Chapter 6 - Learning Flashcards
reflexes
- a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment
- is an unlearned behavior
instincts
- innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as maturation and the change of seasons
- more complex patterns of behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole (ex. migration)
learning
- a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience
- involves acquiring knowledge and skills
associate learning
occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment
classical conditioning
a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
a stimulus that elicits a unlearned response in an organism
unconditioned response (UCR)
a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus
neutral stimulus (NS)
- a stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response (but can train to make a response)
- eventually will be able to elicit CR on its own
- ex. Pavlov’s bell eventually making dogs salivate
conditioned stimulus (CS)
- a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
- ex. the bell now making the dogs salivate
conditioned response (CR)
- The behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus
- ex. the dogs salivating
second-order/higher-order conditioning
- when the conditioned stimulus serves to condition another stimulus
- aka associating something else with the same thing you associated the CS with
- very hard to get more than a second order CS
acquisition
when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
extinction
the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus
spontaneous recovery
- the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period
- don’t need to “retrain” the CR, it just happens again anyway
stimulus discrimination
- When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar
- ex. Pavlov’s dogs responding to bell but not to a doorbell
stimulus generalization
when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus
Behaviorism
- the idea that all behavior can be studied as a simple stimulus-response reaction, without regard for internal processes
- can’t understand innerworkings of mind, so must study outside behavior
- founded by John B. Watson, influenced by Pavlov
Little Albert
- study where Watson wanted to apply classical conditioning to humans (a baby in this study)
- conditioned to fear furry animals, seen as unethical study
observational learning
the process of watching others and then imitating what they do
operant conditioning
- organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence
- tend to repeat behavior w/good consequence and vice versa
law of effect
behaviors followed by consequences that are good are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated
positive reinforcement
- a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior
- ex. giving a kid candy when they’re good
negative reinforcement
- an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior
- ex. your car stops beeping after you put on your seatbelt
positive punishment
- you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior
- ex. scolding a kid for texting in class
negative punishment
- you remove a pleasant stimulus to decrease behavior
- ex. taking away a kids toy because they’re being bad
shaping
- we reward successive approximations of a target behavior
- reward what is kind of the target, then slowly reward what is exactly the target (narrow it down)
- often used to teach complex behaviors
primary reinforcer
- reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities (people will always want them)
- these reinforcers aren’t learned
secondary reinforcer
- has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer
- ex. money is only worth something when you use it to buy things
continuous reinforcement
- When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior
- the quickest way to teach someone a behavior, effective in training new behavior
partial/intermittent reinforcement
- the person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior
fixed interval reinforcement schedule
- is when behavior is rewarded after a set amount of time
- makes it so there’s no point in exhibiting behavior when not rewarded
- ex. using pain meds once an hour
variable interval reinforcement schedule
- the person or animal gets the reinforcement based on varying amounts of time, which are unpredictable
- motivates for good behavior all the time bc never know when reward happens
fixed ratio reinforcement schedule
- there are a set number of responses that must occur before the behavior is rewarded
- best suited for quantity of target behavior
- ex. commissions in retail sales
variable ratio reinforcement schedule
- the number of responses needed for a reward varies
- makes it harder to quit bc don’t know how much work will give next reward
- ex. gambling
models
The individuals performing the imitated behavior
vicarious reinforcement
- with observational learning
- If you saw that the model was reinforced for their behavior, you will be more motivated to copy them
vicarious punishment
- with observational learning
- if you observed the model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy them
taste aversion
a type of conditioning in which an interval of several hours may pass between the conditioned stimulus (something ingested) and the unconditioned stimulus (nausea or illness)
positive
- you are adding something
- can be positive or negative
negative
- you are taking something away
- can be positive or negative
reinforcement
- you are increasing a behavior
- can be positive or negative
punishment
- you are decreasing a behavior
- can be positive or negative
fixed
- the number of responses between reinforcements or the amount of time between reinforcements
- this is set and unchanging
variable
- the number of responses or amount of time between reinforcements VARIES or CHANGES
interval
the number of responses that must occur before reinforcement is given (is fixed amount)
ratio
reinforcment is based on the number of responses between
extinction in operant conditioning
- occurs at some point after reinforcement stops
- fixed interval is easiest to extinguish, variable ratio is hardest
radical behaviorism
- a philosophy of behavior that explains all human behavior in terms of its relationship with environmental factors
- Skinner’s idea, said that all cognition (mind) is unknowable
cognitive map
a mental representation of a person’s understanding of a space, such as a maze
latent learning
- learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it
- ex. getting a reward for showing a skill you know
social learning theory
- a brand of behaviorism that says observational learning is more complex than imitating behavior
- can learn not to do something from it, apply concept to different thing, etc.
