Chapter 6 - Learning & Conditioning

Question 0

Classical Conditioning

Answer 0

Aka respondent conditioning, pavlovian conditioning

A subject responds to a neutral stimulus as he would to another, nonneutral stimulus by learning to associate the two

Question 1

Ivan Pavlov

Answer 1

1st to describe classical conditioning

Studied dogs

Result: dogs ended up associating noise (a neutral stimulus) with food (nonneutral stimulus)

Question 2

Unconditioned Response

Answer 2

Response that occurs naturally

Ex. Pavlov’s dogs: drooling (salivation) (for the food)

Question 3

Unconditioned Stimulus

Answer 3

Stimulus that naturally evokes an unconditioned response

Naturally linked

Ex. Pavlov’s dogs: food was unconditioned stimulus

Question 4

Conditioned Stimulus

Answer 4

The stimulus that is learned to be associated with the unconditioned stimulus

Ex. Pavlov’s dogs: the tone or noise (the conditioned stimulus) was associated with the food

Question 5

Conditioned Response

Answer 5

Usually the same as or similar to the unconditioned response.

It is the response to the conditioned stimulus

Ex: Pavlov’s dogs: the salivation (conditioned response) at the noise bc it was associated with food

Question 6

Acquisition of Conditioned Responses

Answer 6

Subjects acquire a conditioned response when a conditioned stimulus is paired with and unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned stimulus + unconditioned stimulus –> conditioned response

Question 7

When does conditioning work best?

Answer 7

If the conditioned stimulus appears right before the unconditioned stimulus & both stimuli end at the same time

Ex. The revolver before firing and bang

Question 8

Extinction (classical conditioning)

Answer 8

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response.

Happens when the conditioned stimulus appears repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus

Ex. The revolver is pulled out but is not shot. This is done repeatedly until adam stops cringing

Question 9

Spontaneous Recovery

Answer 9

The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus returns after a period of absence

Ex. If the revolver is brought back randomly, adam will cringe even though less than before

Question 10

Stimulus Generalization

Answer 10

The tendency to respond to a new stimulus as if it were the original conditioned stimulus.

Happens most often when the new stimulus that resembles the original conditioned stimulus

Ex. adam cringes when professor pulls out cell phone instead of revolver

Question 11

Stimulus Discrimination

Answer 11

The tendency to lack a conditioned response to a new stimulus that resembles the original conditioned stimulus

Ex. Adam conditioned with grey revolver. Cringes at brown revolver at first, but since the brown revolver is never shot he will begin to only cringe at the grey revolver

Question 12

Higher-Order Conditioning

Answer 12

The process by which a neutral stimulus comes to act as a conditioned stimulus by being paired with another stimulus that already evokes a conditioned response.

Ex. Yelling fire and pulling out revolver, adam cringes, eventually adam will cringe even when professor yells fire and does not pull out the revolver

Question 13

Phobia

Answer 13

An intense irrational fear that impairs a persons ability to function normally or participate in normal activities.

Phobias could be due to conditioning –> little albert and the rats and white furry objects

Question 14

Edward Thorndike

Answer 14

Proposed law of effect

Question 15

Law of Effect

Answer 15

States that any behavior that has good consequences will tend to be repeated, and any behavior that has bad consequences will tend to be avoided.

Question 16

B.F. Skinner

Answer 16

Extended idea of law of effect & began to study Operant conditioning

Used skinner box to study operant conditioning

Question 17

Operant Conditioning

Answer 17

A type of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences

Operant responses are often new responses

Question 18

Skinner Box

Answer 18

A cage set up so that an animal can automatically get food reward if it makes a particular kind of response

Also contains an instrument that records the number of responses an animal makes

Question 19

Reinforcement

Answer 19

(Operant conditioning)

The delivery of a consequence that increases the likelihood that a response will occur

Could be positive or negative

Question 20

Positive Reinforcement

Answer 20

(Operant Conditioning)
The presentation of a stimulus after a response so that the response will occur more often

Positive does not mean good it means the adding of a stimulus

Question 21

Negative Reinforcement

Answer 21

The removal of a stimulus after a response so that the response will occur more often

Negative does not mean bad it means the removal of stimulus

Question 22

Punishment

Answer 22

The delivery of a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a response will occur

Can be positive or negative

Question 23

Positive Punishment

Answer 23

The presentation of a stimulus after a response so that the response will occur less often

Positive does not mean good it means the adding of stimulus

Question 24

Negative Punishment

Answer 24

The removal of a stimulus after a response so that the response will occur less often Negative does not mean bad it means the removal of a stimulus

Question 25

Primary Reinforcers

Answer 25

Naturally satisfying Ex. Food, water, and touch/caresses

Question 26

Primary Punishers

Answer 26

Naturally unpleasant Ex. Pain, freezing temperatures

Question 27

Secondary Reinforcers

Answer 27

Satisfying because they have become associated with primary reinforcers Ex. Money, fast cars, good grades Aka Conditioned Reinforcer bc it arose through classical conditioning

Question 28

Secondary Punishers

Answer 28

Unpleasant because they've become associated with primary punishers Ex. Bad grades, social disapproval Aka Conditioned Punishers because they arose through classical conditioning

Question 29

Shaping

Answer 29

Procedure in which reinforcement is used to guide a response closer and closer to a desired response Ex. Teaching dog to bring tv remote, places remote in mouth, first praise when he accidentally walks towards her with remote in mouth, he does that more often, then praise only when remote is brought closer to chair, he responds to praise and does more often etc until he brings remote to chair successfully

Question 30

Reinforcement Schedules

Answer 30

Pattern in which reinforcement is given over time. Continuous or Intermittent

Question 31

Continuous Reinforcement

Answer 31

Someone provides reinforcement every time a particular response occurs Ex. Dog pushes remote under chair, girl finds amusing so she pats him every time he does it. She is providing continuous reinforcement for his behavior

Question 32

Intermittent (Partial) Reinforcement

Answer 32

Someone provides reinforcement on only some of the occasions on which the response occurs 4 types of intermittent reinforcement schedules

Question 33

4 Types of Intermittent Reinforcement Schedules

Answer 33

1. Fixed-ratio sched 2. Variable-ratio sched 3. Fixed-interval sched 4. Variable-interval sched

Question 34

Fixed-Ratio Schedule | intermittent reinforcement

Answer 34

Reinforcement happens after a set number of responses Ex. When a car salesman earns a bonus after every 3 cars he sells

Question 35

Variable-Ratio Schedule | Intermittent Reinforcement

Answer 35

Reinforcement happens after a particular average number of responses Ex. A person trying to win a game by getting heads every two times on average that she tosses a penny

Question 36

Fixed-Interval Schedule | Intermittent Reinforcement

Answer 36

Reinforcement happens after a set amount of time Ex. When an attorney at a law firm gets a bonus once a year

Question 37

Variable-Interval Schedule | Intermittent Reinforcement

Answer 37

Reinforcement happens after a particular average amount of time Ex. a boss checking up on workers periodically, sometimes once a day sometimes more. The workers know that they are being checked up on at a variable (changing) time so they behave

Question 38

Partial Reinforcement Effect

Answer 38

Resistance to extinction due to partial or intermittent schedules - they result in responses that resist extinction better than responses resulting from continuous reinforcement

Question 39

Response Rates (Ratio vs Interval Schedules)

Answer 39

Response rate is faster in ratio schedules than interval schedules Ratio schedules depend on the number of responses, so the faster the subject responds, the more quickly reinforcement happens

Question 40

Scalloped Response Pattern

Answer 40

Result from fixed-interval schedule Responses are slow in the beginning of the interval and faster just before reinforcement happens If people know when reinforcement will occur, they will respond more at that time and less at other times

Question 41

Response Rates (variable sched vs fixed sched)

Answer 41

Variable schedules result in steadier response rates than fixed schedules bc reinforcement is less predictable. Responses to variable schedules also cannot be extinguished easily

Question 42

Extinction (Operant Conditioning)

Answer 42

The gradual disappearance of response when it stops being reinforced

Question 43

Discriminative Stimulus (Operant conditioning)

Answer 43

A cue that indicates the kind of consequence that's likely to occur after a response Ex. If dog only puts remote under couch during daylight and not night when girl is tired, daylight = discriminative stimulus

Question 44

Stimulus Discrimination (Operant conditioning)

Answer 44

The tendency for a response to happen only when a particular stimulus is present

Question 45

Stimulus Generalization

Answer 45

The tendency to respond to new stimulus as if it is the original discriminative stimulus Ex. If the dog began to put the remote under the chair not only during the day but also whenever there was a bright light on at night

Question 46

Biological Influences

Answer 46

Can limit capacity for conditioning Ex. Taste aversion & instinctive drift

Question 47

Taste Aversion

Answer 47

Aversion to a particular taste is conditioned only by pairing the taste (a conditioned stimulus) with nausea (an unconditioned stimulus) If taste is paired with other stimuli, conditioning doesn't occur ex. If joe eats pepperoni pizza while watching a movie with his roommate and becomes nauseated later, he may develop an aversion to pepperoni pizza but not to the movie or his roommate

Question 48

Evolutionary Adaption

Answer 48

Taste & nausea = special case Researchers believe that by learning to quickly associate taste and nausea it could be an evolutionary adaptation telling people which foods to stay away from to survive

Question 49

Instinctive Drift

Answer 49

The tendency for conditioning to be hindered by natural instincts Ex. Raccoons: conditioned to put a coin in the box by using food as reinforcer. Could not teach them to put two coins in the box because when given two coins the raccoons just held onto the coins and instinctively rubbed them together bc they have a tendency to rub edible things together to make sure they are clean

Question 50

Cognitive Influences

Answer 50

Conditioning does involve some information processing not just automatic Robert Rescorla Classical conditioning depends on the predictive power of the conditioned stimulus rather than just the association of two stimuli meaning that some info processing happens Ex. If professor sometimes took out revolver before firing it and sometimes played gunshot sound without taking out revolver adam wouldn't respond as strongly to the sight of the revolver bc gunshots happened with or without it

Question 51

Observational Learning

Answer 51

Process of learning to respond in a particular way by watching others (called models) Aka vicarious conditioning Ex. Brian might learn to not stand too close to a soccer goal bc he saw another fan get hit in the head with a ball and stand farther away. Operant conditioning occurred on the other fan, getting hit by the ball acted as positive punishment for standing too close. Brian was indirectly, or vicariously conditioned to move away.

Question 52

Albert Bandura & Bobo Dolls

Answer 52

Albert had kindergarteners watch a film of adults violently attacking an inflatable doll shaped like bobo the clown. Afterwards when the kids were let into a room with the dolls they did the same. Showing observational learning