The Learning Approach

AIR

  • associations (behaviourism)

  • imitation/obersavion (social learning)

  • reinforcement (behaviourism)

Associations

Pavlov- classical conditioning

classical conditioning: learning thru association

  • classical conditioning was documented by Pavlov who was originaly investigatng the digestive system of dogs ( less bias)

  • he had a dog with a tube in it mouth and notice when the door opened and the the bell rang causing it to salivate

  • pavlov’s dogs made the association between the bell and arrival of food

little albert

  • Watson paired the white rat with a loud bang repeatedly to create an association between the two unrelated stimuli, and little Albert began fearing the white rat without the noise.

stimulus generalisation

  • the stimulus as characteristics close to the conditioned stimulus then this association would be generalised to the new stimulus

  • little albert: was scared of any white fluffy object

stimulus discrimination

  • at some point the association will not be made and the SG (stimulus generalisation) doesn’t occur

  • this happens when the characteristics of a conditioned stimulus and an objects become to different to be generalised

  • little albert: wouldn’t be scared of a brown fluffy dog

time continuity

  • pavlov suggested that the association will only occur if the UCS (unconditioned stimuli) and the NS (neutral stimuli) are presented at the same/similar time

  • if there is a gap in between them being presented then no association will be made

  • little albert: if there was a gap between the bang and the rat them he wouldn’t be scared

operant conditioning

is learning by consequence

type

deninition

example

positive reinforcement

performing a behaviour bc ur getting a reward for it

being rewarded by ur teacher for excellent homework bc it increases the likelihood of re-occuring behaviour

negative reinforcement

performing a behaviour to avoid being punished for it

doing homework to avoid detention

(strengthened a given behaviour)

punishment

unpleasent consequence of behaviour

being punished ( the punishment aids in deacreasing behaviours )

Skinner

  • Positive reinforcement: tested by placing a hungry rat in a Skinner box containing a lever so when the rat moved around the box it would accidentally knock the lever, which would release food (reward).

  • The rats quickly learned to pull the lever after a few times of being in the box.

  • The rats repeated this action because they were positively reinforced by the reward.

  • Negative reinforcement: worked by electrocuting the rat (punishment).

  • As the rat moved around the box, it would knock the lever and an electric current would switch on.

  • The rat learned to go to the lever when the light switched on to avoid electrocution.

  • The consequence of escaping the electrical current ensured that they would repeat the action.

analysis:

  • antecedents: what happens prior to the behaviour being performed ( wherther the rats pushed the lever sporadicaly/unknowingly or knew to push it

  • behaviours: whether they push the lever

  • consequence: this is what happends after the operant (result) for the rat it got a pellet of food

Immitation/observation

  • social learning theory

Basic assumptions

vicarious reinforcement

  • the observer sees the model receiving a positive or negative consequence which affects likelihood of immitation

imitation

  • copying behaviour

identification

  • copying someone u can relate to

modelling

  • following behaviour u think is good

Bobo doll experiment

by Bandura

aim

  • to investigate if social behaviours can be aquired by observation and imitation

procedure

  • 36 male and 36 female participants aged 3-6

  • aggression levels tested to eliminate any extreme aggressiveness or anyone too calm

  • then assigned to 1 of 3 conditions

  • each condition has 12 females and 12 male children

Stages of the Experiment

  • Modeling

    1. Condition 1: Watched female or male model be aggressive to a Bobo doll

    2. Condition 2: Watched female or male model be nice to a Bobo doll

    3. Control: Just watched the Bobo doll and nothing else

  • Aggression Arousal

    1. All subjected to mild aggression arousal by saying how good new toys were, then saying they are not allowed to play with them

  • Delayed Imitation

    1. All conditions had aggressive toys (e.g., dart gun and hammer) and non-aggressive toys (e.g., dolls and a tea set)

    2. The children were each observed for 20 minutes through a one-way mirror in 5-second intervals

results

  • children who oberved the agressive modle where generally agressive to the bobo doll then the non-agressive and control conditions

  • boys r more likely to imitate same sex models than girls

  • the evidence for girls immitating same sex models r not strong

conclusion

  • findings support bandura’s social learning theory

evaluation

pros

cons

    • Control over extraneous variables (e.g., taking out children that are too aggressive or calm)

    • Practical application

    • Has a matched pair design

    • Shows children learning by imitation/observation, so it can show the effects it has on children

    • There is a lot of aggression in the media, so it shows the importance of age ratings

mediational processes ARRM

Attention: for a behaviour to be imitated it has to grab attention. You have to see or hear an action to imitate it.

Retention: a memory of a behaviour must be formed for it to later be imitated e.g. thinking about it.

Reproduction: whether we are physically able to reproduce the observed behaviour to imitate it.

Motivation: the rewards and punishment will be considered before the immitation. do the benifits outweigh the costs and visa versa.