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Intro to psychology Part 1: Learning
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This is a summary of lecture series about learning, which covers the way in which humans learn behaviours
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LEARNING LECTURE 1:Behaviourist theories:
- John B. Watson, Edward Thorndike, B.F. Skinner- they were critical of
frued
- Emphasis on NB of the scientific method
- Belief that only observable behaviours can be scientifically investigated
( not emotions, motivations, and thoughts as these are subjective)
- Early experiments mostly in labs with animals and children –
questionable because what you see in a lab isn’t necessarily what you
will see in real life
Watson: classical conditioning
- Behaviourism doesn’t take religions, moral and free will into account. –
believe you can condition a person to do anything, but
- Want to treat research as if it was chemistry or physics- but people are
more complex than that
, - Good evidence base to support behaviourist theories
- Theories also criticised for being deterministic (I can determine what you
do, you have no free will), reductionistic (people are complex,
behaviourist simplify this) , too dependent on external observations
while ignoring internal processes and social factors.
What is learning?
Learning is a relatively permanent or enduring change in behaviour or
knowledge that results from previous experience with certain stimuli or
responses
- Learning allows us to adapt to our environment
- Learning influences how we perceive the environment and interpret
stimuli
- Learning results in physical change in the brain
- However, not all behaviour change is the result of learning e.g. illness,
fatigue, developmental stage.
Categories of Behaviours:
Reflexes:
- Involuntary responses to stimuli
- Fast, reliable responses controlled by the CNS
- E.g. sneeze, fight/flight response, laughing, eye blink
Instincts:
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