week 3 learning theories Flashcards
individual differences in behavior are the result of
different learning experiences
who came up with classical conditioning
pavlov
what is an unconditioned stimulus
a stimulus that elicits an automatic response in the absence of learning
neutral stimulus
a stimulus that does not elicit any response in the absence of learning
conditioned stimulus
an initially neutral stimulus that elicits a response because it is associated with an unconditioned stimulus
conditioned response
a learned response that is elite by a conditioned stimulus
delayed conditioning
conditioned stimulus occurs shortly before unconditioned stimulus and both stimuli last together
trace conditioning
conditioned stimulus occurs and ends before unconditioned stimulus so US may be associated only with a memory trace of CS.
backward conditioning
conditioned stimulus occurs after UCS
simultaneous conditioning
both CS & UCS occur at the same time
what is food aversion an example of
naturally conditioned reflex
describe John Garcia’s study into food aversions on rats
radiation leads to nausea and notices rats avoided drinking water from plastic bottles when in radiation chamber, but back at their cages they drink normally where water was in glass
rats associated “plastic tasting” water with sickness radiation triggered.
how is what Garcia discovered different to regular taste aversion
conditioned taste aversion is different because the rats become nauseous after eating a certain food but their nausea is unrelated to the food they ate.
describe Garcia and Koelling’s 1966 study into preparedness
rats were given (at the same time) three different stimuli: saccharin-flavoured water, bright light and loud sound. Later half of the rats would be exposed to radiation that would make them sick and vomit. Other rats would be given an electric shock.
the rats that had experienced nausea showed an aversion to sweet water but not to the light or sound. In contrast, the rats exposed to electric shock avoided the light and sound but not the taste of sweet water. Thus, the animal learned to associate being sick with taste, and they learned to associate shock with light and sound.
What Garcia found makes sense because one would associate contaminated food most often with a taste. So there is a biological readiness to associate some stimuli together, but not others. This is an example of the phenomenon known as preparedness.
extinction
unlearning the stimulus
if CS is still present but no longer followed by UCS, extinction occurs
spontaneous recovery
sometimes, after responding is extinct, the CR would reappear after conditioned stimulus
if CS is followed by UNS, the CR occurs faster than the first time
how does John Watson describe personality
a collection of learned habits
what is Watson and Rayner’s 1920 study
little Albert - white object and loud noise association
generalisation
a response produced by a particular CS will also occur when a similar stimulus is present
the more similar the stimulus, the more likely the CR occurs
discrimination
learning the difference between stimuli
4 types of therapies based on classical conditioning
aversion therapy, flooding, systematic desensitisation and counter-conditioning
what is counter conditioning
pairing the stimulus (CS) that elicits fear with a stimulus (US) that elicits positive emotion (UR). For example, a person who is afraid of snakes, but loves vanilla ice-cream is shown a snake and then given the ice-cream. While the person is busy eating the ice cream, classical conditioning helps associate the snake with good feelings.
who came up with operant conditioning
skinner
what did skinner believe about how we behave
heavily influenced by the conditioning experiences we have throughout our lives
what is Thorndike’s law of effect
responses to a situation which are followed by a rewarding state of affairs will be strengthened and become habitual responses to that situation
describe throndike’s house
. Thorndike placed a wild cat in a puzzle box. The animal could escape only after it pulled the string opening the door. At first, the cat engaged in random behaviour: mewing, scratching, hissing, running etc. Eventually it would accidentally open the door. Then Thorndike would catch the cat and put it to the box again. On successive trials, the animal’s behaviour would become more and more efficient until it would be pulling the string without hesitation.
positive reinforcement
good behavior -> +pleasent stimulus so increase frequency of good behavior
negative reinforcement
bad behavior -> - unpleasant stimulus so decreased frequency of bad behavior
positive punishment
behaviour -> + unpleasant stimulus so decrease frequency
negative punishment
behaviour -> - pleasant stimulus so decreases frequency of behavior
continuous reinforcement
desired response is reinforced every time it occurs, until mastered
partial reinforcement
desired response is reinforced on a ratio or interval schedule, greater resistance to extinction
fixed interval
reinforce the behavior after a fixed period of time eg monthly pay check
variable interval
reinforce the behavior after an unpredictable period of time
ratio
number of behavioural responses
fixed ratio
provides reinforcement after a fixed number of responses
variable ratio
provides reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses
describe dollard and miller - the stimulus-response model of personality
personality is composed of mainly learned habits
habit = stable connection between stimulus and response
how is a habit created
- the initial drive (e.g. hunger) – drives stimulate the person to act (I want something)
- the cue to act (information how to act – e.g.advert of ready meals)
- the response (buying a ready meal)
reinforcement (the meal was good, I am happy) - If the response satisfies the drive, the habit may be created.
If the meal was nasty (or portions very small), the probability one will buy a ready meal again decreases
what are dollard and miller 4 types of conflict situation
Approach - approach conflict – there are two equally desirable but incompatible goals (which of two great girls to choose for a girl-friend, to go to the pub with a good friend or to watch an interesting film on TV?)
Avoidance-avoidance conflict – there are two undesirable alternatives (to study or to clean the house?)
Approach-avoidance conflict – there is one goal, but some aspects of it are attractive, some are unattractive (to go to a great party with someone I hate?)
Double approach-avoidance conflict – This is a choice between two alternatives, with advantages and disadvantages to each. For example, I might be trying to decide which of two political candidates to vote for. One is moral, but incompetent. The other is competent, but immoral. It is like a combination of an approach-approach conflict (e.g., moral vs competent) and avoidance-avoidance conflict (e.g., incompetent vs immoral).
who is the father of the SLT
Albert bandura
describe Bandura’s triadic reciprocal determination model
environment causes behavior but that behavior causes environment
environmental & person variables eg perception or expectations interact to determine personality
what are some concepts bandura believes in
- free will
- personal, proxy (people influence others who have the means on their behalf to realize goals) & collective agency (acting as a group to realize goals)
- we make decisions based on anticipation of consequences
when does observational learning (modeling) become more likely to occur?
- less confident individuals more likely to model
- if model is similar to them or if model is powerful
- of results in outcomes they value (vicarious reinforcement)
vicarious reinforcement
occurs when someone observes another person’s behavior being
rewarded or punished and then is more likely to imitate this behavior if it was
rewarded rather than punished
describe Gergely, Bekkering & Kiraly, 2002 modelling study
14-months infants watched an adult model turning on the light using his forehead and not hands. If the model’s hands were free, 69% of infants copied his behaviour. When his hands were not free – only 21% copied the behaviour.
efficacy expectations
individuals’ beliefs that they can (or cannot) execute the
behaviors required to produce certain response consequences
describe someone with low self-efficacy
- avoid threatening situations
- focus on negative outcomes
- little effort and give up after short time
- remain defensive or fearful
describe someone with high self-efficacy
-engage in challaneging tasks
- max effort
what is locus of control described by Rotter
general expectancies
reinforcement is controlled by outside forces (external locus of control, less responsibility for actions) or by their own behaviour (internal, rely less on opinion of others)
