U2 Learning approaches: applications for Educational Psychology

Question 1

what approaches are there to explain how human learn?

Answer 1

There are different approaches that aim to explain how humans learn. Specifically how students learn

cycle
-> Knowledge -> Values & Principles -> Attitudes -> Habits -> Behavioural patterns

Question 2

What are the definition to learning and performance?

Answer 2

• Learning: can be defined as relatively permanent change in behaviour, knowledge, and thinking skills as a result to experience
• Performance: can be defined as temporary fluctuation in knowledge or behaviour that can be measured or observed in a short time

Question 3

Whats the difference between nature and nurture?

Answer 3

nature is a person’s biological inheritance of dispositions

nurture refers to how environmental experiences, education, culture, and social environment shape an individual’s characteristics and personality traits throughout their life

Question 4

what is an educator’s key point?

Answer 4

That nothing can be done about a child’s genes, but we can act in his/her environment to create skills, motivation, tools knowledge

Question 5

What are the different learning approaches?

Answer 5

Behavioral approach: Classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Social Cognitive Approaches: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, Cognitive-Behavioral approaches

Cognitive Approach: Information processing

Constructivist Approach: Vygotsky & Piaget

Question 6

What does the behavioural approach imply

Answer 6

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AND OPERANT CONDITIONING
-> View that beh. should be explained by observable experiences, not mental processes
Beh: everything we do, verbal and non-verbal, directly seen or heard (some authors that are from third-wave therapy, assert that beh also include thought and emotion)
-> learning is associative: consists of learning that two events are connected or associated
-> behaviourist think these events are private, and change cannot be observed so the basis of change in therapy is behaviour in its context.
example VALUES, IDEAL SELF, PAPERS

Question 7

What is classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Answer 7

CC-> form of associative learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response
OC -> Form of learning that the consequences of beh produce changes in the probability that the beh will occur

Question 8

classical conditioning and operant conditioning implication

Answer 8

CC OP
Nature of response: involuntary Voluntary
Reinforcement: Occurs before r. Occurs after
Role of Learner: passive Active
r is elicited by US. r is emitted
Nature of learning: (CC) Neutral stimulus becomes a cs through association w/ a US
(OC) Probability of making a response is altered by consequences that follow it

Question 9

Parts of classical conditioning

Answer 9

US - unconditioned stimulus: stimulus that automatically produces a response w/out any prior learning
UR - U. response: unlearned response that is automatically elicited by the US
CS - conditioned stimulus: previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits a conditioned response after being associated w/ the US
CR - C. stimulus: learned response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs that occurs after US-CS pairing

Question 10

What is generalisation

Answer 10

-> The tendency of a stimulus similar to the original conditioned stimulus to produce a similar response

Application to the classroom
A student is criticised for poor performance on a biology test. When the student begins to prepare for a chemical test; she also becomes very nervous because these two subjects are closely related to the sciences

Question 11

What is discrimination

Answer 11

-> In CC occurs when the organism responds to certain stimuli but not others

APPLICATION TO THE CLASSROOM
In the case of the student taking tests in different classes, she doesn’t become as
nervous about taking an English test or a history test because they are very different
subject areas.

Question 12

What is extinction?

Answer 12

Involves weakening the conditioned response in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus. In one session, Pavlov rang the bell repeated but did not give the dog and food. Soon enough the dog stopped salivating at the sound of the bell

DOWNSIDE: hard to develop and with a single episode of CC
APPLICATION TO THE CLASSROOM
A student who experiences anxiety during exams, since he never used to study and kept
failing. One day, he decides to study, and he starts passing the exams, resulting in reduced
anxiety (change in context, not in private events).

Question 13

Systematic desensitisation

Answer 13

A method based on classical conditioning that reduces anxiety by getting the individual
to associate relaxation with successive visualizations of increasingly anxiety-provoking
situations (counterconditioning).

APPLICATION TO THE CLASSROOM
E.g. A student in your class is extremely nervous about talking in front of the class. The
goal of systematic desensitization is to get the student to associate public speaking with
relaxation. Using successive visualizations, the student must practice systematic
desensitization repeatedly before the talk.

Question 14

Operant C. skinner: Reinforcements and Punishments

Answer 14

Positive Reinforcer: giving a gift for a good bet
Negative Reinforcer: Taking away sm bad for good beh
Positive punishment: adding something burdening for bad beh
Negative punishment: taking away something good for bad beh

Question 15

How did the Skinner box influence the eduction field

Answer 15

o Reinforcement and Feedback: in the Skinner Box, reinforcement (positive or
negative) played a central role in shaping behaviour . In education, feedback and
reinforcement can motivate students and reinforce desired behaviours.
o Self-paced learning: students can advance through the material quickly, ensuring
they grasp one concept before moving on to the next.

Question 16

Generalization in Operant conditioning

Answer 16

–> means giving the same response to similar stimuli.

APPLICATION TO THE CLASSROOM
For example, if a teacher praises the student for asking good questions related to Spanish Literature,
will this generalize to harder work in history, math, and other subjects?

Question 17

Discrimination with operant conditioning

Answer 17

Discrimination in operant conditioning involves differentiating among stimuli

APPLICATION TO THE CLASSROOM
In a classroom setting, discrimination in operant conditioning might involve students learning to raise their hands and wait to speak during lessons related to the current topic (and receiving rewards for doing so) but not raising their hands during lessons unrelated to the topic (and receiving no rewards for this behaviour). This behaviour demonstrates their ability to discriminate between the two situations and respond accordingly based on the expected outcomes.

Question 18

Extinction with operant conditioning

Answer 18

Extinction occurs when a previously reinforced response is no longer reinforced and
the response decreases. In the classroom, the most common use of extinction is for
the teacher to withdraw attention from behavior that the attention is maintaining.

APPLICATION TO THE CLASSROOM
For example, in many cases, a teacher’s attention reinforces a student’s disruptive
behaviour, such as when a student pinches another student and the teacher
immediately talks with the perpetrator. If this happens regularly, the student might learn
that pinching other students is a good way to get the teacher’s attention. If the teacher
withdraws his or her attention, the pinching might be extinguished.

Question 19

How can we increase desirable beh in the classroom?

Answer 19

• Choosing effective reinforcers.
• Making reinforcers contingent and contiguous.
• Selecting the best Schedule of Reinforcement.
• Using negative reinforcement effectively.
• Using shaping.
• Decreasing undesirable behaviours.
• Removing desirable stimuli

Not all reinforcers are the same for every child, teachers must individualise the use of particular reinforcers.

Question 20

What does Premark principle say?

Answer 20

That reinforcers will only work if it’s more desirable than the activity feels more like a punishment

Question 21

Making reinforcers contingent and contiguous

Answer 21

-> the teacher of psychologist must give the reinforcer just after the behavior has been performer (Contiguity)

important to make “if …then” statements children, child MUST perform behavior to get reward

Question 21

Select the best schedule of reinforcement

Answer 21

continuous reinforcement is rare in classrooms, 25 or 30 students can’t be praised every time they make an appropriate response

continuous reinforcement
-> Child is reinforced every time they make a response

Intermittent reinforcement
-> Reinforcing a response only part of the time

Question 22

Number of responses

Answer 22

Ratio reinforcement

Question 23

Interval reinforcement

Answer 23

Amount of time

Question 24

4main schedules

Answer 24

fixed-ratio: beh is reinforced after set number of response
variable-ratio: beh is r after average of responses
fixed-interval: beh will be reinforced after set n. of responses
variable- interval: variable amount of time

Question 25

Contracting

Answer 25

-> agreement between teachers and the child
-> signed (by both) and dated
-> if then statements
-> the teacher can ask another student to witness the agreement and sign it too
-> the contract states that the child agrees to be a good student by doing _____ and ______

Question 26

Decreasing undesirable beh

Answer 26

-> use differential reinforcement: Teacher will reinforce a beh that is more appropriate or incompatible at the same time, w/ what the child is doing
-> terminate reinforcement (EXTINCTION): withdrawing positive reinforcement from a child’s behavior (many inappropriate beh are unintentionally maintained by positive reinforcement (teacher’s attention))

Always combine taking attention away from inappropriate beh w/ giving attention to appropriate beh

Remove desirable stimuli

Question 27

Present aversive stimuli

Answer 27

It should only be used as a last resort and in conjunction w/ providing the child with information about the appropriate beh
-> an aversive s

Question 28

**Question: What is the potential negative consequence of using yelling as a punishment in the classroom?

Answer 28

Yelling can provide students with a poor example of handling stressful situations and may lead to fear, anger, or avoidance.

Question 28

Question 2: What is a common mistake teachers make when addressing student behavior?

Answer 28

Answer 2: They focus more on monitoring and correcting wrong behaviors than on acknowledging and encouraging positive behaviors.

Question 29

Question 4: According to Bandura, what is self-efficacy, and why is it important for learning?

Answer 29

Answer 4: Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to succeed. Students with high self-efficacy are more likely to put forth effort and persevere, while those with low self-efficacy may exhibit learned helplessness.

Question 29

Question 3: What three factors interact to influence learning according to the social cognitive approach?

Answer 29

Answer 3: Behavior, personal/cognitive factors, and the environment all influence one another in the learning process.

Question 30

Question 5: What are four key processes involved in observational learning, according to Bandura?

Answer 30

Answer 5: The four key processes are attention, retention, production, and motivation.

Question 31

Question 6: What characteristics of a model are most likely to attract attention in observational learning?

Answer 31

Answer 6: Warm, powerful, and atypical models tend to garner more attention than those who are cold, weak, and typical.

Question 32

Question 9: What are self-instructional methods, and how are they used in self-regulatory learning?

Answer 32

Answer 9: Self-instructional methods are cognitive-behavioral techniques that involve using self-talk strategies to help manage stressful situations and modify behavior.

Question 32

Question 7: How can teachers improve student retention of information learned through observation?

Answer 32

Answer 7: By providing clear and logical demonstrations.

Question 33

Question 10: What is cognitive restructuring?

Answer 33

Answer 10: Cognitive restructuring is a technique used to help individuals change maladaptive thoughts for more positive or helpful ones.

Question 34

Question 8: What is the main takeaway from Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment about children’s observational learning of aggressive behavior?

Answer 34

Answer 8: Children who observe adults acting aggressively are more likely to imitate that behavior, even in the adult’s absence.

Question 35

Question 11: What are the three ways people tend to feed and reinforce automatic negative thoughts?

Answer 35

Answer 11: 1. Ruminating (dwelling on them repeatedly), 2. Avoiding them, and 3. Debating with them (cognitive restructuring).

Question 36

Question 12: What is the key principle of emotional management concerning automatic thoughts, according to the sources?

Answer 36

Answer 12: It’s not about changing the thoughts themselves but rather about observing them as an outsider and choosing which ones to engage with.

Question 37

Question 13: What is mindfulness, and how does it contribute to emotional management?

Answer 37

Answer 13: Mindfulness is a mental state of being fully present and aware of one’s thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. It allows individuals to “pause” before reacting to emotions and choose a more considered response.

Question 38

Question 14: What are the main steps involved in self-regulatory learning?

Answer 38

Answer 14: The steps include setting goals, managing emotions, monitoring progress, revising strategies, and adapting to obstacles.

Question 39

Question 15: How does the information processing approach explain cognitive development?

Answer 39

Answer 15: It uses the computer as an analogy for the human brain, suggesting that children’s cognitive abilities develop as they become more adept at manipulating, monitoring, and strategizing about information.

Question 40

Question 16: What are the three mechanisms of change in cognitive skills identified by Robert Siegler?

Answer 40

Answer 16: Encoding (processing information for storage), automaticity (performing tasks with minimal effort), and strategy construction (creating new procedures for processing information).

Question 41

Question 17: What is the difference between self-modification and metacognition?

Answer 41

Answer 17: Self-modification is adapting knowledge learned in one context to a new situation, while metacognition refers to “knowing about knowing,” or being aware of one’s own cognitive processes.

Question 42

Question 18: What are the four types of attention?

Answer 42

Answer 18: Selective attention (focusing on relevant information), divided attention (multitasking), sustained attention (maintaining focus), and executive attention (planning and monitoring actions).

Question 43

Question 20: What is the method of loci, and how can it be used to improve memory?

Answer 43

The method of loci is a mnemonic strategy that involves creating mental images of items to be remembered and placing them in familiar locations within a “memory palace.” This technique helps improve memory by creating strong associations between locations and the items being remembered.

Question 43

Question 19: What are the three main processes involved in memory?

Answer 43

Answer 19: Encoding (getting information into memory), storage (retaining information), and retrieval (accessing stored information).