The Learning Perspective

What is Psychology for a Behaviourist?

(It will be beneficial to you if you note down any strengths/evidence for and weaknesses/evidence against as you go along. This will help you compile your evaluative points at the end)

Read Glassman pages 100- 102 and make brief notes on what is behaviourism (learning perspective) and the main assumptions underlying this approach.

A very brief ppt explaing the unit objectives

1) Developmental and Cultural Contexts
You need to investigate the historical and cultural conditions that gave rise to the learning perspective.

Question- How did the criticisms against the psychodynamic perspective influence the development of the learning perspective?

Write down all the main criticisms of psychoanalysis and how you think the next perspective (historically) may have developed from these.


Question- This approach focuses on the scientific approach. What is the scientific approach and how does it differ from the methods/approaches used by the psychoanalysts?

Question- What makes something a science?








See this powerpoint for an overview of the origins of the perspective and the cultural and historical contexts.

Read the handout given to you on the historical and cultural contexts.

From the PPT and the handout complete a Blog entry on 'What was the historical and cultural context of the learning perspective?'

Read the handout on the free-will and determinism debate in psychology and make your own summary notes.

Read Glassman pages 102-104 and make summary notes on the founders of the learning perspective- Thorndike (law of effect) and Watson ("Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant chief and yes, even beggar man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors".

Key Terms
Read Glassman pages 104 and 105 to understand the main terminology used by the behaviourists (learning theorists): Stimulus, response, reflex and voluntary response.

2) Framework
Classical Conditioning (Learning by Association)

Pavlov and his dogs!


Play the classical conditioning game- can you make a dog salivate??

Read Glassman pages 106-114 and make brief summary notes on the empirical studies of Pavlov.
Key terms: UCR, CR, UCS, CS, NS, generalization, discrimination, extinction, spontaneous recovery and higher order conditioning.



Complete the gapped activity sheet on classical conditioning



Applications of Classical Conditioning
Systematic Desensitisation

Flooding

Aversion Therapy

Conditioned Emotional Response (used in the treatment of phobias)
The case of 'Little Albert'


Read and make notes from Glassman pages 114-118 on conditioned emotional responses and conditioned drug and immune system responses.


Complete the gapped handout on Baby Albert's conditioning


If you're interested in what happened to Little Albert see this article.

Operant Conditioning (by consequences)


Read and make notes from Glassman pages 118-120 to understand the foundations of operant conditioning in the work of Thorndike.




Skinner was the pioneer of operant conditioning and he created a framework for the study of learned behaviour.
Read about Skinner and OC on pages 120-121.
He did many experiments- one of these was putting rats into a 'Skinner Box' to see how learning is related to reinforcement and he also conducted a study called 'Superstition in the Pigeon'.
See handout from 40 studies that changed psychology also.

Glassman pages 122-126. Read and make notes on the various types of reinforcer and see this link.

Glassman pages 126-128. Read and make notes on behaviour shaping and extinction and see this link for shaping and this link for extinction.

Glassman pages 128-134. Read and make notes on schedules of reinforcement and see this link.

Task
"An assumption can be defined as a belief or idea that psychologists studying behaviour from a particular perspective hold in common"
A) Outline one assumption from the learning perspective (3)
B) Explain how one empirical study from the learning perspective illustrates the assumption you have identified in part A). (5)

Applications of Operant Conditioning
Please read Glassman pages 134-137 and see these links to make your own notes on the practical applications of operant conditioning.
Link 1 An animal trainers guide to OC (includes some CC details also)
Link 2 Applications to education
Link 3 Explanation for drug use
Link 4 Shaping non-violence
Link 5 Examples of shaping (behaviour modification) in everyday life

Link 6 Language acqusition and Skinner vs Chomsky and Skinner and language and another Skinner link

Link 7 Language Acquisition Device

Glassman pages 137-138 read and make notes on how CC and OC are interralated.

Overview of classical and operant conditioning ppt

Task

Identify and evaluate one contribution of the learning perspective to the scientific study of behaviour (8)

Learned Helplessness
Seligman conducted a study on dogs and found that they could learn to become helpless and he linked this to depressive illnesses in humans. See this link and read the article given to you on Seligman's research.

Biology and OC
Read Glassman pages 138-140 on biofeedback. Think how this theory could be useful in the real world- what are the practical applications?

Read Glassman pages 141- 145. Make notes on the biological constraints on learning. (This is a discussion of the nature/nurture debate. Are we biologically prepared for some things or are we truly born a blank slate?)

Cognitive Maps
Edward Tolman considered the unobservable aspects of learning and is considered the founder of the cognitive-behaviourist perspective. See you handout on Tolman and cognitive maps.

Insight Learning (Refuting the radical behaviourists)
Glassman pages 150-152 read and make notes on Kohler.
Link 1 Kohler
Link 2 Tool making chimps
Link 3 The cognitive shift

Problems with classical and operant conditioning: Use this information and this link to add more evaluative points to your table. Use your notes, the textbook, other textbooks and www to find some more points.
Task:

A) Describe one study in which environmental factors contribute to explanations of behaviour within the learning perspective (4)

B) Explain how the findings of the study described in (a) have helped psychologists to understand behavioural change (4)

Check your knowledge of the behaviourist chapter in Glassman. See this link for some multiple choice questions.


Social Learning Theory

Link 1 Bandura Study
Link 2 Observational Learning
Link 3 Factors influencing SLT

Seligman and Learned helplessness

Evaluation
Link 1 Cross-cultural considerations
Link 2 Learned helplessness
Link 3 Limitations
Link 4 Why praising children may not work
Link 5 Overview
Link 6 Freewill Vs Determinism (handout in learning pack)

Example Questions
Link 1
Link 2

Overview of the Learning Perspective (great revision aid)