Learning Pyschology Flashcards
(24 cards)
learning approach
based on the belief that behaviour is determined by conditions in the environment. psychology should strive to be a pure science and should only use objective methods of investigation.
assumptions of learning approach
major influence on human behaviour is learning from our environment, humans are born as a blank slate and therefore all behaviour besides reflex reactions which we are born with must be learnt.
the laws of learning are the same for all species
psychology should be the study of observable behaviour, learning is a stimulus response more mental processing in detail.
scientific methods lead to knowledge, behaviour is difficult to study and it is been more difficult to draw scientific conclusions, therefore specific behaviours are isolated and studied to find out what leads to them or what would stop them.
strengths for using animals in research
valid, conducted in a lab it is possible to control over extraneous variables with animals compared to humans. for example can control how long they sleep, what they eat. therefore can be more certain IV has caused the change in the animals behaviour
long term effects on behaviour can be studied, animals reproduce at a faster rate compared to humans. for example mice can start reproducing at 6 weeks old and have between 5-10 litters a year with the average being 6-8 mice. therefore can study the effects of learning a behaviour or biology such as genes over generations in small amounts of time.
invasive, we can do things to animals that we cannot to human, for example remove parts of their brains. therefore thus allows us to understand more about the influence of biology on behaviour
reliable, conducted in highly controlled lab setting using a standardised procedure.
weaknesses of using animals in research
anthropomorphic, there are large differences between animals and humans in terms of biology and behaviour, animals have different genotypes to humans for example rats have a different number of chromosomes. therefore aggressive behaviour being a consequence of biology cannot be generalised to human aggressive behaviour.
lacks ecological validity, takes place in highly controlled artificial setting of a lab which is not a natural setting to an animal, therefore the behaviour displayed by the animals will not be naturally occurring and so cannot be generalised to everyday animal behaviour.
ethical issues regarding use of animals in lab experiments
guidelines different compared to human participants. the scientific procedures act covers all animal research and psychologists are expected to follow this. relates to any scientific procedure that could cause pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm.
classical conditioning
classical conditioning assumes learning is by association. natural reflexes are paired with neutral stimuli. human reflexes include, flinching, knee jerk reactions and breathing therefore the response is the reflex reaction and the stimulus is the thing that causes the reaction
pavlov aim
to investigate the reflex response of salivation, how and why a dog can learn to salivate to something that is not edible, can reflexive behaviour be produced in new situations through learning.
pavlov sample
25 years, 23 studies, 35 dogs (of various breeds)
pavlov procedure
special chamber room built so that all potential extraneous variables could be eliminated, glass tubes attached to the sides of dogs mouth to collect the saliva that the dog produced.
as a baseline condition pavlov put meat in dogs mouth to measure salivation reflex, so he could compare to other conditions
control condition - presented the dog with food
experimental condition - presented dog with mentronome, electric buzzer, tuning fork. dogs did not salivate to any of these - neutral stimulus.
paired the arrival of food with the sound of a metronome and measured the amount of salivation. repeated a few times before only presenting the sound of the metronome and measuring salivation.
also investigated whether the direction of the conditioning had an effect on learning. tested forward conditioning by sounding buzzer once before the meat arrived and tested backwards conditioning by sounding a buzzer 5-10 seconds after the meat arrived.
pavlov findings
when pavlov put meat in dogs mouth secretion began after 1-2 seconds which shows an automatic reflex
in control condition when food shown to the dogs salivatory secretion stared after 5 seconds, 6 drops of saliva collected after 15 seconds.
in experimental condition, when presented with the metronome salivation started after 9 seconds and by 45 seconds 11 drops had been collected.
pavlov found that after approximately 20 pairings conditioning had taken place such that the dog will salivate and lick its lips when it heard the metronome beat without food being presented at the same time.
forward conditioning produced salivation, backwards did not.
pavlov conclusion
signalisation in the brain links the metronome to the food and thus gives the reflex response of salivation when the metronome is present but food is not.
although salivation is a reflex response that promotes survival it must be learnt, dogs do not know to salivate to meat if they do not know that it is food.
signalisation us necessary for a dog to survive as well as natural inborn reflexes
conditioning was found to be sensitive to many extraneous variables.
watson and rayner aim
to demonstrate that classical conditioning could be used to create irrational fear in humans. this would then show that phobias were the result of such conditioning processes. they also wanted to show that fear could be transferred to other animals and objects and to investigate the effect of time on the conditioned response.
watson and rayner sample
placid baby boy known as ‘Little Albert’ actual name Douglas Merritte. single case experiment not a case study because no in depth data gathered.
watson and rayner procedure
The experiment studied how fear could be conditioned in a baby, known as Little Albert. Initially, at 9 months old, he showed no fear of objects like a white rat but did react with distress to a loud noise. At 11 months, Watson and Raynor paired the rat with a loud noise to create a fear response. After repeating this process, Albert developed a conditioned fear of the rat. They then tested whether this fear would extend to other white, furry objects like a rabbit, dog, and fur coat. They also tested his response in a different room. Over time, his fear of the rat lessened, leading the researchers to reinforce it further. one month 18 days after start of experiment researchers exposed little albert to a variety of stimuli to see if his fear reaction had persisted over time.
watson and rayner findings
By the fifth trial, Little Albert showed a clear fear of the rat, in contrast to his earlier behavior. Twelve days into the experiment, his fear extended to other white, furry objects like a rabbit and a Santa mask, demonstrating stimulus generalization. Seventeen days in, he reacted with distress to both a rabbit and a dog, and his fear of the rat had strengthened. He also showed the same fear response in a different setting. Over a month later, Albert still exhibited fear towards white, furry stimuli, suggesting the conditioning effects persisted.
watson and rayner conclusion
A conditioned emotional response can occur in humans after only a few pairings of stimuli, but the pairings
might have to be repeated. The conditioned response can be transferred to other similar objects, different
settings and persist over time. Little Albert was removed from the study, so there was no means of seeing if
the responses could be extinguished
operant conditioning
thorndike, OC only concerned with voluntary behaviour
Thorndike
devised a puzzle box in which cats were placed and had to solve the problem of how to escape. the solution was to pull a loop of string which released a catch on the door.
the law of effect
a response that is followed by a pleasant outcome becomes more probable and a response that is followed by an unfavourable consequence becomes less probable.
skinner box
mainly used rats and pigeons in these boxes. when placed in the skinner box the rat has to press a lever to open a food tray and thus obtain reinforcement in the form of food.
social learning theory
Social Learning Theory (SLT), developed by Albert Bandura, recognizes that while classical and operant conditioning influence learning, they are not the only factors. A key distinction is that SLT involves cognitive processes, whereas conditioning does not. Bandura introduced reciprocal determinism, meaning individuals not only react to their environment but also influence it.
SLT emphasizes that learning occurs through observation rather than solely through direct experience. Key aspects include:
1. People actively shape their environment rather than passively responding to it.
2. Learning occurs through observing and imitating role models.
3. Individuals are more likely to imitate a model if:
• They identify with them (e.g., same gender or shared traits).
• The model is liked, powerful, or respected.
• The model is rewarded for their behavior (vicarious reinforcement).
• They themselves are reinforced for imitating the behavior.
• They believe they can perform the action.
• The behavior is clearly observable.
Models can be real people, verbal instructions, or even symbols and cartoons.
vicarious learning
This is such an important concept to the SLT: behavior will be learnt if it is observed and is more likely to be
imitated if it is rewarded.
There are a variety of different effects that vicarious reinforcement can have:
1. First, there is the modelling effect, where someone does something that they have seen and
would not have otherwise done.
2. Then, there is the eliciting effect, where someone watches a behavior and copies it but does it a
bit differently.
3. Or there could be the disinhibiting effect, where behavior that would have previously been
thought of as unacceptable is seen to be done without negative consequences, they now think
that it is OK to perform also.
Vicarious punishment = is sometimes referred to as the inhibitory effect and is not copying the
behavior of others because of seeing them being punished for it. E.g. someone does not park in a
particular place because he or she has seen someone get a parking ticket for it.
Vicarious extinction = never copying the behavior of others because of seeing them being punished for
it. E.g. people stop doing something because they have seen that people are not rewarded for doing it.
Aim
to investigate whether young children will imitate an aggressive model through mere observation of that
model & that imitation can occur in the absence of that model. Bandura et al (1961) wanted to find if:
1. Children shown aggressive models will show significantly more imitative aggressive behaviour than
those shown non-aggressive or no models.
2. Children shown non-aggressive, subdued models will show significantly less aggressive behaviour than
those shown aggressive or no models.
3. Boys would show significantly more imitative aggression than girls, especially when they had seen a
male model (rather than a female model) behave aggressively.
