Learning and Ethology Flashcards
Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
one of the earliest psychologists to study learning, functionalist, early behaviorist, law of effect
Functionalist
Edward Thorndike, focusing on how the mind functioned in adapting to the environment
Classical Conditioning/Respondent Conditioning
John Watson (1920), Little Albert learned to fear white rats since they were assocaited with loud noise, Ivan Pavlov
Behaviorism
dominant after Watson until about 1960, Edwin Guthrie, BF Skinner
Clark Hull’s Theory of Motivation/Drive-Reduction Theory
goal of behavior is to reduce biological drives, reinforcement occurs whenever a biological drive is reduced
Konrad Lorenz
beginning of ethology, rejected idea that animal behavior could be understood int he laboratory, only out in the field
Ian Pavlov
credited with the founding of basic principles of classical conditioning, salvation of dogs in response to food
Reflex
unlearned response that is elicited by a specific stimulus
Unconditioned Stimulus
food in Pavlov experiment
Unconditioned Response
salivaiton in Pavlov expirment
Conditioned Stimulus
Bell in Pavlov expiriment
Conditioned Response
Salivation (after the bell) in the Pavlov expirment
Spontaneous Recovery
after extinction, the CS (reduced) still occurs
Generalization
similar stimuli to the CS, elicits CR
Second Order Conditioning
neutral stimulus is paired with a CS, ticking to bell to salivation
Sensory preconditioning
light with bell, bell with UCS, then light with UCS even though never presented together
Robert Rescorla
late 1960s, suggested classical conditioning was a matter of learning signals for UCS, contigency explanation of classical conditioning, learning signals for the UCS
Blocking
CS and UCS must be contingent, but the CS must also provide nonredundant information about the occurrence of the UCS in order for the conditioning to occur
Operant Conditioning/Instrumental Conditioning/Reward Learning
learning th relationship between one’s actions and their consequences
Law of Effect
EL Thorndike, 20th centuray, if a response is followed by an annoying consequence, the animal will be less likely to emit the same response in the future
BF Skinner
agreed with Thorndike, rejected the stress on mentalistic teemrms such as satisfying and annoying, moved to positive reinforcement negative reinforcement punshiment and extinction
Negative Reinforcement
taking away or preventing something undesireable whenever the desired response is made, escape and avoidance
Escape
behavior removes something undesiralble
Avoidance
warning that an aversive stimulus will soon occur, the appropriate resonse completely avoids the aversive stimulus
Discriminative stimulus (SD)
stimulus condition that indicates that the organism’s behavior will have consequences, illuminating light that decides whether or not behavior will be reinforced
Partial Reinforcement Effect
Takes longer to extinct behavior learned from partial reinforcement
Fixed Ratio Partial Reinforcement (FR)
only after a fixed number of responses, after every five lever pressess, reinforcement
Variable-Ratio (VR) Partial reinforcement
reinforcement after a varying number of responses, on average every five lever presses, most rapid response rate, most resistant to extinction
Fixed-Interval (FI) Partial Reinforcement
reinforced on the first response after a fixed period of time has elapsed since the last reinforcement, after the first lever press after 45 seconds have passed since the last reinforcement
Variable-Interval (VI) Partial Reinforcement
for the first response made after a variable amount of time has elapsed since the last reinfrocer, average time interval period
Continuous Reinforcement Schedle (CRF)/FR 1
Reinforcement for every lever press
Shaping/Differential Reinforcement
reinforce successive approximations to the desired behavior, reinforce the desired response while extinguishing others
Behavior Therapies/Behavior Modification
pased on conditioning, based on classical and operant
Flooding
client experiences CS without the US that originally elicted fear (to extinguish phobia), based on classical conditioning
Systematic Desensitization, Counter Conditioning
Conditioned AversionJoseph Wolpe, in a state of relaxation, imagine the least anxiety-producing situation i n the hierarchy and proceeds up , relaxation responses are reinforced to the anxiety-invoking stimulus based on Classical conditioning
Conditioned Aversion
therapy based on classical conditioning, undesired stimulus that attracts the client becomes paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus associated with a punishment
Implosion
based on classical conditioning, forcing the client to imagine the feared object (CS)
Contingency Management
based on operant conditioning, behavioral contracts, time-out procedures, token economes and Premack Principle
Behavioral Contract
negotiated agreement, based on operant conditioning, between two parties that explicitly states the behavioral change that is desired and indicates consequences of certain acts
Time-Out
based on operant conditioning, remove the client from the reinforcing situationb efore he receives the reinforcement for his behavior, it will not be reinforced and will eventually cease
Token Economies
based on operant conditioning, given for desirable behaviors and taken away for various undesirable behaviors, tokens can be exchanged for rewards and privileges, useful at mental hospitals
Premack Principe
more preferred activity can be used to reinforce a less preferred activity , requiring homework before play
Puzzle Box
what Thorndike used to decide that all animal learnign was trial and error type
Wolfgang Kohler
cofounder of the school of gestalt psychology, disagreed with trial and error learning as the only kind, some animals have insight, chimp experiments
Insight
Kohler, perception of the inner relationships between factors that are essential to solving a problem
Edward Tolman
rats in mazes to show that behavior isn’t always simple matter of stimulus-response reinforcement, cognitive map
Cognitive Map
Tolman, mental representation of physical space
Biological Constraints
different species have different inborn predisspositions to learn different things in different ways, affecting all kinds of ocnditioning
Garcia Effect
John Garcia, Preparedness - mice
Preparedness
inborn tendency to associate certain stimuli with certain consequences, associate nausea with something ingested and sound with externally induced pain
Keller and Marion Breland
1950s, instinctual drift raccoons
Albert bandura
Bobo doll experiment, behavior could be learned by observation, vicarious reinfrocement
Ethology
study of animal behavior under natural conditions
Niko Tinbergen
experimental methods into the field
Fixed Action Patterns (FAP)
certain action patterns are relatively stereotyped and appear to be species-typical, more complex than pavlovian unconditioned response, ex. rolling an egg back to a nest, triggered by sign stimuli and releasers
Sign stimuli
stimulus that are sufficient to bring about a particular FAP, Thorndike’s sticklebacks red belly
Releasers
sign stimuli that function as signals from one animal to another, particular environmental stimulus that sets off a specific behavior, red belly
Supernormal Stimulus
a stimulus that is more effective at triggering FAP than the actual stimulus found in nature
Innate releasing mechanism (IRM)
some mechanism in the nervous system that serves to connect the stimulus to the right response
Reproductive isolating mechanisms
prevent animals onf one species from attempting to mate with animals of a closely related species
Karl von Fisch
honeybees are able to communicate the direction and distance of food by dances
EO Wilson
sociobiology, behavior is due to a complex and dynamic interplay between genetics and environment
