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Psych #1 - Learning Flashcards

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1
Q

What is Descartes’ Dualism? (1596-1650)

A

He made a distinction between the Body and the Soul. The body is directly observable, obeys natural laws, and controls reflexive behaviors. The soul is observable only through interaction with the body, the source of free will and thought, uniquely human (free will, higher cognition)

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2
Q

What was John Locke’s Empiricism (1632-1704)

A

This began the emergence of psychology as a science. He didn’t like dualism. He rejected the idea that there is a soul divorced from the body. He believed that all knowledge and thought were derived from sensory experience. He thought of the mind as a blank slate. Ideas come from experience (nurture)

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3
Q

What is the dualism debate?

A

It is not as body vs. soul instead it’s differences in approach and emphasis. Can all behaviors be thought of in terms of neural processes? Or are there a lot of interesting and important things about behavior that can’t be reduced to neural processes?

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4
Q

What were some criticisms of Locke and Descartes?

A

They didn’t run a lot of experiments and most of their “data” came from their own heads

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5
Q

What were Wundt’s main ideas? (1832-1920)

A

Founded scientific psychology or structuralism. Basically he was the first one to think about psychology as a science. Introspection.

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6
Q

What is introspection (Wundt)?

A

This relies on a person’s descriptions of sensations they experience in response to some stimulus (a picture) and try to break those descriptions down into basic elements

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7
Q

What makes introspection complicated?

A

It can be hard to get a clear answer because everyone has a different experience to a stimulus. Ex. someone says the word triangle of everyone thinks of something different.

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8
Q

What were Sigmund Freud’s main ideas (1856-1939)?

A

He was critical of structuralists. He was known for psychoanalysis which studied the unconscious mind. He believed that to understand people you had to know what was going on underneath the surface.

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8
Q

What were William James’ (1824-1910) main ideas?

A

Functionalism. What it is and what function does it serve. Evolution? focused on how mental activities helped an organism fit into its environment

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9
Q

Which two psychologists studied behaviorism?

A

John Watson (1878-1958) and B.F. Skinner (1904-1990).

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10
Q

What is behaviorism?

A

Psychologists believe that they should only focus on observable behavior (no introspection or what’s going on inside people’s heads).

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11
Q

What were Watson’s main points?

A
  1. He believed that psychology should study behavior, not the unobservable “mind”
  2. We should look for the “causes” of behavior in the environment
  3. Understanding behavior requires no reference to any unobservable event occurring within the individual
  4. No fundamental differences between human and animal behavior
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12
Q

What was the cognitive revolution?

A

Use behavior to reveal the mind. They started to think about our brains as computers like your mind is a software.

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13
Q

What are the goals of scientific psychology?

A
  1. Description of events.
  2. Explanation of why things occur (decay v. rehearsal)
  3. Prediction of future events (rapid decay if rehearsal is prevented)
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14
Q

What happens to the information in the short term or working memory if you don’t rehearse?

A

It will decay quickly from your brain if you don’t rehearse.

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15
Q

What is a theory?

A

An organized set of principles that describes, predicts, and explains some phenomenon.

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16
Q

What is a hypothesis?

A

A specific testable prediction, often derived from a theory.

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17
Q

What are the three basic types of research designs?

A

Descriptive, correlational, and experimental.

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18
Q

What is a descriptive research design?

A

Case studies, surveys, naturalistic

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19
Q

What is a correlational research design?

A

It’s when two or more things are measured and then you find correlations or connections between them.

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20
Q

What is the experimental research design?

A

Only way to find out if X causes Y. Independent variable and dependent variable.

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21
Q

What are the indepdent and dependent variables?

A

The independent variable is the the factor that is manipulating or being changed in an experiment, the dependent variable is the outcome measured and is affected by changes made in the independent variable.

Ex. measuring hours of sleep on test scores.
Independent variable: hours of sleep

dependent variable: test scores

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22
Q

What is the dependent variable?

A

A variable that is being measured in an experiment. Proposed to be affected by the independent variable.

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23
Q

What do psychologists like to measure?

A

Reaction time, eye movements. Physiological: brain images, heart rate, brain waves, pupil size, perspiration, hormone levels. Infants: Hi amplitude sucking and looking time.

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24
Q

What was the evil Dr. Zilstein’s experiment(Schacter)?

A

He created two groups by manipulating levels of fear and anxiety. Then see if they differ in tendency to affiliate with others. Fearful group told that the shocks would be very painful and the other group was told that the shocks were no big deal.

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25
Q

What were the results of Schacter’s study?

A

They found that more of the non-anxious group answered that they wanted to wait alone than the anxious group. More anxious people said that they would rather wait with others.

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26
Q

What is learning?

A

A change in behavior that exhibits, a new way in which a person thinks, perceives or reacts to the environment in a new way. The change is a result of experience, from repetition, study, and practice rather than something hereditary. The change is also relatively permanent.

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27
Q

What is habituation?

A

A simple form of learning in which an organism eventually stops responding to a stimulus that is repeated over and over.

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28
Q

What are the 3 kinds of learning?

A

Classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social-cognitive learning

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29
Q

What is classical conditioning?

A

The conditioned stimulus is a substitute stimulus that triggers the same response in an organism as an unconditioned stimulus.

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30
Q

What was Pavlov’s Dog experiment?

A

When a dog sees food (Unconditioned stimulus) the dog salivates which is an unconditioned response. Then the bell is introduced which is a neutral stimulus and the dog has no response to just the bell. During conditioning, he repeatedly presented the dogs with the sound of the bell first and then the food (pairing) after a few repetitions, the dogs salivated when they heard just the sound of the bell. The bell had become the conditioned stimulus and salivation had become the conditioned response.

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31
Q

What timing of stimuli is the best way to condition something?

A

Forward pairing, the conditioned stimulus (bell) comes before the unconditioned stimulus (food)

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32
Q

What timing of stimuli is the most difficult way to condition something?

A

Backward pairing, where the conditioned stimulus (bell) comes after the unconditioned stimulus (food) is presented.

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33
Q

What is high-order conditioning?

A

Conditioned stimulus (bell) and unconditioned stimulus (food) get an unconditioned response (salivating). Then if you add a black square (neutral stimulus) and bell (conditioned stimulus) you get a conditioned response of salivation. Then over time when the dog just sees the black square that’s the second order stimulus you get the conditioned response of salivation.

34
Q

What is extinction?

A

Just as we learn a response or learn an association with it we can unlearn it.

35
Q

What is generalization?

A

A response conditioned to a particular CS tends to be evoked by stimuli that are similar to the CS.

36
Q

What is discrimination?

A

The organism will learn the different associations if similar stimuli are paired with different unconditioned stimuli.

37
Q

What were John Watson’s main ideas?

A

He believed that babies were a blank canvas. He thought he could raise a group of children to specifically be all doctors for example.

38
Q

What are some applications of classical conditioning in the real world?

A

There is treatment for phobias. The steps would be to teach relaxation techniques, create anxiety hierarchy from least to most feared stimulus, work though hierarchy while maintaining calm.

39
Q

What are some criticisms of classical conditioning?

A

Can any two things be associated? Biological preparedness - not all associations are created equal. Species are predisposed to learn some kinds of associations and not others.

40
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A

When you add a desirable stimulus. Example getting a hug or watching TV

41
Q

What is a negative reinforcement?

A

When you remove an aversive stimulus. Like fastening a seatbelt because the alarm sound is beeping. Only stops when you buckle it.

42
Q

What is continuous reinforcement?

A

Learning occurs rapidly, which makes it the best choice for acquiring behavior however extinction also occurs rapidly.

43
Q

What are partial reinforcement schedules?

A

Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

44
Q

What is a fixed-ratio schedule?

A

It reinforces behavior after a set number of responses. For example, coffee shops may reward us with a free coffee after every 10 purchases.

45
Q

What are variable-ratio schedules?

A

Provide reinforcers after a seemingly unpredictable number of responses. This produces higher rates of responding. Reinforcers increases as number of responses increases.

Ex. slot machines and fishing

46
Q

what’s an example of a variable-ratio schedule?

A

The unpredictable reinforcement is what slot-machine players and people who fish experience. Reinforcers increase as the number of responses increases and they produce higher rates of responding.

47
Q

What’s a fixed-interval schedule?

A

Reinforces a response after a fixed time period. There is rapid responding near time for reinforcement. For example, a pigeon would peck a key more rapidly as the time for reinforcement draws closer. This produces a choppy stop-start pattern rather than a steady rate of response

48
Q

What are variable-interval schedules?

A

They reinforce the first response after varying time intervals. At unpredictable times, a food pellet rewarded Skinner’s pigeons for persistence in pecking a key. It’s like a longed-for message that finally rewards persistence in checking our phone. They produce slow, steady, responses.

49
Q

What kind of reinforcement would a spammer be called?

A

Variable-ratio schedule because they are receiving a response after sending a varying number of emails

50
Q

What kind of reinforcement would a baker be if they checked the oven every 10 minutes to see if the cookies were ready?

A

Fixed-interval schedule because there is a rapid response close to the time of reinforcement (the cookies).

51
Q

What type of reinforcement would it be if it was a sandwich shop gave you a free sandwich after you buy 10 sandwiches?

A

That would be a fixed ratio schedule. Because it’s reinforcing behavior after a set amount of time.

52
Q

General idea of the rats: biased to learn some associations and not others?

A

Rats were exposed to X rays (UCS) which caused nausea (UCR). Three different CS (light, clicking sound, and sweetened water). They found that rats learned on one trial sometimes to avoid the sweetened water but not light or sound.

If rats were exposed to electric shock. The rats kept drinking the water but learned to avoid light and sound.

Adaptive to pair nausea to something you eat or drink meant it was more likely to form an association. Whereas with pain or shock it was more likely to be related to external stimuli.

53
Q

What is operant conditioning (Skinner)?

A

Actions have consequences. These consequences can shape future behavior.

54
Q

What are the big names in Operant Conditioning?

A

B.F. Skinner and Thorndike.

55
Q

What is the Law of Effect (thorndike)?

A

when a stimulus receives a positive response the behavior is more likely to be repeated, and when a stimulus receives a negative response the behavior is more likely to happen less frequently

56
Q

What was Thorndike’s Cat in puzzle boxes?

A

Cats were placed in a puzzle box and tried to get out. They didn’t have any noticeable patterns but when the fish (reward) was placed outside the cat would experiment many different ways to get out of the box. When they found the fish the next time they became even faster at pressing the lever to the fish.

57
Q

What did B.F. skinner believe?

A

Operant condition was behavior followed by reinforcement would increase chances of that behavior.

58
Q

What are primary and secondary reinforcers?

A

Primary reinforcers - bring about a pleasant state of affairs by fulfilling some biological need.

Secondary reinforcers are pleasing because of their association with some primary reinforcer.

59
Q

What is positive punishment?

A

When you present a stimulus it decreases behavior.

60
Q

What is negative punishment?

A

When you remove a stimulus it decreases behavior.

61
Q

What is an example of positive punishment?

A

When you get a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. Because it presents a stimulus that decreases behavior.

62
Q

What’s an example of positive reinforcement?

A

Going on a diet and then losing weight. You are removing food from your diet to increase good behavior.

63
Q

What is an example of negative punishment?

A

Your parents ground you for a week for an infraction.

64
Q

What is an example of negative reinforcement?

A

You have a headache so you take advil and it decreases your behavior or headache.

65
Q

What was banduras theory?

A

Social modeling. Attention, retention, reproduction, motivation.

66
Q

What is a fixed action pattern?

A

A species-species behavior that is built into an animal’s nervous system and triggered by a specific stimulus.

66
Q

Advantages of innate (unlearned) “knowledge”

A

Advantages - if environment is stable, evolution can build in useful knowledge. Avoid potentially costly trial and error. Don’t need as lengthy “training” period (like our long childhood). Don’t need as sophisticated a brain

67
Q

What is the confound variable?

A

a third variable that influences both the independent and dependent variables in a study, potentially distorting the observed relationship between them and making it difficult to accurately determine the true cause of an effect.

68
Q

What’s an example of a confounding variable?

A

Imagine studying the effect of a new study method (independent variable) on test scores (dependent variable). If students’ prior academic abilities are not controlled for, this could be a confounding variable, as students with higher prior abilities might perform better regardless of the study method used

69
Q

What is the correlation coefficient?

A

a statistical index of the direction and strength of the relationship between two things (from −1.00 to +1.00).

70
Q

What does a positive, negative, and neutral correlation mean?

A

A positive correlation (above 0 to +1.00) indicates a direct relationship, meaning that two things increase together or decrease together. For example, height and weight are positively correlated.

A negative correlation (below 0 to −1.00) indicates an inverse relationship: As one thing increases, the other decreases.

A coefficient near zero is a weak correlation, indicating little or no relationship.

71
Q

What is spontaneous recovery?

A

the reappearance, after a pause, of a weakened conditioned response.

72
Q

How does extinction and spontaneous recovery relate to Pavlov’s dogs?

A

Extinction is diminished responding that occurs when the CS (tone) no longer signals an impending US (food). But if Pavlov sounded the tone again after several hours’ delay, the dogs drooled in response (FIGURE 21.6). This spontaneous recovery—the reappearance of a (weakened) CR after a pause—suggested to Pavlov that extinction was suppressing the CR rather than eliminating it.

72
Q

What was the general idea of Little Albert’s experiment? (Watson)

A

Wanted to be able to cause a fear reaction (intense fear of white rat because when he touched the white rabbit they played a really loud noise→ therefore he would then fear white rats or something that looked similar)

73
Q

What is systemic desensitization?

A

a type of exposure therapy that associates a pleasant relaxed state with gradually increasing anxiety-triggering stimuli. Commonly used to treat specific phobias.

74
Q

What are fear modules?

A

Innate fears of certain things that were
dangerous in our species’ past (snakes,
heights, etc.).
* Elicit “automatic” fear reactions.
* Hard to consciously control or avoid.
* Controlled by specialized neural circuits in
the limbic system: amygdala and
hippocampus.

75
Q

What was the operant chamber (skinner box)?

A

in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking.

76
Q

What is shaping?

A
  1. Rewarding successively closer approximations of a
    desired behavior
  2. Useful for teaching new behaviors
77
Q

What is latent learning?

A

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it.

78
Q

What is a cognitive map?

A

A mental representation of the layout of one’s environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it.

79
Q

What is observational study?

A

Learning by observing others. (Also called social learning.)

80
Q

What was Bandura’s theory from the Bobo doll experiment?

A

Social Modeling
– Attention: Does behavior capture our
attention?
– Retention: Is behavior memorable?
– Reproduction: Can we copy the
behavior?(watch professional basketball
player or a singer).
– Motivation: Do you expect to be
reinforced or punished for this behavior?

81
Q
A

Psych 111 (11 decks)

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