Learning and Ethology Flashcards
Thorndike
functionalist; law of effect (basis of operant conditioning); puzzle box
John Watson
classical conditioning; Little Albert
Clark Hull
theory of motivation/drive-reduction theory
drive-reduction theory
the goal of behaviour is to reduce biological drives (i.e., reinforcement occurs whenever a biological drive is reduced)
Konrad Lorenz
ethology; animal behaviour can only be understood in natural environment
reflex
unlearned response elicited by a specific stimulus, e.g. dog salivating when food placed in mouth
unconditioned stimulus
stimulus that can reflexively elicit a response, e.g. food
unconditioned response
response reflexively elicited by an unconditioned stimulus, e.g. salivation
conditioned stimulus
stimulus that after conditioning elicits nonreflexive response, e.g. bell
conditioned response
response that, after conditioning, is elicited by conditioned stimulus e.g. salivation after bell is rung
what needs to happen for classical conditioning to work?
the conditioned stimulus has to be presented before the unconditioned stimulus (forward conditioning)
extinction
repeatedly present the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus
spontaneous recovery
period after extinction where the unconditioned stimulus still elicits a weak conditioned response
generalization
tendency for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit the conditioned response
second order conditioning
neutral stimulus paired with conditioned stimulus rather than an unconditioned stimulus so that neutral stimulus comes to elicit the conditioned response
sensory preconditioning
two neutral stimuli are paired together and then one of the neutral stimuli is paired with an unconditioned stimulus. e.g. light and bell presented together. then light and food (UCS). after repeated pairings, bell will elicit salivation even though it was never paired with food.
Robert Rescorla
contingency explanation of classical conditioning
contingency explanation of classical conditioning
contingent = conditional/dependent upon. So this means that the conditioned stimulus (bell) must predict the unconditioned stimulus (food) consistently in order for classical conditioning to occur
blocking
experimental procedure to show that classical conditioning occurs when the conditioned stimulus also provides non-redundant information about the occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus (as well as being contingent)
three explanation for why classical conditioning works
(1) contiguity: CS and UCS are contiguous (near) in time
(2) contingency: CS is a good signal for UCS
(3) blocking: CS is a good signal for UCS and provides nonredundant information about the occurrence of UCS
operant conditioning
reward learning; learning the relationship between one’s actions and their consequences
ppl associated with operant conditioning
Thorndike and Skinner
law of effect
if a response is followed by annoying consequence, animal less likely to emit the same response in the future
Skinner developed these terms
positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction
positive reinforcement
probability of desired response increases when organism is given something they want (essentially reward)
negative reinforcement
probability of desire response increases when something is taken away or something undesirable is prevented (e.g. annoying buzzer stops when you put seatbelt on)
escape
something undesirable is prevented (e.g. annoying buzzer stops when you put seatbelt on) - type of negative reinforcement
avoidance
organism gets warning that aversive stimulus will soon occur, and the desired response avoids the aversive stimulus (e.g. stopping at a stop sign)
discriminative stimulus
stimulus condition that indicates that the organism’s behaviour will have consequences
partial reinforcement effect
takes longer for extinction to occur in organism who has been occasionally reinforced for a behaviour
four types of partial reinforcement
also called scheduled of reinforcement: fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable interval
fixed-ratio
reinforcement received after a fixed number of responses
variable ratio
reinforcement received after varying number of responses **Very Resistant to extinction, Very Rapid (most rapid response rate
fixed interval
reinforcement occurs on 1st response after a fixed period of time has occurred since last reinforcement
variable interval
reinforcement occurs after various time periods has elapsed
continuous reinforcement schedule
FR 1; reinforced for every response
schedule most resistant to extinction
variable ratio
shaping
differential reinforcement; produce eventual desired response by reinforcing smaller steps of it
implosion
type of behaviour therapy where client is forced to imagine their feared object (the CS)
systematic desensitization
use of hierarchy of anxiety-producing situations coupled with relaxation techniques (can’t experience anxiety and relaxation at same time - counter conditioning)
conditioned aversion
extinguish unattractive behaviour by pairing it with an aversive unconditioned stimulus
contingency management
using operant conditioning to modify behaviour
behavioral contracts
written agreement that states what behavioural change is desired and indicated consequences of certain acts
time-out procedures
remove person from situation where undesirable behaviour occurs so they’re not reinforced for it
token economies
tokes given for desirable behaviours and taken away for undesirable ones. can redeem tokens for rewards
Premack principle
using a more preferred activity to reinforced less preferred activity
law of effect
responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation
learning according to Thorndike
trial and error
learning according to Kohler
insight (perception of inner relationships between factors essential to solving a problem)
Tolman
rat mazes and cognitive maps
Garcia effect
preparedness; animals are wired to learn connections between certain stimuli (e.g. illness with something you ingested)
instinctual drift
species-specific ways of behaving override behaviours learned through operant conditioning
Keller and Marion Breland
instinctual drift
fixed action patterns
stereotyped behaviour sequence that does not have to be learned by an animal e.g. courtship rituals
sign stimuli
features of a stimulus sufficient to bring about a particular fixed action pattern
supernormal stimulus
model more effective at triggering a FAP than the actual sign stimulus found in nature
releaser
sign stimulus that triggers social behaviours between animals
innate releasing mechanism
mechanism in the animal’s nervous system that connects sign stimuli with the correct FAPs
Karl von Frisch
honeybees communicate location of food sources by dancing
reproductive fitness
number of offspring that live to be old enough to reproduce
inclusive fitness
takes into account reproductive fitness and the number of other relatives who live to reproductive age
E. O. Wilson
sociobiology (how social behaviours increase fitness)
