravened current ethical standards

A
  • Little albert study
  • Bobo Doll study
  • Learned helplessness study
  • no informed consent, harm to participants, right to leave
59
Q

What is the observational learning process?

A

Attention

Retention

Reproduction

Motivation