Behaviourism Flashcards
(27 cards)
what are the two parts of the learning approach?
behaviourism and social learning theory
what are the assumptions of behaviourism?
- behaviour is learned from experience
- we’re born as a ‘blank slate’ - there’s no genetic influence on behaviour
- uses lab experiments on humans and animals - animals share the same principles of learning
- only observable behaviour is measurable scientifically
- classical and operant conditioning
what’s classical conditioning?
- learning through association
- discovered by Pavlov
- both humans and animals can be classically conditioned
what’s the process of classical conditioning?
before conditioning
NS > NR
UCS > UCR
during conditioning
NS + UCS > UCR
after conditioning
CS > CR
what was Pavlov’s experiment?
- pavlov noticed that dogs started to anticipate the arrival of food on hearing his footsteps and began to salivate
- food was the UCS and salivation was the UCR
- after conditioning it was possible to cause salivation by ringing a bell
- an association between food and a bell had been made
what’s the neutral stimulus (NS)?
something in the environment that doesn’t initially cause a response e.g. bell
what’s the unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?
something that naturally causes a response e.g. food
what’s the unconditioned response (UCR)?
a natural response to a UCS e.g. salivation
what’s the conditioned stimulus (CS)?
the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus after conditioning e.g. bell
what’s the conditioned response?
a learnt response to the conditioned stimulus e.g. salivation to sound of the bell
what’s stimulus generalisation?
when stimuli similar to the CS produce the CR e.g. phobias - being afraid of all dogs
what’s stimulus discrimination?
the CR is only produced in response to the CS, not to similar stimuli
what’s extinction?
when the CR declines and disappears because the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of the UCS
what’s operant conditioning?
- learning through consequences
- rewards and punishment
- positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment
what’s positive reinforcement?
- when a behaviour is more likely to be repeated because of positive consequences
- behaviour is strengthened
what’s negative reinforcement?
- when a behaviour is more likely to be repeated to avoid negative consequences
- behaviour is strengthened
what’s punishment?
- when a behaviour is less likely to be repeated because of negative consequences
- behaviour is weakened
who was skinner?
- his work focused on lab experiments with animals
- investigated how rewards and punishment can shape behaviour
- skinner box was designed to observe animal responses
- rat experiment
- investigated how five different types of reinforcement affected how the rats learned
skinner box experiment
- the lever released food (positive reinforcement)
- the floor was electrified (punishment)
- the avoidance of the electrified floor is negative reinforcement
- avoidance of the electric shock was achieved when the rat pushed the lever when the light came on
what’s continuous reinforcement?
- every single response is reinforced e.g. receiving a tip every time you serve a customer
- resistance to extinction is very low
what’s fixed interval reinforcement?
- reinforcement is given every fixed time period if the response has occured at least once e.g. being paid every month
- resistance to extinction is fairly low
what’s variable interval reinforcement?
- reinforcement is given e.g. on average every minute but it varies so the interval is unpredictable e.g. a self employed person may receive payment irregularly
- resistance to extinction is very high
what’s fixed ratio reinforcement?
- reinforcement is given for a fixed number of responses e.g. the more work done, the more money earned
- resistance to extinction is fairly low
what’s variable ratio reinforcement?
- reinforcement is given on average e.g. every 10 responses but the number varies e.g. gambling
- resistance to extinction is very high
