Learning Theories Flashcards
(26 cards)
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through reinforcement
What does operant conditioning result in
Behaviour shaped through reinforcement or punishment
What happens if the behaviour has a desirable consequence?
Behaviour has a higher chance of being replicated
Skinner (1935)
Skinner invented the skinners box in which rats were placed. Had a lever the rats pushed to release food pellets and an electrical floor and when turned on the rat would learn to press lever to stop shock. Red light would be on before the floor turned on so rat would learn to press lever before floor turns on.
What is reinforcement?
Something in the environment that strengths a particular behaviour and increases the likelihood of reinforcement
What is positive reinforcement?
Occurs when the behaviour produces a satisfying consequences e.g. chocolate to a child
What is negative reinforcement?
Occurs when a when an animal or human avoids something unpleasant e.g. doing homework to avoid doing something unpleasant
What is punishment?
An unpleasant consequence of behaviour e.g. Teacher telling you off in class
Difference between negative reinforcement and punishment?
Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behaviour recurring whereas punishment decreases
What is continuous reinforcement?
Most effective in establishing a particular response
What is partial reinforcement?
Most effective in maintaining that response and avoid extinction
Strength of Skinner experiment
+Relied on experimental method with manipulated IV and measured DV
+Allowed cause and effect to be established.
-Used non-human animals so tells us little about our behaviour
-Humans are said to possess ‘free will’ Skinner opposed this concept lacks generalisability
-Behaviourist approach is too reductionist as it reduces complex human behaviour down to conditioning
What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association
What are five parts of classical conditioning?
Unconditioned stimulus, Unconditioned response, Neutral stimulus, Conditioned stimulus, Conditioned response
What is timing?
When the neutral stimulus cant be used to predict the unconditioned stimulus (e.g. time between the two is too long) conditioning doesnt take place.
What is extinction?
Pavlov found that, unlike the unconditioned response, the conditioned response doesnt become permanently conditioned. A few presentations of the conditioned response without the unconditioned stimulus present it loses the ability to be able to produce the conditioned response.
What is spontaneous recover?
Following extinction if the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli are paired together again, link between them is made quickly.
What is generalisation?
Pavlov discovered that once an animal has undergone conditioning, they will respond to other stimuli with similarity to the conditioned stimulus
Strengths of classical conditioning?
+Helped develop treatment for anxiety reduction for phobias
+It tries to replace anxiety (learned response) with another (supplanting)
Weakness of Classical conditioning?
-Different species learn different thing through it
-A relationship between the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli is more difficult to establish some then others
-Preparedness concept as as animals are prepared to learn associations in terms of survival, such as smell of meat with food yet unprepared to learn associations not significant.
What is social learning theory?
The assumption that behaviour is learnt through the environment/ observation of others
What is imitation?
An individual observes the behaviour of a role model and copies it
What is identification?
An individual is influenced by another person because they are similar to them in some way e.g. ethnicity, gender etc
What is a model?
When someone is influential in some way e.g. a role model figure
