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PSY 100 > ch 8 - learning > Flashcards

ch 8 - learning Flashcards

1
Q

What are instincts?

A

Inborn patterns of behaviour elicited by environmental stimuli.

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2
Q

What are fixed action patterns?

A

Instinctive behaviours that, once begun, run until completion.

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3
Q

What is learning?

A

A relatively permanent change in behaviour (or in the capacity for behaviour) due to experience.

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4
Q

What is associative learning?

A

Occurs when we form associations among stimuli, behaviours, or both.

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5
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

Associations are formed between pairs of stimuli that occur sequentially in time.

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6
Q

What is operant conditioning?

A

Associations are formed between behaviours and their consequences.

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7
Q

What is nonassociative learning?

A

Involves changes in the magnitude of responses to a single stimulus rather than the formation of connections between stimuli.

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8
Q

What is habituation?

A

A simple form of learning in which reactions to repeated stimuli that are unchanging and harmless decrease.

Basically becoming desensitized to something.

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9
Q

What is sensitization?

A

An increased reaction to many stimuli following exposure to one strong stimulus.

Basically becoming more hyperaware.

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10
Q

What is observational learning?

A

Also known as social learning or modelling, it occurs when one organism learns by watching the actions of another organism.

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11
Q

What is implicit learning?

A

Learning that occurs in the absence of awareness.

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12
Q

What is explicit learning?

A

Learning that involves conscious awareness.

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13
Q

What is the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in classical conditioning?

A

A stimulus that elicits a response without prior experience.

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14
Q

What is the unconditioned response (UCR) in classical conditioning?

A

A reaction that doesn’t need to be learned.

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15
Q

What is the conditioned stimulus (CS) in classical conditioning?

A

An environmental event whose significance is learned through classical conditioning.

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16
Q

What is the conditioned response (CR) in classical conditioning?

A

Learned reactions.

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17
Q

What is acquisition in classical conditioning?

A

The development of a learned response.

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18
Q

What is extinction in classical conditioning?

A

The reduction of a learned response when the UCS no longer follows the CS.

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19
Q

What is spontaneous recovery?

A

The reappearance of CRs after periods of rest.

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20
Q

What is inhibition in classical conditioning?

A

A CS predicts the non-occurrence of an UCS.

Example: When you shock rats while shining light, they associate the light with a shock.

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21
Q

What is generalization in classical conditioning?

A

The tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to an original CS.

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22
Q

What is discrimination in classical conditioning?

A

A learned ability to distinguish between stimuli.

23
Q

What is higher-order conditioning?

A

Learning in which stimuli associated with a CS also elicit CR.

Example: A child has a fear of dogs (CS) because they got bitten by one before (UCS).

24
Q

What is latent inhibition?

A

The slower learning that occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is already familiar.

25
Q

What is the Rescorla-Wagner model?

A

The rate of learning about a conditioned stimulus (CS) depends on how new or surprising the association between the CS and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) appears to be.

26
Q

What is aversion therapy?

A

An application of counterconditioning in which a CS formerly paired with a pleasurable UCS is instead paired with an unpleasant UCS.

Example: Making tobacco cigarettes taste bad to urge smokers to quit.

27
Q

What is systematic desensitization?

A

A type of counterconditioning in which people relax while being exposed to stimuli that elicit fear.

28
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A

Increases the frequency of its associated behaviour by providing a desired outcome.

29
Q

What are primary reinforcers?

A

Effective because they have natural roles in survival.

30
Q

What are conditioned/secondary reinforcers?

A

A reinforcer that gains value from being associated with other things that are valued.

31
Q

What is negative reinforcement?

A

Involves the removal of unpleasant consequences from a situation to increase the frequency of an associated behaviour.

32
Q

What is punishment?

A

Any consequence that reduces the frequency of an associated behaviour.

33
Q

What is positive punishment?

A

Applying an unwanted consequence that reduces the frequency of or eliminates a behaviour.

34
Q

What is negative punishment?

A

Removing something desirable whenever the target behaviour occurs.

35
Q

What is continuous reinforcement?

A

Reinforcing a behaviour every time it occurs.

36
Q

What is partial reinforcement?

A

The reinforcement of a desired behaviour on some occasions, but not others.

37
Q

What is a fixed ratio (FR) schedule?

A

Requires that a behaviour occurs a set number of times for each reinforcer.

38
Q

What is a variable (VR) schedule?

A

Reinforcement occurs following some variable number of behaviours.

Example: Skinner’s rat must press the bar an average of ten times before it can get food.

39
Q

What is a fixed interval (FI) schedule?

A

A schedule of reinforcement in which the first response following a specified interval is reinforced.

40
Q

What is a variable interval (VI) schedule?

A

Characterized by an interval that is allowed to fluctuate around some average amount over the course of a session.

41
Q

What is the partial reinforcement effect in extinction?

A

The more rapid extinction observed following continuous reinforcement compared to that following partial reinforcement.

42
Q

What is shaping?

A
  • moulding/shaping behaviour in small steps until you get the desired response
43
Q

What is chaining?

A

Breaking down behaviour into manageable steps.

44
Q

What is latent learning?

A

The ability to learn in the absence of reinforcement.

45
Q

What is instinctive drift?

A

When animals are trapped to strong instinctive behaviours and their natural, instinctive ways override the conditioned behaviour instilled into them.

46
Q

What is social facilitation?

A

The presence of others makes us perform faster.

47
Q

What is a token economy?

A

An application of operant conditioning in which tokens that can be exchanged for other reinforcers are used to increase the frequency of desirable behaviours.

48
Q

What is imitation?

A

Copying behaviour that is unlikely to occur naturally and spontaneously.

49
Q

What are Bandura’s four necessary cognitive processes in the modeling of others’ behaviour?

A

Attention, Retention, Reproduction, Motivation.

50
Q

What are biological constraints?

A
  • Animals have a harder time earning
    behaviours that are incompatible
    with innate, adaptive behaviours.
  • Conditioning is most effective when the
    association between the behavioural
    response and the reinforcement is
    similar to the animal’s built-in
    predispositions
51
Q

What is biological prepardness?

A
  • animals (including humans) are naturally “prepared” to learn certain associations more easily because those associations are important for survival
52
Q

premack principle

A
  • a concept in operant conditioning that essentially says “a more preferred activity can be used to reinforce a less preferred activity”
  • ex: motivating yourself to study by telling yourself you can take a break after an hour
53
Q

thorndike’s law of behaviour

A
  • behaviours followed by positive outcomes (a “satisfying state of affairs”) are more likely to happen again, while behaviours followed by negative outcomes (an “annoying state of affairs”) are less likely to be repeated
54
Q
A

PSY 100 (7 decks)

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