Learning

1 Describe
the following forms of learning habituation classical

instrumental and social learning

conditioning operant conditioning

Give Illustrations

Habituation

gradual
Habituation be described the decrease in
can as magnitude
of
response based on the increasing familiarity with a

neutral stimulus due to repeated exposure

Illustration
 Classical Conditioning

This can be described the

as development of a
response to a

neutral stimulus via associating said neutral stimulus with an

unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned Hence associating

response

the unconditioned
response with the neutral stimulus developing a

conditioned
response
Instrumental Operant conditioning

This be described the via nature

can as influencing
of behaviour
of the consequence of said behaviour This can be done via either
Reinforcement of Punishment

Reinforcement is described as the promotion of behavior There is

Positive reinforcement i.e the addition

ofsome stimuli that would

promote the prior behaviour and Negative reinforcement chick can be

described as the removal of some stimuli which results in the

the prior behaviour

promotion
of

Punishment is the
described as dissuasion
of behaviour via consequence
due to said behaviour Positive
punishment can be described as the
dissuasion the addition
of behaviour via of some stimuli such

as pain Negative painstment can be described as the dissuasion

of some behaviour via the removal of some stimuli Such as taking

a toy away from a bad kid or taking freedom

from a prisoner
Social Learning

Social learning is the

defined as learning or development of
others There
responses due to observation and imitation
of are

different types of social learning A model is the person or

being in which behaviour is via observation

influenced by
There are three observational occur
ways learning can

You learn a new response

You observe the consequences of someone's actions and develop a

behavioural
pattern to suit the outcome

You learn a general rule that can be applied to other situations

or circumstances
 What the
2 are stages
of social learning

Stage 1 Firstly you need to focus on the model from which

This is called Observation

you are observing

Stages Secondly
you need to remember or retain whatthe actions
and the result This is called Retention
performed of said actions were

Step 3 Thirdly
you need to reproduce the responses based on

the consequences of the responses prior This is called reproduction

Step Lastly
4 you need to want to perform what you
learned

when the given stimulus arises to achieve the expected result

This desire to reproduce is called Motivation
3 What the
are schedules
of Reinforcement

The schedules
of reinforcement are as follows

fixed ratio reinforcement

Variable ratio reinforcement

fixed interval reinforcement

Variable interval reinforcement

VRR
Variable ratio reinforcement is described as
reinforcement
where the
number of responses required precursing reinforcement is variable or

This is the most

unpredictable effective form of reinforcement

Eg Gambling person is always expecting that the next iteration of

the gambling structure can produce the reinforcement they are

seeking this anticipation keeps them going

RRR
This is where the number required precursing the
of responses

partial reinforcement is set or predictable Meaning expectations are

known leaving no room

for anticipation or expectation above

the set response frequency This leads to a high response rate

with pauses after partial reinforcement is received

FIR
Fixed interval reinforcement is described as partial reinforcement therein
the interval or amount
oftime
between the availability of partial
reinforcement as a result of some response is fixed or unchangeable

An example of this is where a recovering surgery patient is given

an IV with painkillers and a button The button can be pressed
Whenever butonly once every hour does it release the painkillers when

Therefore
pressed pain relief can be expected once every
hour regardless of frequency or magnitude of response

VIR
Variable Interval Reinforcement be described
can as partial
reinforcement on the basis
of a
response per a varying
interval In other words the person produces
of time passing a

response and only relieves partial reinforcement once every

interval
at
of time where se can be amount unknown
any
time

An onample
ofthis will be a fast food restaurant providing
 20 bonus all
a
for employees
if quality control decides to make
check the restaurant is clean and service is
a on a
day there
fast Because the manager Lenny does not know when the

person is going to do a check he is

motivated to producefast
service keep the restaurant

4 What are the following principles

Generalization

Generalization in a phenomenon where a being who has learned

something
finds ways to apply
whatever learned to other similar yet
different stimulus It occurs in Social Learning especially where
Vicarious or vicarious Punishment to
reinforcement may motivate someone

look for ways to apply

the behaviour learned to other situations similar
to the one modelled to achieve a similar result

Discrimination

Discrimination
with regards to learning is when an organism learns

to respond differently to similar butdifferent stimuli An example

of this is where a cat has been conditioned run to thebitcheat the sound
of
mechanned cat food Then when
a
opener opening a can
of a

food processor is turned on though the sounds state are similar

and the cat may come runningthe firsttime the cat will learn that these
sounds are not the same and will begin to ignore the food

processor

Spontaneous Recovery

This the
is described as recovery of an extinct conditioned
response

due to a rest period of the response An example of this is

if the

previously mentioned cat does not get food after hearing the opener
The cat to run tothe
for a couple oftimes conditioned response

kitchen when the opener sounds is then extinct However given a

break of a couple hours the cat begins to run to the kitchen once

more when the bell is heard

 Differentiate between
escape and avoidance conditioning

Escape Conditioning

This is the
development of a reaction of response to stop the

persistence of an unpleasant stunters This takes

place as

an organism learns that whenthis stinks begins to stop it they

would need to respond in a certain manner this developed response is

the Conditioned Escape response

An example ofthis is a rat in a cage with a shock collar

and a lever A small continuous shock is applied to the rat and

after trying everything the rat eventually possibly by mistake hits the

lever and the pain stops After enough shocks the rat will
learn thatthe lever is what stops the shock

Avoidance Conditioning

Avoidance Conditioning
similarly is a learned response to a
unpleasant stimulus However it takes This means
place preventatively
that after the organism is subjected to this stunder enough times
it will develop behaviour to prevent them from being subject to the stimulus
or reduce exposion to said stimulus Provided a method to do so exists
An example can be made of the scenario where the rat is in a box

with a shock collar and a switch Now let us add a

light to the
hose Beforethe shock begins the
light comes on and the rat continues
to turn the shock collar
offwith the switch After a while the rat

realizes that the light comes on right before the shock The net
then begins to flip the switch in response to the light Making
the response premptive to the stimulus the shock
6 Whatis Punishment

a Whats the difference between

punishment and negative reinforcement

She difference between punishment and negative reinforcement and

punishment is that punishment is meant to dissuade or negatively affect

the FREQUENCY of behaviour regarless of negative removing something or

positive adding something nature Reinforcement is the promotion of

regardless of positive or nature
behaviour negative Therefore negative reinforcement

the Promotion
is of a behavior by removing something and Punishment is
the disiration
of behaviour whether removing or adding some stimulus

b Advantages Disadvantages
of Punishment

Advantages

Punishment
directly addresses negative behaviour and shows those

punished that their negative behaviour have impleasant consequences

It can be easily associated with severity of consequences

for
behaviour that is the
very detrimental to person giving an increased

sense
of significance to the prevention of repeating the action

Disadvantages
 It can
garner negative relationship between the pushers and

the punished despite the goal of the punishment being goodfaithed

They less likely to actually improve the behaviour the individual

are
of
as whilethere may be or actual reduction
temporary assumed
of
unproductive or unpleasant behaviour it usually leads to the afformentioned

resentment which then leads to other destructive behavior or even

the same behaviour as a means to lash out or to subside the

feeling of lack of control in the dynamic of punisher and punished

effectively
C Can punishment be used to curtail unwanted behaviour

Punishment can
be effective to curtail negative behaviour especially when

a decrease is behaviour is of significant imminent consequence but

it may be more effective to influence behaviour by the use of
Reinforcement Moreover
if Punishment is used it should be
Positive punishment as it gives the punisher something to base the

which would easily be transferred

severity
ofthe consequences on more

to the punished With negative reinforcement it is harder to guage and

match relative severities the

of actions and significance of the
stimulus to be removed
from the punished as
you are not them