CH 7

Question 1

What’s Learning?

Answer 1

Involves the acquisition, from experience, of new knowledge, skills, or responses that results in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner.

Question 2

What’s Habituation?

Answer 2

A general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding. Ex, Living near an airport.

Question 3

What’s Sensitization?

Answer 3

Occurs when presentation of a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus.

Question 4

What’s Classical Conditioning?

Answer 4

Occurs when a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response. Ex, hearing a ringtone.

Question 5

What’s Unconditioned Stimulus (US)?

Answer 5

Something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism.

Question 6

What’s Unconditioned Response?

Answer 6

A reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus.

Question 7

What’s Acquisition?

Answer 7

The phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together. (Respond)

Question 8

What’s Conditioned Stimulus (CS)?

Answer 8

A previously neutral stimulus that produces a reliable response in an organism after being paired with a US.

Question 9

What’s Conditioned Response?

Answer 9

A reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus.

Question 10

What’s Second-order Conditioning?

Answer 10

A type of learning whereby a CS is paired with a stimulus that became associated with the US in an earlier procedure, can be demonstrated.

Question 11

What’s Extinction?

Answer 11

The gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US. (Stop responding)

Question 12

What’s Spontaneous Recovery?

Answer 12

The tendency of a learned behaviour to recover from extinction after a rest period. (Recovery)

Question 13

What’s Generalization?

Answer 13

The CR is observed even though the CS is slightly different from the CS used during acquisition.

Question 14

What’s Discrimination?

Answer 14

The capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli.

Question 15

What’s is Freezing?

Answer 15

Experience sudden painful stimuli in nature, they show a defensive reaction.

Question 16

What’s Biological Preparedness?

Answer 16

A propensity for learning particular kinds of associations over other kinds, such that some behaviours are relatively easy to condition in some species but not in others. For example, the taste and smell stimuli that produce food aversions in rats do not work with most species of birds.

Question 17

What’s Operant Conditioning?

Answer 17

Operant conditioning generally concerns more voluntary behaviours. such as pressing a button, turning a key. or raising your hand.

Question 18

What’s a Reinforcer?

Answer 18

Any stimulus or event that increases the likelihood of the behaviour that led to it.

Question 19

What’s a Punisher?

Answer 19

Any stimulus or event that decreases the likelihood of the behaviour that led to it.

Question 20

What’s Law of Effect?

Answer 20

Behaviours that are followed by a “satisfying state of affairs” tend to be repeated, whereas those that produce an “unpleasant state of affairs” are less likely to be repeated.

Question 21

What’s Operant Behaviour?

Answer 21

Behaviour that an organism performs that has some impact on the environment.

Question 22

What’s the Operant Conditioning Chamber (Skinner Box)?

Answer 22

Allows a researcher to study the behaviour of small organisms in a controlled environment.

Question 23

What’s Positive Reinforcement?

Answer 23

A stimulus is presented that increases the likelihood of a behaviour. Ex, Parents buy teen a new car as a reward for safe driving.

Question 24

What’s Negative Reinforcement?

Answer 24

A stimulus is removed that increases the likelihood of a behaviour. Ex, Parents reduce restrictions on where teen can drive as a reward for safe driving.

Question 25

What’s Positive Punishment?

Answer 25

A stimulus is administered that reduces the likelihood of a behaviour. Ex, Parents assign difficult new chores after teen is stopped for speeding.

Question 26

What’s Negative Punishment?

Answer 26

A stimulus is removed that decreases the likelihood of a behaviour. Ex, Parents suspend driving privileges after teen is stopped for speeding.

Question 27

What’s Secondary Reinforcers?

Answer 27

Refers to a situation in which a stimulus reinforces a behavior after it has been associated with a primary reinforcer. Ex, Money.

Question 28

What’s Primary Reinforcers?

Answer 28

Food, comfort, shelter, and warmth are examples of primary reinforcers because they help satisfy biological needs or desires.

Question 29

What’s Stimulus Control?

Answer 29

Develops when a particular response occurs only when an appropriate discriminative stimulus (one that indicates that a response will be reinforced) is present.

Question 30

What’s Ratio Schedules?

Answer 30

Based on the ratio of responses to reinforcements.

Question 31

What’s Fixed Interval Schedule?

Answer 31

Reinforcers are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the appropriate response is made. For example, on a 2-minute fixed-interval schedule, a response will be reinforced, but only after 2 minutes have expired since the last reinforcement.

Question 32

What’s Variable-interval Schedule?

Answer 32

A behaviour is reinforced on the basis of an average time that has expired since the last reinforcement. For instance, on a 2-minute variable-interval schedule, responses will be reinforced every 2 minutes, on average, but not after each 2-minute period.

Question 33

What’s Fixed Ratio Schedule?

Answer 33

Reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made.

Question 34

What’s Continuous Reinforcement?

Answer 34

The special case of presenting reinforcement after each response.

Question 35

What’s Variable Ratio Schedule?

Answer 35

The delivery of reinforcement is based on a particular average number of responses. Slot machines in a modern casino pay off on variable-ratio schedules that are determined by the random number generator controlling the play of the machines.

Question 36

What’s Intermittent Reinforcement?

Answer 36

Whereby only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement, they produce behaviour that is much more resistant to extinction than does a continuous reinforcement schedule.

Question 37

What’s Intermittent Reinforcement Effect?

Answer 37

The fact that operant behaviours that are maintained under intermittent reinforcement schedules resist extinction better than those maintained under continuous reinforcement.

Question 38

What’s Shaping?

Answer 38

Learning that results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behaviour.

Question 39

What’s Latent Learning?

Answer 39

Something is learned, but it is not manifested as a behavioural change until sometime in the future.

Question 40

What’s Cognitive Map?

Answer 40

A mental representation of the physical features of the environment.

Question 41

What’s Successive Approximations?

Answer 41

Learning an association between a voluntary behavior and a consequence that follows the behavior.

Question 42

What’s Successive Approximations?

Answer 42

A step by step process moving gradually closer to the desired behavior.

Question 43

What’s Observational Learning?

Answer 43

An organism learns by watching the actions of others.

Question 44

What’s Diffusion Chain?

Answer 44

Individuals initially learn a behaviour by observing another individual perform that behaviour, and then become models from which other individuals learn the behaviour.

Question 45

What’s Operant Conditioning?

Answer 45

Learning through experience.

Question 46

What’s Implicit Learning?

Answer 46

Learning that takes place largely independent of awareness of both the process and the products of information acquisition.

Question 47

What’s Interleaved Practice?

Answer 47

A practice schedule that mixes different kinds of problems or materials within a single study session.