Learning is said to occur as a result of associations being made between stimulus and responses that didn’t exist before learning takes place. “Conditioning” is a term that is used to describe associative learning. Rats and pigeons which were his preferred animal species to study. He designed a simple box (which became known as the “Skinner Box”) that contained a lever or a key. The learning outcome (desired behaviour) was for the rat to press the lever, or the pigeon to
This theory works through stimuli and responses. Psychologists also use Observational Learning when analysing the causes behind phobias. This essay will explain the differences between both these learning theories then go on to discuss whether or not either of them can explain phobias about snakes or creepy crawlies. Behaviourism is plays a major role in the school of thought within psychology. It believes that learning occurs through interaction with the environment and that it is the environment that shapes behaviour instead of through thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Gray's RST approach to personality divides personality into two main factors, the behavioural inhibition system (BIS) and the behavioural activation system (BAS); these systems work adjacently to each other. BIS is sensitive to punishment, anxiety and fear whereas BAS responds to rewards, dopamine, impulsivity and appetite for pleasurable things. There is a third facts, FFS (fight flight system) but it is very similar to BIS in that it relates to avoiding punishment and negative stimuli. Support for this model comes from looking at its biological link and it has been found that BIS is linked to nor-adrenaline (Milner and Veznedaroglu, 1993). This suggests that punishment and anxiety can release nor-adrenaline which is part of the fight or flight response which is instigated when trying to avoid fearful stimuli and that is what the BIS system is about.
This is more likely if the behaviour is positively reinforced. The other way is through indirect experience; this is when an individual learns behaviour to imitate, which is based on reinforcements that they see others receiving. An example of this would be if we see someone being punished for aggression we are not likely to copy it. If we see someone praised we may be more likely to imitate them. This theory acknowledges that there are some cognitive elements to being able to observe and imitate behaviours.
This is vicarious reinforcement. A child forms a mental representation of an event, including the possible rewards or punishments of the behaviour. When a child imitates an aggressive behaviour, they gain direct experience, and the outcome of the behaviour influences the value of aggression for the child. If they are rewarded they are more likely to repeat the behaviour. Children develop self-efficacy, which is confidence in their ability to successful carry out a behaviour.
his findings implied that behaviours such as aggression are determined by a persons social environment. When Bandura also rewarded the role models aggression, the children's aggresion increases, showing that learning can also be vicarious. Another theory actions with positive consequences will continue. This was demonstrated when Bandura directly rewarded the children for their aggressive behaviour. This reinforcement theory is also linked to Skinners idea of behaviourism but with the newer idea that watching consequences to others behaviours, we learn how to react in a similar situation to achieve a positive outcome.
From these models, children therefore learn about the nature of aggressive behaviour, the situations where it is appropriate and its likely consequences. In addition, although aggressive behaviour is learned by either direct or vicarious reinforcement, whether it is produced or not is determined by an individual’s expectation of reward and confidence in their ability to use it effectively (self-efficacy). Bandura (1986) claimed that for social learning to take place, individuals must be able to form a mental representation of the aggressive behaviour and the anticipated rewards or punishments that might be associated with it. In the future, if an appropriate opportunity arises, the individual will produce the aggressive behaviour, provided the expectation of reward is greater than the expectation of punishment. Social learning theorists suggest that children learn their aggressive behaviour from aggressive models on TV, who essentially become a source of the ‘scripts’ that guide the child’s own behaviour.
The second being retention where the observer must remember what they have seen or learnt. The third is reproduction where the observer must be capable of doing the behaviour they have seen and finally motivation- the observer must have a reason to perform the new action. Psychologists abbreviate this to ‘ARRM’. For example a child may pay attention to an adult acting aggressively; the child would then retain this information so as to remember it. The child would now reproduce the behaviour which it is capable of doing so and finally the child must be motivated to perform the new action- in this case the child may look up to or idolise the adult.
An example of operant conditioning is punishing a child for not doing a chore. The two procedures are similar because they produce a desired behavior. In my opinion, the operant conditioning procedure is more effective when dealing with people. I know this because of firsthand experience with my kids. If they know that there will be consequences for not doing their chores or getting bad grades, they will be more likely to do their chores and get better grades to avoid the punishment.
It is thought that most aggression is learnt by observational learning, usually from those who are of a big significance to us. From these models we learn about the nature of aggressive behaviour and to which situations this behaviour is appropriate and also its likely consequences. According to behaviourists, behaviour that is reinforced (rewarded) will be repeated and learned and aggression that is associated with a reward (e.g. Praise) is likely to be learned. However there are various factors that can determine whether a person will be aggressive in a certain situation, one of these is whether a person’s previous experiences of aggression (either their own or aggression of another person) were good or bad experiences.