Chapter 6 Flashcards
What is learning?
Change in an organisms behavior or thought as a result of experiences
What are the basic kinds of learning?
Habituation and sensitization
What is habituation?
Decrease in response to a stimulus after being repeatedly exposed to it
What is sensitization?
Repeated exposure to a stimulus results in the progressive amplification (increasing strength) of the reaction to the stimulus
What is learning via association?
Simple associations provided the mental building blocks for more complex ideas
Who is Ivan Pavlov?
Russian physiologist; the digestion of the dog
5 primary components of classical conditioning?
Neutral stimulus (NS) Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) Unconditioned response (UCR) Conditioned stimulus (CS) Conditioned response (CR)
What are the steps to classical conditioning?
- neutral stimulus does not elicit a particular response
- pair NS repeatedly w/ UCS, which elicits an UCR
- The NS becomes a CS, eliciting a CR
What is acquisition?
Phase during which a CR is established
What is extinction?
Reduction and elimination of the CR after the CS is presented repeatedly w/out UCS
What is spontaneous recovery?
Sudden reemergence of an extinct CR after a delay following an extinction procedure
What is stimulus generalization?
When similar CSs elicit a CR
What is stimulus discrimination?
When we exhibit a CR only to certain stimuli, not similar to others
What is high order conditioning?
Process were organisms develop classically conditioned responses to CSs associated w/ the original CS
What are advertisers?
Repeatedly pair their products w/ the stimuli that elicit positive emotions
What is latent inhibition?
Resistance to conditioning b/c its been paired alone too often
What is fetishism?
Sexual attraction to nonliving things
What is operant conditioning?
Learning controlled by the consequences of the organism’s behavior
What is the law of effect?
If we’re rewarded for a response to a stimulus, we’re more like to repeat that response to the stimulus in the future
Who is E.L Thorndike?
Discovered principles of the law of effect after experimenting w/ cats in puzzle boxes
Who is B.F Skinner?
Designed the skinner box to more effectively record activity
What are reinforcements?
Outcomes that strength the probability of a response
What are positive reinforcements?
Involves giving a stimulus
What are negative reinforcements?
Involves taking away a stimulus
What is punishment?
Outcomes that weakens the probability of a response
What are disciplinary actions?
Punishments only if they decrease chance of the behavior happening again
What are disadvantages of punishment?
Tells what not to do, creates anxiety, encourages subversive behavior, may provide model for aggressive behavior
What is discriminative stimulus?
Signals the presence of reinforcements
What is partial reinforcement?
Occurs when we reinforce responses only some of the time
What is fixed ratio?
Reinforcement after regular number of responses
What is variable ratio?
Reinforcement after specific number of responses, on average
What is fixed interval?
Reinforcement after specific amount of time
What is variable interval?
Reinforcement after an average time interval
What is the 2-process theory of anxiety?
Begins w/ CC, but it is maintained by negative reinforcement ex) I am bitten (UCS) by a dog (CS), resulting in fear (CR)
What was radical behaviorism?
Early behaviorists did not believe that thinking played much of a role in learning
What is latent learing?
Refers to learning that is not directly observable; implies that reinforcement is not necessary for learning to occur
What is observational learning?
Simply mean learning by watching others
What is mirror neurons?
Becomes activated by specific motions when an animal both performs and observes that action
What is instinctive drift?
Tendency for animals to return to innate behaviors following repeated reinforcement
What is sleep-assisted learning?
Learning new material while asleep
What is discovery learning?
Students figure out specific principles through trial and error
