Chapter 1: Learning: definition, principles, and theories
Learning = a long-term change in mental representations or associations
because of experience.
- Learning is a long-term change
- Learning involves mental representations or associations so has a
basis in the brain
- Learning is a change because of experience
When studying the nature of human learning there are different types of
research:
- Basis research = investigate specific learning processes under
tightly controlled conditions, often looking at people’s responses to
contrived learning experiences in a laboratory.
- Applied research = investigate people’s learning in more ‘’real-
world’’ tasks and settings.
How to collect data:
- Quantitative: measurements and other numbers.
- Qualitative: verbal or behavioral performances.
Principles of learning identify certain factors that influence learning and
describe the specific effects these factors have. (WHAT)
When a principle is observed repeatedly it is sometimes called a law.
Theories of learning provide explanations about the underlying
mechanisms involved in learning. (WHY)
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Leren en cognitie samenvatting boek. Gemaakt door Danielle van der Gugten.
,Chapter 3: Behaviorism
Introspection = a method in which people were asked to ‘’look’’ inside
their heads and describe what they were thinking.
Basic assumptions behaviorism:
- Principles of learning should apply equally to different behaviors and
to a variety of animal species. (Equipotentiality: humans and
animals learn the same way)
- Learning processes can be studied most objectively when the focus
of study is on stimuli and responses. (S-R psychology)
- Internal processes tend to be excluded or minimized in theoretical
explanations.
- Learning involves a behavior change.
- Organisms are born as blank slates. (Tabula rasa)
- Learning is largely the result of environmental events.
(conditioning)
- The most useful theories tend to be parsimonious ones
(conciseness)
Determinists = they proposed that if we were to have complete
knowledge of an organism’s inherited behaviors, past experiences, and
present environmental circumstances, we would be able to predict the
organism’s next response with 100% accuracy.
Classical conditioning:
Three steps of Pavlov’s classical conditioning:
1. A neutral stimulus (NS) is identified – a stimulus to which the
organism doesn’t respond in any noticeable way.
2. The neutral stimulus (NS) is presented just before another
stimulus – one that does lead to a response. This second stimulus is
called an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the response to it is
called an unconditioned response (UCR).
3. The NS has become a conditioned stimulus (CS) to which the
organism has learned a
conditioned response
(CR).
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,Some psychologists describe classical conditioning as a form of signal
learning.
Classical conditioning usually involves the learning of involuntary
responses – responses over which the learner has no control.
When we say that a stimulus elicits a response – we mean that the
stimulus brings about a response automatically, without the learner having
much choice.
Common phenomena in classical conditioning:
- Associative bias = associations between certain kinds of stimuli
area more likely to be made than are associations between others.
- Importance of contingency = the potential conditioned stimulus
must occur only when the unconditioned stimulus is likely to follow –
when the CS serves as a signal that the UCS is probably on its way.
- Extinction = repeated presentations of the conditioned stimulus
without the unconditioned stimulus led to successively weaker and
weaker conditioned responses. The conditioned response
disappeared.
- Spontaneous recovery = a recurrence of a conditioned response
when a period of extinction is followed by a rest period.
- Generalization = when learners respond to other stimuli in the
same way they respond to a conditioned stimulus. The more similar
a stimulus is to the conditioned stimulus, the greater the probability
of generalization.
- Stimulus discrimination = differentiation between two stimulus
that look like each other.
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Leren en cognitie samenvatting boek. Gemaakt door Danielle van der Gugten.
, - Higher-order conditioning = see figure 3.2
Counterconditioning = to successfully eliminate an unproductive
conditioned response, then, the existing CS-CR association needs to be
overpowered by a different, stronger CS-CR association.
Counterconditioning involves the following steps:
1. A new response that is incompatible with the existing conditioned
response is chosen.
2. A stimulus that elicits the incompatible response must be identified
3. The stimulus that elicits the new response is presented to the
individual, and the conditioned stimulus eliciting the undesirable
conditioned response is gradually introduced into the situation.
Systematic desensitization = uses counterconditioning to treat many
conditioned anxiety responses.
Operant conditioning:
Thorndike’s law of effect:
Responses to a situation that are followed by satisfaction are
strengthened: responses that are followed by discomfort are weakened.
Skinner; operant conditioning =
A response that is followed by a reinforcer is strengthened and therefore
more likely to occur again.
A reinforcer = a stimulus or event that increases the frequency of a
response it follows. (The act of following a response with a reinforcer is
called reinforcement)
Transituational generality = any single reinforcer is likely to increase
many different behaviors in many different situations.
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Leren en cognitie samenvatting boek. Gemaakt door Danielle van der Gugten.
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