Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Learning, Before conditioning: Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and…

- - - - Consequence: The result that influences the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated (e.g. lolly = stop screaming)
  - - - Method: hungry pigeon placed in cage (skinner box) for a few mins a day, food hopper attached to cage swung in place so pigeon could eat from it, clock presented food at regular intervals. regardless operant conditioning took place e.g. if presentation of food hopper coincided with counter-clockwise movement made pigeon it would continue this behaviour as it associate its behaviour with the outcome (other behaviours were repeated for this same reason e.g. thrust of head into upper corner). If interval before next presentation was longer then extinction would take place. The shorter the intervals the speedier/more marked the conditioning.
        
        Evaluation:
        
        Strengths: highly controlled environment, with multiple observers and a high level of agreement, multiple trials with varying intervals enhancing validity
        
        Limitations: lacks historical validity, paper does not detail exact apparatus set up and controls.
- - - - After conditioning: NS has become a conditioned stimulus (CS) which elicits the conditioned response (CR).
  - - - Method: paired ringing a bell with presenting food (conditioning phase) and measured salivary secretions.
        
        Results: dog's would eventually salivate at the ringing of the bell only, thus, had associated bell with food. Found that for associations to be made two stimuli had to be presented together in time (law of temporal contiguity).
        
        Other terminology/findings:
        
        Extinction: the dying out of a conditioned response by breaking the association between CS and UCS.
        
        Spontaneous recovery: the return of a conditioned response (usually weaker form) after a period of time.
        
        Generalisation: a similar conditioned stimuli (e.g. a different bell) can cause a response.
        
        Discrimination: if the conditioned stimuli are too different may not elicit a response.
        
        Evaluation:
        
        Significance: is a behaviourist theory supporting the idea that all behaviour is learnt. Also supports nurture over nature - importance of learning and environment.
        
        Limitations: conducted on animals not humans, lacks historical validity, theory has also been criticised for being too simple and reductionist (not all behaviour can be explained by classical conditioning).
        
        Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): food, unconditioned response (UCR): salivation - caused by UCS, neutral stimulus (NS): the bell before it started to cause a response, conditioned stimulus (CS): bell caused by repeated pairing with the UCS.
  - - - Method: recruited a nine month old child (Albert B) and tested fear responses to trial stimuli (a white rat, a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, masks with and without hair, cotton wool and burning newspapers) - no fear shown. To ensure he could exhibit a fear response researchers produced a loud sound - normal infant fear response was shown. Experimentation started at 11 months. Albert B was presented with a white rat and each time a bar was struck eliciting a fear response. Seven days later was presented rat without sound and showed no tendency to touch it. Proceeded to present rat alone and with sound - fear response continued. Five days later began with other stimuli to which he showed differing degrees of fear response (stimulus generalisation) demonstrating that fear could be transferred to other animals/objects. After a month tested in new location, fear response persisted in both directly conditioned and transferred responses though directly conditioned were less intense. Was taken to hospital unable to remove conditioned responses.
        
        Conclusion: many phobias are conditioned emotional reactions which are either direct or transferred (learnt from others).
        
        Evaluation:
        
        Limitations: lacked controls and only one subject restricting validity. Unethical. Opposed Freud's theories which were favoured at the time.
- - - - Theory: the person the learner learns from (doesn't need to be real life) is known as the model. The learner can experience vicarious reinforcement, where the model receiving a pleasant consequence from their behaviour increases the likelihood of the learner copying the model's actions. Similarly vicarious punishment is also possible.
        
        Types of model: Live model - a person demonstrates the behaviour. Verbal instruction - a persons says what to do and how. Symbolic model - media is used to demonstrate the behaviour (this can involve real people and/or fake characters).
        
        Steps of social learning theory: 1. Attention - the learner pays active attention to the role model. 2. Retention - the learner forms a mental representation of the models behaviour. 3. Reproduction - the learning converts the mental representation into action. Reinforcement - the learner receives feedback for performing the action. 5. Motivation - the learner is rewarded or punished for the action is motivated to continue.
        
        most active form of learning