Chapter 6 Flashcards
Habituation
The process whereby someone responds less strongly over time to a given stimulus represents of the simplest forms of learning, which is Habituation.
Stimulus
any event or object in the environment to which a organism responds
Classical Conditioning
form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response
Neutral Stimulus
No real reaction, usually since it’s a caused from something of past knowledge.
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
(UCS) Stimulus that elicits an automatic response without prior conditioning
It’s unlearned behaviour
What kind of stimulus is flinching your eye to an oncoming ball to your face
UCS
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
(UCR) Automatic response to a nonneutral stimulus that does not need to be learned
The reflexive response to an unconditioned stimulus
UCR
Conditioned Response (CR)
(CR) A response previously associated with a nonneutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning
A response that is elicited by the conditioned stimulus
CR
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
(CS) Initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response due to association with an unconditioned stimulus
An initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
CS
Two important components in classical conditioning and brief explanations
Timing of Events:
Must be short delay between the NS and rhe US for conditioning to occur
Sequence of Events:
The NS must be presented before th US for conditioning to occur
Three Phases of Classical Conditioning
Acquisition
Extinction
Spontaneous Recovery
Acquisition
Learning phase during which a conditioned response is established
Acquisition is the repeated pairing of UCS and CS, increasing the CR’s Strength
Backward conditioning
Which the UCS is presented before the CS—is extremely difficult to achieve
We see that as the CS and UCS pair over and over, the CR increases progressively in strength. The steepness of this curve varies depending how close together in time the CS and UCS are presented
The closer in time the pairing of CS and UCS, the faster learning occurs.
About a half second delay is typically the optimal pairing for learning. Longer delays usually decrease the speed and strength of organism’s response
Acquisition
Extinction
Elimination of a response that occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without being followed by the US
Gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus
Extinction
Spontaneous Recovery
Sudden re-emergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay following an extinction procedure
Renewal Effect
The reappearance of a conditioned response that had previously been extinguished in a novel setting.
A phenomenon in which a seemingly extinct CR reappears (Often in somewhat weaker form)
Spontaneous Recovery
Stimulus Generalization
Process in which conditioned stimuli that are similar, but not identical, to the original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned response
Stimulus Discrimination
the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and similar stimuli
Carla takes a new job as a bee keepr. On her first day she is stung by a bee. The bee sting is the ___
Carlas feeling of excruiciating pain to the bee sting is the ___
Now when carla sees a bee she becomes very fearful. The fear when she sees a bee is the ___
The bee has now become the ___
Carla’s fear is not just tied to seeing a bee. She becomes fearful anytime she sees a largish flyin insect. This is an example of ____
After a few days though she is no longer fearful of flying insects like flies and dragonflies; only to the stinging bees. This is an example of__
In order to keep her job Carla knows that she must keep working around bees. She finds that after a couple of weeks she is no longer afraid of bees. This is an example of____
After taking a month off of work from beekeping to travel the world, carla returns only to find she once again Is a little afraid of the bees. This is an example of ____
UCS
UCR
CR
CS
Stimulus generalization
Stimulus discrimination
Extinction
Spontaneous Recovery
Higher-Order Conditioning
Developing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus
How do Organism develop Higher-Order Conditioning?
Organisms learn to develop conditioned associations to previously neutral stimulus that come to be associated with the original CS.
Latent Inhibition
A stimulus often experienced Alone may be resistant to conditioning
Conditioned compensatory response (CCR)
CR that is opposite of the UCR
Example: Drugs taken in same room
Cues in initiate defensive response (I.E. A CCR) which prepares body for drugs effect
Your body is used to its environement, so if you consume drugs in the same room often you’re likely to have you body prepare itself naturally better, however if you consume a high dosage somewhere new, like a hotel room. Then you might find that your body is not prepared as well and may suffer an overdose
The Law of Effect
Principle asserting that if a stimulus followed by a behaviour results in a reward, the stimulus Is more likely to give rise to the behaviour in the future.
Skinner Box
Small animal chamber constructed by B.F. Skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviors to be recorded unsupervised
AKA an Operant chamber
Three Key concepts in Skinnerian psychology
Reinforcement, punishment, and discriminative stimulus.
Reinforcement
Outcome or consequence of a behavior that strengthens the probability of the behavior (Both have an increase in behavior)
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
The presentation of a stimulus (what we would usually think of as a pleasant stimulus) following a behavior that strengthens the probability of the behavior. (When a reward follows some behavior)
he removal of a stimulus (what we would usually think of as an unpleasant stimulus) following a behavior that strengthens the probability of the behavior. (When something unpleasant is removed after some behavior)
Positive =
Negative =
Reinforcement =
Punishment =
presentation of something
removal of something
Increase Behaviour
Decrease behaviour
Punishment
Outcome or consequence of a behaviour that weakens the probability of the behaviour (Reduction of behaviour)
Positive Punishment
Typically involves administering a stimulus that the organism wants to avoid, such as physical shock, or an unpleasant social outcome, such as laughing at someone
Negative Punishment
Typically involves the removal of a stimulus that the organism wishes to experience, such as a favourite toy or article of clothing.
Disadvantages of Punishment
-Punishments tells the organism only what not to do, now what to do.
-Punishment often creates anxiety
-Punishment may encourage subversive behaviour
-Punishment from parents may privude a model for children aggressive behaviour
Discriminative Stimulus
(Sd) Stimulus associated with the presence of reinforcement
Not Stimulus Discrimination
Example of Discriminative Stimulus
When we snap our fingers at a dog in the hope of having it come over to us, the dog may approach us for a much-appreciated petting. Dor the dog, our finger snapping is a discriminative stimulus: it a signal that if it approaches us, it will receive reinforcement.
Extinction in Operant Conditioning
Occurs when we stop delivering reinforcement to a previously reinforced behaviour. Gradually, this behaviour declines in frequency and disappears. (Behavioural response (increased or decreased behaviour no longer maintained)
Stimulus Generalization
Generalizing a CR to NS similar to the CS
Schedules of Reinforcement
Pattern reinforcing a behaviour
Continuous Reinforcement
Reinforcing a behaviour every time it occurs, resulting in faster learning but faster extinction than only occasional reinforcment
Partial Reinforcement
Only Occasional reinforcement of a behaviour, resulting in slower extinction than if the behaviour had been reinforced continually
If we want to train a dog to perform a trick, like catching a Frisbee, should we reinforce it for (a) each successful catch or (b) only some of its successful catches?
(B) We should reward it on occasion, as behaviours we reinforce only occasionally are slower to extinguish than those we reinforce continuously
Partial Reinforcment in relationships
Toxic abusive relationships, where there is a cycle of betterment to worsening back to betterment. This cycle is why people get trapped in those relationships for so long, in hopes that it improves
Fixed Ration (FR) Schedule
(FR) pattern in which we provide reinforcement following a regular number of responses
Variable ratio (VR) Schedule
(VR) Pattern in which we provide reinforcement after a specific number of responses on average, with the number varying randomly
Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule example
A worker in a clock factory might get paid every Friday for the work they’ve done, as long as they`ve generated at least one clock during that one-week interval.
Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule
(FI) Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for a response at least once following a specified time interval.
Variable Interval (VI) Schedule
(VI) a schedule of reinforcement where a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed
Variable Interval (VI) Schedule example
We could give a dog a treat for performing a trick on a variable interval schedule with an average interval of 8 minutes. This dog may have to perform the trick sometime after 7-minute interval the first time, then 1-minute interval the second time, then after a 20-minute interval, and then after a 4-minute interval, with the average of these intervals being 8 minutes.
Applications of Operant Conditioning
We’re conditioned to our superstitions which in turn affect our day-to-day. Such as:
Opening an umbrella indoors
The number 13
Bringing a “lucky” pen or piece of jewelry to an exam
Shaping by Successive approximations
Conditioning a target behaviour by progressively reinforcing behaviours that come closer and closer to the target
Fixed Ratio w/ example
Reinforce behaviours after a set number of responses
EXAMPLE: Sew a button on 30 shirts, get paid 1,000$
Variable-Ratio w/ example
Reinforce after unpredictable number of responses
High rates of responding
Most resistant to extinction
Example: VLT (slot) machines at a casino
Get payout after an unpredictable number of responses
Fixed-Interval w/ example
Reinforce response after set time has elapsed
Stop-start pattern of responding
Example: when you piut a cake in the oven, ypu do not immediately check if it’s baked. You wait til you hear the ding or the timers up.
Variable-Interval
Reinforce response at unpredictable time intervals
Slow but steady responding
Example: Checking your e-mail you do not know when you might get an email so you check on average once or twice a day.
Continuous Reinforcement
Best to increase frequency of a behaviour
Faster learning of behaviour/reward relationship
Intermittent reinforcement
Best to maintain frequency of a behaviour
Shaping Example
EXAMPLE: Training animals to do tricks
How do we get these animals to do tricks? Shaping! Shaping the animal by reinforcing activity to the desired behaviour.
Shaping
Reinforce successive approximations of the desired behaviour until the desired behaviour is performed
Insight learning
an aha moment in which there is sudden understanding of a solution
Conditioned taste aversion
Classical conditioning can lead us to develop or avoid certain taste of food (which becomes biological in nature as we’re programmed not to eat something that makes u sick or gives us a bad reaction)
Preparedness
for certain phobias. In preparedness, we ate evolutionarily predisposed to be more afraid of certain things (e.g., snakes)
Contradicts equipotentiality
Instinctive drift
Tendency to return to innate behaviours after repeated reinforcement.
E.G., training an animal to shape (shaping) the behaviour to perform a certain trick/activity
Pavlov discovered that if he repeatedly paired a neutral stimulus, such as the sound of a metronome, with a stimulus that provided an automatic response, eventually the neutral stimulus alone would produce a(n) __________.
Conditioned Response
Because __________ activity seems to play a central role in empathy, some psychologists speculate that defects in this area may be associated with infantile autism.
Mirror Neuron
Spectators often marvel at shows that feature animals doing amazing stunts and complicated manoeuvres. Animal trainers use __________ to accomplish this, by reinforcing behaviours that are progressively closer to the target behaviour until the target behaviour is achieved.
Shaping
What phenomenon may explain why marketers are not always successful in establishing a connection for their target audience between a particular product and the celebrity who is endorsing it?
Latent inhibition
A popular learning method that suggests students can figure out important principles on their own by trying out experimental materials is called __________.
Discovery Learning
One reason preparedness might lead to phobias is that we develop __________ between fear-provoking stimuli and negative consequences.
illusory correlations
Negative reinforcement __________ the rate of behaviour, whereas punishment __________ the rate of behaviour.
increases; decreases
What principle asserts that rewards will be more likely to promote repeated responses to a stimulus?
Law of effect
Alastair has used classical conditioning to train his dog to salivate every time Ingo whistles a C#. After the dog has mastered this association, Alastair then pairs a flashing light with the sound of a whistled C#, and finds that, over time, his dog now salivates to the flashing light. Which principle of classical conditioning is at work here?
Higher-order conditioning
Wolfgang Köhler’s studies with chimpanzees demonstrated the animals were using insight to solve a problem. Unfortunately, flaws in the study’s design mean that we cannot rule out the possibilities that the chimps were learning by trial and error or by __________.
observational learning
When a conditioned response appears to be extinct, it can sometimes come back, but will often be weaker than it was originally. This return of the CR is called __________.
spontaneous recovery
Which of the following reinforcement schedules typically yields the highest rate of response from an organism?
Variable ratio
Early reports of the success of sleep-assisted learning fail to consider an important rival hypothesis: namely, that the recordings might have __________.
awakened the subjects
Most classically conditioned reactions require repeated pairings of the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus to develop a relationship in the mind of the subject. Which of the following is an example of a situation in which pairing only once is often enough?
Conditioned taste aversion
As we become accustomed to a particular place, we develop a representation in our minds of how that physical space is organized. This is known as developing a __________.
cognitive map
Bridgette feeds her cat canned food every night. The ritual is always the same: Bridgette takes out the electric can opener, whirs the can around the blade to open it, scoops the food into a bowl, and presents it to Zorro. Bridgette has noticed, however, that Zorro will run into the kitchen in eager anticipation as soon as he hears the sound of the cabinet door open and hears the whir of the can opener in motion. According to the principles of classical conditioning, the sound of the can opener is the __________.
CS
Marjoe had trained his dog that whenever it saw a photo of the cat next door, it would receive a treat. Through multiple pairings of the photo and the treat, the dog came to salivate when the photo alone was presented. Marjoe then extinguished the salivation behaviour by presenting the photo but withholding the treat. He was surprised to find that, a week later, when he happened to hold up the photo of the cat, his dog started to salivate. What is going on here?
Spontaneous recovery
According to the principles of latent learning, there is a crucial distinction to be made between __________and ______
competence and performance
Praise, money, good grades, compliments, and applause are all examples of __________.
secondary reinforcers
Although some educational psychologists have claimed to boost learning by matching different instructional methods to different types of students, the theory of __________ has yet to be proven because tests have lacked reliability.
learning styles
The idea that we are predisposed by evolution to fear some stimuli more than others, even when we have had no bad experiences with those stimuli in real life, is referred to as __________.
Preparedness
Another term for operant conditioning is __________ conditioning.
instrumental
Which term refers to a situation in which an organism responds more strongly to a stimulus over time?
Sensitization
Reggie likes to eat chicken fingers dipped in honey mustard sauce. One night, just after eating at Chester’s Chicken Shack, he becomes painfully ill with stomach cramps and nausea due to the flu virus that had been percolating in his body the past few days. When his friends invite him back to Chester’s in a month, Reggie swiftly declines. What principle of classical conditioning is at work in Reggie’s reaction?
Conditioned taste aversion
Which term refers to the classical conditioning phenomenon in which a new CR “writes over” an existing CR?
This takes place during extinction.
