AP Psych Chapter 7 Learning – Flashcards

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Ivan Pavlov
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behaviorist who disregarded mental processes and believed that the basic laws of learning were the same for all animals; most known for his work on classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the tone of a bell; showed that the process of learning can be learned objectively
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John B. Watson
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behaviorist school of thought; emphasized external behaviors of people and their reactions on a given situation; famous for Little Albert study in which baby was taught to fear a white rat; believed human emotions and behaviors are a bundle of conditioned responses
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Edward Thorndike
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developed the law of effect: rewarded behavior is likely to recur; used a fish reward to entice cats to find their way out of a puzzle box through a series of maneuvers; cats' performance improved with successive trials
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B.F. Skinner
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behaviorist whose ideas formed the basis of the theory of operant conditioning; used an operant chamber (Skinner box) in which a rat presses a bar for food reward; concept of reinforcement; external consequences shape one's behaviors
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John Garcia
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Researched taste aversion. Showed that when rats drank from a plastic water bottle before being nauseated by a drug or radiation, they developed a conditioned taste aversion for the substance.
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Albert Bandura
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conducted a series of classic studies on how children model aggressive behavior towards an inflatable Bobo doll; developed the concept of observational learning; watching a model causes one to experience vicarious reinforcement of punishment
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Classical Conditioning Model: Neutral Stimulus
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a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning; Pavlov's dogs: the tone; Baby Albert: white rat
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Classical Conditioning Model: Unconditioned Stimulus
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a stimulus that unconditionally- naturally and automatically- triggers a response; Pavlov's dogs: food in the mouth; Baby Albert: the loud noise
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Classical Conditioning Model: Unconditioned Response
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the unlearned naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US), such as salivation when food is in the mouth in Pavlov's dogs; Baby Albert: fear of rats
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Classical Conditioning Model: Conditioned Response
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the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus; Pavlov's dogs: salivation; Baby Albert: fear of rats
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Classical Conditioning Model: Conditioned Stimulus
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an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response; Pavlov's dogs: the tone; Baby Albert: the white rat
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Acquisition
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in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response
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Higher-order conditioning
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a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus
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Biological Predispositions
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animals natural predispositions will constrain its capacity for operant conditioning; biological constraints predispose organisms to learn associations that are naturally adaptive
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Extinction
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the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus; occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced.
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Spontaneous Recovery
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the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
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Generalization
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the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimuli to elicit similar responses; for example, a child taught to fear moving cars can also become afraid of moving trucks and motorcycles
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Discrimination
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the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus; for example, discrimination occurs in someone who is able to distinguish between a guard dog (conditioned response: fear) and a guide dog
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Similarities classical and operant conditioning
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both are forms of associative learning; acquisition (C: associate stimuli, O: associate behaviors with reinforcement); extinction (C: CR decreases when CS is repeatedly presented alone, O: stop reinforcement); spontaneous recovery; generalization; discrimination (C: distinguish between CS and others that don't elicit US, O: certain responses but not others will be reinforced)
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Puzzle Box and Law of Effect
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Edward Thorndike: rewarded behavior is likely to recur; Skinner's puzzle box: used a fish reward to entice cats to find their way out of a puzzle box through a series of maneuvers; cat's performance tended to improve with successive trials, illustrating law of effect
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operant chamber (Skinner box)
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chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer, with attached devices to record the animal's rate of bar pressing or key pecking. Used in operant conditioning research.
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reinforcement
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any event that strengthens or increases the frequency of a preceding response or behavior it follows (i.e. praise, attention, or money)
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shaping-successive approximations
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shaping: gradually guiding behavior towards the desired behavior; successive approximations: reward responses that are ever-closer to the final desired behavior and you ignore all other response; makes the rewards contingent on desired behaviors
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positive reinforcer
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strengthens a response by presenting a desirable stimulus after a response; example: petting a dog that comes when you call
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negative reinforcer
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strengthens a response by reducing or removing something negative; example: pain killers reduce pain; Dad giving into Billy's whining
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primary reinforcer
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An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need; example: food when hungry, painful headache going away, etc.
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secondary reinforcer
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Any neutral stimulus that initially has no intrinsic value for an organism but that becomes rewarding through learned association with primary reinforcers; examples: money, good grades, pleasant tone of voice, token economy etc.
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immediate reinforcer
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a reinforcer that occurs instantly after a behavior
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delayed reinforcer
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A reinforcer that is delayed in time for a certain behavior. example: a paycheck that comes at the end of a week; important in learning to control our impulses leads to maturity
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continuous reinforcement
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reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs; example: giving in whenever a child has a tantrum
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fixed ratio reinforcement
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reinforces a response after a specified number of responses; example: piece-work, migrant farmers, etc.
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variable ratio reinforcement
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reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses: examples: gambling, slot machines
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fixed interval reinforcement
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reinforces a response after a specified time has elapsed; example: paid per hour, checking clock towards the end of class, etc.
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variable interval reinforcement
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reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals; example: persistently rechecking for email
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4 unwanted effects of physical punishment in child-rearing
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1. Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. This temporary state may (negatively) reinforce parents' punishing behavior 2. Punishment teaches discrimination among situations 3. Punishment can teach fear. 4. Physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling aggression as a way to cope with problems
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Turn threats into positive incentives
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Punishment tells you what not to do; reinforcement tells you what to do; notice people doing something right and affirm them for it turns it into positive incentive
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Operant conditioning in sports
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By reinforcing small success and then gradually increasing the challenge we can shape one's athletic performance. Example: golfers learn to putt with very short putts and gradually step back farther and farther.
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Operant conditioning at work
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In a work setting the goal should be to reward specific achievable behaviors (not vaguely defined merit). Reinforcement influences productivity and should be immediate, non material affirmation of a job well done.
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Operant condition in child rearing
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Parents should reinforce and reward children when they behave well so the behavior will continue. When children misbehave, a parent should explain the behavior and give them a time out instead of yelling or hitting them. Attention is the best reinforce for children.
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Biological constraints on conditioning
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Predispositions prepare the animal to learn associations that will enhance its survival.
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John Garcia's radiation chamber with rats
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Rats avoided drinking water from plastic bottles in radiation chambers. He exposed rats to a specific taste, sight or sound (CS) and later to radiation or drugs (US) that lead to nausea, vomiting. Even when sickened several hours after tasting a particular flavor the rats thereafter avoided that flavor. US (radiation) --UR (sick). NS (taste of plastic bottle) + US (radiation) = UR(sick), so CS (taste of plastic bottle) = CR (sick).
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Taste Aversion
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A classically conditioned dislike for and avoidance of a particular food that develops when an organism becomes ill after eating the food. Example: humans avoid a particular food after food poisoning,
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Coyote and sheep
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Coyote and wolves have been tempted into eating sheep carcasses laced with sickening poison. Develop taste aversion to sheep meat; not only avoid sheep but have grown to fear the.
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Birds v. rats with nauseating blue, salty water
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Birds and rats were given a blue salty water that caused them to get sick; NS (blue salty H20) + US (poison in water) = UR sick. Rats associate sickness with the salty taste and avoid anything with salt. Birds associate sickness with the color blue.
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Nauseating condition in cancer patients
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Cancer patients may over time develop classically conditioned nausea to the sight, sounds and smells they associate with their chemotherapy treatment.
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Limits on operant conditioning Brelands
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The Brelands use operant conditioning to train many animals. They learned that their training had biological constraints an instinctive drift occurred as the animal reverted to their biological predisposed patterns.
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Rescoria and expectancy
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Rescoria ad Wagner reasoned that the more predictable the association, the stronger the condoned response.. It's as if the animal learns an expectancy, an awareness of how likely it is that the US will occur.
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Alcohol dependency and the failure of nauseating drugs
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One's awareness that the nausea is induced by the drug, not the alcohol often weakens the association between drinking alcohol and feeling sick.
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Cognitive map
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..A mental representation of the layout of one's environment. Example, rats in Tolman's maze act as if they had a cognitive map of the maze.
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Latent learning
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Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it. Example the rats learned the maze after days of exploring without a reward, but once a food reward was offered they were able to complete the maze immediately.
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Intrinsic Motivation
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The desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake. Example, reading a book on your own with no promised rewards. Can be ruined by excessive rewards.
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Extrinsic Motivation
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The desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment. Being reinforced for what you are doing. Example, reading only because you have a test on the book.
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Observational learning
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Learning by observing others without direct experience. Example, a child who sees his sister burn her fingers on a hot stove, learns not to touch it.
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Modeling
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The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior. We learn our native languages by modeling.
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Bobo Doll Eperiment
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Children were exposed to different adult behaviors, some who were aggressive and beat the bobo doll and others who were calm. The children were then taken to a room with nice toys, but were told the were for other children to mae them angry. They were then taken to another room with few toys and a bobo doll. The children exposed tot he aggressive adults were more likely to lash out on the doll.
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Vicarious Reinforcement
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Phenomenon in which a response increases in frequency when another person is observed being reinforced for that response.
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Vicarious Punishment
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Phenomenon in which a response decreases in frequency when another person is observed being punished for that response.
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Mirror Neurons
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Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so, may enable imitation and empathy.
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f MRI in theory of mine
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Children's brains enable their empathy and their ability to infer another's metal state. FMRI scans show that pain imagined by an empathic romantic partner triggers some of the same brain activity experienced by the loved one actually having the pain.
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Pro-social models
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Pro-social models exhibit + constructive and helpful behavior. Example, some teachers paring, a struggling student with a strong student.
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Violence on TV and video Games can increase in aggressive behavior.
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Overimitation
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when a person imitates an action that is not relevant part of the behavior to be learned
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Imitation in de-sensitation
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When you're exposed to a specific situation repeatedly, it effects you less and less.
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