Chapter 6: Learning Flashcards
______ allows for
beneficial changes in
behaviour
Learning
______:
reading, listening,
and taking tests to
acquire new
knowledge
Cognitive learning
________:
pairing of stimuli
Associative learning
_______:
learning that occurs
when a neutral stimulus
elicits a response that
was originally caused by
another stimulus
Classical conditioning
who accidentally discovered classical conditioning?
ivan pavlov
(pavlov’s response!)
how does classical conditioning work in the brain?
when two sensory neurons are constantly firing together, there’s a strengthening in the synapse pathway… leading to associated (classically conditioned) responses!
Association depends on
______, temporally
contiguous pairings in classical conditioning
repeated
________: response
that originally occurs to a
specific stimulus also
occurs to similar stimuli
Generalization
respond to a wide range of stimuli!
________: learning
to respond to one original
stimulus but not to a
new, but similar stimuli
Discrimination
Generalization and discrimination allow
organisms to make ______ changes, thereby
enhancing survival and fitness
adaptive
_______: the biological predisposition to rapidly
learn a response to a particular class of stimuli
Preparedness
_____: The acquired dislike of a food or drink because it
was paired with illness, often learned in one trial
occurs even though illness is often delayed from when food was ingested
conditioned taste aversions
T/F: New foods are more
prone to conditioned
taste aversion
true! less learned experience available
______: form of classical conditioning in which a stimulus that was previously neutral becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) through its association with an already established conditioned stimulus (CS)
Higher-Order Classical Conditioning
the dog has learned to associate the light with food, even though the light has never been directly associated with the food itself… can create chains!
______: emotional responses
that are associated with a specific object or situation
Conditioned emotional responses
what was the “Little Albert and Phobias” experiment trying to prove/cause?
Conditioned emotional responses
______: when one
stimulus takes on the emotional ‘valence’ of another stimuli
Evaluative conditioning
what’s an example of evaluative conditioning?
celebrity advertisements
‘Attack ads’ use ______ to elicit
unpleasant emotional
responses in the viewers
while presenting images of
political opponents
evaluative conditioning
brings up negative emotions using unpleasant pictures, gives a conditioned negative response
______: learning in which behaviour is determined by consequences
Operant conditioning
in classical conditioning, the target response is…
automatic
in operant conditioning, the target response is…
voluntary
_______: Responses
followed by satisfaction will
occur again; those not
followed by satisfaction will
become less likely
Law of effect
who came up with the law of effect?
edward thorndike
how did Edward Thorndike prove his “law of effect”?
put a cat in a box with a string… when the string is pulled, the door of the box opens and the cat gets food… this response that gives satisfaction to the cat is bound to keep happening again and again… since the cat wants more food!
who coined ‘operant conditioning’?
B. F. Skinner
what did B. F. Skinner use to coin operant conditioning?
he used operant boxes (Skinner boxes!)
chamber where you can control animal behaviour
_____-: when a situation (i.e., reinforcer) causes a
behaviour to becomes more likely
Reinforcement
______: when a situation (i.e., punisher) causes a
behaviour to become less likely
Punishment
what is a primary reinforcer? an example?
stimuli that satisfy basic motivational needs
ex: food!
what is a secondary reinforcer? an example?
stimuli that acquire value through learning
ex: money! need to learn that it has value
clicker training with dogs, results in learning
what brain structure activates when we are reinforced?
nucleus accumbens
activates in the basal ganglia and releases lots of dopamine (our reward!)
what is positive reinforcement/punishment?
add stimulus to punish or pleasure
increases/decreases behaviour
what is negative reinforcement/punishment?
remove stimulus
increases/decreases behaviour
whats an example of positive reinforcement for teachers
add candy as a reward, increases questions (wanted behaviour)
whats an example of negative reinforcement for teachers
remove stimulus (light)
will stop shining bright light on them if they answer the question
increase behaviour (questions)
______: interrupts behaviour, but effects are transient
Corporal Punishment
what is Corporal Punishment?
physical punishment against children
________ linked with:
- Poorer parent-child
relationships
- Poorer mental health
- Child delinquency
- Abusive behaviours as adults
Corporal punishment
why does corporal punishment not scientifically work?
induces a ton of stress onto children very quickly, decreases learning (introduces shame)… nothing really changes!
Effectiveness of _______
depends on:
§ Severity
§ Initial level
§ Contiguity and being
understood
§ Consistency
§ Showing appropriate
behaviours
punishment
why is the initial punishment level really important?
if you start too low, children/pets build a “tolerance” to punishment
why is the timing of punishment important?
punishment must closely follow behaviour, to build a connection between events (not really a point in punishing a dog when you get home, if they performed the behaviour eight hours ago)
______: is a cue or event that
indicates a response, that if
made, will be reinforced
Discriminative
stimulus
_______
reduces strength of stimulus-
response pairing
Delayed
reinforcement
_____: a procedure in which a specific operant response is created by reinforcing successive approximations of that response
Shaping
how can shaping behaviours be used on animals?
can use chaining, build on behaviours and link them together! have animals do fun tricks with no “apparent” reward
______:
§ Used with developmental
conditions (e.g., autism)
§ Used to shape desirable
behaviours
Applied behaviour analysis (ABA)
branch of psychology! can teach important social behaviours
_________:
occurs when every response
made results in
reinforcement
Continuous reinforcement
_________: occurs when
only a certain number of
responses are rewarded, or a
certain amount of time must
pass before reinforcement is
available
Partial (intermittent)
reinforcement
whats an example of continuous reinforcement?
every time you use a vending machine, you get your candy
whats an example of partial reinforcement?
playing a slot machine, wins are sporatic and unpredictable
Ratio vs. interval schedules?
ratio: how many behaviours are required to reinforce
interval: amount of time that passes to make reinforcement available
Fixed vs. variable schedules?
fixed: predictable
variable: variable
_____: Reinforcement is delivered after a
specific number of responses
fixed ratio schedule
pressing button certain number of times for food
_____: Reinforces the first response occurring after a set amount of time passes
fixed interval schedule
studying for exams, ramps up near the end!
_____: The first response is reinforced following a variable amount of time
variable interval schedule
ex: boss supervising, uptick in productivity so need to surprise workers instead!
_____: The number of responses required to receive
reinforcement varies
variable ratio schedules
ex: casinos
T/F: Ratio schedules tend to
generate higher rates of
responding
true!
since we’re actually doing something, we feel some sort of control
T/F: variable ratio schedules
aren’t especially motivating
false! they are
________:
organisms conditioned
under partial reinforcement
resist extinction longer
than those under
continuous reinforcement
Partial reinforcement effect
whats an example of the partial reinforcement effect?
problem gambling, still motivated to pay even when not winning a lot
what do casinos use to ensnare people?
Classical and operant conditioning
combined to maintain
behaviour
losses disguised as wins!
_______ can
form when it is not
clear what
behaviour led to the
reward
Superstitions
who performed superstition experiments using pigeons?
B. F. Skinner, they were on a random reinforcement schedule but the pigeons kept trying to find a pattern in their behaviour
how does superstition use confirmation bias?
we only remember the positive, constantly reinforcing behaviour that may not even be linked
T/F: Superstitions can have
positive effects on
controllable behaviours
true! it can reduce performance anxiety, therefore resulting in better performance
_______: learning that is not expressed
until the organism’s response is reinforced
Latent learning
occurs passively! we don’t even realize whats happening
______: Changes in behaviour and knowledge that result from watching others
observational learning
who tested observational learning with ‘Bobo doll’?
Albert Bandura
he wanted to see if children learned by observing, children modelled behaviour of adults they witnessed! if their adult beat the clown, they would too!
what are the four parts of the Social Learning Theory
attention
memory
motor ability
motivation
______: Recreating a motor behaviour or expression, often to accomplish a specific goal
imitation
T/F: humans over-imitate other humans
true! we’ll follow steps/instructions EXACTLY as we saw them, even if the steps are unnecessary
Media often influences what
we view as normal, and leads to…
desensitization
T/F: Positive correlation between exposure to violent media and aggressive thoughts and behaviour
true BUT correlation does not equal causation, very possible theres other variables and these haven’t been widely tested in the “real” world
_____: Cells that fire both when performing an action, as well as when observing
an action from another
individual
mirror neurons
T/F: Mirror neurons can be influenced by the
inferred intention of the movement
true!
