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Behaviourism Flashcards

(54 cards)

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1
Q

What are 3 key assumptions in behaviourism?

A

Behaviour is learned from the environment
Psychology should be scientific
Anxiety and phobias are a learned behaviour from negative stimuli

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2
Q

What causes a behaviour to be learnt?

A

Behaviour is learnt from a response to an environmental stimulus

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3
Q

What are the two components to learning theory?

A

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning

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4
Q

Behaviourism scientific true or false?

A

True - they use repeatable experiments

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5
Q

What does behaviourism focus on and what does it exclude?

A

Focus: Observable behaviour

Excludes: introspection, thoughts / feelings and internal emotion

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6
Q

There is little difference in learning between humans and animals - True or false?

A

True: There is little difference which means research can be carried out on animals as well as humans.

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7
Q

All behaviour can be reduced down to simple stimulus-response association - True or false

A

True: Behaviourism focuses on learned behaviours from the response to environmental stimulus

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8
Q

Who is attributed with the development of operant conditioning ?

A

Burrhus Frederic Skinner

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9
Q

Who developed the law of effect?

A

Edward Thorndike

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10
Q

What is the bassic principle of the law of effect?

A

People are likely to repeat behaviours that have pleasurable consequences and avoid behaviours that have negative consequences

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11
Q

What is reinforcement and what behaviourist method it belong to?

A

Reinforcement is a term from operant conditioning, it is when a behaviour is followed by either a negative or positive consequence

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12
Q

What happens to a behaviour that is continuously reinforced?

A

It is stregthened

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13
Q

What happens to a behaviour that is not reinforced ?

A

it becomes extinguished/dies out

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14
Q

What are the 3 types of operants that skinner discovered?

A

Neutral operants
Reinforcers
Punishers

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15
Q

What is a neutral operant?

A

A neutral operant is a neutral stimulus from the environment that neither increase or decrease the likely hood of behaviour being repeated

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16
Q

What is a reinforcer?

A

An operant that increases the chance of a behaviour being repeated

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17
Q

Can reinforcers be negative as well as positive?

A

Yes reinforcers can be both positive and negative because they are defined as something that increases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring not avoiding.

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18
Q

What is a punisher?

A

A response from the environment that decreases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring, punishers weaken behaviours

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19
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A

When a response/behaviour is strengthened by rewards leading to the behaviour being repeated.

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20
Q

In positive reinforcement what is the reinforcing stimulus?

A

The reward

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21
Q

What is negative reinforcement?

A

The removal of a negative consequence following a behaviour, because the negative behaviour is removed the outcome is desirable and the behaviour is then repeated.

Example a rat accidently knocking a switch that stopped a negative stimuli causes the rat to learn that knocking the switch prevents the stimulus.

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22
Q

What is avoidance learning?

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A

Avoidance learning is a form of behaviour where a learned behaviour is carried out to avoid a negative outcome usually learned form negative reinforcment

23
Q

What is escape learning?

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A

Escape learning is a form of behaviour in which a behaviour/response is carried out to cause a negative stimulus to stop, for example switching of an electric shock while its currently shocking you

24
Q

What is the opposite of reinforcement?

25
What does punishment accomplish?
It weakens or eliminates a behaviour
26
How does punishment work?
Punishment works by directly applying or removing a negative stimulus, the key is that it DECREASES the chances of a behaviour from occuring.
27
What is the difference between punishment and negative reinforcement?
Punishment is used to reduce or eliminate a behaviour and can use negative stimuli or remove it Negative reinforcement still increases the chance of a behaviour occurring by using negative stimuli or removing it The difference is one reduces a behaviour the other increases
28
What are 2 downsides to using punishment?
It does not cause the undesired behaviour to be forgotten it just supresses it causing it to return when punishment is no longer present Can cause fear response that become general i.e fear of going to school becuase of being bullied
29
What are 5 schedules of reinforcement?
``` continuous fixed-ratio fixed interval variable ratio variable interval ```
30
What two rates does the schedule of reinforcement effect?
The response rate | The extinction rate
31
What schedule produces the slowest rate of extinction ? (i.e., people will go on repeating the behaviour for the longest time without reinforcement)
variable-ratio reinforcement
32
What schedule produces the quickest rate of extinction?
Continuous reinforcement
33
What is continuous reinforcement scheduel?
A person/animal is positively enforced every time behaviour occurs i.e whenever a button is pressed 1 pellet of food is delivered
34
What is the response and extinction rate of a continuous reinforced schedule?
Response rate is SLOW | Extinction rate is FAST
35
What is fixed-ratio reinforcement schedule ?
Behaviour is reinforced after the behaviour occurs a fixed number of times, e.g a child is rewarded after spelling 5 words correctly
36
What is the response rate and extinction rate of a fixed-ratio scheduel?
Response rate is FAST | Extinction rate is MEDIUM
37
What is fixed-interval reinforcement schedule?
Reinforcement of behaviour is given after a specific time period providing it is the correct response/behaviour, e.g getting paid on the hour for doing good work
38
What is the response and extinction rate of fixed-interval reinforcement schedules?
Response rate is MEDIUM | Extinction rate is MEDIUM
39
What is a variable ratio reinforcement scheduel?
Behaviour is reinforced after an unpredictable number of times, for example, gambling and fishing.
40
What is the response and extinction rate of a variable ratio scheduel?
Response rate is FAST | Extinction rate is SLOW (very hard to extinguish because of unpredictability)
41
What is a variable interval reinforcement scheduel?
A desirable behaviour is reinforced after an unpredictable amount of TIME has passed (unlike variable ratio which is unpredictable number of times the behaviour occurs)
42
What is the response and extinction rate of a variable interval reinforcement?
Response rate is FAST | Extinction rate is SLOW
43
Name a valid criticism of the behaviourist approach
ignores free well and is srong determinism
44
What scientist discovered classical conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov
45
What scientist believed all behaviour was learned through responses to the environment and did not believe in free will?
John Watson
46
What is stage 1 of classical conditioning?
Before the conditioning: this is when a unconditioned stimulus produces an unconditioned response (this is a natural response)
47
What is stage 2 of classical conditioning?
During conditioning: in this stage a neutral stimulus (a stimulus that normally causes no response) is associated with an unconditioned stimulus. Becoming a conditioned stimulus.
48
What is stage 3 of classical conditioning?
After conditioning: After the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus the response or behaviour that follows is called the conditioned response.
49
What is a neutral stimulus?
A stimulus that causes no response
50
What is a conditioned stimulus?
A previously neutral stimulus that has been associated with an unconditioned stimulus
51
What is a unconditioned stimulus?
A stimulus that causes an unconditioned response
52
What can increase the speed of associating a neutral stimulus to an unconditioned stimulus?
The severity or magnitude of the unconditioned stimulus increases the speed it is associated with the neutral stimulus.
53
What is the law of temporal contiguity?
The closer together the neutral/conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are presented the faster the behaviour/response is learned.
54
What is classical conditioning?
Making a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus be associating it with an unconditioned stimulus that causes a specific unconditioned response. Food makes a dog salivate, the food is an unconditioned stimulus the salivation is the unconditioned response you ring a bell just before you give the food eventually it salivates, the bell was a neutral stimulus and became a conditioned stimulus as it was associated with the unconditioned stimulus and causes the conditioned response (salivating)

Psychology (3 decks)

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