Learning Flashcards
Learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience
Classical conditioning
A procedure during which an animal or person learns to associate a reflex response with a new stimulus
Classical conditioning schedule
The steps in the procedure to condition a new response.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
The stimulus that produces a reflex response, such as the food for Pavlov’s dog.
Unconditioned response (UCR)
The reflex response to an unconditioned stimulus, such as Pavlov’s dog’s salivation.
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
A new stimulus presented with the UCS, such as the bell in Pavlov’s experiment.
Conditioned response (CR)
The response that is learnt; it now occurs when the CS is presented, such as Pavlov’s dog’s salivation.
Extinction
A conditioned response dies out.
Spontaneous recovery
A conditioned response that has disappeared suddenly appears again.
Generalisation
The conditioned response is produced when a similar stimulus to the original conditioned stimulus is presented.
Discrimination (with reference to conditioning)
The conditioned response is only produced when a specific stimulus is presented.
Operant conditioning
Learning due to the consequences of behaviour, through positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement.
Law of effect
Behaviours that are followed by rewards are usually repeated; those that are punished are not usually repeated.
Punishment
A stimulus that weakens behavior because it is unpleasant and we try to avoid it.
Reinforcement
A consequence of behaviour that encourages or strengthens a behavior. This might be seen as a reward.
Positive reinforcement
A reward or pleasant consequence that increases the likelihood that a behaviour or action will be repeated.
Negative reinforcement
When an unpleasant experience is removed after a behavior or action has been made. This increases the likelihood of that behavior or action being repeated.
Behavior shaping
Changing behavior in small steps.
Phobia
A persistent and irrational fear of an object, activity or situation. The typical symptoms are intense feelings of fear and anxiety to avoid the object, activity or situation.
Flooding
A treatment for phobias that involves the immediate exposure of the person to the feared object, activity or situation, until there is no fear response.
Systematic desensitisation
A treatment for phobias in which the person us taught to relax and then is gradually exposed to the feared object, activity or situation.
Hierarchy of fears
A series of feared events ranked from least frightening to most frightening.
Aversion therapy
A treatment for addictions, such as drug and alcohol dependency, which makes the addict have an extremely negative reaction to the addictive substance.
Primary reinforcer
A reward, such as food or water, that the animal or person needs in order to survive.
Secondary reinforcer
A reward, such as money or a token, that the animal or person can exchange for a primary reinforcer.
