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Learning

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Any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice

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Behaviorism

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The psychological perspective that psychologists should focus only on observable behavior in order to be considered scientific

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Phobia

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An irrational fear of a specific object or situation

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Classical conditioning

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A type of learning that is involuntary; learning to involuntarily or reflexively respond to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the reflex; ex. Pavlov's dogs salivating to a tone, standing up when the intercom beeps, or jumping when the fire alarm flashes

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Stimulus

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Anything in the environment one can react to (ex. sound, lemonade, food); a cause

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Response

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Any behavior or action (ex. jumping, flinching, salivating); an effect

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Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

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Something that naturally leads to an involuntary (reflex) response (ex. food, loud noise, water in the face); UNLEARNED CAUSE

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Unconditioned response (UCR)

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An involuntary or reflexive response to a naturally occurring or unconditioned stimulus (ex. jumping, flinching, or salivating - if caused by something automatically and without learning); UNLEARNED EFFECT

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Neutral stimulus (NS)

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Something in the environment that has no effect; does not cause a reaction

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Conditioned stimulus (CS)

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Something in the environment that becomes able to produce a learned reflex reaction by being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus (ex. triangle sound, beep of intercom, a tone, the word "can"); LEARNED CAUSE

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Conditioned response (CR)

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A learned reflex reaction to a conditioned stimulus (ex. jumping, flinching, or salivating - if caused by something that had to be learned); LEARNED EFFECT

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Evaluative conditioning

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Changes in liking a product, person, etc. that result from pairing that stimulus with other positive or negative stimuli; describes how advertising uses classical conditioning to change our opinions of products (ex. show a car with a beautiful woman or in a beautiful outdoors scene)

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Acquisition

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The stage or time period during which learning happens; the process of learning

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Extinction

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The disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the removal or absence of the unconditioned stimulus (in classical conditioning) or the removal of a reinforcer (in operant conditioning)

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Spontaneous recovery

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The reappearance of a learned response after extinction has occurred

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Stimulus generalization (or Generalization)

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The tendency to respond to a stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response; ex. Little Albert fearing all white, furry objects or developing a phobia of all dogs because of a bad experience with one dog

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Stimulus discrimination (or Discrimination)

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Occurs when an organism does not respond to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus; ex. fear big dogs but not small dogs; fear black cats but not all cats

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Higher-order conditioning

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Occurs when a conditioned stimulus works as if it were an unconditioned stimulus; ex. fear of the triangle sound paired with peaceful images conditions fear of the peaceful images too

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Operant conditioning

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The learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant consequences; behavior is shaped by its consequences

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Law of Effect (Edward Thorndike)

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Law stating that if an action is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated, and if followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will tend not to be repeated

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Reinforcement (or Reinforcer)

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Any event or object that, when following a response, increases the likelihood of that response occurring again; INCREASES behavior

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Punishment

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Any event or object that, when following a response, makes that response less likely to happen again; DECREASES behavior

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Positive reinforcement

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Anything that INCREASES the likelihood of a response by the addition or experiencing of a pleasurable stimulus; POSITIVE means PLUS/ADD +++++ and reinforcement INCREASES; ex. money, grades, stickers, praise, etc.

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Negative reinforcement

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Anything that INCREASES the likelihood of a response by the removal, escape from, or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus; NEGATIVE means MINUS/TAKE AWAY ----- and reinforcement INCREASES; ex. headache going away, annoying sound ending

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Immediate vs. delayed reinforcement

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Behavior can be influenced by consequences that happen right away (immediate) or much later (delayed); humans and animals are more motivated by immediate consequences (such as having fun instead of studying or spending money on something small rather than saving for something more expensive like a car or college); those who can delay reinforcement tend to be more successful in life

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Primary reinforcer

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Any consequence that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic biological need, such as hunger, thirst, or touch

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Secondary reinforcer

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Any consequence that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, tokens, money, or stickers

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Positive punishment

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Anything that DECREASES the likelihood of a response by the addition or experiencing of an unpleasant stimulus; POSITIVE means plus/add ++++++ and punishment DECREASES; ex. spanking, electric shock, a bad grade, night school

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Negative punishment

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Anything that DECREASES the likelihood of a response by the removal of a pleasant stimulus; NEGATIVE means MINUS/TAKE AWAY ---------- and punishment DECREASES; ex. parents taking away your phone or car; taking a toy away from children who won't share

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Shaping

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The reinforcement of simple steps in behavior that lead to a desired, more complex behavior; ex. clapping for classmates until they do what we want, squirrel obstacle course, learning to play a musical instrument or a sport

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Continuous reinforcement

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The reinforcement of each and every correct response; ex. a properly working vending machine or a quiz over every reading assignment

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Intermittent/partial reinforcement

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Reinforcement that occurs after some, but not all, correct responses; tends to be very resistant to extinction; ex. fishing, gambling, checking social media for notifications

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Fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement

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A schedule of reinforcement in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is always the same; must do something to get the reinforcement and the faster you do it, the more reinforcements you can get; ex. a loyalty card where you purchase 10 coffees then get one free

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Variable ratio schedule of reinforcement

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A schedule of reinforcement in which the number of responses required for reinforcement is different for each trial or event; must do something to get the reinforcement and the more you do it, the more likely you are to get reinforcements; hard to extinguish because the next time could be the time you get the reinforcement; ex. playing a slot machine, getting a strike when bowling, taking a good swing in golf, a dog whining at the table for food

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Fixed interval schedule of reinforcement

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A schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is always the same; it doesn't matter what you do in the meantime, you must wait for the reinforcement and you know when it will come; ex. waiting for a paycheck, waiting for cookies to bake, waiting for the next quiz or unit test, waiting for a package if you know the day of delivery

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Variable interval schedule of reinforcement

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A schedule of reinforcement in which the interval of time that must pass before reinforcement becomes possible is different for each trial or event; the timing of the reinforcement isn't affected by your behavior, and you don't know when it will happen; leads to a slow and steady "checking" behavior; ex. seeing a shooting star, a pop quiz, checking for social media notifications, waiting for a package if you don't know when it will be delivered

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Escape learning

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An organism acquires a response that decreases or ends some aversive stimulation; leaving a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable is negatively reinforced; ex. leaving a party where you are being picked on, going to the bathroom or nurse if you are confused about something in class instead of asking for help or figuring it out

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Avoidance learning

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An organism acquires a response the prevents some aversive stimulation from occurring; avoiding situations that make you feel uncomfortable; ex. not going to parties at all; skipping class if you are struggling with the information

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Taste aversion (or conditioned taste aversion)

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The development of nausea or a feeling of sickness to a particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction, occurring after only one association; ex. feeling sick at the thought of peas because I vomited after eating them when I was three

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Preparedness (or biological preparedness)

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The tendency of animals to learn certain associations, such as taste and nausea, with only one or few pairings due to the survival value of the learning; ex. pigeons quickly learn to peck a disk for a reinforcement of food or quickly learn to flap their wings to stop a shock

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Latent learning

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Learning that remains hidden or suppressed until its application becomes useful; ex. your knowledge of driving before you got a learners permit or your knowledge of the streets of Millard before you could drive

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Cognitive map

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A mental representation of a place; ex. your mental map of the school or your neighborhood

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Observational learning

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Learning that occurs through watching others (who are called models)

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Model

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The person whose behavior the subject watches and imitates; think role model; ex. a math teacher who shows you how to solve a problem, a coach who demonstrates a new skill, a band director who shows you how to play a part

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Mirror neurons

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Brain cells located in the front of the brain that activate when a person performs certain actions or when the person observes another do so; the neurological basis of observational learning

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Antisocial behavior

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Negative, destructive unhelpful behavior; ex. stealing, assault; think of anti as against society or antisocial personality disorder

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Prosocial behavior

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Positive, constructive, helpful behavior; such as holding a door open

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Behavior modification

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The use of operant conditioning techniques to bring about desired changes in behavior

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Learned helplessness

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The tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past

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Token economy

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A type of behavior modification in which desired behavior is rewarded with tokens; ex. Amazing Pizza Machine, chemistry teacher giving mole bucks that can be exchanged for extra credit, pencils, etc.

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Ivan Pavlov

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Russian physiologist who observed conditioned salivary responses in dogs (1849-1936); developed the principles of classical conditioning

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John B. Watson

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Founder of behaviorism; emphasized the external behaviors of people and their reactions in a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat (1878-1958)

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Robert Rescorla

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Researched classical conditioning; found subjects learn the predictability of an event through trials (added a cognitive element to the study of classical conditioning)

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Edward Thorndike

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Pioneer in operant conditioning who discovered concepts in intstrumental learning such as the law of effect; known for his work with cats in puzzle boxes (1874-1949)

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B. F. Skinner

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Pioneer of operant conditioning - believed everything we do is determined by our past history of reinforcements and punishments (1904-1990)

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Edward Tolman

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Studied rats in mazes to develop the ideas of latent learning; rats in mazes that were unrewarded showed no sign of learning the maze but when given food the rats ran the maze quickly

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Martin Seligman

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A researcher known for work on learned helplessness and learned optimism as well as positive psychology; discovered that when dogs are repeatedly shocked with no opportunity to avoid pain, they learn a sense of helplessness because of their perceived lack of control and cower without hope

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Albert Bandura

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Known for his social learning theory; did modeling experiment using "Bobo" doll; studied observational learning

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John Garcia

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Studied taste aversion - The Garcia Effect; if people get sick after eating at a restaurant, they won't eat at that restaurant again, even if they know the food is safe

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