Topic 4 Learning Theories - Content

Question 1

What is Classical Conditioning?

Answer 1

Learning by association:
- pair a new stimulus with an existing stimulus response link -> learn to associate the two stimuli & respond in a similar manner to both.

Question 2

What’s the unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response, neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus & conditioned response?

Answer 2

Unconditioned Stimulus = Stimulus producing a natural unlearned response
Unconditioned Response = Response that occurs naturally without any form of learning (reflex action)

Neutral Stimulus = Env stimulus that does not produce a response itself (no association)

Conditioned Stimulus = Stimulus associated with an unconditioned stimulus so that it now produces the same response
Conditioned Response = Behaviour that is shown in response to a learned stimulus
———– EXAMPLE:
Food for your cat -> Unconditioned stimulus
Salivation from the cat/Response to the food -> Unconditioned Response
(No learning required as salivation is an automatic response)
Sound of opening can of cat food -> Neutral stimulus
(Produces no effect as yet & no innate reflex response to this sound)
(Neutral stimulus must be paired with UCS to evoke a response -> forming an association between both)
Neutral Stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus
Unconditioned becomes conditioned response
Thus, cat salivates wen presented wit food -> sound of opening can paired with food multiple times -> trigger conditioned response

Question 3

What is Stimulus Generalisation?

Answer 3

Conditioned stimulus produces same behaviour to similar after response has been conditioned
- stimulus triggering a reaction doesn’t have to be the exact one involved in the process of learning -> more similar it is, more likely it will produce a conditioned stimulus
E.g. cat running to any tin being opened (not just cat food)

Question 4

What is Stimulus Discrimination?

Answer 4

E.g. Runs to can at a certain time of day/Cat only responds to a tin of food but not a glass jar

Question 5

What’s Extinction (in terms of classical conditioning)?

Answer 5

• Removal of a behaviour
• If CS constantly presented without UCS -> gradually learn to disassociate the two stimuli’s -> e.g. not salivate on hearing a can opening
• BUT association may not be entirely lost

Question 6

What’s Spontaneous Recovery?

Answer 6

• Accelerate form of learning association

- After extinction, if old CS paired with UCS -> association quickly learned

Question 7

How does Classical Conditioning link to the evolutionary approach?

Answer 7

E.g.

• Ancestors avoiding specific berries that lead to consequences & also avoid slightly different berries that looked similar to the previous ones to avoid risk
• Also if they took risk of eating those berries & had no negative consequences -> able to make similar distinction in future & provide hunter -> provide hunters/gatherers with another valuable food -> survival

Question 8

Explain the experiment of Pavlov (1927) salivation with dogs

Answer 8

Found when a dog encounters stimulus of food -> saliva starts to pour
- Observing dogs drooling without the proper stimulus (food) by reacting to the lab coats of his assistants -> assistant presented the food when wearing lab coat -> dogs responded of the lab coat (without food) by drooling

Question 9

What are the strengths for Pavlov (1927) experiment?

Answer 9

• Controlled experiments -> env of dogs controlled except variables being tested
• Found any stimuli would produce conditioned responses -> so controlled all stimuli other than the stimulis being studied
• Objective, Scientifically credible results

Pavlov repeated many classical conditioning experiments -> reliable -> continually found that conditioned stimuli would produce conditioned responses using buzzer, etc.

Question 10

What are the weaknesses for Pavlov (1927) experiment?

Answer 10

• Unable to measure brain activity in any direct way -> assumed what was happening in cerebral cortex
• Lack validity -> highly controlled -> not natural -> dogs in a chamber & no other stimuli were present -> not real life behaviour
• Ideas about evolution led Pavlov to generalise dogs findings to humans -> both are different -> humans have a different higher order processing

Question 11

What’s Operant Conditioning?

Answer 11

Learning by Consequence

Question 12

What is the study of Thorndike that produces the law and effect?

Answer 12

Thorndike (1911) -> ‘instrumental learning’

• Puzzle learning
• Kitten had to solve puzzle to escape & receive reward
• More trials = faster

Law of effect -> Behaviour followed by nice consequence will be replicated, behaviour followed by bad consequence will be withdrawn

Question 13

What’s the Skinner study?

Answer 13

Placed rats in a ‘Skinner box’ containing a lever, light & food dispenser
- If rat pressed lever -> light came on & food rolled down the dispenser -> positive reinforcement -> encourages rat to press lever more
Another Variation: - Negative reinforcement -> electric shock turned off when rat presses lever -> encourages rat to press lever more

ABC Model:
Antecedent -> skinner box presents stimulus that triggers behaviour
Behaviour -> response made that can be observed as an outcome of the antecedent
Consequence -> Reward/Punishment after behaviour

Stimulus -> response link is only learned if positive consequence, weakened if negative

Question 14

What are the types of reinforcement & what do they mean?

Answer 14

Positive Reinforcement -> Giving smth good (reward)

Negative Reinforcement -> Removing smth bad (to make conditions better)

Positive Punishment -> Giving smth bad

Negative Punishment -> Removing smth good

Question 15

What are the Schedules of Reinforcement?

Answer 15

Continuous Reinforcement -> desired behaviour reinforced every time it occurs
Partial Reinforcement -> desires behaviour only reinforced some of the time
Behaviour learned through partial takes longer to learn but is more resistant to extinction

Question 16

Partial Reinforcement can be broken into 4 schedules, what are they?

Answer 16

Fixed Interval -> rewarding of a behaviour after a preset amount of time has passed
Variable Interval -> rewarding after a set amount of time has passed
Learning takes longer when fixed BUT response rate is higher towards the end
With fixed, there’s a scalloping effect -> response rate drop dramatically

Fixed ratio -> Behaviour reinforced after a preset number of responses
Variable ratio -> Behaviour reinforced after a number of correct responses
Skinner said variable is good for maintaining

Question 17

What’s Behaviour Modification?

Answer 17

• Extinguish undesirable behaviour & replace with desirable behaviour & reinforce it

Shaping: Skinner developed ‘Successive Approximations’
- related, general, desirable behaviours rewarded
- rewards become more selective
- step-by-step, gradual process
Used as therapy -> ADHD & OCD

Token Economy:
- Encourage desirable through reward
- Reduce undesirable through punishment
- Tokens are secondary reinforcers that can be exchanged for primary reinforcers
- token only given for desirable behaviour
Used in schools/prison

Question 18

What’s Social Learning Theory?

Answer 18

Learning by Observation
- Behaviour of a model is observed then imitated -> more likely to copy model if observer identify with model (age, sex, status)

More likely to copy if consequences are rewarding rather than resulting in a punishment -> vicarious reinforcement

Question 19

What are the Stages of Social Learning?

Answer 19

1. The behaviour must be modelled which means it must be carried out by a role model like a parent, friend or celebrity.
2. The observer must identify with the role model – normally because they are similar in appearance, gender, interests, etc
3. The behaviour must be observed
   Attention: you must be attending to the behaviour
   Retention: you must retain it in your memory
   Reproduction: you must be capable of carrying out the behaviour
   Motivation: you must have a reason to carry out the behaviour (eg a reward)
4. Behaviour is imitated

Question 20

What’s the aim & procedure for Bandura (1961) original Bobo doll experiments?

Answer 20

Aim: investigate if social behaviors (i.e., aggression) can be acquired by observation and imitation.

Procedure: Lab exp
- 36 boys & 36 girls, aged: 3-6 - matched children in terms of aggression, grouped them -> matched pairs design
Stage 1: Modelling -> 24 children watched a female/male model behaving aggressively towards a toy called ‘Bobo doll’ -> some cases used hammer, throwing it in the air
Another 24 children exposed to a non aggressive model -> played in a quiet manner -> ignoring bobo doll
Final 24 children -> control group -> not exposed to doll
Stage 2: Aggression Arousal -> each child taken to a room with attractive toys -> as soon as child plays with toys, experimenter told child these were experimenter’s best toys
Stage 3: Delayed Imitation
- Room contained some aggressive toys & some non-aggressive toys
- child in room for 20 min & observed through a one way mirror

Question 21

What are the results for Bandura (1961) original Bobo doll experiments?

Answer 21

• 10% modelled aggression
• 13% moddeled non agression
  Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups.
• The girls in the aggressive model condition also showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male, but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female.
• Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls. The evidence for girls imitating same-sex models is not strong.
• Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls. There was little difference in the verbal aggression between boys and girls.

Question 22

What are the strengths & weaknesses for Bandura (1961) original Bobo doll experiments?

Answer 22

STRENGTHS:
Controlled/Standardised procedure - lab exp - variables controlled (gender, time) -> replication -> reliability

Cause & effect can be established -> Model did have an effect on child’s subsequent behaviour because all variables other than independent variable are controlled

Application to therapy & real life situations -> useful in showing effects of role models on aggressive behaviour
WEAKNESSES:
Lab exp -> lack ecological validity -> situation of child & adult: limited social interaction (child no chance to influence adult), stranger (not family, usually take place with family)

Unethical -> encouraging aggressive behaviour in children & may lead to long term consequences in children

Generalisability: American children -> cannot be generalised to other cultures -> culturally biased - conducted in one nursery setting -> may not apply to children who don’t regularly attend nursery

Question 23

What’s Bandura 1963 experiment?

Answer 23

• To find out if children would become more aggressive if exposed to an aggressive role model in film or in a less-realistic cartoon compared to watching a live model
• 96 children, 48 boys and 48 girls, aged 3-5, recruited from Stanford University Nursery School (an opportunity sample).
• Live model
• Filmed model (of real person) -> adult female dressed as a cat
• Cartoon model
• Control -> No model
  -> Children put into model room -> there were toys -> exp conditions then saw a model enter the room with a Bobo doll -> acting aggressively (through the diff conditions, cartoon, filmed)
  -> Then children placed in arousal room -> where there were some appealing toys (told after a few min not to play with toys -> making them frustrated)
  -> Finally - brought into Observation room -> contained mixture of aggressive & non-aggressive toys
  results:
• Children will imitate filmed/cartoon aggression in the same way as live aggressive role models (experimental groups)
• Control group half amount of aggression
• Watching violence is not cathartic -> encourages more violence

Question 24

strengths & weaknesses for Bandura (1963) exp?

Answer 24

STRENGTHS:

• > standardised procedure -> same rooms for pp, same model for every pp in that specific condition
• > Inter-rater reliability -> filmed the study -> can be watched by anyone

Application:
Can be applied to real life in terms of bringing up children. It shows that if a child’s role models are not aggressive, they are also less likely to be aggressive. Cartoon (Tom & Jerry) influencing violence on to children
-> Catharsis argument -> violent sports on tv defend violence as it allows boys to “vent” their aggression -> Bandura disagrees -> catharsis causes a build up of more aggression

Generalisability:
- 96 children -> large sample

WEAKNESSES:
Ethics -> distress to pps, influence violence behaviour (chance that they will be more violent in the future) -> normalising unhelpful behaviours, no valid consent gain & couldn’t withdraw

Reliability: no guarantee all children saw all the actions

Generalisability:
- children can’t be generalised to adults -> children more quickly to pick up new behaviours due to them still learning

Question 25

What’s Bandura (1965) experiment?

Answer 25

With Vicarious Reinforcement:
- 33 male & 33 female pps (all from Stanford University Nursery School) -> allocated randomly to one of three conditions (11 boys & girls in each)
- Model rewarded for aggressive behaviour
- Model punished for aggressive behaviour
- No consequences (control group)
- children followed researcher into a room -> experimenter left to deal with some ‘business’ -> while children waiting, watched television - watched a model showing aggressive behaviour
- model saying verbal behaviour: punching its nose, saying “pow right in the nose”
kicked the doll about the room, saying “fly away”
(depending on condition -> rewarded, punished, no consequences)
rewarded - gave sweets - “superb aggressive performance”
punished - hit with a rolled up newspaper - “big bully”
RESULTS:
children placed in observation room:
- positively rewarded -> more likely imitate behaviour (mean for girls = 2.8, boys mean = 3.5)
- no consequences shows behaviour doesn’t have to be punished/rewarded to be imitated
- punished -> children less likely imitated (girls mean = 0.5)

Question 26

What are the strengths & weaknesses for Bandura (1965) exp?

Answer 26

STRENGTHS:
Generalisability: all 3 studies samples were large 72, 96 & 66 -> large enough that anomalies can get cancelled out

Can be replicated -> replicated this study in 63, 65 -> high reliability -> easy to replicate due to standardised procedure

Application: to media censorship -> heroes on tv rewarded for using violence -> James Bond, Spiderman - Video games: violence rewarded by “leveling up”

Ethical -> nursery teachers agreed for children to take part & assumed parents agreed to -> presumptive consent

WEAKNESSES:
Lack Ecological validity -> control procedure -> exposed to unusual adult behaviour -> unnatural behaviour -> cant be applied to real life situations
-> Bobo doll designed to be hit -> children assumed researcher wanted them to hit -> demand characteristics -> lack validity

Generalistion:
-> to adults -> children more easily influenced & learn new behaviours -> think aggressive behaviour to be normalised
unrepresentative to other children -> all samples taken from the same nursery -> one of the top unis -> these children may have highly educated parents -> diff to other children
-> only generalisable to American children -> culturally biased

Unethical:
children could not give valid consent - teachers assumed parents would agree to -> unethical
-> children couldn’t withdraw -> no efforts to debrief them afterwards

Question 27

What are the types of phobia?

Answer 27

Specific -> animals/inanimate objects/ illness
Social -> fear of eating in public places/public speaking
Agoraphobia -> places of assembly

Question 28

How can Phobias link to Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning & Social Learning Theory?

Answer 28

Classical Conditioning:

• association of a UCS with a NS can lead to a phobia of the NS (CS)
• has been demonstrated through naturalistic observations
• not all phobias can be linked

Operant Conditioning:

• linked to social phobias
• deal by avoiding/escaping = rewarding
• removal of unpleasant emotions increases avoidance behaviour -> why they are maintained & hard to treat

Social Learning Theory:

• observing the consequences of others behaviour
• observe - see sibling scream at spider
• vicarious reinforcement - parents comfort sibling
• imitation - child screams at spider
• reinforcement - parents comfort (reinforce fear)

Question 29

What are 2 types of Phobia treatments?

Answer 29

• Systematic Desensitation

- Flooding

Question 30

What is Systematic Desensitisation?

Answer 30

Systematic Desensitisation: works by helping the sufferer to learn a relaxation response that competes with the fear response. The idea is that you cannot be relaxed and terrified at the same time.
- Can be in Vivo or in Vitro
In Vivo: exposed to real object
In Vitro: imaginary exposure

4 processes:
Functional Analysis -> convo between therapist & client to identify nature & triggers
Anxiety Hierarchy -> least anxiety provoking to most. client inputs & speed of treatment & stages are determined
Relaxation Training -> client taught how to relax e.g. deep breathing/visualisation
Gradual Exposure -> work through anxiety hierarchy at agreed speed

Question 31

What are the strengths & weaknesses of Systematic Desensitisation?

Answer 31

Strengths:

• Improve more than non-treatment group -> effective
• less time & effort than other therapies
• no ethical issues

Weaknesses:

• can only treat certain anxiety disorders
• not effective at phobias linked to survival, e.g. dark -> hard to remove deep rooted fears

Question 32

What is Flooding?

Answer 32

• person placed with fear object for a period of time
• continual exposure to fear object -> less scared
• escape is not possible
• implosion is imaginary version
• facilitates extinction: too exhausted for CR to occur? prevents avoidance response?

Question 33

What are the strengths & weaknesses for flooding?

Answer 33

strengths:

• much faster than other therapies
• can increase strength of CR

weaknesses:
unethical -> distress -> social control
implosion? can associate with shut eyes? (Barrett)

Question 34

How is Individual differences linked to Learning Theories? FINISH

Question 35

How is developmental psychology linked to learning theories? FINISH