Chapter 5: Learning

Question 1

what is learning according to behaviorists

Answer 1

a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from experience

Question 2

what is learning according to cognitive theorists

Answer 2

the process by which organisms make relatively permanent change in the way they represent the environment because of experience

Question 3

what is classical conditioning

Answer 3

is a simple form of learning in which organisms come to anticipate or associate events with one another

Question 4

what is a reflex

Answer 4

a simple unlearned response to a stimulus

Question 5

what is stimuli

Answer 5

an environmental condition that elicits a response

Question 6

what is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Answer 6

a stimulus that elicits a response from an organism prior to conditioning

Question 7

what is an unconditioned response (UCR)

Answer 7

an unlearned response to an unconditioned stimulus

Question 8

what is an orienting reflex

Answer 8

an unlearned response in which an organism attends to a stimulus

Question 9

what is a conditioned stimulus (CS)

Answer 9

a previously neutral stimulus that elicits a conditioned response because it has been paired repeatedly with a stimulus that already elicited that response

Question 10

what is a conditioned response (CR)

Answer 10

a learned response to a conditioned stimulus

Question 11

what is extinction

Answer 11

the process by which stimuli lose their ability to evoke learned responses because the events that had followed the stimuli no longer occur

Question 12

what is spontaneous recovery

Answer 12

the recurrence of an extinguished response as a function of the passage of time

Question 13

what is generalization

Answer 13

the tendency for a conditioned response to be evoked by stimuli that are similar to the stimulus to which the response was conditioned

Question 14

what is discrimination

Answer 14

in conditioning, the tendency for an organism to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not forecast a unconditioned stimulus

Question 15

what is higher-order conditioning

Answer 15

a previously neutral stimulus comes to serve as learned or conditioned stimulus after being paired repeatedly with a stimulus that has already become of learned of conditioned stimulus

Question 16

what is taste aversion

Answer 16

is a learned response to eating spoiled or toxic food. It can be acquired after only one association and the UCS can occur hours after the CS.

Question 17

biologically prepared

Answer 17

readiness to acquire a certain kind of CR due to the biological makeup of the organism. (we are automatically scared of things that could harm us: snake, heights)

Question 18

what is counterconditioning

Answer 18

an organism learns to respond to a stimulus in a way that is incompatible with a response that was conditioned earlier (ex// relaxation is incompatible with a fear response)

Question 19

what is flooding

Answer 19

is a behavior therapy method for reducing fears, fear-evoking stimuli (CSs) are presented continuously in the absence of actual harm so that the fear responses are extinguished.

Question 20

what is systematic desensitization

Answer 20

where a client is gradually exposed to fear-evoking stimuli under circumstances in which he or she remains relaxed.

Question 21

what is operant conditioning

Answer 21

organism learning do things or not to do things because of the consequences of their behavior/ learns to engage in behavior because it is reinforced

Question 22

what is the law of effect (thorndike’s law)

Answer 22

thorndike’s view that pleasant event stamp (strengthened) in responses and unpleasant events stamp them out

Question 23

what is reinforcement (b.f. skinner)

Answer 23

to follow a response with a stimulus that increases the frequency of the response

Question 24

what is operant behavior/operants

Answer 24

behavior that operates on, or manipulates, the environment

Question 25

what is a difference in classical and operant conditioning

Answer 25

In classical, involuntary responses (blinking) are often conditioned. In operant, voluntary responses (moving) are often conditioned.

Question 26

what is one way that skinner different from psychologists?

Answer 26

ex// when helping people combat depression, most focus on their feelings. A skinnerian would focus on cataloging and modifying the types of things that depressed people do

Question 27

what are positive reinforcers

Answer 27

a reinforcer that when presented increases the frequency of an operant

Question 28

what are negative reinforcers

Answer 28

a reinforcer that when removed increases the frequency of an operant

Question 29

what are primary reinforcers

Answer 29

an unlearned reinforcer whose effectiveness is based on the biological makeup of the organism and not on learning (food, water, warmth, pain)

Question 30

what are secondary/conditioned reinforcers

Answer 30

a stimulus that gains reinforcement value through association with established reinforcers

Question 31

what is the difference between reinforcers and rewards/punishments

Answer 31

reinforcers are known for their effects. rewards/punishments are known by how they feel

Question 32

what is discriminative stimuli

Answer 32

a stimulus that indicates that reinforcement is available

Question 33

what is continuous reinforcement

Answer 33

a schedule of reinforcement in which every correct response is reinforced

Question 34

what is partial reinforcement

Answer 34

one of the several reinforcement schedules in which not every correct response is reinforced (gambling)

Question 35

what is a fixed-interval schedule

Answer 35

a schedule in which a fixed amount of time must elapse between the previous and subsequent times that reinforcement is available

Question 36

what is a variable-interval schedule

Answer 36

a schedule in which a variable amount of time must elapse between the previous and subsequent times that reinforcement is available

Question 37

what happens in response to a fixed-interval schedule

Answer 37

an organism's response rate falls off after each reinforcement and then picks up again as the time when reinforcement will occur approaches

Question 38

what happens in response to a variable-interval schedule

Answer 38

response rate is lower but steadier

Question 39

what is a fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 39

a schedule in which reinforcement is provided after a fixed number of correct responses

Question 40

what is a variable-ratio schedule

Answer 40

a schedule in which reinforcement is provided after a variable number of correct responses

Question 41

what happens in response to a fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 41

the organism learns that it must make several responses before being reinforced, therefore it does the action rapidly

Question 42

what happens in response to a variable-ratio schedule

Answer 42

reinforcement is random so the unpredictability maintains a high response rate

Question 43

what is biofeedback training (BFT)

Answer 43

it is based on operant conditioning. it has enabled people and lower animals to learn to control autonomic responses to attain reinforcement.

Question 44

what is shaping

Answer 44

a procedure for teaching complex behaviors that at first reinforces approximations of the target behavior

Question 45

what are successive approximations

Answer 45

behaviors that are progressively closer to a target behavior

Question 46

what is programmed learning

Answer 46

an educational method that assumes that any complex task can broken down into many small steps

Question 47

what are cognitive maps

Answer 47

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment

Question 48

what is latent learning

Answer 48

learning that is hidden or concealed

Question 49

what is the contingency theory

Answer 49

the view that learning occurs when stimuli provide information about the likelihood of the occurrence of other stimuli

Question 50

what is observational learning

Answer 50

the acquisition of knowledge and skills through the observation of others rather than by means of direct experience

Question 51

what is a model in observational learning

Answer 51

an organism that engages in a response that is imitated by another organism