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PSYC1002 > Learning and Motivation > Flashcards

Learning and Motivation Flashcards

(122 cards)

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1
Q

what is learning?

A

An enduring change within an organism brought about by experience that makes a change in behaviour possible

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2
Q

What influences performance

A

Learning
Opportunity
Motivation
Sensory/motor capabilities

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3
Q

What is a reflex?

A

Reflexes are automatic and usually very fast
Learning is not required - innate

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4
Q

what are the components of a relfex?

A

eliciting stimuli and corresponding response

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5
Q

arm withdrawal

A

Touch an unpleasant stimulus, withdrawal
Involve very few neurons
Doesn’t even travel to brain: spinal cord

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6
Q

reflex arc

A

sensory nerves detect stimuli
motor nerves stimulate mucles
intensity must reach a certain threshold for a response to be elicited

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7
Q

What is an instinct?

A

behavioural sequence made up of units which are largely genetically determined and, as such, are typical of all members of a species

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8
Q

what is maturation?

A

changes that take place in your body and in your behaviour that are developmental

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9
Q

Why is walking something that is not ‘learned’?

A

It is more so determined by the strength of the baby’s legs and structure. As they start developing they will try out their legs.

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10
Q

why fatigue doesn’t indicate learning

A

it is a transient state of discomfort and loss of efficiency as a normal reaction to emotional strain, physical exertion, boredom, or lack of rest - it is not stable

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11
Q

what is habituation?

A

Decreased responding produced by repeated stimulation
stimulus and response specific

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12
Q

what is habituation not?

A

fatigue or sensory adaptation

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13
Q

what is sensitisation?

A

Increased responding produced by repeated stimulation

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14
Q

why is habituation and sensitisation important?

A

help us sort out what stimuli to ignore and what to respond to, help us to organise and focus our behaviour in a world of meaningless stimuli

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15
Q

disorders in habituation

A

schizophrenic people lack capacity to habituate

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16
Q

clinical applications of habituation

A

Use habituation to form diagnostic tests to diagnose mental illness before obvious symptoms arise.

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17
Q

why should we use animals for experiments?

A

inexpensive
simpler conditions
easily controlled
wider scope

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18
Q

what is classical conditioning?

A

conditioning something to evoke the same response in the absence of the original stimulus - When a conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US), it comes to elicit a conditioned response (CR)

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19
Q

appetitive conditioning

A

Eye-blink conditioning
Food preferences
Place preference

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20
Q

aversive conditioning

A

Conditioned fear
Anticipatory nausea

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21
Q

Little Albert experiment

A

Albert was conditioned to fear certain stimulus (large sound was made when interacting with stimulus) - feared things that were associated with the stimuli (generalisation)

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22
Q

What is second order conditioning?

A

introduce another stimulus that is not directly paired with the food - becomes second-order reinforcer

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23
Q

How does volume affect classical conditioning?

A

Strength of conditioned response increases after more trials - experience associations

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24
Q

How does intensity affect classical conditioning?

A

Intensity of CS: when intensity is higher, learning is faster (time)
Intensity of US: how tasty a food is, max amount of learning (amount)

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25
How does contiguity affect classical conditioning?
Having a short time between CS and US allows for the association and understanding of the correct behaviour
26
what is ISI
Inter-stimulus interval
27
How does contingency affect classical conditioning?
What is the probability that the US follows the CS? What is the probability that the US occurs anyway? - we need things to occur after certain events
28
Extinction
Reversing the learning process - repeated CS-alone presentations following acquisition resulting in a reduction in the CR
29
What is classical conditioning used for?
Advertising (associations) Removing phobias
30
what is instrumental conditioning?
Trial by error learning - In the presence of a discriminative stimulus (Sd), a response (R) is followed by a reinforcer (Sr) or punisher (Sav).
31
Thorndike's law of effect
What a human or animal does is strongly influenced by the immediate consequences of such behaviour in the past
32
What is good about the Skinner box?
Automated - measures effect of reinforcement on behaviour continuously Behaviour can be continued without interruption - unlike Thorndike where he had to remove the cat from box
33
Free operant procedure
1. Rat placed in Skinner box 2. Rat makes ‘right’ response 3. Rat gets food 4. Repeat from 2
34
Skinner’s Tripartite contingency
*Antecedent* the stimulus controlling behaviour - discriminative stimulus (Sd) *Behaviour* what is the response being reinforced? *Consequence* what is the immediate outcome of a behaviour - the reinforcing stimulus (Sr)
35
Difference between classical and instrumental?
classical: subject has to respond to control the outcome instrumental: subject has no control over events, but response to them with some instinctive behaviour
36
Shaping
introduce new behaviours outside the behavioural repertoire
37
Principle of successive approximation
Reinforce behaviours that are closer and closer to a target behaviour Gradually make the conditions of reinforcement more stringent, more precise
38
Primary reinforcers
Intrinsically valued High Contiguity Contingency
39
Secondary reinforcers
Acquire their reinforcing properties through experience e.g., “who’s a good boy/girl??”
40
avoidance
prevents a stimulus
41
escape
removes a stimulus
42
punishment
decreases a behaviour
43
reinforcement
increase behaviour
44
negative
absence of stimulus
45
positive
presence of stimulus
46
If you want an animal to establish conditioned learning quickly...
use fixed ratio
47
If you want to train a behaviour that is steady that is longer lasting, more sustainable...
use interval schedule
48
ratio
number of responses till reinforcer is present
49
interval
time until reinforcer is present
50
interval and ratio schedules can be either...
fixed or variable
51
The likelihood that a behaviours will increase or decrease is determined by...
The nature of the events that follow (appetitive/aversive) Whether the behaviour produces terminates theses events
52
Stimulus control
Learning to discriminate which outcome is likely to lead to a reward
53
Why is generalisation good?
helps us interact with out environment
54
How do humans generalise
More generalisation from the meaning rather than the physical similarity of stimuli. Semantically related
55
generalisation
conditioned performance occurs in the presence of cues similar to original CS
56
discrimination
learning to differentiate between cues; e.g. two CS’s. Learning to respond only (or differently) when the presence of a sue signals that the response will be reinforce
57
Thorndike claimed that the likelihood of a response was due to 2 factors...
1. Whether the response was followed by pleasant or unpleasant events. 2. Whether cues that were present when the response was reinforced or punished are still present
58
successive discrimination
alternating presentation of eliciting stimuli
59
simultaneous discrimination
both S+ and S- are present e.g. a T-maze
60
learning by exemplar
To what extent can you generalise the knowledge of what fits into a category - chairs and tables
61
learning from punishment
short-lived very specific, you have to punish every single ‘unwanted’ behaviour
62
Social learning
learning behaviour from watching others (models) - exponential growth of behaviour
63
goal enhancement
Getting access to some wanted goal might facilitate later trial and error learning
64
stimulus enhancement
Observe others and are often more likely to approach places that they are
65
Increased motivation to act...
Try more new things in the company of friends and parents
66
Contagious behaviour
Mimicking an already established behaviour, e.g. yawning/smiling
67
Mimicry
A copied action that is made without reference to a goal, or that may not be reinforced by some consequence - regardless of result
68
Emulation
There is understanding of the goal but the specific response required to obtain the goal may not be well understood
69
Imitation
Copied actions made with respect to the goal/consequence
70
modelling
Children will not only imitate an adult’s specific behaviour but also model general styles of behaviour (anger etc)
71
Observed modelling
reinforcement dependent can occur through TV, not just in person.
72
social cognition theory
1. Attention to the model, 2. Incorporate the model’s actions into memory, 3. Requires having the ability to reproduce the actions of the model, 4. The motivation to reproduce the actions of the model. Was the model reinforced? Is the reinforcer currently desired?
73
Motivation
Why individuals initiate, choose, or persist in specific actions in specific circumstances - condition of behaviour, impels action
74
Fixed Action Pattern (FAP)
genetically determined stereotyped sequence of behaviour which is often triggered by highly specific stimuli
75
Sign stimuli
sign stimuli initiates FAP (full belly of female stickleback)
76
How can we tell if behaviour is instinctive?
1. Biological basis 2. Cross-species similarity 3. Cross-cultural similarity 4. Separated identical twin-studies 5. Developmental studies
77
non-verbal communication
Facial expressions Smiling Acting coy/Flirting
78
problems with instinct only theories
1. Circularity 2. Proliferation 3. Behavioural flexibility & Learning - don’t account for learning
79
problems with drive theroies
predicts a **linear** relationship between arousal & performance. Drive reduction is not necessary for **reinforcement** (e.g., saccharin) Ignores role for **qualitative** differences between **reinforcers**
80
Even when all drives are satisfied...
their is still motivation for stimulation
81
The survival of the fittest (Darwin):
1. There are limited resources & there is competition for these resources, 2. Individuals who are best suited to their environment will tend to survive, 3. They will pass on their characteristics to their offspring (via genes).
82
discriminant stimulus
a cue that indicates whether a behaviour is likely to be reinforced or not sd: will produce rein sdelta: will not produce rein
83
acquisition
initial learning phase in classical conditioning
84
unconditioned stimulus
naturally occurring stimuli
85
unconditioned response
innate
86
conditioned stimulus
neutral stimuli
87
conditioned response
learnt
88
constraints successive approximation
relies on animals (sleep) physical or reward limitations time
89
how are humans usually rewarded
Money Gifts Positive social interactions Praise
90
Why are conditioned reinforcers often used in humans to shape behaviour?
Money is associated with natural rewards It is like motivation
91
avoidance behaviour is a form of...
instrumental conditioning
92
instinct is sensitive to motivational factors:
hormone levels for sexual behaviours fatigue
93
Action Specific Energy (ASE)
Specific source of energy associated with a FAP The level of which controls the intensity with which the FAP is performed
94
what is incentive value determined by?
liking (hedonic value) biological need current arousal state preferred activity
95
humanist
reaction to behaviourist psychodynamic theory - emphasises unique qualities of humans (what makes humans the best they can be, how can we understand this behaviour)
96
Rogers
people want to become "fully functioning" only one motive - innate tendency to fulfil one's potential for growth
97
Maslow
people move towards "self-actualisation" - complete an image of your self (ceo etc)
98
humans are motivated to become fully functioning through...
maintenance enhancement reproduction wealth
99
importance of self-concept
need for unconditional positive regard - consistent, leads to growth conditional regard - anxiety, constantly trying to get praise
100
a fully functioning person has...
openness to experience existential living trust in one's own organism sense of freedom creativity
101
hierarchy of needs
physiological - first safety love/belonging esteem self actualisation - last (more complex and human)
102
frustration of these needs...
generates pathology
103
criticism of humanistic psychology
1. weak empirically 2. hierarchy - can be safe but hungry 3. who is self-actualised - circularity 4. cultural concerns & elitism - primarily based on western ideals
104
Rorschach
a qualitative approach to probe your aspirations - ask to describe an ambiguous image and the description is analysed for themes
105
Thematic apperception tests
use ambiguous pictures of people and how they feel etc.
106
long-term human needs
achievement (nAch) - increase self-regard, surpass others, accomplish difficulties, organise, independent
107
do differences in nAch translate into long-term behaviour?
people who are executives tend to more strongly express nAch
108
what can we predict about nAch
career positive feeling of success should increase the harder that task is people high in nAch will attempt harder tasks
109
High nAch
much more conscious of failure and competition weighing the expected utility of their choice
110
expectancy-value theories
consider a person's expectancy pf actually obtaining the goal - no point attempting a really hard task if there will be no sense of satisfaction.
111
expected utility of an action =
value of the goal x probability of obtaining goal
112
nAch and Career choice
personal responsibility for solving problems sets moderate goals needs concrete rapid performance feedback
113
releasing stimuli
initiate FAP Trigger stereotyped sequence of behaviours
114
supernormal stimuli
Are more effective than the normal stimulus for eliciting FAP - More intense version
115
drives...
energise and activate certain behaviours
116
ethology
the study of innate factors in behaviour - stressed the importance of observing behaviour in a natural setting
117
How to address a behaviour pattern
1. What is the cause? The 'mechanism' question. 2. How did it develop within the individual? The 'ontogeny' question. 3. What is its survival (adaptive) value? The 'function' question. 4. How did it evolve? The 'phylogeny' question.
118
List two sources of motivation
hunger and happiness
119
what is an example of genetic predisposition
Learning a language when young. Universal human skill that shows we have an innate predisposition to learn rules of grammar and syntax and apply them to describe the world and ourselves to others
120
what is an example of a regulatory drive?
Seeking warmth when sick, flexible demand that can be changed if other concerns arise (threats etc.)
121
what is an example of a universal motive?
gossiping, present in lots of cultures but is not biologically determined.
122
what is an instinctual response?
cuddling a baby and finding its large eyes, short limbs, big head very cute

PSYC1002 (6 decks)

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