Chapter 6 Flashcards
Learning
Change in organism’s behaviour due to experience
Which psychologist believed learning accounted for all behaviour?
Watson
Learning is a mix of _____ and _____
Nature, nurture
What kind of science did Watson view psychology as?
Objective
Associative Learning
Connecting contiguous things
Philosophers who supported associative learning
Aristotle, Locke, Hume
Classical Conditioning
Organism associates neutral stimulus with biologically relevant stimulus, ultimately resulting in a change in response to the previously neutral stimulus.
Unconditioned Stimulus
Stimulus that elicits a response without learning
Unconditioned Response
Unconditioned response to an unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned Stimulus
A once-neutral stimulus that elicits a conditioned response, as it was previously paired with the unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned Response
Response that occurs due to conditioned stimulus
Ivan Pavlov
1904 Nobel Prize; accidentally discovered classical conditioning
What is alpha represented by in the formula?
Conditioned Stimulus
What is beta represented by?
Unconditioned Stimulus
What is lambda represented by?
Max amount that can be learned
What does Vocd represent
Amount of prior learning
Acquisition
Initial stage of learning in which conditioned stimulus comes to elicit conditioned response
Extinction
Loss of CR when UCS and CS no longer occur together
Spontaneous Recovery
Recurrence of a lost CR some time after extinction has passed
Hebb’s Rule
Physical changes in brain must occur to form memory (learning can be examined at biological level)
Generalization
Tendency for stimuli similar to CS to evoke similar response
Discrimination
Organism learns to discriminate between original CS and other similar stimuli
Narrowed Gradient
Organism learns to distinguish between reinforced and non-reinforced stimulus.
Conditioned Emotional Response
Emotional responses that develop due to a specific object or situation
Part of brain activated in conditioned emotional response
Amygdala
Little Albert
Cymbals crashing behind teddy bear’s head made Albert scared of teddy bear
Preparedness
Biological predisposition to rapidly develop a response to particular stimuli (ie fear)
Conditioned Taste Aversion
Disliking particular food or drink due to its association with a previous illness
Latent Inhibition
Eliciting a response takes longer because the CS is displayed without being paired to an UCS
Operant conditioning
Associative learning in which behaviour is influenced by either reinforcement or punishment
Reinforcement
Reward given after behaviour, increasing likelihood of behaviour occurring again
Law of Effect
Thorndike (extended by Skinner) Responses that elicit satisfaction occur more often
Punishment
Negative response after behaviour, lowering probability of that behaviour
Positive Reinforcement
Stimulus added to
Negative Reinforcement
Stimulus taken away from situation
Conditioned Reinforcer
Secondary reinforcer that is learned through association with primary reinforcer (ex. phrase good dog after being paired with a treat)
Discriminative Stimulus
Signals schedule of response and outcome
Habit Learning
Discriminative Stimulus causes the behaviour to occur without the end reinforcer
Example of positive reinforcement
Child given treat when acting good
Example of negative reinforcement
Opening umbrella means rain is removed from situation, more likely to do it again
Example of positive punishment
Child is hit when acting bad
Example of negative punishment
Child gets video games taken away for being bad, less likely to be bad
Escape learning
You make a response that removes stimulus. Can eventually become avoidance learning.
Avoidance Learning
Type of negative reinforcement that removes possibility of stimulus occurring. Don’t know if stimulus changes and gets better.
Acquisition in OC
Repeated trials (response and outcome) strengthen response
Extinction in OC
When response no longer followed by reinforcement
Delayed Reinforcement
Weakens association between response and reinforcer
Devaluation
Connection between CS and CR may weaken if reinforcer is absent from a response
Primary Reinforcers
Satisfy biological need
Secondary Reinforcers
Only become valuable when we assign meaning to them
eg facebook likes
Shaping
Reinforcing a specific response
Discrimination Stimulus OC
Cue that indicates that if a response is made, it will be reinforced
Discrimination OC
Organism learns to ignore stimuli similar to original stimulus
Schedules of Reinforcement
Indicate when reinforcement is available
Continuous Reinforcement
Every response made results in reinforcement. Easy to learn, easy to unlearn
Partial Reinforcement
Only a certain number of responses reinforced. Takes longer to learn, but longer to unlearn
Fixed Ratio
Reinforcement occurs after fixed number of responses.Faster responding results in more reward. (eg making and selling scarves)
Variable Ratio
Reinforcement occurs after variable number of responses. (eg gambling)
Fixed Interval
Reinforcements occur only at specific times. (eg waiting for bus)
Variable Interval
Reinforcement to response occurs at unpredictable times (eg checking Nexus)
Partial Reinforcement Effect
Partial Reinforcement results in slower learning but slower unlearning
Latent Learning
Learning does occur, but is not shown until there is incentive to demonstrate it
Cognitive Map
Mental representation of layout of environment
Stimulus Organism Response Theory
Highlights how learning influences our observable and mental behaviours
Observational
learning
Learning from watching others do something
Imitation
Imitating the actions of others to achieve a goal
