Learning/Conditioning Flashcards
What is learning
a relatively permanent change in behavior
define classical conditioning
type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus
pavlov’s experiment
conditioned a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
something that evokes an unconditioned response without conditioning
Unconditioned Response (UR)
unlearned reaction to an US without previous conditioning
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
previously neutral stimulus that evokes a conditioned response through conditioning (the bell in Pavlov’s experiment)
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
something that never creates the response itself (the bell at first in pavlov’s experiment)
Conditioned Response (CR)
learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning (the dog salivating at the food)
acquisition
initial stage of learning
extinction
eliminating a response created by conditioning
discrimination
responding a different way to similar but different stimuli
generalization
responding the same way to similar but different stimuli
spontaneous recovery
reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of non exposure to the CS
higher order conditioning
when a conditioned stimulus is paired with another
ex: if the bell in Pavlov’s experiment was also presented with a circle, so every time the dog saw the circle he would salivate
little albert experiment
conditioned a toddler to fear white rats
US = loud noise
UR = fear of the loud noise
NS = rat
CS = rat
CR = fear of the rats
generalization = responses to dogs, rabbits and masks after the experiment
created a phobia which made the study unethical
immunosuppression & classical conditioning
immunosuppressants are given to patient along with a strange tasting liquid. after a while the drug is taken away but the patient keeps drinking the liquid, so the body thinks it’s still taking the drug because it’s conditioned to think so
what did skinner’s experiment with the skinner box show
learning through the consequences of our behavior (when we all boo’d at dave until he got the squishy things from the cabinet)
shaping
repeatedly reinforcing closer and closer approximation of a desired response
contiguity
when the CS and US occur close together in time
frequency of pairing of the UCS and CS intensity
types of negative reinforcement
escape learning
avoidance learning
escape learning
behavior that allows you to remove/stop an unpleasant stimulus
avoidance learning
behavior that allows you to avoid an unpleasant stimulus
observational learning
when an organism’s responses are influenced by the observation of others
role of reinforcement in observational learning
the outcome of a certain behavior
process of observational learning
attention
retention
reproduction
motivation
vicarious reinforcement
copying behavior that is observed as being positively reinforced
bandura’s experiment
exposing children to an aggressive adult model vs. a non-aggressive adult model
fixed ratio
reinforced for a specific number of responses
fixed interval
reinforced after a specified amount of time
little response after receiving reinforcement, then working harder right before reinforcement
fixed variables
reinforced for an unpredictable number of responses
learned helplessness
when an individual is exposed to a lot of uncontrollable negative events. the person perceives that they have no control over their reinforcers or keeps getting punished in their life and just quits trying
ex: when raymac beat jack to death
how do you help someone with learned helplessness
use resources for help, slow down, letting someone know you’re there and it’s ok to fail
how does learned helplessness lead to mental problems
if someone keeps trying to make friends but keeps getting ignored, leads to social withdrawal and then depression
if someone is trying to get sober from drugs/alcohol but keeps failing they will eventually give up
token economy program
symbolic reinforcers that you turn in for real reinforcers in order to reach a certain goal
