Learning and Ethology

Question 1

Neil Miller

Answer 1

approach-avoidance conflict. This conflict refers to the state one feels when a certain goal has both pros and cons. Typically, the further one is from the goal, the more one focuses on the pros.

Question 2

approach-avoidance conflict

Answer 2

This conflict refers to the state one feels when a certain goal has both pros and cons. Typically, the further one is from the goal, the more one focuses on the pros.

Question 3

Premack Principle

Answer 3

the ideas that people are motivated to do what they do not want to do by rewarding themselves afterward with something they do like. (dinner/dessert)

Question 4

Donald Hebb

Answer 4

medium amount of arousal needed for tasks (not too much or too little)

Question 5

Yerkes-Dodson effect

Answer 5

optimal arousal looks like an inverted U curve, with lowest performance at both extremes of arousal

Question 6

Avoidance conditioning

Answer 6

teaches an animal how to avoid something that animal does not want

Question 7

Escape conditioning

Answer 7

teaches an animal to perform a desired behavior to get away from a negative stimulus

Question 8

Latent learning

Answer 8

learning that takes place even without reinforcement

Question 9

Chaining

Answer 9

the act of linking together a series of behaviors that ultimately result in reinforcement

Question 10

Autoshaping

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Positive transfer

Answer 11

previous learning that makes it easier to learn another task later

Question 12

Negative transfer

Answer 12

previous learning that makes it harder to learn another task later

Question 13

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Answer 13

o Lewis Terman of Stanford University updated the Binet Scale
o Best known predictor for future academic achievements

Question 14

Wechsler Adult Intelligency Scale (WAIS)

Answer 14

o Most commonly used intelligence test for adults

o Also one for children (WISC-R)

Question 15

Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test

Answer 15

o Kids – detail and accuracy

Question 16

Classical conditioning/respondent conditioning

Answer 16

result of learning connections between different events (thunder follows lightening)

Ian Pavlov usually credited with founding of basic principles of classical conditioning

Noticed that stimuli that previously had no relation to a specific reflex could come to trigger that reflex

Question 17

Reflex

Answer 17

unlearned response that is elicited by a specific stimulus

Question 18

Acquisition

Answer 18

period during which the association of the stimuli is learned

Question 19

extinction

Answer 19

repeatedly present the CS without the UCS

Question 20

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 20

after extinction and period of rest, a weak CR to the CS will occur

Question 21

Generalization

Answer 21

tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit the CR (phobias)

Question 22

Second order conditioning

Answer 22

Neutral stimulus is paired with a CS rather than a UCS
• Light + bell = salivated
• Light = salivate

Can add a third order, etc.

Called sensory preconditioning – even without presenting food, light elicits salivation

Question 23

Why classical conditioning works

Answer 23

Contiguity: CS and UCS are contiguous in time

Contingency (Robert Pescorla): CS is a good signal for UCS

Blocking: CS is a good signal for UCS and provides non-redundant information about UCS

Question 24

Operant Conditioning

Answer 24

reward and punishment

Question 25

law of effect

Answer 25

EL Thondike: proposed law of effect – if a response is followed by an annoying consequence, the animal will be less likely to emit the same response in the future

laid groundwork for operant conditioning

Question 26

Positive reinforcement

Answer 26

reward

Question 27

Negative reinforcement

Answer 27

escape – behavior removes something undesirable

Avoidance – behavior avoids adverse response

Question 28

Discriminative stimulus

Answer 28

stimulus condition that indicates that the organism’s behavior will have consequences

Question 29

Partial reinforcement effect

Answer 29

takes longer to extinguish behavior for those who acquired the response receiving only occasional reinforcement (gambling; on/off break ups)

Question 30

Fixed-ratio

Answer 30

fixed number of responses (every 5x)

Question 31

Variable-ratio

Answer 31

random number (on average, every 5th time)

Question 32

Fixed-interval

Answer 32

specific amount of time

Question 33

Variable-interval

Answer 33

look up

Question 34

Continuous reinforcement schedule

Answer 34

reinforced every time

Question 35

Schedule most resistant to extinction

Answer 35

variable ratio (Very Resistant)

Also produces the most rapid response rate

Question 36

Shaping

Answer 36

reinforce successive approximations of the desired behavior

Also called differential reinforcement

Question 37

Behavior Therapies

Answer 37

psychotherapies based on conditioning models – primarily with phobias, also OCD

Question 38

Flooding

Answer 38

Client experiences the CS without the ucs

Question 39

Implosion

Answer 39

Similar to flooding but client only imagines fearful situation

Question 40

Systematic desensitization

Answer 40

start small, go big (also called counter-conditioning)

Question 41

Conditioned aversion

Answer 41

stimulus that attracts clients is paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus associated with a punishment

Question 42

Therapies based on operant conditioning:

Answer 42

Attempt to alter the consequences of the client’s behavior

• Contingency management: combo of positive reinforcement/negative reinforcement/punishment/extinction
• Behavioral contracts
• Time-out
• Token economies
• Premak principle: HW before play – a more preferred activity can be used to reinforced a less preferred activity

Question 43

EL Thorndike

Answer 43

law of effect; puzzle box; all problem-solving based on trial and error

Question 44

Wolfgang Kohler

Answer 44

cofounder of Gestalt; sometimes learn from trial and error (based on situation); other times, learn by insight

Insight: perception of the inner relationships between factors that are essential to solving a problem

Question 45

Edward Tolman

Answer 45

cognitive maps; if familiar path is blocked, rates able to use cognitive maps to come up with an alternative route

Preparedness: inborn tendency to associate certain stimuli with certain consequences (illness with something we ate)

Biological constraints: animals inborn predispositions to learn different things in different ways

Instinctual drift: can’t teach animals to do anything; eventually instincts override

Question 46

Preparedness

Answer 46

inborn tendency to associate certain stimuli with certain consequences (illness with something we ate)

Question 47

Biological constraints

Answer 47

animals inborn predispositions to learn different things in different ways

Question 48

Instinctual drift

Answer 48

can’t teach animals to do anything; eventually instincts override

Question 49

Albert Bandura

Answer 49

Bobo Dolls – can learn with vicarious reinforcement