Learning Flashcards
What is learning?
Relatively permanent change in an organism as a result of experience
4 types of learning
Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning, complex learning
What is imprinting and what 2 terms is it also known as?
Phase-sensitive learning, occurs at a particular age/stage of life, rapid and independent of consequences of behavior. AKA modeling or social learning
What is the Law of Effect and who’s law is it?
The idea that the consequences of a behavior determine whether it is likely or not for the behavior to be repeated. Thorndike’s Law
How was the Law of Effect first studied?
Cats were placed in a box and needed to step on a pedal to lift a gate that would free them. In successful trials, the cats would learn that the pedal was associated with their freedom and show that by stepping on the pedal.
What is the Little Albert study and who conducted it?
Watson and Raynor hypothesized that some phobias are learned. Little Albert was a baby who was presented objects that he was initially not afraid of (white rat, fire, dog, etc.). Watson began pairing the objects with a loud noise to startle Albert. Watson then reintroduced the stimuli without the noise, and Albert produced a fear response. Watson and Raynor never reversed the phobias.
Who contributed greatly to classical conditioning with his dog study? What was the study?
Ivan Pavlov put dogs in a controlled room and learned that if he turned a light on right before he served the dogs food, the dogs would learn to salivate when the light turned on, even before they were served food. The dogs connected light with being served food.
What are primary reinforcers and some examples?
Satisfy a biological need. Ex: food, water, shelter
What are secondary reinforcers and examples?
Symbols, linked to a primary reinforcer, don;t all hold the same value. Ex: money
Generalization for classical conditioning
When a CR learned from one stimulus is brought up when introduced to stimuli with similar characteristics
Discrimination for classical conditioning
differential responses to the CS and things that are not the CS (an organism learns to only respond to the CS)
Extinction for classical conditioning and an example
Presenting the CS without the UCS. Example: presenting a tone without the food in Pavlov’s dog experiment.
Reinforcement
Anything that increases a behavior
Punishment
Anything that decreases a behavior
Positive punishment
Adding something to the environment to decrease behavior
Negative punishment
Removing something from the environment to decrease behavior
Positive reinforcement
Adding something desirable to the environment to increase behavior
Negative reinforcement
Removing something unpleasant from the environment to increase behavior
Punishments may be effective if they are… (4)
- immediate
- mildly intense
- reliable/consistent
- paired with reinforcement of a correct behavior
Conditioned taste aversion
A learned association between a food and an illness with the belief that the food is the cause of the illness. The specific food can make people with CTA to it feel nauseous just at the sight or smell of it.
Big names in classical conditioning and their experiment names (4)
- Pavlov and his dogs
- Watson&Rayner, Little Albert
- Garcia, The Garcia Effect (conditioned taste aversion)
- Seligman, Learned Helplessness
Big names in operant conditioning
- Thorndike, Law of Effect
- B.F. Skinner, Skinner Box (rats and pigeons)
Classical conditioning
ASSOCIATIONS, responses to specific stimuli are learned
Operant conditioning
CONSEQUENCES, rewards/punishment
What is Seligman’s study?
Seligman’s Learned Helplessness. Dogs were placed in a cage with no way to escape. For 7 days, the dogs feet were shocked by the floor, and since there was no way to escape they couldnt do anything except take the shock. On day 8, the dogs were given a chance to escape but didnt even try.
Define learned helplessness
Not trying to get out of a negative situation because the past has taught us we are helpless
What is shaping?
What does it involve? (4)
What type of conditioning is it?
- Reinforcement for behaviors that lead up to the desired behavior
- Small steps, effective reinforcement, heavy early reinforcement, reinforcing less
- Operant
5 steps of shaping
- reinforce any response that somewhat resembles the terminal behavior
- reinforce the response that closely approximates the terminal behavior
- reinforce the response that resembles the terminal behavior even more closely
- continue reinforcing closer and closer approximations to the terminal behavior
- reinforce only the terminal behavior
What’s a Skinner box?
A box that animals (mostly rats and pigeons) are placed in for operant conditioning experiments, box has either a lever or button they can press that results in a consequence
What are 5 punishment problems?
Fear, anxiety, lying, modeling of aggression, and avoidance
What’s one major disadvantage to punishment?
Some kids think bad attention is better than no attention, so what’s meant to be a punishment can actually be reinforcing behavior. Ex: a kid acts out because when he does, his dad spanks him as punishment, but the kids continues to act out bc it’s the only time his dad pays attention to him
Describe Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment
Bandura was studying observational learning. Children were made to watch a video that showed a model showing aggressive behavior towards a Bobo doll. After, the kids were put in front of a Bobo doll, and the majority modeled the behavior they saw on tv. It was once believed that viewing aggressive behavior would drain the viewer’s aggression, but that was proven false.
