Behavioral Theory Flashcards
What is behavior?
behavior is EVERYTHING; it is learned and lawful; behavior changes can be explained, predicted, and intervened into, lawfully
Learned
our tendencies are not destinies; what happens to us matters more for our identity, our roles, and/or personality
Lawful (or caused)
behavior is determine by sets of structures and mechanisms and casual realtionships that we can watch, notice, count, map and even quantify
How does behaviorism differ from biology theory?
in behaviorism: we are not destined by biology or nature; what happens to us outside has a great influence than what happens inside; we not only CAN change but we MUST change and are always changing in response to lawful mechanism
Unlearned Behaviors
things that you are born know that help you adapt to the environment; reflexes and instincts
Reflex
a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment; reflexes are simpler than instincts; involving the activity of specific body parts and systems (infant sucking, pupil dilation)
Instinct
innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events such as aging and the change of the season; instinct are more complex, involving movement of the organism as a whole (sexual activity, migration)
Learning
a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience; involves acquiring knowledge and skills through experience
Associative Learning
occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment; central to classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning
Ivan Pavlov
1849-1936; Russian scientist who performed research on dogs, his research led to the discovering of the learning process known as classical conditioning
Conditioned Response
CR; response caused by a conditioned stimulus
Conditioned Stimulus
CS; stimulus that elicits a response due to it being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning
learning in which the stimulus or experience occurs before the behavior and then gets paired with or associated with the behavior
Operant conditioning
form of learning in which the stimulus/experience happens after the behavior is demonstrated
Neutral Stimulus
NS; stimulus that does not initially elicit a response
Unconditioned Response
UCR; natural (unlearned) behavior to a given stimulus
Unconditioned Stimulus
UCS; stimulus that elicits a reflexive response
How does classical conditioning work?
A neutral stimulus (NS) such as a bell or tone is presented immediately before the UCS. After repeated pairings, the NS when presented alone will produce the same response that the UCS produced because it is now associated with the UCS. The NS becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the learned response to the CS is called the conditioned response (CR)
Higher order/Second order Conditioning
an established conditioned stimulus paired with a new neutral stimulus (the second-order stimulus) also elicits the conditioned response without the initial conditioned response being presented
Real World Example of Higher/Second Order
a baby that gets excited and salivates at the sight of a formula container
Acquisition
the initial period of learning, when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
Extinction
the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus