Week 2 - Behavioural Psychology

Question 1

Can you learn behaviour?

Answer 1

Behaviour is learnt. Individual differences in behaviour is the result of different learning experiences.

Question 2

What are the different types of learning?

Answer 2

Classical Conditioning

Instrumental Conditioning (Operant Conditioning)

Statistical learning / contingency learning

Question 3

What are the key components to Classical Conditioning?

Answer 3

Unconditioned Stimulus
Unconditioned Response
Conditioned Stimulus
Conditioned Response

Question 4

What is the Unconditioned Stimulus ?

Answer 4

• Meaning. This object has meaning to the individual
• Biologically significant event
• E.g Food

Question 5

What is the Unconditioned Response?

Answer 5

• This is the natural response in the individual
• Response to the US
• E.g. salivation to food

Question 6

What is the conditioned Stimulus?

Answer 6

• No meaning. This object initial means nothing to the individual.
• Previously neutral stimulus that acquires a response by being paired with the UCS
• E.g. Bell

Question 7

What is the conditioned response?

Answer 7

• This is the response that will be created in the individual
• Response to the CS
• E.g. salivation to bell

Question 8

What type of learning is classical conditioning?

Answer 8

stimulus - outcome learning

Question 9

What is simultaneous conditioning?

Answer 9

When a conditioned stimulus happens at exactly the same time as the unconditioned stimulus. They are together. This has the most impact

Question 10

What is delay conditioning?

Answer 10

Conditioned stimulus is followed immediately by the unconditioned stimulus

Question 11

What is trace conditioning?

Answer 11

delay, unconditioned stimulus

Question 12

What is generalisation?

Answer 12

This is when the conditioned response is generalised to similar stimuli

Question 13

Describe Watson and Rayner’s (1920) experiment

Answer 13

Little Albert – classically conditioned to fear white rats. White rats were presented with a loud noise that promoted a scared/shocked reaction. This prompted little albert to be scared of rats. This fear was generalised to other conditions, such as Santa’s white bear, as small fluffy white objects were similar to the initial rat he was made to be scared off.

Question 14

Explain the components of Watson and Rayner’s (1920) experiment

Answer 14

Conditioned Stimulus = rat

Unconditioned stimulus = loud noise

Unconditioned response = fear to loud noise

Conditioned response = fear to rat

Generalisation = fear to other white fury objects

Question 15

Describe Cohen Kadosh (2015) experiment

Answer 15

• Teenagers were asked to complete a task on a computer screen
• A lady appeared on the screen randomly,
• She screamed sometimes very loudly that caused a shock
• Predictable scream condition: the lady appeared with a scream every time
• Unpredictable scream condition: the lady and the scream appeared but not together
• Through the fear of the scream, the participants learnt to become fearful of the lady

Note that in the experiment, the conditioned stimuli does not come before the unconditioned stimuli – this is not a good predictor

Question 16

What is Morgan’s cannon?

Answer 16

a behaviour should not be explained by complex, high-level mental processes if it can be explained with a simpler one
- For example, animals and humans alike learn a lot through trial and error. There actions are not the result of any higher mental process.

Question 17

What evidence is there supporting Morgan’s cannon?

Answer 17

???

Question 18

What is Thorndike’s Law of effect?

Answer 18

When an action / response is rewarded, the response is strengthened. If an action / response is followed by discomfort, the response is weakened.

Question 19

What evidence is there supporting Thorndike’s Law of effect?

Answer 19

• Puzzlebox. The time taken for the cat to get free of the box is decreased with each turn, after it has been rewarded.
• This connects to instrumental / operant conditioning

Question 20

Summarise the radical behaviourism perspective on personality

Answer 20

Responding to physiological arousal. Stimulus - outcome

He did not claim that the unconscious processes did not exist, but that it was unscientific to rely on unobservable processes to explain behaviour.

He believed that these inner thoughts did not cause behaviour. Instead, we respond to a state of physiological arousal.

For example, perhaps you provide yourself with an explanation that you are too anxious to give a presentation. You claim that anxiety is the inner cause of your behaviour, that this trait led you to not be able to go. Skinner would argue that you experienced certain aversive behaviours when preparing to attend. You felt sick, had palpitations and sweated. This resulted in you altering your preparatory behaviour.

He suggested that a classical conditioning paradigm consisting of a stimulus followed by outcome is too simplistic for most learning situations.

Question 21

What is instrumental (operant) conditioning?

Answer 21

Response - outcome model

Behaviour is reinforced

Positive reinforcer: something that you will work for i.e. food
Negative reinforcer: removal/avoidance of something you want to avoid i.e. opportunity to avoid a shock

Question 22

Identify more reinforces as described by Dollard & Miller

Answer 22

Primary drives & Primary Reinforcers

Secondary drives & Secondary reinforcers

Question 23

What are Primary drives & Primary Reinforcers?

Answer 23

Primary drives: motivates behaviour, innate physiological drive associated with enduring survival i.e eat, drink, sleep, sex

Question 24

What are secondary drives & secondary reinforcers?

Answer 24

are there to help and cope with primary drives

i. e money
e. g if an infant is left extremely hungry (primary drive) it cries to get food (ssecondary drive)

Question 25

What is the Premack Principle

Answer 25

Premack explained the idea of reinforcement further. An animal will do one behaviour to get the opportunity to engage in a preferred behaviour. Learning is reinforced when the instrumental act allows access to preferred behaviour.

• Dependent on state of animal

Question 26

Describe in more detail Premack Principle

Answer 26

An animal will do one behaviour to get the opportunity to engage in a preferred behaviour. Learning is reinforced when the instrumental act allows access to a preferred behaviour
Water reinforces running and running reinforces water.

When a rat is water deprived, the rat will drink more than it runs
When a rat is not water deprived, the rat runs more than it drinks

Question 27

What is an Approach-Approach drive

Answer 27

2 equally desirable goals, but they are incompatible. This could be when you are asked to choose between 2 equally desirable objects to have as a gift. You want, but can only have 1. Both are positive but incompatible.
E.g trip to Italy or trip to Australia

Question 28

What is an Avoidance-Avoidance drive

Answer 28

You are faced with what you perceive as 2 equally undesirable alternatives. Both goals are undesirable and incompatible in terms of having neither the which nor the time to do both.
E.g. either clean the kitchen or clean your room

Question 29

What is an Approach-Avoidance drive

Answer 29

1 goal, but while an element is attractive an aspect of it is equally unattractive.
E.g. Trip to Australia, but 24-hour flight on your own

Question 30

What is Double approach-avoidance drive

Answer 30

Multiple goals, some desirable and some undesirable. Variety of factors, positive and negative to take into consideration before being able to make a decision.

Question 31

What is shaping?

Answer 31

This is how reinforcers are used to shape behaviour

When pigeons first entered the skinner box, it took them time before they figured out they needed to press the lever. In order to help this, they were rewarded for facing the right direction, getting closer to it and so on.

Question 32

What are the four reinforcement schedules?

Answer 32

Fixed Interval

Fixed Ratio

Variable Interval

Variable Ratio

Question 33

What is the Fixed Interval schedule?

Answer 33

Rewarded after a fixed amount of time.
e.g. given food every hour, paid ever month
Easiest to extinguish

Question 34

What is the fixed ratio schedule?

Answer 34

Rewarded after fixed number of responses

e.g. working on commission, after pressing the level 10 times

Question 35

What is the Variable ratio schedule?

Answer 35

Rewarded at varying number of responses
e.g. rewarded after pressing the level 1 time, then 5 times, then 2 times, or gambling
Hardest to extinguish, most addictive, uncertain when reward will come

Question 36

What is the variable interval schedule?

Answer 36

Rewarded after a varying amount of time

e.g. posting on social media. You get a like after x amount of time, might be 5 mins, then 2 mins, the 1 hour

Question 37

What is goal based behaviour?

Answer 37

Classical conditioning: stimulus - outcome

Instrumental conditioning: Response - outcome

Question 38

What is habitual behaviour?

Answer 38

Stimulus - Response. There is no outcome. No connection to the outcome, a goal or a reward.

Continuing to make a response that elicits an outcome that they don’t want. Habit.