Theories

Question 1

What is classical conditioning

Answer 1

Classical conditioning is about how a stimulus is associated with a response

Question 2

Evaluation of classical conditioning

Answer 2

• E: pavlov’s dog study - conditioned dogs to salivate when hearing a bell (expecting food). Watson and Rayner’s little Albert study - conditioned Albert to be scared of a rat
• A: treating alcoholism, when alcohol is paired with a drug that causes sickness
• S: a lot of strictly scientific research in support of classical conditioning which adds to credibility
• S: can’t generalise findings on dogs and other animals to humans. Theory completely focuses on behaviours
• T: social learning theory and operant conditioning

Question 3

What is operant conditioning

Answer 3

Means learning from the consequences of past behaviour, which determines your future behaviour.

Question 4

Evaluation of operant conditioning

Answer 4

• E: skinners 19848 study on rats - rat was given food when it stepped on lever (positive reinforcement)
• A: therapy, systematic desensitisation works by positively reinforcing early behaviours
• S: research is strictly scientific, carried out on animals in lab conditions or using brain imaging techniques. Every step in the conditioning process is observable
• S: can’t generalise findings on rats and pigeons to humans
• T: classical conditioning and social learning theory

Question 5

What is Social learning theory

Answer 5

• it suggests that we learn through 4 stages - attention, retention, reproduction, motivation
• it suggests that we observe a behaviour in a role model and copy that behaviour

Question 6

Evaluation of social learning theory

Answer 6

• E: Ross and Ross (1961) show importance of similar role models. Bandura (1965) shows the importance of vicarious reinforcement. Cook and mineka (1990) - monkeys observed and copied fear response
• A: often used alongside other therapies such as systematic desensitisation
• S: a lot of strictly scientific research with inter rather reliability
• S: most of the research into SLT is carried out on children or animals - can’t generalise
• T: operant conditioning or classical conditioning