3b: learning

Question 1

adaptability

Answer 1

ability to learn new behaviors that can help us cope with changing world

Question 2

learning

Answer 2

process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information/behaviors through experience

Question 3

habituation

Answer 3

decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation

Question 4

associative learning

Answer 4

learning that certain events occur together

Question 5

respondent behavior

Answer 5

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

Question 6

operant behavior

Answer 6

behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence

Question 7

cognitive learning

Answer 7

acquisition of mental information

Question 8

behaviorism

Answer 8

view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior w/o reference to mental processes

Question 9

acquisition

Answer 9

initial learning of an association

Question 10

higher-order/second-order conditioning

Answer 10

neutral stimulus becomes associated with a previously conditioned stimulus

Question 11

extinction

Answer 11

diminishing of a CR when a UCS doesn’t follow CS

Question 12

spontaneous recovery

Answer 12

reappearance of a weakened CR after a pause

Question 13

generalization

Answer 13

tendency to respond to stimuli similar to CS

Question 14

discrimination

Answer 14

ability to distinguish between a CS and other, irrelevant stimuli

Question 15

preparedness

Answer 15

biological predisposition to learn associations that have survival value

Question 16

law of effect

Answer 16

rewarded behavior tends to recur

Question 17

reinforcement

Answer 17

any event that strengthens a preceding response

Question 18

shaping

Answer 18

operant conditioning procedure where reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Question 19

discriminative stimulus

Answer 19

stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement

Question 20

positive reinforcement

Answer 20

increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus

Question 21

negative reinforcement

Answer 21

increasing behaviors by stopping/reducing an aversive stimulus

Question 22

primary reinforcers

Answer 22

innately reinforcing stimulus

Question 23

conditioned/secondary reinforcers

Answer 23

stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through association with primary reinforcer

Question 24

continuous reinforcement schedule

Answer 24

reinforces desired response every time it occurs

Question 25

partial/intermittent reinforcement schedule

Answer 25

reinforces response only part of the time, slower acquisition but greater resistance to acquisition

Question 26

fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 26

reinforces behavior after a set number of responses

Question 27

variable-ratio schedule

Answer 27

reinforces behavior after an unpredictable number of responses

Question 28

fixed-interval schedule

Answer 28

reinforces a response after a fixed time period

Question 29

variable-interval schedule

Answer 29

reinforces the first response after varying time intervals

Question 30

punishment

Answer 30

event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

Question 31

instinctive drift

Answer 31

tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns

Question 32

latent learning

Answer 32

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

Question 33

social/observational learning

Answer 33

learning by observing others

Question 34

mirror neurons

Answer 34

neurons that some scientists believe fire when we perform certain actions or see observe another doing so

Question 35

prosocial behavior

Answer 35

positive, constructive, helpful behavior

Question 36

antisocial behavior

Answer 36

negative, destructive, harmful behavior