Chapter 3: Conditioning, Social Learning Theory, Schemas, and Mental Models
Fundamentals of Conditioning and Learning
Learning: Defined as a relatively permanent change in thought or behavior as a result of practice or experience.
Conditioning: Refers to the specific mechanisms and processes through which concepts and stimuli become associated with one another.
Classical Conditioning Foundations:
Also known as Pavlovian conditioning.
Ivan Pavlov was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1940.
Initial Observation: Dogs naturally salivate (drool) when they are presented with or about to receive food.
Core Research Question: Can an animal be conditioned to drool in response to an unrelated stimulus?
Hypothesis: Associating the sound of a ringing bell with the presentation of food will cause the bell alone to elicit salivation in the dog.
Human Conditioning and Cognitive Processing:
Humans operate as cognitive misers, meaning the human brain seeks efficient processing strategies to conserve mental energy.
The brain rapidly forms quick associations through mechanisms such as stereotypes.
Connections between concepts and stimuli are repeatedly reinforced over time.
Responses in classical conditioning are strictly passive and involuntary.
Examples of Conditioned Stimuli:
Message alerts on electronic devices.
Call and response communication patterns.
Brand associations in marketing and consumer behavior.
Operant Conditioning and Feedback Mechanisms
Distinction Between Conditioning Types:
Classical Conditioning: The organism's response is passive and involuntary.
Operant Conditioning: The organism's response is active and voluntary.
The Skinner Box:
Also referred to as an operant conditioning chamber.
Designed to observe and measure how animals interact with their environment to learn specific behaviors.
Role of Feedback:
Learning is driven by reinforcement structures.
Positive Reinforcement: Involves a reward.
Negative Reinforcement: Involves punishment or stimulus removal.
Types of Reinforcers:
Primary Reinforcers: Satisfy unlearned, fundamental biological needs essential for survival (e.g., food, sex).
Secondary Reinforcers: Satisfy learned values established through conditioning (e.g., grades, money).
Loss Aversion:
A biological and psychological phenomenon defined as a perspective in which negativity escapes and dominates positivity.
The Addiction Paradox:
Substances such as drugs and alcohol temporarily increase pleasure and reduce pain.
Negative consequences and negative reinforcement are frequently outweighed by immediate sensory rewards, despite severe secondary costs including:
Hangovers.
Physical illness.
Social rejection.
Legal issues.
Substance use is subject to the principle of diminishing returns over time.
Social Learning Theory (SLT) and Media Influence
Core Concepts of Social Learning Theory:
Operant conditioning principles mediated via observation and behavioral modeling.
Reinforcement within Social Learning Theory is indirect or vicarious rather than directly experienced.
Developmental Aspects of Social Learning Theory:
Children learn behaviors primarily by observing modeled actions.
Children track and evaluate the consequences of modeled behaviors through vicarious reinforcement.
Predictors of Model Adoption:
An individual is significantly more likely to adopt a modeled behavior when:
The model exhibits similarity to the observer.
The model possesses admired status or authority.
The model receives explicit rewards for the behavior.
The behavior demonstrates clear functional value.
The behavior can be retained in memory.
The behavior can be physically and cognitively reproduced (requiring adequate ability and self-efficacy).
Media Modeling and Parasocial Dynamics:
Behaviors are frequently modeled by media personae.
Real People as Models:
Social media influencers (e.g., Alix Earle).
Traditional celebrities.
Fictional media characters.
Parasocial Relationships: One-sided psychological connections formed between media consumers and media figures.
Reading Cognition and Mental Representations
The Evolutionary Context of Reading:
Reading is an artificial, unnatural cognitive process.
Written language developed significantly later than spoken language.
Human speech originated approximately (~1.75 million years ago).
Phonological Awareness:
Definition: The ability to accurately perceive, distinguish, and produce speech sounds.
Requires that words "play fairly" according to established phonics rules.
Processing phonics rules can be highly laborious, demanding significant cognitive effort.
Symbol Imagery:
Definition: The structural ability to picture letters and words within the "mind's eye".
Essential for recognizing "sight words".
Directly impacts reading spelling accuracy and reading fluency.
Mental Representation:
Definition: The cognitive ability to mentally simulate objects, spatial layouts, and physical actions.
Factors Interfering with Reading Comprehension:
Exposure to unfamiliar vocabulary.
Total cognitive confusion resulting from reading highly complex or difficult text structures.
Schemata Properties and Cognitive Functions
Definition of Schemata:
Schema (singular) / Schemata (plural).
Defined as cognitive structures that represent knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus, including its attributes and the exact relations among those attributes.
Characteristics of Schemata:
Cognitive Structures: Internal association networks built progressively through life experiences; serves as a scaffolded foundation for learning.
Representative Nature: Schemata are not perfect copies of objective reality, but are instead actively shaped by personal perception.
Indirect Development: Can be acquired indirectly through Social Learning Theory mechanisms, such as hearing verbal descriptions of events or experiencing events through media.
Schema Activation Dynamics:
Activating a specific schema automatically triggers its relevant associated concepts.
Ranges from general to highly individualized forms.
Transitions from simple structures to complex constructs (especially when an individual fears or dislikes a stimulus).
Four Primary Functions of Schemata:
Guiding Attention: Filters inputs efficiently because humans operate as cognitive misers.
Organizing and Storing Information: Categorizes new data into existing knowledge frameworks.
Filling in Missing Information: Infers absent details based on prior expectations.
Interpreting New Situations: Assists in cognitive problem-solving during unfamiliar events.
Schemata and Expectations:
Scripts: Standardized mental sequences for specific event procedures.
Stereotypes: Fixed schemata applied to social groups, media narrative structures (story schemata), and media classifications (genre schemata).
Mental Models and Story Comprehension
Mental Models:
Specialized categories of schemata representing internal cognitive models of how systems or processes operate.
Systems Models: General representations of functional processes; can be concrete or abstract.
Event Models: Cognitive representations of specific episodes or lived experiences, functioning similarly to episodic memories.
Situation Models: Mental representations of specific events observed and processed through language, including media content.
Mental Models in Narrative and Story Comprehension:
Local Coherence: The ongoing process of comprehending new incoming story information by grounding it in earlier context.
Event-Indexing Model: Tracking changes in time, space, characters, goals, and causality throughout a narrative.
Character Models: Building internal understandings of character traits, motivations, and behaviors based on prior narrative context.
Spatial Models: Constructing internal spatial mapping of the physical layout of the storyworld.
Storyworld Models: Comprehensive representations of narrative reality that facilitate the psychological suspension of disbelief.