Chapter 6 Flashcards
1
Q
definition of learning
A
- a systematic, relatively permanent change in behaviour that results from cognitive experiments
- it’s relatively permanent as the info we learn can last quite a long time, but after a while, you tend to forget some things
2
Q
what does the definition of learning specify “cognitive experience” to be
A
- a change in our behaviour can also be caused by other factors such as the age and trauma (a baby cant lift their head up yet, but as they grow, they are able to.)
- therefore, they aren’t thought of as “learning” as it didn’t come from a cognitive experience
the mental processes and activities involved in acquiring knowledge, skills, and understanding
3
Q
how would you define learning if you couldn’t refer to mental processes that cant be seen
A
behaviourism: a systematic method to understand changes in behaviour without looking at mental processes, only observable behaviour
4
Q
what do behaviourists believe about learning
A
that the learning principles are the same for humans and animals
- so a lot of studies and results that can also be applied to humans, were conducted in animals
5
Q
what are the 3 types of learning
A
1) non-associative
2) associative
3) observational
6
Q
what does the word associative refer to
A
connecting events or things
- if you’re only talking about 1 event/thing, it cant be an associate bond
7
Q
what is non-associative learning
A
it involves procedures that only involve 1 event or stimulus without a reward or punishment
8
Q
what are the types of non-associative learning
A
- habituation
- sensitization
- imprinting
9
Q
what is habituation
A
- a decrease in response to a stimuli that is repeated and stays for a prolonged period of time;
“getting used to it, tuning it out, adjusting” - for instance, you can’t recognize the smell of your own home due to the constant exposure you have to it, but someone visiting for the first time can
10
Q
why is habituation beneficial
A
- it allows your brain to focus on more essential input while ignoring information that is giving it little to no new/important information
11
Q
what is sensitization
A
- the increase in a response due to a prolonged or repeated stimulus
- ex. watching a scary movie and being much more aware of insignificant sounds in ur surroundings
12
Q
why do you experience habituation sometimes and sensitization at other times
A
- one factor is the intensity of the stimulus
- low-intensity stimuli tend to produce habituation while high-intensity tend to produce sensitization
13
Q
what is imprinting
A
- an attachment or enduring behaviour during towards a certain individual
this bond is usually formed around the time of birth
ex. duckling hatches and forms a bond with its mother
14
Q
who coined the term imprinting
A
Konrad Lorenz, an Australian zoologist (1930s)
15
Q
what is associative learning
A
when an organism makes a connection btwn 2 stimuli or events
16
Q
what do we refer to when we say the process of learning an association btwn 2 things
A
conditioning
17
Q
what are the 2 types of conditioning
A
1) classical
2) operant
18
Q
what happens in classical conditioning
A
organisms learn the association btwn 2 stimuli
- this causes organisms to learn to anticipate events before they happen
example: anticipating the sound of thunder when we see lightening
19
Q
what happens in operant conditioning
A
- organisms learn the association btwn behaviour and a consequence
- as a result, organisms learn to continue/increase behaviours hat are followed by reward and stop/decrease behaviours that precede punishment
EX. trying to keep your grades up as your parents praise you when u do so
20
Q
what did John Stuart Mill, a British associationist believe
A
John Stuart Mill
- he believed that we acquire virtually all of our knowledge by connecting stimulus with another
21
Q
what type of learning accounts for the majority of what we learn
A
exposure to other performing a behaviour, or skill, rather than a result of direct consequences
22
Q
what is observational learning
A
a type of social learning where an individual observes someone else’s behaviour
example: seeing your friend have a negative reaction to tasting a new food, you’re unlikely to try it afterwards
- it differs from associative learning as you’re learning indirectly through someone’s else’s experience
23
Q
how do human infants differ from baby monkeys
A
- human babies rely on imitation quite strongly, while baby monkeys tend to figure things out for themselves
- this could be due to the vast amount of rather arbitrary social knowledge a human baby needs to learn
ex. clapping to show approval
24
Q
how can a neutral stimulus come to trigger a reaction over time
A
- a neutral stimulus (seeing fingers o a blackboard) can become a meaningful stimulus (the sound of nails scratching a board) and can illicit an appropriate response (cringing) even before the sound is produced
- this is the process of classical conditioning
25
who is the psychologist credited for classical conditioning studies
Ivan Pavlov
- he was interested in how the body digests food, specifically in dogs
26
Pavlov's conclusion
- with experience, neutral aspects of the environment can evoke responses through the connections with other stimuli
- he also sees that bodily processes are influenced by environmental cues
27
how did pavlov recognize the process of classical conditioning
in this experiment, he repeatedly placed meat powder in a dog's mouth, causing the dog to salivate
- he also noticed that the dog salivated in response to seeing just the plate or the experimenter (who brought food)
-
28
what are reflexes
an example of automatic stimulus-response connections
*they are the unlearned part of classical conditioning*
- salivating in response to food for ex
29
what is an unconditioned stimulus
a stimulus that produces a response without prior learning
i.e food
30
what is an unconditioned response
a reaction that you have innate (unlearned) response to
- automatically elicited to the unlearned stimulus
(i.e. salivating when seeing food)
31
what is a conditioned stimulus
a previously neutral stimulus that eventually is a conditioned response after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus
ex. sounding a buzzer before giving the dog food
32
what is a conditioned response
the learned response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs after pairing a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus
i.e. salivating at the sound of a buzzer that would give u food
33
what is instinctive drift
tendency of animals to revert to instinctive behaviour that interferes with previous learning
34
what is preparedness
species-specific biological predisposition to learn in certain ways but not others
35
who emphasized the purpose of behaviour
Edward Tolamn Clasz
- believed much of behaviour is goal directed
36
what is latent behaviour
unreinforced learning that is not immediately reflected in behaviour
## Footnote
learning that occurs without immediate demonstration or reinforcement, and is only revealed when there's a reason to use it.
37
what are the 4 main processes involved in observational learning
1) attention
2) retention
3) motor reproduction
4) reinforcement
38
what is vicarious reinforcement
seeing someone attain a reward for an activity increases the chances that an observer will repeat the behaviour
39
how does conditioned response relate to unconditioned responses
they are quite similar, but CR aren't as strong as UR
40
as a summary: state a dogs reaction to US (unconditioned response) and CS (conditioned response) BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER conditioning
BEFORE CONDITIONING:
US ------ UR
Food----dog salivating
neutral stim---no response
buzzer-no salivation
DURING CONDITIONING
neutral stimulus + US ---- UR
Buzzer + Food ---- dog salivating
*the CS is still neutral as we are still IN the conditioning process*
AFTER CONDITONING
CS-----CR
Buzzer----Dog salivating
41
what does acquisition mean
the phase in learning where the CS is paired with the US and a learned response is acquired
42
what factors contribute to whether the CR is acquired
contiguity and contingency
43
what does contiguity mean
means that the CS and US are presented close together in time, most commonly administered a second apart
- the more time in btwn the 2 stimuli, the less likely the CR is acquired
**the actual term means: the state of bordering or being in direct contact with something**
44
what does contingency mean
- that the CS must serve as a reliable indicator that the US is on the way
**actual term means that a future event/circumstance is possible but cant be predicted with certainty**
45
what is generalization
- the tendency of a new stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response that is similar to the response from the original conditioned stimulus
- has preventing learning from being tied to specific stimuli
46
what is the benefit of generalization
allows people to decide how to act in new situations
47
how can generalization be harmful
over-generalizing after a bad experience could lead an individual to fear benign scenarios.
- i.e. a cat learns a response to a harmless minnow and then generalizes this to a dangerous piranha
48
what is discrimination
in classical conditioning, refers to learning to respond to certain stimuli and not others
- pavlov produced discrimination by giving the dog food only after playing the buzzer and not after any other sounds
49
what is extinction
- where classical conditioning is the weakening of the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented
- pavlov conditions the dog to salivate the sound of a buzzer, he sounded the buzzer over and over again in one session and eventually the dog stopped salivating in response
50
what is spontaneous recovery
- process in classical conditioning where an extinguished conditioned response can recur after a time delay without further conditioning
- i.e. you might have thought that you got over someone, but then perhaps returning to a restaurant where you went with them before brought the emotions back
51
what does renewal refer to
the recovery of the conditioned response when the organism is placed in a novel context
- can be powerful problem to overcome
- i.e. individuals addicted to drugs leaving rehab and experiencing cravings when they return to their previous living experiences that are associated to their drug living experiences
52
which scientists demonstrated classical conditioning's role in the development of fears
John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in the Little Albert Experiment
53
how did the previously mentioned scientists (John B Watson and Rosalie Rayner) use classical conditioning to explain the acquisition for fears
they showed Albert (an infant) a white lab rat to determine if he was afraid of it, he was not
- as Albert played with the rats they sounded a loud noise behind his head which caused Albert to cry and they continued to do this when he played with the rat so that through associative learning, Albert would fear the rat, and any rat-like stimuli including rabbits, dogs, and sealskin coats
54
identify the key concepts of classical conditioning with alberts learned fear of rats
1) Albert had 0 fear to the rat
RAT=Neutral Stimulus, soon to be CS
+Paired with loud, scary noise which would startle and upset the baby...US creating an UR
= CS+US producing UR [aquisition]
- the rat [CS] was then presented to Albert w/o the loud noise [US] and Albert became alarmed and afraid even without the noise
- Albert's fear of rats is the conditioning response [CR]
55
what is counterconditioning
classical conditioning procedure that involves changing the conditioning of an undesired response to a stimulus into a desired response
56
what is aversive conditioning
breaking the learned connection between CS AND us
- I.E. electric shock and nausea-including substances are examples of noxious stimuli used in averse conditioning
57
how is classical conditioning in relation to environmental cues sometimes harmful
- acquiring an association to stimuli can result in learned association practices and behaviours applying in non-relevant situations
i.e. a dog in Pavlov's experiment going to a home and getting fed whenever but eating insanely quick which may lead to health complications
58
what is the placebo effect and how does it relate to classical conditioning
- as a control to identify the actual effects of a treatment
- observable changes that can't be explained through biological effects of an actual treatment
59
what is the link between classical conditioning and immunosuppression
classical conditioning can produce immunosuppression
60
what is an example of classical conditioning causing immunosuppression
Robert Ader examining the classically conditioned association between sweet solutions with nausea and shutdown of the immune system
- Ader gave rats a sweet-tasting solution (saccharin) and paired it with an immunosuppressive drug (cyclophosphamide), which made them sick. After a few pairings, the rats were given just the sweet solution—no drug—and still showed signs of a suppressed immune system.
61
what is taste aversion learning
special form of classical conditioning involving the learning association between a particular taste and nausea
- tasting sushi while feeling nauseous would lead you to associate sushi with feeling unwell and you likely wouldn't continue eating it
62
what are they key concepts of classical conditioning in taste aversion learning
- the taste or flavour is the CS
- the agent that made the person sick is the US
- nausea or vomiting is the UR
- learned taste aversion is the CR
63
how is classical conditioning used in advertising
- TV may apply classical conditioning principles to consumers by showing you ads that pairs something positive i.e. being w/ friends (US) producing pleasant feelings (UR) with a product the (CS) in hopes that you, the viewer will experience those positive feelings towards the product (the CR)
64
how does embedded marketing relate to classical conditioning
- embedded marketing is the exploitation of classical conditioning principles through product placement
i.e. noticing a character drinking a specific brand of a soft drink
-advertisers hope that by doing so they can associate positive feelings you have towards the character to show to their product
65
what is drug habituation
- developing a tolerance to a drug and needing higher doses of the drug to produce the same effect
66
how does drug habituation relate to classical conditioning
- classical conditioning helps explain drug habituation
- mind-altering drug=US
- previously neutral stimulus=CS
- bodily response/compensation for the drug's effect=CR
= CR works to decrease effects of US making the experience less intense
- some drug users will prevent habituation by varying the physical location where they take the drug (i.e. always taking drugs in a bathroom would lead your body to associate the two things and begin to prepare to deal with the drug to make the experience less intense)
- conditioned response to a drug can be the body's way of preparing for the effects of a drug
------------------------------------------------------
- therefore, in most cases of deadly overdoses, the drug is taken under unusual circumstances so the body is unable to anticipate what comes next or a visit to rehab
67
what does it mean when we call behaviour respondent
happens on autopilot
68
what is classical conditioning good at explanation in terms of behaviour? what is it bad at?
good: involuntary responses
- explaining how neutral stimuli become associated with unlearned responses
bad: voluntary behaviours
- i.e. students studying hard for an exam
69
why is operant conditioning better at explaining voluntary behaviours
because operant conditioning focuses on the association between behaviours and the stimuli that follows
(diff than classical conditioning which focuses on the association btwn stimuli)
70
how do we define operant conditioning
form of associative learning in which the consequences of a behaviour change the probability that the behaviour will occur again
71
who established the term operant conditioning
- B.F. Skinner
- he also used the term operant to describe the behaviour of the organism
- can be remembered by thinking that operant behaviour operates on the environment
72
what is thorndike's law of effect
behaviours that are followed by pleasant outcomes are strengthened and that behaviours followed by unpleasant outcomes are weakened
73
what did thorndikes experiments regarding operant conditioning consist of
- he put a hungry cat inside a box and placed a piece of fish outside, to escape from the box and obtain the food the cat had to learn to open the latch inside the box
- in the start the cat clawed and bit at the bars unsuccessfully, but once it accidentally stepped on the lever that released the door bolt it eventually realized the appropriate mechanism and when it was placed in the box again it moved towards the lever faster (spent less time trying to bite the bars etc)
74
what was skinner's approach to operant conditioning
- since he believed the mechanisms of learning were the same for all species, he studied animals and generalized their basic learning components to all organisms
- attempted to study organisms under precisely controlled conditions so they could examine the connection between operant behaviour and the specific consequences in minute detail
75
how did skinner utilize the operant conditioning chamber
- Skinner box
= used to control experiment conditions
- the box usually included a lever (to test it, refer to thorndike experiment) and was soundproof to remove external stimuli
76
what is shaping
rewarding successive approximations of a desired behaviour
- for ex. can be used to train a hungry rat to press a bar to obtain food, a rat is first placed in a Skinner box, it rarely presses the bar but once it begins to receive rewards for pushing on the lever it will push the lever faster (thorndike experiment)
- often used to help people with motor problems
77
what does reinforcement mean
the process by which a stimulus or event (a reinforcer) following a particular behaviour increase the probability that the behaviour will happen again
78
what does positive reinforcement entail
frequency of a behaviour increases because it is followed by desirable stimulus
- i.e. someone smiling at you after you began a convo will reinforce the convo (you take their smile as positive reinforcement)
79
what does negative reinforcement entail
- the frequency of behaviour increases because it is removed by a undesirable stimulus
i.e. cleaning your garage when your dad nags you (bc ur removing the unpleasant stimulus: ur dads nagging)
80
what is avoidance learning
occurs when the organism learns that by making a particular response, a negative stimulus can be escaped or avoided
- i..e a student who receives a bad grade once will study extra hard and even after receiving a good grade on the next assessment these study habits will stick and they will continue to study hard
81
what is learned helplessness
- organism has learned that it has no control over negative outcomes
- i..e dogs that were first exposed to inescapable shocks were later unable to learn to avoid those shocks, even when they could
82
what is a primary reinforcer
innately satisfying
- doesn't require any learning to make it pleasurable
i.e. eating food when you're hungry
83
what is a secondary reinforcement
- acquires positive value through an organism's experience, a secondary reinforcer is a learned or conditioned reinforcer
- secondary reinforcers can be linked to primary reinforcers through classical conditioning (i.e. teaching a dog a trick and using a whistle that the dog can associate with food)
84
what is an example of generalization in operant conditioning
- performing a reinforced behaviour in different situations
i.e. getting good results after studying hard for psychology would lead you to generalize this behaviour and adapt it to studying for other classes too
85
what are the schedules of reinforcement
specific patterns that determine when a behaviour will be reinforced
1) fixed ratio
2) variable ratio
3) fixed interval
4) variable interval
86
what do the 4 main schedules of partial reinforcement entail
RATIO- involve the number of behaviours that must be performed prior to reward
INTERVAL- the amount of time that must pass before a behaviour can be rewarded
Fixed Ratio
- reinforcement after a set number of behaviours
i.e. a factory requiring a line worker to produce a certain number of items to get paid a particular amount
Variable Ratio
- behaviours will be rewarded on an unpredictable basis
- produce steady, and high rates of behaviour that are more resistant to extinction than the other three
i.e. slot machines, it might pay off twice in a row and then never again until 58 coins are inserted unbeknownst to the gambler
Fixed Interval
- reinforces the first appropriate behaviour after a fixed amount of time has passed
- rate of behaviour increases rapidly as the time approaches when the behaviour likely will be reinforced
- i.e. checking on your cookies more often as the baking timer is closer to going off
Variable Interval
- timetable where a behaviour is reinforced after a variable amount of time has elapsed
- i.e. pop quizzes, it is difficult to predict when a reward will come and behaviour is slow and consistent which is why pop quizzes leads to more consistent levels of studying compared to scheduled tests
87
what is punishment
consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behaviour will occur in the future
- for instance a child plays with matches and gets burned with one, this consequence will keep them away from matches
88
what does positive punishment entail
- a behaviour decreases when it is followed by a stimulus
i.e. getting a traffic ticket will lead you to drive with more caution
89
what does negative punishment entail
- a punishment decreases when the stimulus is removed
i.e. time out, as it involves taking a child away from fun things in their lives
90
what is applied behaviour analysis
- real-world application of operant conditioning principles to promote better functioning
- use of operant conditioning principles to change human behaviour where rewards and punishments are carefully analyzed and manipulated to change behaviours
91
how do effects of immediate and delayed reinforcement differ
- operant conditioning is more efficient when the interval between a behaviour and reinforcer is a few seconds rather than minutes or hours because the ability to connect the stimuli decreases
92
how do effects of immediate versus delayed punishment differ
- immediate punishment tends to be more effective than delayed punishment in decreasing the occurrence of a behaviour
93
retention
being able to hold the information in memory
94
motor reproduction
imitating the model's actions
- i.e. to be able to hit a perfect backhand in tennis you need the motor skills to do so
95
attention
noticing the behaviours of others
