Relationships And Behavior

Question 1

Classical conditioning

Answer 1

A test subject develops a response to a previously neutral stimulus by associating the stimulus with another stimulus that already elicited that response. Ex: Pavlov’s dogs

Question 2

Acquisition

Answer 2

The stage of learning over which a conditioned response to a new stimulus is established.

Question 3

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 3

The reappearance of the conditioned response after a period of lessened response.

Question 4

Extinction

Answer 4

Disappearance of the conditioned response.

Question 5

Stimulus generalization

Answer 5

The tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus.

Question 6

Stimulus discrimination

Answer 6

The learned lack of response to a stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus.

Question 7

Neutral stimulus

Answer 7

A stimulus eliciting no response.

Question 8

Operant conditioning

Answer 8

Type of associative learning in which an individual becomes more or less likely to carry out a certain behavior based on its consequences. Ex: BF Skinner and rats; stepping on lever=food; electrifying floor.

Question 9

Reinforcement

Answer 9

A consequence that increases the likelihood of a behavior (such as the delivery of food). Positive = introduction of a reinforcing stimulus in response to a desired behavior. Negative = removal of an unpleasant stimulus in response to a desired behavior.

Question 10

Punishment

Answer 10

A stimulus that decreases the likelihood of a behavior (such as the delivery of a shock).

Question 11

Primary reinforcer/punisher

Answer 11

Those that relate to a physiological need and the drive for survival.

Question 12

Secondary reinforcers/punishers

Answer 12

Require learning and social context to affect behavioral decisions. Ex: money/fines, praise/scolding, prestige/ostracism, good/bad grades.

Question 13

Escape conditioning

Answer 13

Learned behavior that allows the subject to escape the unpleasant stimulus.

Question 14

Avoidance conditioning

Answer 14

Learned behavior that allows the subject to avoid the unpleasant stimulus altogether by employing a specific response.

Question 15

Reinforcement schedule

Answer 15

Describes how often and under what conditions a behavior is reinforced.

Question 16

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 16

Rewards provided after every desired response. Usually the most rapid way to first establish a response.

Question 17

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement

Answer 17

Fixed-ratio: rewards provided after a specified number of responses.
Variable-ratio: rewards provided after an unpredictable number of responses.
Fixed-interval: rewards to a response are provided after a specified time interval has passed.
Variable-interval: rewards to a response are provided after an unpredictable time interval has passed.
Once learned, behaviors established with a partial reinforcement schedule are much more resistant to extinction.

Question 18

Shaping

Answer 18

Type of operant conditioning that shapes behavior toward a certain response by reinforcing successive approximations toward the desired behavior.

Question 19

Observational learning

Answer 19

Based on modeling, which consists of witnessing another person’s actions, retaining information on that person’s behavior, and later re-enacting what was learned through that observation in one’s own behavior.

Question 20

Mirror neurons

Answer 20

Specialized nerve cells that fire both when a person is completing an action and when the person observes someone else completing the same action.

Question 21

Vicarious emotions

Answer 21

Feeling the emotions of others as though they are one’s own.

Question 22

Associative learning or conditioning

Answer 22

Learning that involves associations between certain stimuli and specific responses.

Question 23

Behavior

Answer 23

the sum coordinated responses of organisms to the internal and external stimuli that they experience.
Partially influenced by the biology of the organism.

Question 24

Nonverbal communication

Answer 24

consists of all communication between people that does not involve words. It includes body language, touch, appearance, and facial expressions.

Question 25

Social behavior

Answer 25

broadly defined as all interactions taking place between members of the same species.
Attraction - factors that draw members of a species together.
Aggression - conflict and competition between individuals.
Attachment - forming relationships between individuals.
social support - finding help through social connections.

Question 26

Altruism

Answer 26

consists of behaviors that are disadvantageous to the individual acting, but confer benefits to other members of its social group.

Question 27

Inclusive fitness

Answer 27

describes overall fitness (an individual’s level of success at passing on its genes) by considering not only the individual’s own progeny, but also the offspring of its close relatives.

Question 28

Game theory

Answer 28

is the use of mathematical models to represent complex decision making in which the actions of other group members must be taken into account.

Question 29

Impression Management

Answer 29

the process of consciously making behavioral choices in order to create a specific impression in the minds of others.

Question 30

Dramaturgical approach

Answer 30

theorizes that impression management take place in all aspects of human interaction. A person’s behavior is an ongoing performance of self that changes according to the situation.

Question 31

Front stage self

Answer 31

encompasses the behavior that a player (person) performs in front of an audience (usually society, or some subset of society).

Question 32

Back stage self

Answer 32

employed when players are together, but no audience is present.

Question 33

Groupthink

Answer 33

the phenomenon where a group’s members tend to think alike and agree for the sake of group harmony.

Question 34

Group polarization

Answer 34

occurs when, through the interactions and discussions of the group, the attitude of the group as a whole toward a particular issue becomes stronger than the attitudes of its individual members.

Question 35

Peer pressure

Answer 35

the social influence exerted by one’s peers to act in a way that is acceptable or similar to their own behaviors.

Question 36

Social facilitation

Answer 36

the tendency to perform better when a person knows he is being watched.

Question 37

Diffusion of responsibility

Answer 37

where people in a large, anonymous crowd are less likely to feel accountable for the outcome of a situation or to feel responsibility to take action.

Question 38

Bystander effect

Answer 38

where onlookers in a crowd fail to offer assistance to a person who is in trouble because they assume that someone else will help.

Question 39

Social loafing

Answer 39

occurs when members of a group decrease the pace or intensity of their own work with the intention of letting other group members work harder.

Question 40

Deindividuation

Answer 40

occurs when people lose awareness of their individuality and instead immerse themselves in the mood or activities of a crowd.