question

Learning

answer

A systematic, relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs through experience

question

Behaviorism

answer

A theory of learning that focuses solely on observable behavior, discounting the importance of mental activity such as thinking, wishing, and hoping

question

Associative Learning

answer

Occurs when an organism makes a connection (or association) between two events

question

Conditioning

answer

The process of learning associations; two types: classical and operant

question

Classical Conditioning

answer

Organisms learn the association between two stimuli. As a result of this association, organisms learn to anticipate events. Ex: Thunder follows lightening A neutral stimulus becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar repsonse A type of learning that occurs without awareness or effort, based on the presentation of the two stimuli together

question

Operant Conditioning

answer

Organisms learn the association between a behavior and a consequence, such as a reward or punishment. Ex: Child gets candy after showing good manners

question

Observational Learning

answer

Learning that occurs through observing and imitating another's behavior; relies on mental processes: the learner has to pay attention, remember, and reproduce what the model did; way in which infants acquire skills

question

Ian Pavlov

answer

Russian physiologist; demonstrated that neutral aspects of the environment can attain he capacity to evoke responses through pairing with other stimuli and that bodily processes can be influenced by environmental cues

question

Reflexes

answer

Automatic stimulus-response connections

question

Unconditional Stimulus (US)

answer

A stimulus that produces a response without prior learning; ex: the food was the US in Pavlov's experiments

question

Unconditional Response (UR)

answer

An unlearned reaction that is automatically elicited by the US; are involuntary; they happen in response to a stimulus without conscious effort; Ex: in Pavlov's experiment, drooling in response to food was the UR

question

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

answer

A previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits a conditional response after being paired with the unconditional stimulus

question

Conditional Response (CR)

answer

The learned response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs after CS-US pairing; sometimes conditioned responses are quite similar to unconditioned responses, but typically they are not as strong

question

Neutral Stimulus

answer

The stimulus does not have any signal value at all

question

Acquisition

answer

The initial learning of the connection between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus when these two stimuli are paired

question

Contiguity

answer

The conditional stimulus and unconditional stimulus are presented very close together in time - even a mere fraction of a seond

question

Contingency

answer

The conditional stimulus must not only precede the unconditional stimulus closely in time, it must also serve as reliable indicator that the unconditional stimulus is on its way

question

Meaning of the stimulus changes

answer

What was once an arbitrary object in the environment becomes, instead, motivationally important, a reliable signal that something significant is going to happen

question

Sign Tracking

answer

An unusually high level of attachment to the CS; Involves approaching and interacting with the CS (the sign or signal) as if it has become a strongly desired thing in its own right; has been used to help understand an important problem: the viscous cycle of drug addiction and relapse

question

Generalization (in classical conditioning)

answer

The tendency of a new stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response that is similar to the conditioned response; has value in preventing learning from being tied to specific stimuli

question

Discrimination (in classical conditioning)

answer

The process of learning to response to certain stimuli and not others; Ex: Pavlov gave food to the dog only after ringing the bell and not after any other sounds. The dog learned to distinguish between the bell and other sounds

question

Extinction (in classical conditioning)

answer

The weakening of the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is absent. Without continued association with the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned stimulus loses its power to produce the conditioned response

question

Spontaneous recovery

answer

The process in classical conditioning by which a conditioned response can recur after a time delay, without further conditioning

question

Renewal

answer

The recovery of the conditioned response when the organism is placed in a novel context; Ex: when a person leaves a drug treatment facility to return to his or her previous living situation

question

John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920)

answer

Coined the term behaviorism; demonstrated classical conditioning's role in the development of fears with an infant named Albert- paired a white rat with a loud noise

question

Counterconditioning

answer

A classical conditioning procedure for changing the relationship between a conditioned stimulus and its conditioned response

question

Aversive conditioning

answer

A form of treatment that consists of repeated pairings of a stimulus with a very unpleasant stimulus; electric shocks and nausea-inducing substances are examples of noxious stimuli that are used in aversive conditioning

question

Antabuse

answer

A drug treatment for alcoholism since the late 1940s, based on aversive conditioning. When someone takes this drug, ingesting even the smallest amount of alcohol will make the person quite ill, even if the exposure to alcohol is through mouthwash or cologne. It continues to be used in the treatment of alcoholism today

question

Placebo effect

answer

The effect of a substance (such as taking a pill orally) or a procedure (such as using a syringe to inject a substance) that researchers use as a control to identify the actual effects of a treatment; observable changes that cannot be explained by the effects on an actual treatment; the pill or syringe serves as a conditional stimulus, and the actual drug is the unconditional stimulus. After the experience of pain relief following the consumption of a drug, the pill or syringe might lead to a conditional response of lowered pain even in the absence of an actual painkiller.

question

Immune system

answer

The body's natural defense against disease

question

Immunosuppression

answer

A decrease in the production of antibodies, which can lower a person's ability to fight disease

question

Robert Ader and Nicholas Cohen

answer

Conducted a number of studies that reveal that classical conditioning can produce immunosuppression

question

Cytoxan

answer

Drug that induces nausea

question

Endocrine System

answer

A loosely organised set of glands that produce and circulate hormones

question

Sympathetic Nervous System

answer

The part of the autonomic nervous systems that responds to stress; plays an important role in the learned associations between conditioned stimuli and immune and endocrine functioning

question

Taste aversion

answer

A special kind of classical conditioning involving the learned association between a particular taste and nausea; is special because it typically requires only one pairing of a neutral stimulus (a taste) with the unconditioned response of nausea to seal that connection, often for a very long time; it is highly adaptive to learn taste aversions in only one trial

question

Michael Domjan

answer

Suggested that this form of learning (taste aversion) demonstrates how classical conditioning works in the natural world, where associations matter to survival.

question

Advertising

answer

Involves creating an association between a product and pleasant feelings

question

Embedded marketing

answer

The technique of product placement; ex: watching a show and wanting to drink the same drink that's on the show because of your love for the show

question

Habituation

answer

The decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated presentations

question

Respondent behavior

answer

Classical conditioning is a form of this; behavior that occurs in automatic response to a stimulus such as a nausea-producing drug, and later to a conditioned stimulus such as sweet water that was paired with the drug

question

Involuntary responses

answer

Unlearned responses

question

Voluntary behaviors

answer

Ex: student's studying hard for a test

question

Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Conditioning

answer

Can explain voluntary behaviors; A form of associative learning in which the consequences of a behavior change the probability of the behavior's occurrence

question

B.F. Skinner

answer

Chose the term operant to describe the behavior of the organism; the consequences that follow spontaneous operant behaviors determine whether the behavior will be repeated

question

Operant Behavior

answer

Occurs spontaneously

question

E.L. Thorndike (1898)

answer

His experiments established the power of consequences in determining behavior; studied cats in puzzle boxes

question

Law of effect

answer

Thorndike's law stating that behaviors followed by positive outcomes are strengthened and that behaviors followed by negative outcomes are weakened; presents the basic idea that the consequences of behavior influence the likelihood of that behavior's recurrence

question

Shaping

answer

Rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior

question

Reinforcement

answer

The process by which a stimulus or event (a reinforce) following a particular behavior increases the probability that the behavior will happen again; increasing a behavior

question

Positive reinforcement

answer

The frequency of a behavior increases because it is followed by a desirable stimulus; following a behavior with the addition of something pleasant

question

Negative reinforcement

answer

The frequency of a behavior increases because it is followed by the removal of something undesirable; following a behavior with the removal of something unpleasant Ex: taking out the trash after your dad nagging you to do it in order to stop the nagging, or taking an aspirin for a headache

question

Avoidance Learning

answer

Occurs when the organism learns that by making a particular response, a negative stimulus can be altogether avoided Ex: if student receives a bad grade, hey study harder and the pattern sticks even when the bad grade is no longer present

question

Learned Helplessness

answer

An organism's learning through experience with negative stimuli that it has no control over the negative outcomes

question

Primary reinforcer

answer

A reinforcer that is innately satisfying; one that does not take any learning on the organism's part to make it pleasurable Ex: food, water, and sexual satisfication

question

Secondary reinforcer

answer

A reinforcer that acquires its positive value through an organism's experience; a secondary reinforcer is a learned or conditioned reinforcer

question

Token economy

answer

Behaviors are rewards with tokens (such as poker chips or stars on a chart) that can be exchanged later for desired rewards (such as candy or money)

question

Generalization (in operant conditioning)

answer

Performing a reinforced behavior in a different situation Ex: studying every night for calculus resulted in a good grade, so the student studies every night for psych and history as well

question

Discrimination (in operant conditioning)

answer

Responding approximately to stimuli that signal that a behavior will or will not be reinforced Ex: When there's a "university student discount" sign in the front window of a restaurant, you enthusiastically flash your student ID with the expectation of getting the reward of a reduced-price meal

question

Extinction (in operant conditioning)

answer

Decreases in the frequency of a behavior when the behavior is no longer reinforced Ex: stop going to soda machine that eats your coins

question

Continuous Reinforcement

answer

A behavior is reinforced every time it occurs; causes organisms to learn rapidly. however, when reinforcement stops, extinction takes place quickly

question

Partial Reinforcement

answer

Particularly resistant to extinction; a reinforcer follows a behavior only a portion of the time; characterizes most life experiences Ex: a golfer does not win every tournament she enters, or a student does not get a pat on the back each time she solves a problem

question

Schedules of reinforcement

answer

Specific patterns that determine when a behavior will be reinforced

question

Ratio schedules

answer

Involve the number of behaviors that must be performed prior to reward

question

Interval schedules

answer

Refer to the amount of time that must pass before a behavior is rewarded

question

Fixed schedule

answer

The number of behaviors of amount of time is always the same

question

Variable schedule

answer

The required number of behaviors or the amount of time that must pass changes and is unpredictable from the perspective of the learner

question

Fixed-ratio schedule

answer

Reinforces a behavior after a set number of behaviors;Ex: a mail carrier must deliver mail to a fixed number of houses each day before he can head home; the business world uses this to increase production

question

Variable-ratio schedule

answer

A timetable in which behaviors are rewarded an average number of times but on an unpredictable basis; Ex: slot machines; produce high, steady rates of behavior that are more resistant to extinction rather than the other three schedules

question

Fixed-interval schedule

answer

Reinforces the first behavior after a fixed amount of time has passed Ex: baking cookies with a time

question

Variable -interval schedule

answer

A timetable in which a behavior is reinforced after a variable amount of time has elapsed; behavior is slow and consistent; Ex: Pop quizzes and random drug testing and fishing; pop quizzes lead to more consistent levels of studying compared to the cramming that might be seen with scheduled tests

question

Punishment

answer

A consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur

question

Positive punishment

answer

The presentation of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior Ex: spanking a misbehaving child

question

Negative punishment

answer

The removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to decrease the frequency of that behavior Ex: Time-out (child removed from positive reinforcer of toys), getting grounded

question

Time-out

answer

A form of negative punishment in which a child is removed from a positive reinforcer, such as her toys

question

Applied behavior analysis (Behavior modification)

answer

The use of operant conditioning principles to change human behavior; the rewards and punishers that exist in a particular setting are carefully analyzed and manipulated to change behaviors; seeks to identify the rewards that might be maintaining unwanted behaviors and to enhance the rewards of more appropriate behaviors; understand all human behaviors as being influenced by rewards and punishments. If we can figure out what rewards and punishers are controlling a person's behavior, we can change them and eventually the behavior itself; can help people improve their self-control in many aspects of mental and physical health

question

Albert Bandura

answer

Believes that if all our learning were conducted in such a trial-and-error fashion, learning would be exceedingly tedious and at times hazardous. Many complex behaviors are the result of exposure to competent models. By observing other people, we can acquire knowledge, skills, rules, strategies, beliefs, and attitudes. The capacity to learn by observation eliminates trial-and-error learning, and often such learning takes less time than operant conditioning

question

Observational Learning (Imitation/Modeling)

answer

Learning that occurs when a person observes and imitates behavior; most famous example: Bobo doll study

question

Attention

answer

First process involved in observational learning; to reproduce a model's actions, you must attend to what the model is saying or doing

question

Retention

answer

Second process involved in observational learning; To reproduce a model's actions, you must encode the information and keep it in memory so that you can retrieve it. A simple verbal description or a vivid image of what the model did helps assists this.

question

Motor reproduction

answer

Third process involved in observational learning; the process of imitating the model's actions

question

Reinforcement

answer

Final (fourth) component of observation learning; the question is whether the model's behavior is followed by a consequence.

question

Vicarious reinforcement

answer

Seeing a model attain a reward for an activity increases the chances that an observer will repeat the behavior

question

Vicarious punishment

answer

Seeing the model punished makes the observer less likely to repeat the behavior

question

E.C. Tolman

answer

Emphasized the purposiveness of behavior - the idea that much of behavior is goal-directed. It is necessary to study entire behavioral sequences in order to understand why people engage in particular actions. Emphasized that the information value of the conditioned stimulus is important as a signal or an expectation that an unconditioned stimulus will follow. The info that the CS provides is the key to understanding classical conditioning

question

Purposiveness

answer

the idea that much of behavior is goal-directed.

question

Leon Kamin (1968)

answer

His classic experiment illustrated the important of an organism's history and the info provided by a conditioned stimulus in classical conditioning

question

Latent Learning (Implicit Learning)

answer

Unreinforced learning that is not immediately reflected in behavior; stored cognitively in their memories but not yet expressed behaviorally

question

Wolfgang Kohler

answer

Believed that cognitive factors play a significant role in learning; Sultan was one of his brightest champs

question

Insight learning

answer

A form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden insight into or understanding of a problem's solution

question

Keller and Marion Breland (1961)

answer

Students of B.F. Skinner, used operant conditioning to train animals to perform at fairs and conventions and in television advertisemens

question

Instinctive drift

answer

The tendency of animals to revert to instinctive behavior that interferes with learning

question

Preparedness

answer

The species-specific biological predisposition o learn in certain ways but not others

question

Susan Mineka and Arne Ohman

answer

Investigated the fascinating natural power of snakes to evoke fear in many mammals

question

Amygdala

answer

The part of the limbic system that is related to emotion

question

Fixed mindset

answer

Individuals believe their qualities are carved ins tone and cannot change

question

Growth mindset

answer

Individuals believe their qualities can change and improve through their effort

Psych Ch. 6 Vocab Answers – Flashcards

Unlock all answers in this set

Haven't found what you were looking for?

Search for samples, answers to your questions and flashcards