Psychology: Stress and Conditioning Flashcards
stress
the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening (distress) or challenging (estress)
health psychology
a subfield of psychology that focuses on how stress affect well-being and health
responding to stress
- increased heart rate
- dilated pupils
- dulled sensation of pain
- increased blood flow to major organs
- flight or fight
- stress hormone cortisol is secreted and attacks the immune system
- increased body temperature
effects of stress on the immune system
- biological cycles such as sleep, dietary and menstrual cycles may be altered
- cortisol is the stress hormone that attacks the immune system
- more prone to illness or not healing properly
Hangs Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome
- the concept of the body’s adaptive response to stress in three phases- alarm, resistance, and exhaustion
- alarm: stressor occurs, is identified and resources (hormones, energy) are mobilized to respond
- resistance: when one copes with stressor and physiological systems of stress is felt, resistance can only take place for so long
- exhaustion: immune system and energy system crashes
Types of Stressors
Daily Stressors: lost car keys, forgotten homework, project
Significant Life Changes: death of a loved one, lost job
Catastrophe: hurricanes, terror attacks, wars
Results of Daily Stress Burnout
Depression: emotional exhaustion
Decreased performance: physical exhaustion
Cynicism: mental exhaustion
Effects of Perceived Control
- when people are optimistic and believe that they have control over situation tend have better state of health following it
- when people are pessimistic and believe that they have no sense of control over the situation will haves worse state of health such as harsher ulcers and lower immunity
Type A
type a personalities anger-prone, aggressive, and competitive and more likely to experience heart disease
Type B
a term for easygoing, relaxed people who are less prone to illness
Stress in Relation to Cancer and Heart Disease
-stress does not cause cancer or heart disease but stress reactions affect the body’s ability to fight these illnesses
learning
a relatively permanent change in behavior cause by experience
classical conditioning
a type of learning in which a stimulus gains the power to cause a response
stimulus
anything in the environment that one can respond to
response
any behavior or action
unconditioned stimulus
a stimulus that triggers a responses reflexively and automatically (presence of food)
unconditioned response
an automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus (salivation in response to presence of food)
conditioned stimulus
previously neutral stimulus that, through learning, gain the power to cause a response (sound of the bell)
neutral stimulus
a stimulus that does not produces any response until it is associated with a previously unconditioned stimulus
conditioned response
the response to the conditioned stimulus (salivation)
Ivan Pavlov’s Dog Experiment
- Pavlov was initially testing the effects of salivation on digestion
- As the dog became familiar with the procedure he began salivating as the site of the researcher’s assistant or as they were being harnessed
- Pavlov wanted to learn what other ways he could control the salivation of the dogs, so he preceded feeding time with the tuning of fork to begin acquisition
Acquisition
- the process of developing a learned response
- acquisition occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus; repeated pairings are called trials
Extinction
In classical conditioning, the diminishing of a learned response after repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus alone.
Generalization
producing the same response to two similar stimuli
discrimination
the ability to distinguish between two signals or stimuli and produce different responses
Classical Conditioning and Behavior
John B. Watson believed that you could control a learner’s behavioral response by manipulating a stimulus in the environment. Used this contradict Freud’s psychodynamic theory and illustrated this point with his experiment with little Albert
Classical Conditioning and Cognition
Robert Rescorla realized that certain aspects of classical conditioning situations could not be explained without referring to mental processes since it refers to whether calculating an event is predictable or not.
operant conditioning
a type of learning in which the frequency of a behavior depends on the consequence that follows that behavior
Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect
Edward Thorndike’s Law of Effect states that behaviors with favorable consequences (reinforced behaviors) will occur more often and behaviors followed by less favorable consequences (punished behaviors) will occur less often
Reinforcement
Reinforcement is any consequence that increases the future likelihood a behavior
Punishment
Punishment is any consequence that decreases the future likelihood of a behavior
positive reinforcement
Postive reinforcement is anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior by following it with a desirable event or state
negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior by following it with the removal of an undesirable event or state
Immediate versus Delayed Reinforcement
Immediate reinforcement is more effective than delayed reinforcements because of one’s overall desire for instant gratification
Primary versus Secondary Reinforcement
Primary reinforcement is something that is naturally reinforcing such as food, warmth and water.
Secondary reinforcement is something that you have learned to value, like money.
shaping
Reinforcement of behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired one; the operant technique used to establish new behaviors.
Discrimination vs. Extinction
Discrimination is the ability to distinguish between similar signals or stimuli and produce different responses.
Extinction, in operant conditioning, the loss of a behavior when no consequence follows it.
Continuous Reinforcement
In operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement in which a reward follows every correct response.
Partial Reinforcement
In operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement in which a reward follows only some correct responses. There are four types of of operant conditioning):
- Fixed Interval Schedule
- Variable Interval Schedule
- Fixed Ratio Schedule
- Variable Ratio Schedule
fixed-interval schedule
In operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards only the first correct response after some defined period
variable-interval schedule
In operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards that first correct response after an unpredictable amount of time.
Fixed-Ratio Schedule
In operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards a response only after some defined number of correct response
Variable-Ratio Schedule
In operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards an unpredictable number of correct responses.
Latent Learning
Learning that occurs but is not apparent until the learner has an incentive to demonstrate it.
Cognitive Map
The mental representation of a place
Over-justification Effect
The effect of promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do; the reward may lessen and replace the person’s original, natural motivation so that the behavior stops if the reward is eliminated.
