evaluate classical conditioning
S. watson and rayner/ pavlov
O. reductionist- only explains acquisition of simple reflex responses like salivation, anxiety. cant account for more complex chains of learned behavior e.g. acquisition of fear of dogs not maintenance
D. operant conditioning
A. treatments e.g. systematic desensitization used to treat phobias by breaking the association of cs with cr
describe the process of classical conditioning
- UCS stimulated an unconditioned responce such as salivation, anxiety or sexual arousal
- Pairing of NS with UCS stimulates an UCR
- NS is now CS which elicits the CR
evaluate operant conditioning
S. skinners rats
O. only explaining how existing behaviours are strenghtened or weakened, not how they originate. can explain complex chains of behaviours
D. classical conditioning
A. reinforcement in schools, star everytime they do good work
name and explain the schedules of reinforcement
fixed ratio- every n times the behaviour is displayed e.g. trick or treating one sweet per house
variable ratio- random n of times- gambline machine pays on average every 50th go
fixed interval- every n amount of time- getting payed £8 per hour
variable interval- random amount of time- fish bited on average every 15 minuits
stages of social learning theory
- attention
- retention
- reproduction
- motivation
evaluate social learning theory
S. bandura
O. kendler- identical twins are more similar in levels of aggression than non-identical twins. individual differenced are genetically influenced
D. classical conditioning
A. role models promoting healthy eating
bandura procedure
- 36 boys, 36 girls age 3-6 stanford uni nursery
- match pair- same gender, 3 groups- agressive model, non agressive model, no model
- children allowed to play with toys
- agression arousal, children shown shiny new toys and told they were for other children
- room with bobo doll, 1 way mirror. imitative, partially imitative, non imitative
bandura findings
- non agression, control group displayed much less agression
- boys- physical, girls-verbal
- more likely to imitate same sex models
evaluate banduras procedure
+ validity- matched for agression and gender
+ reliability- behaviour observed through a one way winow. inter rater
- external validity- lab study and situation in which agression was measured is different to the typical situation which tey would have normally displayed agression. lacks mundane realism
- generalisability- all children from stanford university nursery
explain the 2 process model
acquisition- classical conditioning. ns becomes conditioned responce
maintenance- operant conditioning. reward or punishment
evaluate the 2 process model
+ watson and rayner- acquisition though classical conditioning
+ maintenance- skinners rats
+ application- treatments e.g. systematic desensitization
- cant be explained by learning alone- evolutionary explanation
3 stages of systematic desensitization
anxiety hierarchy- phobic stimuli are ranked from least to most frightening
relaxation techniques- excersises e.g. breathing techniques are taught to client by therapist
gradual exposure- client is fully exposed to stimuli when in relaxed state
evaluate the use of systematic desensitisation
+ gilroy- compared clients recieving SD for arachnophobia with controle group. 3 months after treatment, SD group were less fearful than control group
+ ethics- patient is in full control of exposure to stimuli
- effectivness- not all clients can learn the relaxation techniques
- expensive, longer process than flooding
explain the process of flooding
imediate exposure to a very frightening situation e.g. treating arachnophobia may have a spider crawling over them
without the options of avoidance behaviour the client quickly learns that the phobic stimulous are harmless
evaluate the use of flooding
+ cost effective and quick- only a couple of session
+ most people can have the treatment
- cant be used for all phobias e.g. social phobias
- client experiences high anxiety, sometimes strengthenes the phobia e.g. client exposed to snakes saw them everytime they closed their eyes
describe the procedure of watson and rayner
- little albert chosen for his emotional stability, 9 months old at the start of the experiment
- presented with a white rat
- every time he reached for the rat the researcher hit a hammer against a metal bar behind his head
- wooden block used as control
- other white fluffy stimuli used e.g. santa hat and white fluffy coat
watson and rayner findings
- baseline testing- displayed no fear to objects but responded to loud noise
- after conditioning he cried and tried to rapidly crawl away
- session 4 and 5- alberts fear remained but less extreme when he was in a different enviornment and over time
evaluate watson and rayners study
+ validity- emotional stability, wooden blocks used, took place in a well controlled room
+ development of treatment’s
- generalisability- only 1 ppts, 9 months old
- validity- some aspects not well controls e.g. rabit was suddenly placed infront of albert and a reluctant dog was pushed towards him. this action may have triggered a fear responce rather than the action itself
describe beckers procedure
- multi wave, cross sectional, naturalistic design. looking at the imact of western t.v. in fiji
- initial study- 63, second sample of 65 fijian girls
- ppts interviewed and completed the eat-26 questionire
- 1988 group asked additional questions e.g. do you ever think you should eat less
- girls who scored over the threshold for dysfunctionl eating based on the eat-26 questionaire were given futher interviews
evaluate beckers study
+ ecological validity- t.v. was naturally being introduced introduced at the time so different social norms were naturally inroduced
+ reliability- eat 26 questionaire widely used throughout the psychological community. it is recognised as a relible survey
- generalisability- sample was specific to Fijian culture at the time which has traditionally different attitudes towards eating than Western culture.
- extraneous variables e.g. tourism. Seeing other cultures in person may have had a greater impact on body image than seeing it on television
beckers findings
self inflicted vmiting increased from 0-11.3%
eat-26 score of 20+ over doubled
body dissatisfaction increased
describe positive reinforcement
reward of something good is given because of the behavior
the behavior is repeated
describe negative reinforcement
the reward of removing something unpleasant is given because of the behavior
behavior is repeated
define positive punishment
something unpleasant happens because of the behavior
behavior is not repeated
