Learning

Question 1

Habituation

Answer 1

• Simplest form of learning
• Organism eventually stops/decreases responding to a stimulus that is repeated over and over
• Ex: living in a city and becoming used to noisy streets

Question 2

Classical Conditioning

Answer 2

Pavlov: dogs learned an association between food and the person who brought the food (they would start salivating as soon as they saw the person)

Involves UCS and UCR

Question 3

UCS and UCR

Answer 3

Unlearned response that occurs in reaction to the unconditioned (neutral) stimulus

• Ex: smell of food (unconditioned stimulus) –> feeling of hunger (unconditioned response)

Question 4

CS and CR

Answer 4

Scenario: Dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell with the presentation of food and they began to salivate at the sound of the bell alone.

CS: sound of the bell (once neutral stimulus became associated with food)

CR: salivation at only the sound of the bell

Question 5

Timing of stimuli in classical conditioning

Answer 5

Foward pairing: CS precedes the US (ex: bell precedes the food- easiest conditioning)

Simultaneous pairing: US (food) and CS (bell) occur together

Backward pairing: CS (bell) follows the US (food)

Question 6

Extinction of stimulus

Answer 6

Gradual weakening of a CS that results in the behavior decreasing or disappearing

Question 7

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 7

Occurs when a CR that was previously considered extinct reemerges

Question 8

Generalization and discrimination

Answer 8

Generalization: response conditioned to a CS tends to be evoked by stimuli that are similar to the CS (ex: someone develops a fear of spiders and might generalize this fear to other small insects with multiple legs)

Discrimination: ability to differentiate between a CS and other stimuli that haven’t been paired with an US (ex: if bell tone was CS, you’d be able to differentiate between the bell sound and other similar sounds)

Question 9

Little Albert Study

Answer 9

Little Albert and rabbit experiment- conditioned phobia

• Child was exposed to a rabbit and learned to fear it because they played a loud sound upon showing it to him (child associated rabbit with loud sound)
• Child became scared of anything with fur (was similar to rabbit’s appearance)

Question 10

Phobias

Answer 10

Irrational fear of an object or situation

Question 11

Systematic desensitization

Answer 11

Application of classical conditioning for the treatment of phobias

1. Using UCS (relaxing image) to induce calm feelings (UCR)
2. using CS (heights) while showing relaxing image (UCS) to induce calm feelings
3. after training, subject will feel calm feelings (CR) after seeing heights (CS)

Question 12

Limits of classical conditioning

Answer 12

• Can any two things be associated? Some associations are more easily learned by certain species.

Garcia and Koelling rat study: rats were easily able to avoid drinking sweetened water because it made them nauseous. This was easier for them because they are always eating trash

Question 13

Biological preparedness

Answer 13

Organisms are evolutionarily predisposed to developing associations between certain stimuli and responses.

Ex: fear of heights, historically always a mortal threat to humans

Question 14

Law of effect

Answer 14

Thorndike

• Behaviors followed by pleasant consequences are more likely to be repeated

Question 15

Operant conditioning

Answer 15

Skinner

• Behavior followed by reinforcement increases chances of behavior

Question 16

Operant chamber

Answer 16

Skinner box: device that isolates an animal and measures its behavior in response to rewards or punishments

Question 17

Reinforcement

Answer 17

Always brings on a more pleasant state- increases target behavior

Positive reinforcement: behavior + pleasant stimulus

Negative reinforcement: behavior + no stimulus

Question 18

Primary and secondary reinforcers

Answer 18

• Primary reinforcer: brings on more pleasant state/increases target behavior by fulfilling biological need to prompt subject to do things again for it
• Secondary/condition reinforcer: don’t fulfill a biological need but pleasing because of their association with some primary reinforcer

Question 19

Punishment (limits of punishment)

Answer 19

Behavior + adverse stimulus (makes the behavior less likely to occur)

Question 20

Shaping

Answer 20

Skinner

Type of conditioning technique:

1. Break down target behavior into smaller steps
2. Rewarding each step on the path toward the desired outcome

Question 21

Chaining

Answer 21

Linking small behaviors into a complex sequence through reinforcement

Question 22

Schedules of reinforcement- continuous vs partial

Answer 22

Continuous: reinforcement is provided every single time after desired behavior

Partial: only reinforce desired behavior occasionally (leads to slower learning)

Question 23

Schedules of reinforcement- fixed ratio

Answer 23

Reinforces behavior after a specified number of correct responses

Question 24

Schedules of reinforcement- variable ratio

Answer 24

Behavior is reinforced after a random number of responses

Question 25

Schedules of reinforcement- interval schedules

Answer 25

Reinforces a behavior after a period of time has passed

Question 26

Latent learning/cognitive map

Answer 26

Tolman

In Tolman’s experiment, he observed that rats seemed to develop a “mental map” of the maze even without direct rewards or pos reinforcers (latent learning)

Question 27

Observational learning

Answer 27

New skills can be learned by observing others

Question 28

Bandura Bobo study

Answer 28

Do children learn aggression from adults?

Question 29

Fixed action patterns (gulls)

Answer 29

Evolutionary adaptation to ensure that a particular stimulus elicits an adaptive response.