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Learning theory - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Skinner identified three types of responses, or operant, that can follow behavior.
      - • Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated.
      - • Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.
      - • Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.
      - Skinner showed how positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat in his Skinner box. The box contained a lever on the side, and as the rat moved about the box, it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately it did so a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever.
        The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box. The consequence of receiving food if they pressed the lever ensured that they would repeat the action again and again.
  - - - Primary/secondary reinforcement; some reinforcers are positive because they have biological significance - primary reinforcement =drink shelter and sex.
        Rewards like money or job title that have become associated with primary reinforcers are known as secondary reinforcers.
      - Positive reinforcement- Takes place when something pleasant is introduced following a behaviour, This might be something tangible such as food or money, or something tangible but also nice (a smile or praise).
        
        Negative reinforcement- Takes place when something unpleasant, such as pain, is removed following a behaviour.
- - - - Extinction- When a CS is experienced without the UCS over a period of time the CR is extinguished (the CS ceases to elicit the CR) effectively making it extinct. The extinction of responses has survival value because it means that our learning is flexible- (learn to stop fearing something that's been conditioned as a fear stimulus)
        
        Pavlov 1927- he did an experiment with salivation in dogs- and learn about the salvation reflex. collected saliva from the glands of immobilised dog in a lab. took place in a soundproof chamber tominiminse the effects of extraneous variables. Established a baseline by measuring salivation levels hearing a buzzer.
        Then he paired the NS with the unconditioned stimulus of food around 2x.
        He varied the presentation so the NS was presented before (forward conditioning) or after the UCS (backwards conditioning).
        
        Findings: An NS (sound of buzzer) didn't initially elicit a salivation response, whereas the UCS of food elicited immediate salivation.
- - - - Modelling- to model behaviour is to demonstrate it, in SLT, modelling takes place when one individual displays a particular social behaviour in the presence of another. The individual dmonstrating the behaviour is called the the model.
        not all models demonstrating social behaviours are imitated
- - - - Maintenance by operant conditioning- responses acquired by classical conditioning tend to decline over time (extinction).
        Phobias are persistent as a result of operant conditioning, which takes place when a behaviours reinforced or punished. reinforcement increases the frequency of a behaviour.
        Mowrer demonstrated this bye conditioning a rat to develop an avoidance response to a shock. (jumped over the barrier) he states that avoidance and its negative reinforcements what maintains phobias.
        
        Treatments
        
        Systematic desensitisation (SD)- behavioural therapy that slowly reduces the phobic responses. A phobic stimulus is paired with a relaxation technique.
        Eg- have a fear of flying- 10 steps from looking at a photo of a plane to flying on a plane- mixed in with relaxation techniques.
        
        Flooding- exposing clients to their fear without a build up. Works to stop phobic responses quickly - maybe because without the option of avoidance the client learns the stimulus is harmless leading to extinction. Clients often receive relaxation due to the exhaustion of their own fear.