Chapter 6: What is Learning? Flashcards
reflex
motor/neural rxn tp specific stimulus in environment
- flinching/blinking when light flashed in eyes
instinct
innate beh triggered by broader rnage of events liek aging, changing of seasons
- survival instinct/taking care of babies/birds flying south for winter
learning
relatively permanent change in beh (or beh potential) caused by experience
associative learning (CONDITIONING)
learning that 2 events occur together
classical conditioning
learning to associate 2 stimuli and anticipate events
stimulus
any event in the environment that produces a response
- ex: hearing jaws song and thinking a shark will kill you
operant conditioning
learning to associate a beh w/ a consequence (outcome)
- study=do well; hurt someone-guilty
Classical conditioning
Major I major influence on behaviorism; discovered by Ivan Pavlov; it’s a process that occurs to associations between environmental stimulus and naturally occurring stimulus
What are the assumptions about behaviorism?
Learning occurs through interactions with the environment; environment, shapes behavior; internal mental state, such as thoughts, feelings, and emotions, as useless and explaining behavior 
Respondent behavior
Occurs as an automatic response to a stimulus
Neutral
Doesn’t lead to any behavior before conditioning
unconditioned stimulus UCS
Automatically triggers response
ex: food
Unconditioned response UCR
Unlearned response to unconditioned stimulus
ex: drooling
conditioned stimulus CS
previously neutral stimulus that becomes associated w/ US, triggering CR
ex: bell
conditioned response CR
learned response to previously neutral stimulus
ex: drool
conditioned response =
learned (not natural)
uncomditioned response =
automatic
acquisition
linking neutral stimulus (bell w/ food) with US; eventually becomes CS
- the timing of the CS has a HUGE effect on whether or not acquision happens
forward conditioning
fastest learning
- CS (bell) presented before US (food)
- CS acts as signal that US is coming
backward conditioning
slower learning
- US (food) presented before CS (bell)
- too involved w/ US to notice CS
taste aversion
eating something and becoming sick; do not want to eat it again later for some time
single-trial learning
only takes one time/pairing
extinction
CR (drool) decreases/disappears when CS (bell) no longer paired w/ US (food)
- ex: bell, no food
spontaneous recovery (the drool)
reappearance of CR after a pause following extinction
- CR not totally gone, just dormant but no longer useful
stimulus discrimination
diff b/w CS and other stimuli; not pair w/ US
- ex: horrified of roaches, but not beetles
stimulus generalization
stimuli similar to CS (bell) can provoke CR (drool)
- ex: shape of chocolate is important!
habituation
decrease in responsiveness after repeated presentation of stimuli
- ex: a town that smells strange but stops being so noticeable after a while of being there
highly unethical study
one that would NOT be repeated today
little albert study
- shown a white rat/not scared of it
- then made a loud noise behind his head which scared him/made him cry
- they repeated this multiple times
- albert now scared of all white, furry objects
higher-order (second order-conditioning)
pairing a new neutral stimulus w/ conditioned stimulus
operant conditioning (instrumental conditioning)
process where a response becomes more/less likely to occur depending on its consequences
- coined by behaviorist BF Skinner (Skinnerian conditioning)
operant
any active beh that operates on environment to generate consequences
(Thorndike’s) law of effect
beh followed by consequence we want likely to be repeated
- what one person finds reinforcing might not work for another
- ex: hugging 5 year old vs hugging 15 year old
if the beh increased after the consequence …..
it was a reinforcer
positive (adding) reinforcement
adding something they want after beh
ex: candy for cleaning
negative (subtracting) reinforcement
removing something they dont want after beh
ex: annoying sound in car goes away after seatbelt is put on
punishment
any consequence that decreases frequency of beh
postive punishment
adding something they dont want to decrease beh over time
ex: lecture kid not to be bad
negative punishment
taking away something they like to decrease beh
ex: no videogames for bad beh
punishment must be applies when?
immediately
physical punishment
no permanant changes; only says what to do; produces fear; can create violent kids
shaping
guiding beh closer and closer to approximations of beh you want to see
primary reinforcers
unlearned; not natural
ex: basic survival needs
secondary (conditioned) reinforcers
have to learn to like them
ex: we learn to like money
ex: sometimes animal trainers use clickers as 2nd reinforceres to make sure primary reinforcement doesnt become less effective
immediate reinforcers
occur immediately after beh + is most effective
ex: vending machine (immediately get snack)
delayed reinforcers
occur after a delay
ex: working out (results come later)
reinforcement schedule
rule stating which instances of a beh will be reinforced
two types of reinforcement schedules
continous reinforcement and partial reinforcement
continuous reinforcement
desired beh is reinforced every single time it occurs (best used during initial stages of learning to create a strong association b/w beh and response)
ex: paying students $5 to come to class
partial reinforcement
response is reinforced only part of the time (slower, but more resistant to extinction)
ex: randomly giving $5 to come to class
fixed
predictable
variable
unpredictable
ratio
of times you exhibit beh (beh-based)
interval
amount of time has pssed (time-based)(doesn’t rely/worry about ratio)
fixed ratio schedules
beh reinforced after a specified # of responses (produces high, steady rate of responding)
ex: allowance after mowing lawn 3 times
variable-ratio schedules
beh reinforced after unpredictable # of responses (high, steady rate of responding)
ex: gambling, the lottery
fixed-interval schedules
beh reinforced after specified amount of time has passed
(high amounts of responding at end of interval, but slower repsonding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer)
ex: kids are good around christmas for santa claus, but start bad beh up again after its over
variable-interval schedules
beh reinforced after unpredictable amount of time has passed
(produces slow, steady rate of response)
ex: boss who shows up randomly to check on you
observational learning
learning by observing others
ex: when kids saw adult act violent w/ bobo doll in experiment, they acted violent when it was their turn to play
models
ppl. deomonstrate/explain beh
live model
person demonstrating/acting out beh w/ you there
ex: yoga instructor teaching a class
verbal model
desciption/explanation of beh w/ you there
ex: someone telling you about the diff. beh in class
symbolic model
(NO interaction) real/fictional characters display beh in books/films/TV/online media
ex: watching YouTube vid on how to cook
latent learning
not reflected in an immediate beh change
ex: we know to stop/drop/roll is we catch on fire, but its not relevant now since im not on fire
