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Summary - Unit 4 - Learning theories (9PSO-01)
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A full in-depth summary of content notes following full specification for Learning Theories (including all case studies - GRAVE + SCODA)
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Learning Theories:1) Classical conditioning
2) Watson and Rayner à classic study
3) Operant conditioning
4) Animal Research
5) Social Learning theory
6) Banduras SLT à Bobo doll experiment (61,63,65)
7) Phobias
8) Becker (2002) à contemporary study
9) Key Question
,Classical Conditioning (Pavlov, 1927)
Classical conditioning à Learning through association, when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together - you learn to
associate one stimulus with another
• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) à Something that triggers a natural reaction (e.g., scream)
• Unconditioned response (UCR) à A response which is natural and does not need to be learnt (e.g., shock/
fear/shake)
• Neutral stimulus (NS) à Something that would not normally trigger a reaction (e.g.?)
• Conditioned stimulus (CS) à Something that triggers a learnt response (e.g., Every time a "?" appears someone
is going to scream)
• Conditioned response (CR) à A response which has been learnt through association (e.g., knowing you are
going to shake when scream is played after seeing a "?")
Stimulus generalisation à Once animals are conditioned, they will respond to other stimuli that are similar (e.g., Any tin
opened makes the cat enter the kitchen)
Extinction à The conditioned response (CR) isn't permanent. A few presentations of conditioned stimulus (CS) in the
absence of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) loses its ability to produce a conditioned response (CR).
Spontaneous recovery à Following the extinction of the CS and CR the conditioned response suddenly reappears again
Timing à If the NS can’t be used to predict the UCS (time interval is too great) then conditioning doesn’t take place
Pavlov’s Dogs experiment (1927):
When the dog see’s food it starts to salivate. The researcher sounds a bell every time food is going to be served. Every
time the bell is sounded the dog starts to salivate.
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) --> Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Food Salivation
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) -->
Food Unconditioned Response (UCR)
+ Salivation
Neutral stimulus (NS)
Bell
Conditioned Stimulus (CS) --> Conditioned Response (CR)
Bell Salivation
, Aim: • To find out of a reflexive behaviour can be produced in new situations through learning
• To see if associating a reflex with a natural stimulus (a sound) causes learning to take place,
producing a conditioned reflex in new situations.
IV: • Repeated measure design - uses same dogs before and after the procedure
• Dogs’ natural reflexive behaviour: salivating when food is in their mouths
• Dogs’ behaviour after they have been conditioned to associate food with a different stimulus
DV: • Pavlov's careful set-up enabled him to count how many drops of saliva the dogs produced.
Sample: • 35 dogs of a variety of breeds, raised in kennels in the lab
Procedure: • Pavlov placed each dog in a sealed room that didn't allow the dog to see, smell or hear
anything outside. (Prevents another extraneous variable from making the dog salivate)
• The dog was strapped into a harness to stop it moving about and its mouth was linked to a
tube that drained saliva away into a measuring bottle.
• Control condition --> Pavlov presented the dog with food (meat powder) through a hatch. The
dog salivated.
• Experimental condition --> Pavlov presented the dog with the Neutral Stimulus sound. The
dog did not salivate at this, showing that it was indeed a Neutral Stimulus
• To condition the dog, Pavlov paired the sound with the presentation of food. He usually did
this 20 times, but it depended on how attentive the dog was.
• After it was conditioned, Pavlov presented the dog with the sound but no meat.
Results: • Dog salivating: 9 seconds after hearing the sound
• By 45 seconds, 11 drops of saliva were produced
Conclusions: • He discovered classical conditioning
• The NS after being repeatedly paired with a UCS (the meat) it turned into a conditioned
stimulus, this produced the CR (salivation) all by itself
Evaluation:
Generalisability: Hard to generalize from dogs to humans
• Humans have different brains from dogs and much more complicated thoughts and
motives.
• They're not strongly motivated by finding food all the time, for example. But perhaps
humans have other motives that drive them just as strongly and they can be conditioned by
those.
Reliability: Reliable
• Standardized procedure
• The study was repeated may times over 25 years, with different dogs and neutral stimuli.
Different researcher was chosen to observe the dog and measure the saliva.
• The research had inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability
Application: For psychologist, the application is in further research into classical conditioning in humans. For
example, John Watson conditioned little albert to show fear and this research was directly inspired
by Pavlov.
Validity: Objective and scientific
• There don't seem to be any other stimuli that could be making the dogs salivate
Low ecological validity
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