Chapter 6 Flashcards
What are phobias?
irrational fears of specific objects or situations
What is classical conditioning?
a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus
What is Pavlovian conditioning?
another name for classical conditioning
a type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus
What is a US?
an unconditioned stimulus
a stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning. Provokes a natural response
What is a UR?
an unconditioned response
an unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning. A natural response.
What is a CS?
a conditioned stimulus
a previously neutral stimulus (NS) that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response
What is a CR?
a conditioned response
a learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning
What is a trial in classical conditioning?
any presentation of a stimulus or pair of stimuli
What is evaluative conditioning?
changes in the liking of a stimulus that result from pairing that stimulus with other positive or negative stimuli. In other words, evaluative conditioning involves the acquisition of likes and dislikes, or preferences, through classical conditioning
When talking about classical conditioning, what is acquisition?
the initial stage of learning a new response tendency
When talking about classical conditioning, what is extinction?
the gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency
What is spontaneous recovery?
the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus
What is the renewal effect?
if a response is extinguished in a different environment than it was acquired, the extinguished response will reappear if the animal is returned to the original environment where acquisition took place
What is stimulus generalization?
when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus responds in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus
What is stimulus discrimination?
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
What is higher-order conditioning?
When a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned stimulus.
Example
First, you condition a dog to salivate in response to the sound of a tone by pairing the tone with meat powder. Once the tone is firmly established as a CS, you pair the tone with a new stimulus—let’s say a red light—for 15 trials. You then present the red light alone, without the tone. Will the dog salivate in response to the red light? The answer is “yes.”
What is operant conditioning?
a form of learning in which VOLUNTARY responses come to be controlled by their consequences, like positive and negative reinforcement
What is reinforcement?
a response is strengthened because it leads to rewarding consequences
What is a Skinner box?
a small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is systematically recorded while the consequences of the response are controlled
