Chapter 6 // Learning

Question 1

Understand how John Locke and his “tabula rasa” support his view.

Answer 1

“Humans are like a Tabula Rasa, or a blank sheet of paper.” - John Locke. The are born knowing nothing and must learn from the world around them. They set about this task immediately.

Question 2

Involved behaviour - we learn not to startle or to pay attention to a repetitive stimulus such as a loud sound like slamming a door.

Answer 2

Habituation

Question 3

No longer orienting to a particular stimulus

Answer 3

Orienting Response

Question 4

Getting scared by loud noises

Answer 4

Startle Response

Question 5

Involves changes in the sense organs themselves and a decrease in the sense organ - an adaptation repeated exposure causes sense organs not to respond to stimulus.

Answer 5

Adaptation

Question 6

Realize why any other learning would be impossible without these basic types of learning.

Answer 6

It would be too hard to focus on other things when we couldn’t ignore things such as the clock ticking, A/C, etc.

Question 7

Know that Ivan Pavlov is the big name in classical conditioning with his salivating dogs. Be able to explain his experiment in general terms in everyday language and also identify the terms listed below.

Answer 7

• Pavlov used food as an unconditioned stimulus to measure salivation
• Used a bell and presented food after it rang and the dog would salivate
• After a while, ringing a bell alone caused salivation
• A neutral stimulus develops the ability to produce an automatic response

Question 8

A previously neutral stimulus develops the ability to produce an autonomic or reflexive response—controls our behaviour.
Examples: Twitmyer and Pavlov

Answer 8

Classical Conditioning

Question 9

A stimulus, which initially produces no specific response other than focusing attention

Answer 9

Neutral Stimulus

Question 10

Unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response– the food is the unconditioned stimulus.

Answer 10

Unconditioned Stimulus

Question 11

(The bell) because it does not do anything unless it is paired—previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigged a condition response—previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response.

Answer 11

Conditioned stimulus

Question 12

(If salvation is caused by food) the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus

Answer 12

Unconditioned response

Question 13

(If salvation is caused by bell) the learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning

Answer 13

Conditioned response

Question 14

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency– when the conditioned stimulus (bell) is repeatedly presented without unconditioned stimulus being present (food), looses its ability to cause the response (salvation). Occurs when the occurrence of a conditioned response decreases (this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditional response)

Answer 14

Classical Conditioning Phenomena: Extinction

Question 15

Occurs when an extinguished response develops that ability to produce a response again without any further training- the only requirement is the passage of time with exposure to the conditioned stimulus

Answer 15

Classical Conditioning Phenomena: Spontaneous Recovery

Question 16

Occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus responds in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus. Example: a child is bitten by a yellow cat and becomes afraid of all yellow cards; if a rat has been conditioned to fear a stuffed white rabbit, it will exhibit fear of objects similar to the conditioned stimulus.
Example: Little Albert

Answer 16

Classical Conditioning Phenomena: Generalization

Question 17

Occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus. Example: your dog salivates only when he hears the Alpo Bag being opened and fails to salivate at the sound of any other bags being opened– almost the exact opposite of Generalization. The ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not

Answer 17

Classical Conditioning Phenomena: Discrimination

Question 18

New conditioned stimulus to control an _____ behaviour.

Answer 18

Old

Question 19

The initial state of learning something / New responses are just beginning to form.

Answer 19

Classical Conditioning Phenomena: Acquisition

Question 20

Be able to explain why classical conditioning is important to humans and involves far more than just drooling dogs.

Answer 20

So many of our behaviours are influenced by classical conditioning.

Question 21

Conditioning that controls our voluntary behaviours.

Answer 21

Operant Conditioning / Instrumental Conditioning

Question 22

When we do something and there is a good result, we are going to repeat the behavior. When we do something and there is a bad result, we are not going to repeat the behavior

Answer 22

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

Question 23

When an event following a response increases an organism’s tendency to make that response.

Answer 23

Reinforcement

Question 24

Know the changes that Skinner made when he defined reinforcement by its effect on behavior.

Answer 24

If you have to use punishment you failed. Organisms tend to repeat those responses that are followed by favourable consequences.

Question 25

Anything that increases the rate of a behavior. Even if something really bad happens but it increases the rate of behavior, it is still a positive reinforcement

Answer 25

Positive Reinforcement

Question 26

Events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs (food, sleep, drink)—works well until Satiation.

Answer 26

Primary Reinforcers

Question 27

Events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers. NOT BORN WITH
Loss of effectiveness: satiation, unpaired with Backup

Answer 27

Secondary Reinforcers

Question 28

Any reinforcer that makes a conditioned or generalized reinforcer effective.
Exampled: Being rewarded for good grades.

Answer 28

Backup Reinforcers

Question 29

A learned behaviour; Special case of secondary reinforcers—learned, unlimited backup reinforcers to go along with it

Answer 29

Generalized Reinforcer

Question 30

The removal of an aversive stimulus and a resulting increase in a rate of behavior. Example: Pressing a button that stops sending shocks over and over, Nagging stops when a person gets what they want.

Answer 30

Negative Reinforcement

Question 31

Experience some of the aversive stimulus.

Example: You’ll always hear a little nagging before the person gets what they want

Answer 31

Escape Conditioning

Question 32

If you make a response in time, you can avoid the aversive stimulus altogether.
Example:Lying to your mother about finishing your homework, changing the oil in your car.

Answer 32

Avoidance Conditioning

Question 33

The box that was used in the study with rats and lever pressing.

Answer 33

Skinner Box

Question 34

Connected to the Skinner Box, keeps the record of the responses and reinforcers.

Answer 34

Cumulative Recorder

Question 35

Gradual weakening and disappearance of a response tendency because the response is no longer followed by reinforcers. Example: when the experimenter stops delivering food when the rat presses the lever.
Resistance to extinction occurs when an organism continues to make a response after delivery of reinforcer has been terminated.

Answer 35

Operant Conditioning Phenomena: Extinction

Question 36

An organism’s responding to stimuli other than the original stimulus used in conditioning- responding increases in the presence of new stimulus that resembles original discriminative stimulus

Answer 36

Operant Conditioning Phenomena: Generalization

Question 37

Cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences (reinforcement or nonreinforcement) of a response. Example: birds learn that hunting for worms is likely to be reinforced after a rain, children learn to ask for sweets when they parents are in a good mood.

Answer 37

Operant Conditioning Phenomena: Discriminative

Question 38

Consists of reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of desired response—necessary when an organism does not, on its own, emit the desired response. Example: when a rat is first placed in the Skinner Box, it may not press the lever at all but then when the rat moves towards the level the experimenter will release food, then only releases food when the rat touches the lever, etc.

Answer 38

Operant Conditioning Phenomena: Shaping

Question 39

Occurs when an event following a response weakens the tendency to make the response. Example: a rat presses a bar in its cage and receives a mild electrical shock on its feet (the shock= negative condition) the rat’s behavior of pressing the bar is weakened by the consequence of receiving a shock.

Answer 39

Operant Conditioning Phenomena: Punishment

Question 40

Know how people are punished even if their parents are total not punishers.

Answer 40

Natural consequences of your behavior /Other punishing agents.

Question 41

Know when Dr. B. considers punishment to be appropriate.

Answer 41

• Stop bad behaviors in the bud

- Eliminate dangerous behaviors (like aggression to parent or sibling)

Question 42

Happens every time the response is reinforced.

Answer 42

Schedules of Reinforcement: o Continuous

Question 43

When a response is reinforced only some of the time.

Answer 43

Schedules of Reinforcement: o Intermittent

Question 44

The reinforcer is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced responses.
Example: a rat is reinforced for every tenth lever press; salesperson receives a bonus for every fourth shirt is sold.

Answer 44

Four Intermittent Schedules: Fixed Ratio

Question 45

The reinforcer is given after a variable number of non-reinforced responses. Example: a rat is reinforced for every tenth lever press on the average; the exact number of responses varies around a predetermined average.

Answer 45

Four Intermittent Schedules: Variable Ratio

Question 46

The reinforcer is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed time interval has elapsed.
Example: a rat is reinforced for the first lever press after a 2-minute interval has elapsed and then must wait 2 minutes before being able to earn the next reinforcement.

Answer 46

Four Intermittent Schedules: Fixed Interval

Question 47

The reinforcer is given for the first response after a variable time interval has passed. Example: a rat is reinforced for the first lever press after a 1- minute interval has elapsed, but the following intervals are 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, and so on- with an average length of 2 minutes

Answer 47

Four Intermittent Schedules: Variable Interval

Question 48

Know both the expected effects of punishment and the side effects.

Answer 48

• Those who administer punishment expect the bad behavior to end
• May cause anxiety, anger, resentment, etc.
• Poor parent-child relations

Question 49

Removing something pleasant with the goal of decreasing a behavior (removing TV watching privileges when a child hits their siblings- the goal is to reduce the hitting behavior- you are reducing hitting behavior by removing something the child likes).

Answer 49

Negative Punishment

Question 50

Removing something unpleasant with the goal of increasing the target behavior (allowing a child to skip eating their vegetables when they come home from school with a good grade- the goal is to increase the behavior of getting good grades by relieving the child of something he doesn’t like).

Answer 50

Negative Reinforcement

Question 51

Evolution has programmed organisms to acquire certain fears more readily than others, because of a phenomenon called preparedness: involves species-specific predispositions to be conditioned in certain ways and not others. Example: slides of “prepared” phobic stimuli (snakes and spiders) and neutral or modern fear-relevant stimuli (flowers, mushrooms, guns, knives) have been paired with shock.
Key elements of what they call “evolved module for fear learning”:
1. Preferentially activated by stimuli related to survival threats in evolutionary history
2. Automatically activated by these stimuli
3. Relatively resistant to conscious efforts to suppress the resulting fears
4. Dependent on neural circuitry running through the amygdala

Answer 51

Be able to define and recognize examples of situation that suggest evolutionary influence on conditioning : PREPAREDNESS AND PHOBIAS

Question 52

Many people develop aversions to good that has been followed by nausea from illness, alcohol intoxication, or food poisoning. In the studies they found that it was almost impossible to create certain associations, whereas taste- nausea associations were almost impossible to prevent.

Answer 52

Be able to define and recognize examples of situation that suggest evolutionary influence on conditioning: CONDITIONED TASTE AVERSION

Question 53

Learning that is not apparent from behavior when it first occurs. Learning can take place in the absence of reinforcement- at a time when learned responses were thought to be stamped by reinforcement.

Answer 53

Be able to define and recognize examples of situation that suggest evolutionary influence on conditioning: LATENT LEARNING

Question 54

A mental representation of the spatial layout.

Answer 54

Be able to define and recognize examples of situation that suggest evolutionary influence on conditioning: COGNITIVE MAPS

Question 55

When response is influenced by the observation of others.

Answer 55

Observational Learning

Question 56

Know Bandura’s 4 basic processes in observational learning.

Answer 56

• Attention – you must pay attention to another person’s behavior and the consequences
• Retention – storing a mental representation of what has been witnessed
• Reproduction – converting the mental images stored into overt behavior
• Motivation – using the response when you think that it is going to pay off for you

Question 57

Understand that difference between acquisition and performance.

Answer 57

Having the knowledge of a learned response does not necessarily mean that you have learned it

Question 58

Know the methodology, results and interpretation of the Famous “Bobo Doll” discussed in the Featured Study on the power of modeling.

Answer 58

• Method – 80 children from a nursery school were used, they watched a video showing aggressive behavior with toys or nonaggressive behavior, then they were let into the toy room and their results were studied
• Results – Aggressive/model/rewarded showed the most aggression towards the toys, no model showed the least
• Interpretation – Observers are more likely to imitate behavior when it leads to positive consequences

Question 59

Know and understand The Illustrated Overview of the Three Types of Learning on pages 264-265.

Answer 59

Classical Conditioning: Ivan Pavlov— Procedure: a neutral stimulus (a tone) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food) that elicits an unconditioned response (salvation). Result: the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus a conditioned stimulus that elicits the conditioned response (tone triggers salivation). Typical Responses: involuntary reflexes and visceral responses. Examples: (in animals) dogs learn to salivate to the sound of a tone that has been paired with meat powder; (in humans) Little Albert learns to fear a white rat and other white furry objects through classical conditioning
Operant Conditioning: B. F. Skinner— Procedure: in a stimulus situation, a response is followed by favorable consequences (reinforcement) or unfavorable consequences (punishment). Result: if reinforced, the response is strengthened (emitted more frequently); if punished, the response is weakened (emitted less frequently). Typical Responses: voluntary, spontaneous responses. Examples: (in animals) trained animals perform remarkable feats because they have been reinforced for gradually learning closer and closer approximations of responses they do not normally emit; (in humans) casino patrons ten to exhibit high, steady rates of gambling, as most games of chance involve complex variable- ratio schedules or reinforcement
Observational Learning: Albert Bandura— Procedure: an observer attends to a model’s behavior (aggressive bargaining) and its consequences (a good buy on a car). Result: the observer stores a mental representation of a modeled response; the observer’s tendency to emit the response may be strengthened or weakened, depending on the consequences observed. Typical Responses: voluntary responses, often consisting of novel and complex sequences. Examples: (in animals) a dog spontaneously learns to mimic a human ritual; (for humans) a young girl performs a response that she has acquired through observation (putting on makeup).

Question 60

Know the Personal Application “Achieving Self-Control Through Behavior Modification”.

Answer 60

Behavior modification: is a systematic approach to changing behavior through the application of the principles of conditioning
Specifying your target behavior:
1. Specifying Your Target Behavior
2. Gather Baseline Data
a. Identify possible controlling antecedents
b. Determine initial level of response
c. Identify all possible controlling consequences
3. Design Your Program
a. Select strategies to increase response strength
b. Select strategies to decrease response strength
4. Execute and Evaluate Your Program
5. Bring Your Program to an End
To identify target responses, you need to ponder past behavior or closely observe future behavior and list specific examples of response that lead to the trait description
Gathering baseline data: to systematically observe your target behavior for a period of time (usually a week or two) before you work out the details of your program—determine the initial response level of your target behavior, you need to monitor the antecedents (events that typically precede the target response) of your target behavior, you need to monitor the typical consequences of your target behavior (try to identify the reinforcers that are maintaining an undesirable target behavior or the unfavorable outcomes that suppressing a desirable target behavior)
Designing your program: your program will be designed either to increase or decrease the frequency of a target response. Increasing: efforts to increase the frequency of a target response depend largely on the use of positive reinforcement- selecting a reinforcer: to use positive reinforcement, you need to find a reward that will be effective for you- arranging the contingencies: you have to set up reinforcement contingencies that will describe the exact behavioral goals that must be met and the reinforcement that may then be awarded. Decreasing: reinforcement, control of antecedents, punishment
Executing and evaluating your program: behavioral contract: a written assignment outlining a promise to adhere to the contingencies of a behavior modification program

Question 61

Any relatively durable change in behaviour or knowledge that is due to experience.

Answer 61

Learning