learning and cognition

classical conditioning

• unconditioned stimulus (US)- biology predetermined knowledge

• conditioned stimulus (CS)- does not produce any biologically predetermined reaction

• Unconditioned response (UR) reflex response to unconditioned stimulus

• conditioned response (CR)- learned response

innate behaviours

are triggered and regulated by a genetic programme. they are rigid and cannot be changes

learned behaviours

acquired during life, they make organism better adapted to its environment ex. classical and operant conditioning and cognitive learning

pavlov’ss dogs

classical conditioning- if you repeatedly present the meat (US) and the bell (CS) several times, you will be able to remove the meet and the dog will salivate at the sound of the bell (CR).

dogs digestive track was surgically modified so that saliva, instead of going down into the stomach, was redirected to a measuring device

Little Albert

classical conditioning- proved that in fear conditioning even one repetition may be enough

a nine year old was conditioned with frightening loud sounds to respond with fear and crying to objects such as a white rat or hat

even after years the child was still terrified of white stuff

Operant conditioning

learning process with an association is made between a behaviour and its consequence such as reward or punishment

• reinforcement- increase the behaviour (positive-reward, negative- unpleasant stimulus removed)

• punishment- decrease the behaviour (positive-negative consequence, negative-attractive factor removed)

Skinner box

operant conditioning- kept pigeons in a cage that had a food-dispenser giving food at regular intervals.

the bird behaved as if there was a causal relationship between its behaviour and the presentation of food although the relationship was lacking

radical behaviourism

belief that the most complex human behaviour could be reduced to operant conditioning and therefore potentially controlled

cognitive schema

generalised mental representation of some aspect of reality, this mental representation can be a stereotype-”firefighters” you see generalized image in your head

person with anorexia has distorted body image due to their mental representation of their body

they can be viewed as something that makes us biased however they make i tpossible for us to efficiently process information we encounter every day

rats in tolman’s study

rats believes to create a kind of internal map of the maze, which allowed them to acquire a sense of direction to find food more easily on subsequent trials

teleogical behaviourism

implies the existence of some kind of purposeful behaviour

schema theory

• cognitive schemas influence the way we interpret information,

• creates a lens through which we perceive reality,

• maintains that schemas develop from experience in two processes: acomodation and assimilation,

• according to this theory schemas are resistant to change

• cannot be observed directly in behaviour

• there are two types of schema: script and self-schema

script

schema of events

ex. mental representation of typical course of action in performing an activity

turner

• text presented

• recall after 20 minutes

• participants added information from their own schema

self-schema

ones schema about themselves, depressed people might believe that they are failing at everything but objectively that is not the case; cognitive behavioural. therapy has demonstrated significant results in the treatment of depression

Piaget

• children when they grow construct schemas that help them understand the world

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accomomdation

adjusting the existing schema to enble better fit with environment, it will occur when we adjust after learning new information

assimilation

fitting the environment into existing schema, it may involve distorting information or ignoring some aspects , once this schema is formed it is hard to fit in the world into existing schema, only when we fail to do so we will resort to accomodation

ex. a person prejusticed against certain group when meets a nice representative decides that they are rare exeption

systematic processing

processing information based on schema, it saves time and energy while providing accurate enough approximation of reality, it is open to debate whether it is good

ex. tiger is a stripy predator that can eat you for dinner you know to run when you see one

Treyens