Chapter 6 Flashcards
Define learning
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience.
List the three basic models of learning and who is credited with the development of each.
Classical conditioning developed by Pavlov, opperant conditioning developed by Thorndike, and observational learning developed by Bandura.
Define classical conditioning
The model of learning that is more concerned with what occurs before the behavior.
Define conditioned stimulus
A stimulus that, after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, evokes the same response.
Define unconditioned stimulus
A stimulus that instinctually elicits an unconditioned response.
Define unconditioned response
A response (i.e. salivation) that reflexively follows an unconditioned stimulus (i.e. food).
define conditioned response
A response elicited by a conditioned stimulus.
Who was the researcher who conditioned a fear of rats and other furry objects in a boy named Albert?
Watson
Name the physiologist who, in studying digestion in dogs, discovered classical conditioning.
Pavlov
Define discrimination
The process of distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant conditioned stimuli, stopping its response to stimuli not directly associated with the unconditioned stimulus event.
Define higher-order conditioning
A process by which a series of conditioned stimuli serves as a substitute for originally conditioned stimuli.
Define extinction
When a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly not followed by the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned response becomes weaker and weaker until it no longer occurs.
Define spontaneous recovery
When there is a sudden increase in responding during the process of extinction.
Define avoidance conditioning
A tendency to avoid situations where whatever people have learned to fear might appear.
Give an example of aversive conditioning
An example of this type of conditioning is the use of electric shock as an unconditioned stimulus paired with a conditioned stimulus such as a bell, so that when the conditioned stimulus is given on its own, the response of fear is elicited.
A process by which a second stimulus similar to the first, presented to a subject after acquisition, will also produce a conditioned response.
generalization
What is the term used to describe the five modes of relationship between responses and reinforcers that increase or decrease the rate of an operant response?
contingencies
Define operant (instrumental conditioning)
The model of learning that is more concerned with what happens after the behavior.
What is a theory of operant conditioning “quite compatible with Christian thought in general” which has been applied to child rearing, counseling, and the church?
behaviorism
Define reinforcement
Any stimulus that follows a response and increases the probability of its occurrence.
His assumption is reported to be that operant conditioning is capable of explaining all human behavior in naturalistic terms, leaving no room for choices and no room for God.
Skinner
A researcher who began the study of instrumental conditioning and formulated the law of effect.
Thorndike
What is the law of effect?
We do what brings us pleasure and avoids pain.
Define satiation
The condition in which a previously desired item is no longer desired because so much has already been acquired.
Define shaping
The development of a single behavior by using a succession of steps.
Define punishment
The most powerful way of suppressing behavior, but may teach aggression. It is the presentation of an aversive stimulus that decreases the probability of a response.
Define negative reinforcement
The removal of an unpleasant or aversive situation as a result of behavior.
Define observational learning (modeling)
The model that explains how much of the behavior we exhibit has been learned or modified by watching models engage in those actions.
The theorist who suggests the most likely influences are those who are attractive or perceived as similar to the observer, are available, and are engaging in important behaviors.
Bandura
Examples are when people do not speak out on current issues because they think they have no influence or when Christians give up on the local church because it is “beyond help.”
Learned helplessness
