ASSIGNMENT VIII – PSYCHOLOGY

RIYA SINGH

19FLICDN01106

BBA.LLB (HONS) 1ST YEAR SEC B

1. WRITE SHORT NOTES ON:

A) FEATURES OF LEARNING –
1. Learning is a Lifelong Process - Learning is a lifelong process of gaining and using the
information presented to a person. It is not static. A person never stops acquiring new
information. It keeps a person’s mind active and aware but also conscious of the world
around them.

2. Learning Involves far more than Thinking Learning involves far more than thinking: it
involves the whole personality – senses, feelings, intuition, beliefs, values, and will. If we do
not have the will to learn, we cannot learn and if we have learned, we are changed in some
way. If the learning makes no difference it can have very little significance.

B) SKINNER’S BOX - A Skinner box, also known as an operant conditioning chamber,

is an enclosed apparatus that contains a bar or key that an animal can press or manipulate in
order to obtain food or water as a type of reinforcement. Developed by B. F. Skinner, this box
also had a device that recorded each response provided by the animal as well as the unique
schedule of reinforcement that the animal was assigned. Skinner was inspired to create his
operant conditioning chamber as an extension of the puzzle boxes that Edward Thorndike
famously used in his research on the law of effect. Skinner himself did not refer to this device
as a Skinner box, instead preferring the term "lever box.

C) ACQUISITION IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING - Acquisition refers to the

first stages of learning when a response is established. In classical conditioning, it refers to
the period when the stimulus comes to evoke the conditioned response. In classical
conditioning, repeated pairings of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned
stimulus (UCS) eventually lead to acquisition. Remember, the unconditioned stimulus is one
that naturally evokes the unconditioned response (UCR). After pairing the CS with the UCS
repeatedly, the CS alone will come to elicit the response, which is now known as the
conditioned response (CR).

D) THE DOG EXPERIMENT (PAVLOV’S) - Pavlov's classic experiment with dogs.

By associating the presentation of food with the sound of a tone, Pavlov was able to condition
the dogs to salivate to the sound. The phase in which the dogs began to salivate to the sound
is the acquisition period.
E) LATENT LEARNING - Latent learning is a form of learning that is not immediately
expressed in an overt response. It occurs without any obvious reinforcement of the behaviour
or associations that are learned. Latent learning is not readily apparent to the researcher
because it is not shown behaviourally until there is sufficient motivation. This type of
learning broke the constraints of behaviourism, which stated that processes must be directly
observable and that learning was the direct consequence of conditioning to stimuli.

2. BRIEFLY DESCRIBE HOW REINFORCEMENT (POSITIVE AND

NEGATIVE) AND PUNISHMENT INFLUENCE BEHAVIOUR.
The most effective way to teach a person or animal a new behaviour is with positive
reinforcement. In positive reinforcement, a desirable stimulus is added to increase behaviour.
In negative reinforcement, an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase behaviour. For
example, car manufacturers use the principles of negative reinforcement in their seatbelt
systems, which go “beep, beep, beep” until you fasten your seatbelt. The annoying sound
stops when you exhibit the desired behaviour, increasing the likelihood that you will buckle
up in the future. Negative reinforcement is also used frequently in horse training. Riders
apply pressure—by pulling the reins or squeezing their legs—and then remove the pressure
when the horse performs the desired behaviour, such as turning or speeding up. The pressure
is the negative stimulus that the horse wants to remove. Many people confuse negative
reinforcement with punishment in operant conditioning, but they are two very different
mechanisms. Remember that reinforcement, even when it is negative, always increases
behaviour. In contrast, punishment always decreases behaviour. In positive punishment, you
add an undesirable stimulus to decrease behaviour. An example of positive punishment is
scolding a student to get the student to stop texting in class. In this case, a stimulus (the
reprimand) is added in order to decrease the behaviour (texting in class). In negative
punishment, you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease behaviour. For example, when a
child misbehaves, a parent can take away a favourite toy. In this case, a stimulus (the toy) is
removed in order to decrease the behaviour.

3. HOW FAR DO YOU THINK OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING IS

RELEVANT IN DETERMINING A CHILD’S BEHAVIOUR AND LATER
ON PERSONALITY?
Observational learning describes the process of learning through watching others, retaining
the information, and then later replicating the behaviours that were observed. There are a
number of learning theories, such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning that
emphasize how direct experience, reinforcement, or punishment leads to learning. However,
a great deal of learning happens indirectly. For example, think of how a child watches his
parent’s wave at one another and then imitates these actions himself. A tremendous amount
of learning happens through this process of watching and imitating others. In psychology, this
is known as observational learning. Observational learning is sometimes also referred to as
shaping, modelling, and vicarious reinforcement. While it can take place at any point in life,
it tends to be the most common during childhood as children learn from the authority figures
and peers in their lives. It also plays an important role in the socialization process, as children
learn how to behave and respond to others by observing how their parents and other
caregivers interact with each other and with other people.

4. DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE

REINFORCEMENT.
1. Positive Reinforcement implies a process of adding a stimulus when certain behaviour
is shown, to increase the likelihood of recurrence of that behaviour. On the other
hand, negative reinforcement refers to a process in which the experimenter, in spite of
adding something undesirable, he/she removes the unwanted stimuli, to motivate the
organism to perform a certain activity again.
2. In positive reinforcement, a favourable stimulus is added, whereas, in negative
reinforcement, an unfavourable stimulus is removed.
3. Stimuli involved in positive reinforcement, have pleasant outcomes. Conversely, in
negative reinforcement, the stimuli can have unpleasant or even painful outcomes.
4. In positive reinforcement, the stimuli act as a reward, for doing something, whereas in
negative reinforcement, the stimuli act like a penalty, for not doing something.
5. Positive Reinforcement strengthens or maintains the probability of recurrence of
response. On the contrary, in negative reinforcement, the organism learns to get rid of
nasty responses.