The Learning Approach Flashcards
Give an example of classical conditioning.
IVAN PAVLOV-the food (unconditioned stimulus) creates the unconditioned response of salivation. Then the bell (neural stimulus) doesn’t create salivation. During aquisition, the bell followed by food create salivation. Finally, the conditioned stimulus (bell) creates the conditioned response of salivation. This study demonstrates the learning of innate reflex behaviours.
Give an example of operant conditioning.
B F SKINNER - put a rat in a box, and when the rat pressed the lever, they were rewarded with a pellet of food. This positive reinforcement led to the rat pressing the lever a lot. This is continuous reinforcement.
The floor was electrified as a punishment for an action that the rat did, for instance pressing the lever when a red light was showing. Avoiding the electric shock by not pressing the lever was negative reinforcement for avoiding the red light.
Skinner trained the rats to complete complex tasks, such as responding to certain words or lights, simply by rewards and punishment.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of classical and operant conditioning?
😊-scientific methods are used and objectivity is strived for
-leads to practical applications (such as using operant conditioning to train guide dogs or use of rewards and token economy’s)
😔-The approach portrays a machinist view. Humans are seen as passive, machine like responders to stimuli. More emphasis has been made into the mental processes made during learning in cognitive and social learning approaches. The processes that occur between stimulus and response suggests humans play an active role in their learning.
-is a form of environmental determinism. It argues that behaviour is determined by past experiences and conditioning which ignores the influence of free will on behaviour. Skinner argued that free will was an illusion, that our past conditioning determines behaviour. This ignores the influence of decision-making on behaviour.
What are the key assumptions of this approach?
That all behaviour is learned, either through association, rewards and punishment, or through observation.
It also assumes that we are all born as a blank slate and our behaviour is a result of our experiences.
External forces shape our behaviour.
What are the basic assumptions of the social learning theory?
That behaviour is learned from the environment and from observing others and the rewards and punishment that they receive.
What study found evidence that behaviour is learned through observation?
BANDURA - participants aged 3-6 were shown adults playing in a room of dolls. They either saw an adult playing aggressively with a large bobo doll, or playing in a friendly way with the doll. Those who watched the aggressive model behaved aggressively, whereas the other group showed less aggression.
What are the mediating factors that Bandura suggested took place before behaviour is imitated?
- Paying Attention to the model
- Being able to Remember the action
- Having the Ability to replicate the action
- Being Motivated to replicate the action.
ARAM
Which study investigated vicarious reinforcement?
BANDURA AND WALTERS - showed children an adult acting agressively with the bobo doll and then the child either saw:
1. Model being rewarded for aggressive behaviour,
2. Model being punished for aggressive behaviour or,
3. No consequences.
Those who saw the model being rewarded became more aggressive, followed by the no consequence and the group who saw the model punished were least aggressive. This supports MOTIVATION in the social learning theory.
Evaluation of the social learning theory
Strengths: Explains the influence of cognitive factors in learning. Humans and animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain behaviour. The acknowledgement of mediational processes gives a more complete explanation of human behaviour.
It can account for cultural differences in behaviour. The approach can explain how cultural norms are formed by taking into account the influence of learning from those around them (including media). This can explain many behaviours, such as how children learn their gender roles by looking at role models. In contrast the biological approach only explains universal behaviours.
Weaknesses: The approach relies heavily on research from lab studies. Banduras ideas were developed from the observation of children’s behaviour in a lab setting, giving rise for demand characteristics. The behaviour towards the Bobo doll could have been done as a result of what the children thought they were expected to act. Thus the research tells us little about the learning of aggression in everyday life.
The approach doesn’t take into account biological influences. The finding that boys were more aggressive than girls was consistent in Bandura’s experiments regardless of the experimental condition. This could be explained by a higher level of testosterone, therefore social learning may underpin important biological influences.
Pavlov’s other findings.
Timing - if the neutral stimulus cannot be used to predict the UCR (eg if it is used after the UCS or the time interval is too great), then conditioning doesn’t take place.
Spontaneous Recovery - if the association is forgotten (extinction) she the CS and UCS are paired together again at a later date, the link between them is made much quicker.
Extinction - Pavlov discovered that unlike the UCS, the CR does not become permanently established as a response. After a few presentations of the CS in the absence of the UCS, it loses its ability to produce the CR.
Stimulus Generalisation - if a similar object as the NS is used, the conditioned response will be produced the same.
Evaluation of Classical Conditioning.
Led to the development of treatments for the reduction of anxiety associated with phobias. Systematic desensitisation is a therapy based on classical conditioning, working by eliminating the learned anxious response that is associated with the feared object and replace it with another learned response, relaxation. This has been effective in phobias such as fear of spiders.
What is positive reinforcement?
Receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is preferred, eg praise a teacher.
What is negative reinforcement?
When something unpleasant is avoided eg handing in homework to avoid being told off.
What is punishment?
An unpleasant consequence of a behaviour. Eg being shouted at by a teacher.
Evaluation of operant conditioning
Real world applications-token economies reward behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges which have been useful in institutions such as prisons to improve behaviour.
Use of experimental methods-controlled conditions are used to find the causal relationship. He could manipulate the IV to see the effect on bahviour. Therefore he could predict future behaviour by seeing the effect on negative or positive reinforcement.
Ignores other explanations-it ignores cognitive and emotional factors, suggesting we are a product of our conditioning alone. Many argue that human interaction is a lot more complicated than simple stimulus-reinforcements relationship. Therefore this approach may not be able to explain certain complex behaviours.
Reliance on non human animals-eg skinners reliance on rats and pigeons mean that the results are limited in explaining human behaviour. This approach doesn’t take into account free will so findings from animals can’t be generalised to humans.
