Chapter 7 Flashcards
The acquisition, from experience, of new knowledge, skills, or responses that results in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner
Learning
A general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding
Habituation
Presentation of a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus
Sensitization
The psychologist that kick-started the behaviourist movement to never use the terms “consciousness”, “mental states”, “mind”, “content”, “introspectively verifiable”, “imagery”, etc.
John B. Watson
Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his work on the salivation of dogs
Ivan Pavlov
When a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response
Classical Conditioning
Basic Elements of Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus (US) Unconditioned Response (UR) Acquisition Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Conditioned Response (CR)
Something that reliably produces a naturally occurring reaction in an organism
Unconditioned Stimulus
A reflexive reaction that is reliably produced by an unconditioned stimulus
Unconditioned Response
The phase of classical conditioning when the CS and the US are presented together
Acquisition
A previously neutral stimulus that produces a reliable response in an organism after being paired with a US
Conditioned Stimulus
A reaction that resembles an unconditioned response but is produced by a conditioned stimulus
Conditioned Response
A type of learning where a CS is paired with a stimulus that became associated with the US in an earlier procedure
Second-order Conditioning
The gradual elimination of a learned response that occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US
Extinction
The tendency of a learned behaviour to recover from extinction after a rest period
Spontaneous Recovery
The CR is observed even though the CS is slightly different from the CS used during acquisition
Generalization
The capacity to distinguish between similar but distinct stimuli
Discrimination
What were the following in the Little Albert Study?:
- Unconditioned Stimulus
- Conditioned Stimulus
- Conditioned Response
US - the loud sound
CS - the presence of the rat
CR - a fearful reaction
Properties of Evolutionary Mechanisms in Classical Conditioning
- rapid learning should occur in one or two trials
- conditioning should be able to take place over long intervals (several hours)
- organism should develop the aversion to the smell or taste of the food rather than its ingestion
- learned aversions should occur more often with novel foods than familiar ones
A tendency of learning particular kinds of associations over others
Biological Preparedness
A type of learning in which the consequences of an organism’s behaviour determine whether it will repeat that behaviour in the future
Operant Conditioning
A principle that behaviours that are followed by a “satisfying state of affairs” tend to be repeated, and those that produce an “unpleasant state of affairs” are less likely to be repeated; developed by Edward Thorndike
Law of Effect
A term coined by B.F. Skinner that referred to behaviour that an organism performs that has some impact on the environment
Operant Behaviour
A way to study operant behaviour scientifically; allows a researcher to study the behaviour of small organisms in a controlled environment
Operant Conditioning Chamber
OR
Skinner Box
Any stimulus or event that increases the likelihood of the behaviour that led to it
Reinforcer
Any stimulus or event that decreases the likelihood of the behaviour that led to it
Punisher
Skinner used these terms for situations in which a stimulus was presented and for situations in which it was removed (respectively)
Positive
Negative
A stimulus presented that increases the likelihood of a behaviour
Positive Reinforcement
A stimulus is removed that increases the likelihood of a behaviour
Negative Reinforcement
A stimulus administered that reduces the likelihood of a behaviour
Positive Punishment
A stimulus is removed that reduces the likelihood of a behaviour
Negative Punishment
A key determinant of the effectiveness of a reinforcer/punisher
the amount of time between the occurrence of a behaviour and the reinforcer/punisher
In the presence of a discriminative stimulus, a response produces a reinforcer.
Three-Term Contingency
A stimulus that indicates that a response will be reinforced
Discriminative Stimulus
An important difference between operant conditioning and classical conditioning
Classical - the US occurs on every trial
Operant - reinforcements occur only when the proper response has been made, and they don’t always occur even then
Two Schedules of Reinforcement
Interval Schedules
Ratio Schedules
Two types of Interval Schedules
Fixed-Interval Schedule
Variable-Interval Schedule
Reinforcers are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the appropriate response is made
Fixed-Interval Schedule
A behaviour is reinforced on the basis of an average time that has expired since the last reinforcement
Variable-Interval Schedule
Two types of Ratio Schedules
Fixed-Ratio Schedule
Variable-Ratio Schedule
Reinforcement is delivered after a specific number of responses have been made
Fixed-Ratio Schedule
The special case of presenting reinforcement after each response
Continuous Reinforcement
The delivery of reinforcement is based on a particular average number of responses
Variable-Ratio Schedule
Whereby only some of the responses made are followed by reinforcement
Intermittent Reinforcement
The fact that operant behaviours that are maintained under intermittent reinforcement schedules resist extinction better than those maintained under continuous reinforcement
Intermittent Reinforcement Effect
Learning that the results from the reinforcement of successive steps to a final desired behaviour
Shaping
A behaviour that gets incrementally closer to the overall desired behaviour
Successive Approximation
When something is learned but it is not manifested as a behavioural change until sometime in the future
Latent Learning
A mental representation of the physical features of the environment
Cognitive Map
An organism ignores life-sustaining necessities for hours on end simply to receive stimulation directly in the brain. These parts of the brain are called:
Pleasure Centres
An organism learns by watching the actions of others
Observational Learning
Individuals initially learn a behaviour by observing another individual perform that behaviour, and then become models from which other individuals learn the behaviour
Diffusion Chain
A type of cell found in the brains of primates that fire when an animal performs an action or when they watch someone else perform the same specific task. They play a role in the imitation of behaviour and the prediction of future behaviour
Mirror Neurons
Learning that takes place largely independent of awareness of both the process and the products of information acquisition
Implicit Learning
