Chapter 6

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

Change in an organism’s behavior or thought as a result of experience

Question 2

Habituation

Answer 2

Process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli

Question 3

Classical conditioning

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Unconditioned response

Answer 4

Automatic response to a non-neutral stimulus that does not need to be learned

Question 5

Unconditioned stimulus

Answer 5

Stimulus that elicits an automatic response

Question 6

Conditioned response

Answer 6

Response previously associated with a non-neutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning

Question 7

Conditioned stimulus

Answer 7

Initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a response as a result of association with an unconditioned stimulus

Question 8

Acquisition

Answer 8

Learning phrase during which a condition response is established

Question 9

Extinction

Answer 9

Gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditions stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus

Question 10

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 10

Sudden reemergence of an extinct condition response after a delay in exposure to the condition stimulus

Question 11

Renewal effect

Answer 11

Sudden re-emergence of a conditioned response following Extinction when an animal is returned to the environment in which the condition response was acquired

Question 12

Stimulus generalization

Answer 12

Process by which conditions stimuli similar, but not identical, to the original condition stimulus elicit a conditioned response

Question 13

Stimulus discrimination

Answer 13

Process by which organisms display a less pronounced conditioned response to condition stimuli that differ from the original conditions stimulus

Question 14

latent inhibition

Answer 14

Difficulty in establishing classical conditioning to a conditioned stimulus we’ve repeatedly experienced alone, that is, without the unconditioned stimulus

Question 15

Fetishism

Answer 15

Sexual attraction to nonliving things

Question 16

Operant conditioning

Answer 16

Learning controlled by the consequence of the organism’s behavior

Question 17

Law of effect

Answer 17

Principal asserting that if a stimulus is followed by a behavior results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to give a rise to the behavior in the future

Question 18

Insight

Answer 18

Grasping the underlying nature of a problem

Question 19

Skinner box

Answer 19

Small animal chamber constructed by Skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviors to be recorded unsupervised

Question 20

Reinforcement

Answer 20

Outcome or consequence of a behavior that strengthens the probability of the behavior

Question 21

Positive reinforcement

Answer 21

Presentation of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the behavior

Question 22

Negative reinforcement

Answer 22

Removal of a stimulus that strengthens the probability of the behavior

Question 23

Punishment

Answer 23

Outcome or consequence of a behavior that weakens the probability of the behavior

Question 24

Discriminative stimulus

Answer 24

Stimulus that signals the presence of reinforcement

Question 25

Schedule of reinforcement

Answer 25

Pattern of reinforcing a behavior

Question 26

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 26

Reinforcing a behavior every time it occurs, resulting in faster learning but faster Extinction than only occasional reinforcement

Question 27

Partial reinforcement

Answer 27

Occasional reinforcement of behavior, resulting in slower Extinction than if the behavior have been reinforced to continually

Question 28

Fixed ratio schedule

Answer 28

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement following a regular number of responses

Question 29

Variable ratio schedule

Answer 29

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement after a specific number of responses on average, with the number varying randomly

Question 30

Fixed interval schedule

Answer 30

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for response at least once following a specified time interval

Question 31

Variable interval schedule

Answer 31

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for a response at least once during an average time interval, with the interval varying randomly

Question 32

Shaping

Answer 32

Conditioning at target behavior by progressively reinforcing behaviors that come closer and closer to the target

Question 33

Secondary reinforcer

Answer 33

Neutral object that becomes associated with a primary reinforcer

Question 34

Latent learning

Answer 34

Learning that is not directly observable

Question 35

Cognitive map

Answer 35

Mental representation of how a physical space is organized

Question 36

Observable learning

Answer 36

Learning by watching others

Question 37

Mirror neuron

Answer 37

Cell in the prefrontal cortex that becomes activated when an animal performs an action or observes it being performed

Question 38

Preparedness

Answer 38

Evolutionary disposition to learn some pairings of food stimuli over others owning to their survival value

Question 39

Instinctive drift

Answer 39

Tendency for animals to return to innate behaviors following repeated reinforcement