W10 - Learning and Behaviour Flashcards
Cognition, Conditioning - operant and classical
learning is the result of what?
experince
classical conditioning (Pavlovian Conditioning)
when an unconditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus to illicit a conditioned response.
the neutral stimulus on its own becomes an conditioned stimulus.
Conditioned Fear
Little Albert:
rat: Nuetral —- conditioned stimulus
Bang: unconditioned stimulus
cryinging: unonditioned response — conditioned repsonse with the rat
Generalisation
allows learning to carry over to new situations/ stimulus without requring further learning.
Discrimination
restricts new learning from being inappropriately applied to ALL situations.
Extinction
if the conditoned stimulus continues to be presentd without the UCS occuring then the conditioned responce is eventually eliminated.
variables that increase the degree of classical conditioning
UCS is more intense
shortened delay between UCS & CS
UCS reliably follows CS
variables that decrease the degree of classical conditioning
UCS is less intense
long delay between UCS & CS or UCS occurs before CS
UCS only sometimes follows CS
Operant Conditioning
learning about the relations between environmental stimuli and our own behaviour
the basic idea of operant conditioning
we tend to repeat behvaiours that lead to desirable outcomes and we tend to stop performing behvaiours that lead to undesirable outcomes
Thorndike’s Law of Effect
that if a responce in the presence of a stimulus leads to reinforcement the association between that stimulus and response is strengthend
what was skinner interested in studying
how changing enviro events resulted in chnages in behaviour
- he used an operant chamber in order to rule out confounding influences
Reinforcemnt
when you continue to perform a behaviour because you gaind a desirabe consequence in the past.
Punishment/Punishers
causes the reduction in a bevaiour because of a undesired consequence (punichers).
positive reinforcement
a good stimulus is added causing an incraese in the rate of the bevhavioural response.
negative reinforcement
a bad stimulus is removed to maintain or incraese the behvaioural responce.
Positive punishment
the behaviour decreases because a bad stimulus is added
this punishment has probelms that can lead to undesireble behavioural changes
negativie punishment (response cost)
the behaviour decrases because becasue a good stimulus is taken away
a very effective approach
what is a reinforcer
an event that satisfys an inherent survival need
e.g. food, money, kind words
can also be a behaviour
what is a punisher
a consequence that is inherently aversive
e.g. pain, cops, unkind words
can also be a behaviour
Premark (1959): Experimental Evidence
when is behvaiours strengthened
behaviours that result in a preferred response are stregthened
- interacting with a less desirble reinforcer, can gain you access to a more desirble reinforcer
Premark (1971): desirability of rienforcement
Behaviour s that result in a less preferred response are weakened
- if a reinforcer leads to a punishemnt the reinforcer will stop reinforcing.
how we determine the level of how reinforcing or punishing something is
- deprivation
- magnitude of event
- immediacy of the consequnce applied after the behaviour
insight
sudden appearance of an appropriate behaviour without any abious shaping
money and pigeon box experiment
shaping
the process by which new behaviours emerge
relies on:
- diff reinforcement of appropriate behaviours and/or punichments of wrong behaviours
- natural tendency for behaviour to vary
what underlies the emergance of superstitious behaviour
shaping
Preparedness
through evolution all animals are biologically ‘prewired’ to easily learn behaviours related to their survival as a species.
example of preparedness
taste aversion:
noval ‘bright-noisy’ stimulus + water + shock = avoided noval water
sweet tasting water + shock = cntinued to drink
factors that influence classical conditioning
Preparedness (Biological Predispositions)
Generalization and Discrimination
Contiguity (Timing of Stimulus Presentation)
factors that influence operant conditioning
Reinforcement (Positive and Negative)
Punishment (Positive and Negative)
Schedules of Reinforcement
Immediacy of Consequences
Shaping (Successive Approximations)
Stimulus discrimination
occurs when an organism learns to respond to a restricted range of stimuli.
Operants
are behaviours that are emitted rather than elicited by the environment.
Habituation
refers to the decreasing strength of a reflex response after repeated presentations of the stimulus.
law of contiguity
which proposes that two events will become connected in the mind if they are experienced close together in time (such as thunder and lightning).
law of similarity
which states that objects that resemble each other (such as two people with similar faces) are likely to become associated.
Law of effect
an animal’s tendency to reproduce a behaviour depends on that behaviour’s effect on the environment and the consequent effect on the animal.
continuous reinforcement schedule
behavoiur is rewarded each time
partial or intermittent schedules of reinforcement
Interval and Ratio schedules: behaviour is reinforced only part of the time, or intermittently.
In ratio schedules of reinforcement
rewards are tied to the number of responses emitted; only a fraction of ‘correct’ behaviours receive reinforcement, such as one out of every five.
In interval schedules of reinforcement
rewards (or punishments) are delivered only after some interval of time, no matter how many responses the organism emits.
fixed-ratio (FR) schedule
an organism receives reinforcement for a fixed proportion of the responses it emits.
after every 10th correct repsonce
variable-ratio (VR) schedule
an animal receives a reward for some percentage of responses, but the number of responses required before reinforcement is unpredictable (that is, variable).
fixed-interval (FI) schedule
an animal receives reinforcement for its responses only after a fixed amount of time.
variable-interval (VI) schedule
ties reinforcement to an interval of time, but unlike a fixed-interval schedule, the animal cannot predict how long that time interval will be.
