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The Princeton Review: Gre Psych Subject Test (8th Ed.) > Learning > Flashcards

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1
Q

E. L. Thorndike

A

Suggested the Law of Effect, which was the precursor of operant conditioning. The Law of Effect postulated a cause-and-effect chain of behavior revolving around reinforcement. Individuals do what rewards them and stop doing what doesn’t bring some reward.

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2
Q

Kurt Lewin

A

Developed the Theory of Association, which was a forerunner of behaviorism. Association is grouping things together based on the fact that they occur together in time and space. Organisms associate certain behaviors with certain rewards and certain cues with certain situations. (This idea is basically what Pavlov later proved experimentally)

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3
Q

Ivan Pavlov

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Discovered classical conditioning while investigating dogs and digestion. Classical conditioning, also known as Pavlovian Conditioning, involves teaching an organism to respond to a neutral stimulus by pairing the neutral stimulus with a not neutral stimulus.

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4
Q

John B. Watson

A

Expanded the ideas of Pavlov and founded the school of Behaviorism. Watson’s idea of learning, like his idea of all behavior, was that everything could be explained by stimulus-response chains and that conditioning was the key factor in developing these chains. Only objective and observable elements were of importance to organisms and to psychology

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5
Q

B.F. Skinner

A

Conducted the first scientific experiments to prove the concepts in Thorndike’s law of effect and Watson’s idea of the causes and effect of behavior. This idea of behavior being influenced primarily by reinforcement is now called Operant Conditioning. Skinner practically created the now classic stereotypical psychological study; he used rats and a device that he called the Skinner Box. Experimentally, skinner proved that animals are influenced by reinforcement. Later, he went even further in his famous books Walden Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity by discussing the control of human behavior rather than rat behavior.

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6
Q

Classical Conditioning

A

pairing a neutral stimulus with a not-so-neutral stimulus to create a relationship between the two. ex: Pavlov paired a light to be turned on before dogs were fed. eventually the dogs associated the light with being fed and would salivate when the light was turned on

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7
Q

What is a Neutral Stimulus (NS) in Classical Conditioning?

A

A stimulus that does not produce a specific response on its own. ex: In the Pavlov experiment, the light was the neutral stimulus

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8
Q

What is an Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) in Classical Conditioning?

A

The not-so-neutral Stimulus. ex: In Pavlov’s experiment the food was the UCS. Without any conditioning, the stimulus elicits the response of salivating

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9
Q

What is a Conditioned Stimulus (CS) in Classical Conditioning?

A

The neutral stimulus once it has been paired with the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus has no naturally occurring response, but it is conditioned through pairings with a unconditioned stimulus. ex: In Pavlov’s experiment the light became a CS after repeated pairings with the food which was the UCS.

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10
Q

What is an Unconditioned Response (UCR) in Classical Conditioning?

A

The naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus. ex: In Pavlov’s experiment, the UCR was the dog’s salivating in response to the food

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11
Q

What is a Conditioned Response (CR) in Classical Conditioning?

A

The response that the conditioned stimulus elicits after conditioning. ex: In Pavlov the CR would be the dogs salivating to the light

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12
Q

What is Simultaneous Conditioning in Classical Conditioning?

A

Presenting the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus at the same time.

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13
Q

What is High-Order Conditioning/Second Order Conditioning in Classical Conditioning?

A

A conditioning technique in which a previous conditioned stimulus now acts as a unconditioned stimulus. ex: Using Pavlov’s experiment, for higher-order conditioning the experiment would use the light as a unconditioned response after the light reliably elicited saliva in dogs. food would no longer be used in the experiment and light would be the unconditioned stimulus. The light could be paired with a bell (CS) until the bell alone elicited saliva in the dogs

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14
Q

What is Forward Conditioning in Classical Conditioning?

A

Pairing of the Conditioned Stimulus and the Unconditioned Stimulus in which the CS is presented before the UCS. Two types exist, Delayed conditioning and trace conditioning.

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15
Q

What is Delayed Conditioning in Classical Conditioning?

A

The presentation of the Conditioned Stimulus begins before that of the Unconditioned Stimulus and lasts until the UCS is presented ex: In Pavlovs experiment, the light (CS) would be presented, there would be a delay, and then the food (UCS) would be delivered.

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16
Q

What is Trace Conditioning in Classical Conditioning?

A

The Conditioned Stimulus is presented and terminated before the Unconditioned Stimulus is presented. ex: in Pavlov’s experiment, the light (CS) turned on and the turned off , and THEN the food (UCS) would be brought out.

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17
Q

What is Backward Conditioning in Classical Conditioning?

A

The Conditioned Stimulus is presented after the Unconditioned Stimulus is presented. This method has proven to be ineffective and in fact only accomplishes inhibitory conditioning. This means that later the dogs would have a harder time pairing the light and the food even if they were presented in a forward fashion. ex: In Pavlov’s experiment, the dogs would have been presented with the food (UCS) and then with the light (CS).

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18
Q

What is Operant Conditioning?

A

Pioneered by B.F. Skinner and also called instrumental conditioning. The aim is to influence a response through various reinforcement strategies. Famous for his experimnts on rats using his Skinner Box. Basically, the rats do things that win them rewards and give up on behavior that did not (ex: pulling lever, pushing a button).

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19
Q

What is Shaping in Oprerant Conditioning?

A

Also called Differential Reinforcement of Successive Approximations. A process in Skinner’s experiment in which the experimenter rewarded rats for even being near the lever and again when they actually touched the lever to get them closer and closer to pulling the lever.

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20
Q

What is Primary Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning?

A

A natural reinforcement. Something that is reinforcing on its own without the requirement of learning. ex: food and water.

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21
Q

What is a Secondary Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning?

A

A learned reinforcement. Secondary reinforcements are often learned through society ex: Money, prestige, awards

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22
Q

What is Positive Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning?

A

A type of reward or positive event acting as a stimulus that increases the likelihood of a particular response. ex: giving a dog a treat when it sits on command

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23
Q

What is Negative Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning?

A

The removal of a negative event when a particular behavior is achieved. ex: turning off blaring loud music when the monkey rides a tricycle.

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24
Q

What are the 2 essential differences between Negative Reinforcement and Punishment?

A

1) Negative reinforcement encourages the subject to behave in a certain way, and punishment encourages a subject to stop behaving in a certain way. 2) Negative reinforcement entails removing a negative event, punishment entails introducing a negative event

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25
Q

What is Continuous Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning?

A

In this schedule, every correct response is met with some form of reinforcement. This type of reinforcement strategy facilitates the quickest learning but also the most fragile. As soon as the rewards stop, the animal stops performing.

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26
Q

What is Partial Reinforcement Schedule in Operant Conditioning?

A

In this schedule, not all correct responses are met with reinforcement. this strategy may require a longer learning time, but once learned, these behaviors are more resistant to extinction. There are 4 types: Fixed Ratio Schedule, Variable Ratio Schedule, Fixed Interval Schedule, Variable Interval Schedule.

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27
Q

What is Fixed Ratio Schedule in Operant Conditioning?

A

In this schedule, a reinforcement is delivered after a consistent number of responses. If the ratio is 6:1, after every 6th correct response there is a reward. Because the ratio is fixed, the behavior is vulnerable to extinction when the rewards don’t come as scheduled.

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28
Q

What is Variable Ratio Schedule in Operant Conditioning?

A

In this schedule, learning takes the most time to occur, but the learning is least likely to become extinguished. A variable ratio is different from a fixed ratio in that reinforcements are delivered after different numbers of correct responses. The ratio therefore cannot be predicted. Slot machines are the perfect example of variable ratio schedule!

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29
Q

What is Fixed Interval Schedule in Operant Conditioning?

A

With interval schedles, rewards come after the passage of a certain period of time rather than the number of behaviors. So, for example, if the fixed interval is 5mn, the rat will get the reward the first time it presses the lever after a five minute interval.Can be argued that this dose little to motivate an animal’s behavior.

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30
Q

What is Variable Interval Schedule in Operant Conditioning?

A

In this schedule, rewards are delivered after differing time periods. Variable interval schedule is the second most effective strategy in maintaining behavior. The length of time varies so no one knows when the reinforcement is right around the corner.

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31
Q

What is a Token Economy in Operant Conditioning?

A

An artificial mini-economy is usually found in prisons, rehab centers, or mental hospitals. Individuals are motivated by secondary reinforces, tokens in this case. Desirable behaviors are reinforced with tokens, which can be cashed in for more primary reinforces, such as candy, books, privileges, or cigarettes.

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32
Q

What else besides Primary and Secondary drives motivate individuals? **REVIEW**

A

-Exploratory drive: The motivation to simply try something new or explore their environmnet -Fritz Hiders balance theory, Charles Osgood and Percy Tannenbaum’s Congruity Theory, and Leon Festinger’s Cognitive dissonance theory all agree that what drives people is a desire to be balanced with respect to feelings, ideas, or behaviors.

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33
Q

What was Clark Hull’s Formula for Behavior?

A

Performance = Drive x Habit This means individuals are first motivated by drive, and then they act according to old successful habits.

34
Q

What was Edward Tolman’s Expectancy- Value Theory?

A

Performance = Expectation x Value The idea here is that people are motivated by goals that they think they might actually be able to meet. Another factor is how important the goal is.

35
Q

How did Victor Vroom apply Edward Tolman’s Expectancy-Value Theory?

A

He applied this theory to individual behavior in large organizations. Individuals who are the lowest on the totem pole do not expect to receive company incentives, so these carrots do little to motivate them.

36
Q

Henry Murray and later David McClelland studied the possibility that people are motivated by __________?

A

A need for Achievement (nAch). This maybe manifested through a need to pursue success or a need to avoid failure, but either way, the goal is to feel successful.

37
Q

What was John Atkinson’s suggested theory of motivation?

A

He suggested a theory of motivation in which people who set realistic goals with intermediate risk sets feel pride with accomplishment, and want to succeed more than they fear failure. But because success is so important, these people are unlikely to set unrealistic or risky goals or to persist when success is unlikely

38
Q

Approach-Avoidance Conflict

A

Proposed by Neil Miller, this conflict refers to the the state one feels when a certain goal has both pros and cons. Typically, the further one is from the goal, the more one is focuses on the pros or the reasons to approach the goal. The closer one is to the goal, the more one focuses on the cons or the reasons to avoid the goal.

39
Q

Hedonism

A

The theory that individuals are motivated solely by what brings the most pleasure and the lease pain

40
Q

The Premack Principle

A

The idea that people are motivated to do what they do not want to do by rewarding themselves afterward with something they do like. ex: a child may be rewarded with desert only after he eats his spinach

41
Q

What did Donald Hebb postulate about arousal?

A

He postulated that medium arousal is best for performance. Specifically, for simple tasks the optimal leval of arousal is toward the high end. For complex tasks, the optimal level of arousal is toward the ow end so that the individual is not too anxious to perform well (This is also called the Yerkes-Dodson effect)

42
Q

What is the Yerkes-Dodson Effect?

A

For simple tasks the optimal level of arousal is toward the high end. For complex tasks, the optimal level of arousal is toward the ow end so that the individual is not too anxious to perform well. On a graph this looks like an inverted U-Curve , with the lowest performance at the extremes of arousal.

43
Q

Stimulus

A

Any event that an organism reacts to. The stimulus is the first link in a stimulus-response chain.

44
Q

Stimulus Discrimination

A

The ability to discriminate between different but similar stimuli. ex: differentiating between a phone ringing and the doorbell ringing

45
Q

Stimulus Generalization

A

The opposite of Stimulus Discrimination. To generalize is to make the same response to a group of similar stimuli ex: Not all fire alarms sound a like but we know that they all require the same response.

46
Q

Undergeneralization

A

The failure to generalize a stimulous

47
Q

Response Learning

A

The form of learning in which one links together chains of stimuli and response. One learns what to do in response to particular triggers. ex: Learning to leave a building in response to afire alarm.

48
Q

Perceptual Learning

A

Also known as conceptual learning. Refers to learning about something in general rather than learning-specific stimulus-response chains. An individual learns about something (ex: history) rather than any particular response.

49
Q

Aversive Conditioning

A

Uses punishment to decrease the likelihood of a behavior.The most common example is the drug antabuse, which is used to treat alcoholism. When taken with alcohol it causes severe nausea and vomiting. Eventually the person associates these unpleasant side effects with alcohol and no longer wants to drink it

50
Q

Avoidance Conditioning

A

teaches an animal how to avoid something the animal does not want ex: Dog in shuttle box jump fence when they see a light that comes on before the shock that comes to avoid the coming shock.

51
Q

Escape Conditioning

A

teaches an animal to perform a desired behavior to get away from a negative stimulus ex: dog in shuttle box jumps fence to other side when feet are shocked on one side to escape the pain.

52
Q

Punishment

A

Promotes extinction of an undesirable behavior. After an unwanted behavior is preformed, the punishment is presented. This acts as a negative stimulus, which should decrease the the likelihood that the earlier behavior will be repeated. This method has mixed reviews, some animal experiments have shown that severe punishment effectively extinguishes undesirable behavior. However, many including Skinner himself argue that punishment is not effective in the long run.

53
Q

Autonomic Conditioning

A

Evoking responses o the autonomic nervous system through training. ex: Using yoga or breathing exercises to lower the heart rate.

54
Q

State Dependent Learning

A

The concept that what a person learns in one state is best recalled in that state. ex: If you learned something while drunk, you might be able to recall it better while drunk

55
Q

What is Extinction?

A

The reversal of conditioning. The goal is to encourage an organism to stop doing a particular behavior. This is generally done by repeatedly withholding reinforcement for a behavior or by disassociating the behavior from a particular cue. ex: Parents can reduce temper tantrums in children by not giving into, or reinforcing, the child’s behavior.

56
Q

What is Spontaneous Recovery?

A

The reappearance of an extinguished response, even in the absence of further conditioning or training.

57
Q

What is Latent Learning?

A

Learning that takes place even without reinforcement. ex: watching other people play chess many times, the fact that you are learning about chess from watching may not be evident but when you play later you may be surprised by what you know

58
Q

What is Incidental Learning?

A

Accidental Learning. Unrelated items are grouped together during incidental learning. ex: pets often learn to dislike cars because it means they are going to the vet. though it is actually the vet that the animal fears, pets associate cars with the pet experience.

59
Q

What is Superstitious behavior?

A

Occurs when someone “learns” that a specific action cause an event when in reality the two actions are unrelated. ex: a football fan that always wears the same shirt when his favorite team plays its rival may do so because he noticed that every time he wore it his team won.

60
Q

What is Chaining?

A

The act of linking together a series of behaviors that ultimately result in reinforcement. One behavior triggers the next and so on and so forth. ex: Learning the alphabet is a perfect example. 26 letters are required to complete the chain and each letter stimulates remembering the next

61
Q

What is Habituation?

A

The decreasing responsiveness to stimulus as a result of increasing familiarity with the stimulus. ex: Not noticing the feeling of wearing a watch that you wear every day

62
Q

What is Sensitization?

A

Increased sensitivity to the environment following the presentation of a strong stimulus. ex: Noticing a speaker says “uh” every other word an then becoming more and more annoyed

63
Q

What is Overshadowing?

A

A Classical Conditioning concept referring to an animal’s inability to infer a relationship between a particular stimulus and response due to the presence of a more prominent stimulus. ex: trying to train a dog by saying “sit” while holding a treat over their head. The treat overshadows the “Sit” making it ineffectual.

64
Q

What is Autoshaping?

A

Experiments in which an apparatus allows an animal to control its reinforcements through behaviors such as bar pressing or key pecking. The animal, in a sense, is shaping its own behavior

65
Q

Social Learning Theory

A

Individuals learn through their culture. People learn what are acceptable and unacceptable behaviors through interacting in society

66
Q

Observational Learning

A

The act of learning something by watching

67
Q

Modeling

A

A specific concept withing social learning that refers to learning and behaving by imitating others. A particularly famous study of modeling was done by Albert Bandura using the Bobo Doll.

68
Q

Describe Albert Bandura’s Study using the Bobo Doll.

A

In this study, children who watched adults physically abuse a blowup doll in a playroom proceeded to do the same during heir playtime with the bobo doll; children who did not witness the aggression did not behave in this way. Excellent example of Modeling

69
Q

The Garcia Effect

A

Discovered by John Garcia in his classical conditioning experiments. Also known as conditioned taste aversion. Aversion to a certain smell or taste that was associated with a negative reaction such as vomiting. Animals are programmed through evolution to make certain connections, nausea was invariably connected with food or drink. The concept that certain associations are more easily learned than others is called preparedness. These automatic connections need little conditioning. This is especially strong in Children.

70
Q

M.E. Olds

A

Performed experiments in which electrical stimulation of pleasure centers in the brain were used as positive reinforcement. Animals would perform behaviors to recieve the stimulation. This was viewed as evidence against drive-reduction theory.

71
Q

Are continuous motor tasks or discrete motor tasks easier to learn?

A

Continuous motor tasks are easier to learn. Tasks such as riding a bicycle is one continuous motion that once started continues naturally. A discrete task is one that is divided into different parts that don’t facilitate recall of each other such as setting up a chess board.

72
Q

What is Positive Transfer?

A

Previous learning makes it easier to learn another task later

73
Q

What is Negative Transfer?

A

Previous learning that makes it more difficult to learn a new task

74
Q

How does Age affect learning?

A

Humans are primed to learn between the ages of 3 and 20. From the age of 20-50 the ability to learn remains fairly constant. After the age of 50 the ability to learn drops.

75
Q

What is the Learning Curve?

A

Was first described by Hermann Ebbinghaus and refers to the fact that when learning something new, the rate of learning usually changes over time. ex: when learning a new language someone may quickly learn a bunch of vocab and basic sentence structure but as they try to learn more complex grammatical constructions the rate of learning decreases

76
Q

Educational Psychology

A

This branch is concerned with how people learn in educational settings. Educational psychologists examine things like student and teacher attributes and instructional processes in the classroom.

77
Q

Who wrote the first educational psychology textbook?

A

Edward Thorndike in 1903. He developed various methods to assess students skills and teaching effectiveness

78
Q

What is Aptitude?

A

A set of characteristics that are indicative of a person’s ability to learn

79
Q

What is Cooperative Learning?

A

Involves students working on a project together in small groups

80
Q

What is Scaffolding Learning?

A

Occurs when a teacher encourages the student to learn independently and only provides assistance with topics or concepts that are beyond the students capabilities. As the student continues to learn the teacher aids with less to encourage the student’s independence.

The Princeton Review: Gre Psych Subject Test (8th Ed.) (5 decks)

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