Reading Week Six

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Chapter 4: Learning

Lifelong Learning

Learning is a continuous and dynamic process that significantly influences daily behaviour and decision-making. Understanding various learning processes is critical for self-awareness, personal development, and adapting to changes in one's environment. It involves both cognitive and emotional dimensions that shape how individuals perceive and respond to the world around them.

Learning Objectives

• Stimulus Exposure: Understand how regular exposure to specific stimuli alters behavioural responses, creating patterns in behaviour.

• Event Prediction: Describe the mechanisms through which organisms, including humans, utilize learning to anticipate significant events in their lives, enhancing survival and adaptability.

• Behaviour Consequences: Explain how positive and negative consequences of actions influence behaviour, reinforcing certain behaviours while discouraging others.

• Cognitive Role: Appreciate the essential role cognition plays in influencing human behaviour and decision-making processes.

• Memory Theories Connection: Connect learning processes to established theories on memory, emphasizing the relationship between learning experiences and neural network development in the brain.

Applying Psychology

• Punishment Techniques: Investigate whether punishment techniques can effectively save children suffering from dangerous behavioural disorders, assessing ethical considerations and potential outcomes.

• Systematic Desensitization: Analyze the effectiveness of systematic desensitization in helping individuals overcome debilitating phobias through gradual exposure and conditioning.

• Classical Conditioning for Wildlife: Explore the use of classical conditioning as a strategy to promote wildlife protection, training animals to avoid hazards through associative learning.

Psychological Literacy and Graduate Attributes (GA)

• GA 1: Discipline Knowledge Application: Recognize that continual learning is fundamental for effectively adapting to varied environments and challenges.

• GA 2: Research Methods: Identify and explore various research methods, focusing on classical and operant conditioning as key frameworks for understanding behaviour.

• GA 3: Critical and Creative Thinking: Develop critical thinking skills by evaluating the relationship between television violence and aggressive behaviour in consumers, considering societal implications.

• GA 4 & GA 6: Values and Ethics: Question and reflect on common assumptions and societal norms surrounding behaviour control, emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations in psychological practices.

Memory and Learning Processes

Adjustment in Life

Significant experiences, such as the first day of school, serve as critical learning moments that emphasize how individuals adapt through learning. This involves recognizing and responding to signals in one’s environment, which is crucial for navigating new experiences successfully.

Development

Learning processes constitute biological adaptations that modify pre-existing behaviours and enhance understanding, highlighting an intricate interplay between genetics and environment in shaping behaviour and cognition.

Example Sayings

The proverb "Once bitten, twice shy" effectively illustrates the learning acquired through personal experiences, demonstrating the cautious behaviour that arises after a negative experience.

Forms of Learning

• Habituation: A psychological phenomenon where there is a decreased response to consistently unchanging stimuli, which plays a critical role in helping organisms adapt to their environments by filtering out irrelevant information.

• Dishabituation: The re-encountering of a previously unfamiliar stimulus that reinvigorates attention and responds, reflecting the importance of novelty in learning.

• Sensitisation: The heightened responsiveness to a stimulus following emotional arousal, illustrating how emotions can alter perception and behaviour.

Classical Conditioning

Process:

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus (NS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that naturally triggers a response (unconditioned response or UCR). Over time, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits a conditioned response (CR).

Key Terms:

• UCS: An unconditioned stimulus that triggers an unlearned response.

• UCR: The natural, unlearned reaction to the UCS.

• CS: A previously neutral stimulus that now elicits a conditioned response due to its association with the UCS.

• CR: The learned reaction to the CS, developed through conditioning.

• Extinction: The phenomenon where the conditioned response diminishes over time when the UCS is no longer presented.

• Spontaneous Recovery: The temporary reappearance of the conditioned response after extinction has occurred, showcasing the resilience of learned associations.

• Generalisation: The tendency for a conditioned response to be elicited by stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus.

• Discrimination: The learned ability to distinguish between the conditioned stimulus and other, similar stimuli.

Operant Conditioning

Definition:

Operant conditioning involves learning through the association of behaviours with their consequences, which reinforces or diminishes the likelihood of those behaviours occurring in the future.

Thorndike's Law of Effect:

This law states that behaviours followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated, while those followed by unpleasant outcomes are less likely to occur again.

Reinforcers:

• Positive Reinforcer: A pleasant stimulus introduced following a behaviour that increases the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated.

• Negative Reinforcer: The removal of an unpleasant stimulus following a behaviour that also increases the likelihood of that behaviour repeating.

• Escape Conditioning: A learning phenomenon where a behaviour terminates an aversive stimulus, leading to behaviour repetition.

• Avoidance Conditioning: A learning process in which the behaviour prevents an aversive stimulus from occurring altogether.

Reinforcement Impact:

Different reinforcement schedules significantly influence the rate of learning and the resilience of learned behaviours against extinction.

• Fixed-Ratio: Reinforcement occurs after a specific number of responses (e.g., a reward after every 10th action).

• Variable-Ratio: Reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable number of responses, creating a high rate of response (e.g., gambling).

• Fixed-Interval: Reinforcement occurs after a set period (e.g., weekly paycheck).

• Variable-Interval: Reinforcement occurs at varying time intervals, promoting steady and persistent behaviour.

Cognitive Processes in Learning

Role of Cognition:

Cognitive processes play a pivotal role in learning, often influenced by expectations, prior knowledge, and the contextual factors surrounding the learning experience.

• Learned Helplessness: A condition wherein individuals believe they lack control over outcomes, leading to passive responses to challenges.

• Latent Learning: Refers to learning that takes place without reinforcement, suggesting that cognitive maps and understanding can occur in absence of explicit rewards.

• Insight Learning: A type of learning that involves an intellectual shift in understanding or problem-solving that occurs suddenly rather than through trial and error.

• Observational Learning (Social Learning): Learning that takes place through observing others and vicarious reinforcement, emphasizing the social aspects of learning and development.

Using Research on Learning

Educational Application:

Research on learning has significant implications for educational practices, helping to shape effective teaching methods that enhance student engagement and understanding.

• Skill Learning: The role of ongoing practice and constructive feedback is critical in the acquisition and mastery of skills.

• Reciprocal Teaching: A pedagogical approach in which children teach one another, fostering deeper understanding and retention of knowledge through active engagement.

Summary on Learning

Processes:

Learning occurs through interactions with stimuli, associations formed through conditioning, consequences of behaviours, and cognitive understanding, which all contribute to personal development.

Applications:

The principles of learning have broad applications in education, therapy, and behaviour management, highlighting their significance in promoting adaptive behaviours and improving overall quality of life.