Chapter 7 Flashcards
What is learning?
the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors.
What is classical conditioning?
Learning to expect something such as pain or food through establishing associations between different stimuli.
What is operant conditioning?
A form of learning in which behaviour is modified by consequences (learning to repeat behaviours that avoid pain or result in rewards).
How long does it take for behaviours to become habitual?
About 66 days.
What is associative learning?
learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning).
What is conditioning?
The process of learning associations.
What is a stimulus?
Any event or situation that evokes a response.
What is respondent behaviour?
behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.
Learning to associate two stimuli and thus anticipate events is called:
Classical conditioning.
Learning to associate a response (behaviour) with a consequence is called:
Operant conditioning.
What are operant behaviours?
behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence.
What is cognitive learning?
the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.
What is observational learning?
A form of cognitive learning in which we learn by observing others’ experiences.
Why are habits, such as having something sweet with that cup of coffee, so hard to break?
Habits form when we repeat behaviors in a given context and, as a result, learn associations—often without our awareness.
What is behaviourism?
the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).
Who were two important behaviourists?
John B. Watson and Ivan Pavlov
What is behaviorism’s view of learning?
psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes. The behaviorists believed that the basic laws of learning are the same for all species, including humans.
What is a neutral stimulus (NS)?
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.
What is an unconditioned response (UR)?
in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth).
What is an unconditioned stimulus (US)?
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers an unconditioned response (UR).
What is a conditioned response (CR)?
in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).
What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?
in classical conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR).
What is acquisition?
in classical conditioning, the initial stage—when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. (In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.)
Will conditioning occur if the NS is presented after the US?
Likely not. Conditioning is nature’s way of helping us prepare for events.
Why is conditioning important?
Conditioning helps an animal survive and reproduce—by responding to cues that help it gain food, avoid dangers, locate mates, and produce offspring
What is higher order conditioning?
a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. For example, an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone. (Also called second-order conditioning.)
Is it possible to establish a new NS as a new CS without an US?
Yes, through higher-order (or second-order) conditioning.
What is extinction?
In classical conditioning, the diminished response that occurs when the CS (tone) no longer signals an impending US (food).
What is spontaneous recovery?
In classical conditioning, the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
The first step of classical conditioning, when an NS becomes a CS, is called:
Acquisition.
When a US no longer follows the CS, and the CR becomes weakened, this is called:
Extinction.
What is generalization?
In classical conditioning, the tendency to respond to stimuli similar to a CS as if it were the CS (such as one of Pavlov’s dogs hearing a slightly different tone).
What is an example of how generalization is adaptive?
When a toddler who learns to avoid moving cars also learns to avoid moving trucks and motorcycles.
What is discrimination?
In classical conditioning, the ability to distinguish between a CS and other, irrelevant stimuli.
What are the five processes involved in classical conditioning?
Acquisition, generalization, discrimination, extinction, and spontaneous recovery.
Why does Pavlov’s work remain so important?
Pavlov taught us that significant psychological phenomena can be studied objectively, and that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that applies to all species.
Dogs have been taught to salivate to a circle but not to a square. This process is an example of:
Discrimination.
After Watson and Rayner classically conditioned Little Albert to fear a white rat, the child later showed fear in response to a rabbit, a dog, and a furry coat. This illustrates:
Generalization.
Behavior that operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli is called:
Operant behaviour.
What is Thorndike’s law of effect?
Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.
What is an operant chamber?
in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking.
What is reinforcement?
in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
What are successive approximations?
In operant conditioning, behaviours that approximate the desired behaviour and get successively closer to the correct behaviour.
What is shaping?
an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
How can shaping help us understand what non-verbal organisms perceive?
By training them to respond to one stimulus and not another, we know they can perceive the difference.
What is a discriminative stimulus?
In operant conditioning, a stimulus that is shaped to be responded to among other stimuli.
What is negative reinforcement?
A type of reinforcer in operant conditioning that promotes behaviour that removes or reduces an unpleasant stimulus (like taking painkillers to ease a headache).
What is reinforcement?
Any consequence that strengthens behaviour.
