MRCPsyhLearning Theory

Dr Mark WorthingtonClinical Psychologist

Basic Learning Theory

Association of events Allows an understanding of what is likely to follow in

any given situation Association between response and outcome Adaptive, robust, often automatic Habituation: A constant or repeated stimulus will

result in decreased response

Classical / Pavlovian Conditioning One event/stimulus becomes associated with

another through repeated pairings

No awareness / understanding necessary Awareness can facilitate

Operant / Instrumental Conditioning

• A type of learning in which the future probability of a behaviour occurring is affected by its consequences.

• Positive reinforcement: Behaviours leading to positive

consequences are more likely. Associations between stimulus and response.

• Associations develop from random actions.

• Operant conditioning quicker when reinforcement is clearly under the control of the organism.

The Operant Conditioning Chamber/ ‘Skinner Box’

Negative Reinforcement & Punishment

• Negative reinforcement: Behaviours leading to avoidance of negative consequences are more likely. – Escape – the aversive event is terminated.– Avoidance – the event is prevented.

• Punishment: non-behaviour is reinforced. The behaviour is associated with aversive (positive) or omitted -desirable (negative) stimulus.

Observational / Social Learning

Learning associations through observation. Conditioning can be classical or operant. Observational (or vicarious) reinforcement

through passive witnessing of another being rewarded.

Takes longer than direct learning. Depends upon the features of the model and

the mode of observation.

Observational Learning

Optimal conditions: Live modelling is more

effective than symbolic modelling (e.g. watching a video)

Active participation andfamiliarity with the model improve learning

Cognitive Learning

Involves a degree of awareness. Awareness can facilitate but is unnecessary in operant and

classical conditioning. Awareness is necessary in the following:

Explicit transmission of facts Where a situation is mentally structured to find a

solution Awareness is initially absent but increases in social learning

(Social competence, awareness of rules).

Extinction

A CR can be weakened / eliminated when the CS is repeatedly presented in absence of US

Decrease is a function of features of the reinforcement. The strength of response = the number of responses

over time without reinforcement. Response can spontaneously recover. Old CR can be relearned more quickly.

Formulation of Clinical Problems

Phobias: Develop through classical conditioning Maintained by operant conditioning

Avoidance of / escape from anxiety–provoking stimuli removes unpleasant emotions, thus reinforcing behaviour of avoidance

More aversive stimuli require fewer pairings.

Fear: Classical conditioning, vicarious, instruction Jellyfish + look of fear in others fear in self

Example – Social Anxiety• Individual with social anxiety will feel a significant

decrease in anxiety once he/she decides to avoid attending a large social event. – results in the removal of the unpleasant anxiety symptoms

thereby reinforcing avoidance behavior; thus, it becomes the person's preferred method of coping with future social events.

• If individual attempted to go to the event, despite their reservations, they might experience a panic attack while there– person immediately exits the party, panic subsides, behaviour of

escape is rewarded by the swift reduction in panic symptoms.

Formulation of Clinical Problems Cont’d

Depression: Learned helplessness Individual has learned to behave helplessly, even

when the opportunity is restored for it to help itself by avoiding an unpleasant circumstance to which it has been subjected

Addiction: Operant conditioning: Positive reinforcer – elevated mood. Negative reinforcer – escape of an unpleasant

event(s). Relapse upon reintroduction to existing environment.

Extreme inactivity in chronic pain: Learned avoidance.

Other Processes

• Generalisation:– Similar stimulus elicits the conditioned response

• Fear of a white rat may generalise to fear of white, furry things– Strength of response depends on the similarities

• Discrimination:– The ability to distinguish between stimuli– Established more slowly if similarities are greater

• Secondary reinforcement:– Reinforcing properties of a stimulus acquired through pairing

with a primary reinforcer• E.g. clicker training with dogs

Other Processes (cont’d)• Incubation:– Where fear increases over successive non-

reinforced presentations of the CS– Due to the conditioning of an emotional response – Escape negatively reinforced by escape from

emotion• Stimulus Preparedness:– Biological predispositions to react with fear– Conditioning quicker, more resistant to extinction– Enhances two stage model of phobia to account

for the failed ‘equipotentiality assumption’

Behavioural Interventions

• Consent is required.• Relies on accurate formulation.• Reciprocal inhibition.– Rewarding desired behaviours whilst not

rewarding (ignoring) or punishing undesirable behaviours.

– Desirable change is enhanced if the two behaviours are incompatible.

Behavioural Interventions cont’d

• Habituation.– A form of counter-conditioning.– Successive presentation leads to a decrease in

response.– E.g. systematic desensitisation– Facilitate with substitution (e.g. relaxation).– Exposure methods:• Flooding = enforced exposure.• Desensitisation = gradual exposure.• Modelling = vicarious exposure.• Imagery = exposure to the imagined stimulus.

Behavioural Interventions cont’d

• Chaining.– Learning complex behaviours through breaking

into steps.– Backward chaining facilitated by the end reward .

• Shaping.– Successive approximations are rewarded.

• Cueing.– Cue = the stimulus that elicits the behaviour. – Use the phobic object to cue opposite behaviours.– Cue desirable behaviours at appropriate times.

Reinforcement Schedules

Continuous: 1:1; quick learning, rapid extinction. Fixed / Variable, Interval / Ratio

Beware the Pitfalls of Punishment

Can elicit aggression and side effects – interferes with subsequent attempt to teach more appropriate behaviour

People may become conditioned punishers◦ Unwanted behaviour suppressed only when CP is present, or avoidance

of CP all together Punishing may be modelled or imitated Becomes relied upon and increases following spontaneous

recovery Does not establish more appropriate behaviour, may even

result in general suppression of behaviour Ideally should only be used with positive reinforcement of

alternative response

Learning – a final note

• Learning should be considered in terms of its global function: to adapt to the environment.

• Learning can be conscious or unconscious.

MRCPsychIntelligence

Dr Mark WorthingtonClinical Psychologist

Assumptions

• Intelligence varies across individuals and can be measured.

• Eysenck – intelligence reflected at different levels:– Biological (substrate)– Behavioural (e.g. exam success)– Psychometric (as measured by intelligence tests).

• Existence of a general intelligence factor ‘g’– statistic used in psychometrics to quantify the mental

ability underlying results of various tests of cognitive ability

Components of Intelligence

• Fluid – creativity, novel solutions.• Crystallised – knowledge, application to concrete problems. • Psychometric tests and factor analysis : Correlate subscales.• The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test – Third edition (WAIS-III)

– Full Scale IQ• Verbal Scale IQ • Verbal Comprehension Index• Working Memory Index

– Performance Scale IQ• Perceptual Organisation Index• Processing Speed Index

• IQ = Generally, ratio between test score and age norm x 100.

Psychometrics or Computation- Ability or Processes

• Computational models - components:– Metacomponents (strategy, higher-order control)– Performance components (execution)– Acquisition components (learning processes)– Retention components (memory, retrieval)– Transfer components (generalisation of

knowledge)

Some Assessment IssuesPopulations need to have a mean of 100. Those developed in other countries to have a mean

of 100 leave western subject performing poorly.Immigrants increase performance over time due to

crystallised intelligence. Intelligence/IQ is whatever the tests measure.The reverse is a circular argument.Several factors influence performance. Tests that minimise the influence of the material.

MRCPsychThought

Dr Mark WorthingtonClinical Psychologist

Thought and Language

Initial ideas...

• Thought and language are closely related.• Thought is evident in imagery but mainly

propositional. • The mind/brain has an ability to reduce

information processing load.

Important Terms

Concept: Mental representation of a class of objects

Categorisation: The process whereby objects are assigned to groups

Prototypes: An exemplar: represents the best example of the concept

Cores: The necessary and sufficient properties for inclusion in concept

Deductive Reasoning

• A deductive argument is where the conclusion must be true if the premises are true.– A > B; B > C; Therefore A > C

• Adults good at assessing validity in simple cases– Less good as complexity (No. of premises) increases.

The conclusion does not necessarily follow◦ A is usually > B; B is always > C; therefore A > C.

Problem Solving Strategies

• Algorithms = A set of rules that guarantee the solution if applied stepwise.

• Heuristics = ‘Rule of thumb’ approach.– Experienced based techniques for problem solving, learning and

discovery– Reduces the number of possibilities considered based on

likelihood.– Allows an initial solution to be tested rapidly.– Draws upon prototypes.– Prototypes may lead to errors in judging probabilities.– Can also lead to humans outperforming computers.