Psychology Ch. 8 Flashcards
Learning
A relatively lasting change in behavior resulting from an experience
Instinct
Innate, automatic, and unlearned behaviors or reactions that are characteristic of a species. They are often present from birth and are crucial for survival and adaptation to the environment. Instincts are hardwired into the genetic code of an organism, guiding various aspects of behavior.
Behaviorist emphasis on experience (Nurture)
Everyone is a product of experience
Nonassociative learning (frequency)
Refers to a change in behavior or response to a single stimulus, without the association of multiple stimuli or events. It involves adapting to repeated exposure or changes in the intensity of a single stimulus.
e.g., you move to a new apartment near a busy train track. Initially, the sound of the passing trains is quite noticeable and disrupts your sleep. However, as days go by, you start to pay less and less attention to the tr
Associative learning
A connection is made between two stimuli or between a stimulus and a response. It involves forming associations or connections based on experiences and the relationships between events.
e.g., classical conditioning and operant conditioning
Observational learning
Learning by watching others. You see someone do something, and then you try to do it yourself.
e.g., social learning theory
Classical (or Pavlovian) conditioning
(Pavlov) Occurs when two different stimuli come to
be associated with one another. Does not
require any action on the part of the learner.
e.g., Imagine you have a dog, and every time you give it food, you ring a bell. After a while, the dog starts to associate the sound of the bell with getting food. Now, even if you just ring the bell without giving food, the dog still salivates, expecting a treat.
Operant (or Instrumental) conditioning
learning from the outcomes of your actions. If an action leads to a good result (like a reward), you’re more likely to do it again. If it leads to a not-so-good result (like a punishment), you’re less likely to do it. It’s a basic principle of learning based on rewards and consequences.
(e.g., learning a trick to receive a treat).
Unconditioned stimulus (US) [Dog and bell example]
The bowl of food (before conditioning)
Unconditioned response (UR) [Dog and bell example]
(response to bowl of food) The dog salivating (before conditioning)
Conditioned stimulus (CS) [Dog and bell example]
Bell + food (after conditioning)
Conditioned Response (CS) [Dog and bell example]
Dog salivating everytime it hears the bell (after conditioning)
Acquisition
The gradual formation of
an association between the conditioned
and unconditioned stimuli
Extinction
A process in which the conditioned
response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is
repeatedly presented without the unconditioned
stimulus
Spontaneous recovery
A process in which a
previously extinguished response re-emerges following
presentation of the conditioned stimulus
Habituation
An example of non associative learning
Sensitization
Imagine you’re in a quiet room, and suddenly there’s a loud, unexpected noise. Your initial startle might make you more sensitive to other noises in the environment for a little while.
Stimulus generalization:
Occurs when stimuli that are similar but not identical to the conditioned stimulus produce the conditioned response
specific bell/drooling – different bell/drooling
Stimulus discrimination
A differentiation between
two similar stimuli when only one of them is
consistently associated with the unconditioned
stimulus
specific bell/food/drooling – different bell/no food/ discriminate (no drooling)
Second-order conditioning
When something is consistently paired with
the conditioned stimulus, without the
unconditioned stimulus, and leads to a
conditioned response
e.g., bell/meat/drool – bell/drool — man/bell/drool – man/drool
latent inhibition
you eat at Taco Bell everyday (and it’s never made you sick) On Saturday night, you convince a friend who’s never eaten at Taco Bell to go with you
On Sunday, you both feel sick Who is more likely to
associate the sickness with Taco Bell, you or
your friend?
your friend
Taste aversion
Certain foods are associated with bad memories
e.g - the way you can’t eat olive bread of truffle
Biological preparedness
Certain species are genetically programed to make some associations more easily than other
e.g., flavor w/ illness vs usual
Why is a slight delay between the CS and US
optimal for learning?
prediction
* The CS must accurately predict the US
Rescorla-Wagner model
learning process is stronger and more effective when the outcome (the Unconditioned Stimulus, US) is surprising or unexpected. The more surprising the outcome, the stronger the association we make with the signal or cue (the Conditioned Stimulus, CS) that predicts it.
Biological Basis of Learning:
Hebb’s Rule
“Neurons that fire together, wire
together”
Recall: Plasticity (London cab drivers,
rats raised in different environments)
Without such neuroplasticity,
learning wouldn’t be possible that
rewiring IS learning
Operant Conditioning
(Scanner) animals who are acting in their environment to produce certain effects.
–learning process in which the consequence of an action determine the likelihood that it will be performed in the future.
Thorndike’s law of effect
Any behaviour that leads to a “satisfying state of affairs” is more likely occur again, and any behaviour
that leads to an “annoying state of affairs” is
less likely recur.
Reinforcer
A stimulus that occurs after a
response and increases the likelihood that the
response will be repeated
Shaping
operant conditioning, a type of learning process. It involves gradually teaching a new behavior by reinforcing behaviors that are closer and closer to the desired one. This method is useful when you want to teach a complex behavior that the learner (like an animal) doesn’t perform naturally.
e.g dog rolling over
Positive reinforcement
Increases the probability of a
behaviour being repeated by the administration of a
(positive, rewarding) stimulus
Negative reinforcement
where the likelihood of a behavior is increased because it is followed by the removal or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus. It’s important to note that negative reinforcement is not the same as punishment. Instead, it involves taking something negative away to encourage a behavior.
Positive punishment
decreasing the likelihood of a behavior by introducing a negative or unpleasant stimulus after the behavior occurs. The term “positive” in this context doesn’t mean “good” but rather that something is added or introduced.
Negative punishment
decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated by removing a positive or pleasurable stimulus immediately following that behavior. The term “negative” in this context means that something is taken away or removed.
Premack principal
using something you like doing to motivate yourself to do something you’re less excited about. It’s like saying, “If I eat my vegetables (less liked activity), then I can have dessert (more liked activity).”
* Token economies
* Applied behavior analysis (ABA)
Types of partial reinforcement:
Fixed: Reinforcement is consistent and
predictable
Variable: Reinforcement is variable and
unpredictable (occurs after a varying number of
behaviours, or a varying amount of time)
Ratio: Based on number of times the behaviour
occurs
Interval: Based on the passage of time
Fixed interval
E.g., Xin checks
whether her son’s
room is clean (and if
so, rewards him) every
Friday evening
Variable-interval
E.g., Xin checks her
son’s room to see if it is
clean (and if so,
rewards him), on
average, every 5 days
Fixed-ratio
E.g., Mario gets a tip
after every 6 food
deliveries he makes
Variable-ratio
E.g., Mario gets a tip
after every 6 food
deliveries he makes, on
average
Biological Constraints
Animals have a difficult time
learning behaviours that are
incompatible with innate,
adaptive behaviours
it’s generally easier to teach a pigeon to peck at something than to teach it to perform a behavior that is not natural to it, like walking backwards. This is because pecking is a behavior that pigeons naturally exhibit in their search for food, so it aligns with their innate behaviors
Intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) in rodents
developed after an accidental discovery by
Olds & Milner (1954) Electrical stimulation > food, water, sex willing to walk across
painful electrified grid will press lever until
collapse from exhaustion
Latent learning
Edward Tolman argued that reinforcement had more impact on performance than acquisition/learning
rats still learned even without reinforcement (they just didn’t reveal their learning until it was reinforced
Albert Bandura &
Social Learning Theory
we learn not just by rewards and punishments but also by watching others, remembering what they did, trying it ourselves, and wanting to do it again if it’s enjoyable. It’s like learning a new game by watching and playing with friends.
e.g Bobo doll experiment
