Chapter 6

Question 1

classical conditioning

Answer 1

a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus

Question 2

unconditioned stimulus

Answer 2

a stimulus that elicits a response without prior learning/ instinctual behavior

Question 3

conditioned stimulus

Answer 3

a stimulus that elicits a response only after an association has been learned

Question 4

unconditioned response

Answer 4

stimulus that does not have to be learned (or was previously learned)

Question 5

conditioned response

Answer 5

a response that has been learned

Question 6

extinction

Answer 6

the gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency.

Ex: You cringe at the sound of a dentist’s drill, which has been paired with pain in the past. You recently took a job as a dental assistant and you start hearing the drill (the CS) day in and day out without experiencing any pain (the US). Your negative response will slowly go away.

Question 7

spontaneous recovery

Answer 7

the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of no exposure to the conditioned stimulus.

Ex: responses “reappear from the dead” after being extinguished

Question 8

stimulus generalization

Answer 8

occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus response in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.

Ex: the woman who acquired a bridge phobia during her childhood because her father scared her whenever they went over a particular old bridge. The original CS for her fear was that specific bridge, but her fear was ultimately generalized to all bridges.

Question 9

stimulus discrimination

Answer 9

occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.

Ex: Let’s say your dog runs around excitingly wagging his tail whenever he hears your car pull up in the driveway (stimulus discrimination).

Question 10

positive reinforcement

Answer 10

something is added to increase the likelihood of a behavior

Question 11

negative reinforcement

Answer 11

something is removed we don’t like to increase the likelihood of a behavior
(taking away)

Question 12

positive punishment

Answer 12

something is added we don’t like to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

Question 13

negative punishment

Answer 13

something is removed we do like to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

Question 14

observational learning

Answer 14

learning by witnessing others behaviors (aka modeling)

Question 15

what are the four components of the observational learning process?

Answer 15

Attention (notice what’s happening)
Retention (retain and remember info)
Reproduction (when it is the right time to respond, and how/why)
Motivation (a good reason to replicate what they just saw)

Example: your spouse spills food on the floor and you yell at them (positive punishment)

Question 16

what were the findings from the bobo doll study?

Answer 16

The children saw the woman playing nice and being rewarded, then they saw the woman aggressing and being rewarded, and then the woman aggressing and being punished. When the children saw the woman be rewarded, the child repeated how the woman was playing with the Bobo doll, even if she showed aggression.