Unit 3 Part 2- Learning Flashcards
Positive Reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.
Negative Reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (negative reinforcement is not a punishment)
Latent Learning
Learning that becomes apparent only when there is some incentive to demonstrate it. Children, too, may learn from watching a parent but demonstrate the learning only much later, as needed. The point to remember: There is more to learning than associating a response with a consequence; there is also cognition.
Insight Learning
Some learning occurs after little or no systematic interaction with our environment. For example, we may puzzle over a problem, and suddenly, the pieces fall together as we perceive the solution in a sudden flash of insight. “Ah ha moment”
Observational Learning
learn without direct experience, through observational learning, also called social learning, because we learn by observing and imitating others. A child who sees his sister burn her fingers on a hot stove learns not to touch it. And a monkey watching another selecting certain pictures to gain treats learns to imitate that behavior. “Monkey see Monkey do”
Learning
A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience
Classical Conditioning
A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.
Associative Learning
Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)
Unconditioned Response (UR)
In classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation when food is in the mouth.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally-naturally and automatically-triggers a response
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response
Extinction
Diminishing of conditioned response. Occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus
Spontaneous recovery
Reappearance after a pause of extinguished conditioned response.
Generalization
The tendency once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
Discrimination
In classical conditioning, learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus
Mirror neurons
Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain’s mirroring of another’s action may enable imitation and empathy
Conditioned Taste Aversions
When you get sick after eating food and blame it on the food and don’t want to eat that food anymore
Respondent behavior
Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.
Operant behavior
Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences.
Secondary or Conditioned Reinforcers
These get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers. (Ex. Skinner’s rat wants food. It work to turn on the light because it is associated with food.)
Shaping
a procedure in which reinforcers, such as food, gradually guide an animal’s actions toward a desired behavior.
Higher-order conditioning
Procedure where conditioned stimulus is paired with neutral stimulus, creating a second (weaker) conditioned stimulus
Operant conditioning
Type of learning that strengthens with reinforcement or weakens with punishment
Law of effect
Thorndike’s principle that rewarded behavior is likely to continue with favorable consequences, punished behavior is less likely to continue
Skinner box (operant chamber)
A chamber containing a bar an animal can manipulate in order to get food or water
Fixed Interval Schedule
a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a set time has passed
Variable Ratio Schedule
a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
Variable Interval Schedule
a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
Superstitious behavior
Type of the reaction to certain situations/impulses that is brought on by a coincidence and gets so embedded in individual’s course of action that he repeats it continuously.
Behaviorists
psychologists that believe in studying behavior while disregarding mental processes
Chaining
reinforcing individual responses occurring in a sequence to form a complex behavior.
Continuous Reinforcement
Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.
Conditioned Response
in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral(but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).
Neutral Stimulus
a stimulus that does not produce an automatic response. In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus turns into a conditioned stimulus. ex)a tone before it turns into CS (produces no salivation on response) in Pavlov’s experiment.
Reinforcers
in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
Acquisition
in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.
Negative punishment
Removing something you like in order to decrease the likelihood of a behavior
Positive punishment
Adding something you don’t like to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. A slap to the face, spanking, squirt of water.
Learned helplessness
The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.
Primary reinforcer
An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need.
Partial/Intermittent Reinforcement
responses are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not. Although initial learning is slower, _______ produces greater resistance to extinction than is found with continuous reinforcement
Fixed Ratio Schedule
reinforces behavior after a set number of responses. (Ex. Buy five, get one free.)
Counterconditioning
a behavioral therapy technique where a previously negative conditioned response to a stimulus is replaced with a positive response by pairing that stimulus with a pleasant or relaxing stimulus. Exposure therapy is an example.
Aversive Conditioning
a type of behavioral therapy that aims to decrease an unwanted behavior by pairing it with a negative stimulus, essentially creating a negative association with that behavior, based on the principles of classical conditioning; it’s a method to “condition” someone to avoid a particular behavior by associating it with an unpleasant experience. Adding a nauseating substance to fingernails to condition yourself to stop biting your nails.
One-trail conditioning
a learning phenomenon where a single pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus is enough to create a conditioned response, meaning learning occurs after just one exposure, without the need for repeated trials; essentially, it’s a rapid and strong association formed with just one experience. Taste aversions often happen with one time getting violently ill after eating something.
Biological Preparedness
the idea that organisms are naturally inclined to quickly learn associations between certain stimuli and responses due to their evolutionary history, meaning they are genetically predisposed to form certain connections that enhance survival chances, like readily fearing snakes or developing a taste aversion to spoiled food.
habituation
a form of non-associative learning where an organism’s response to a repeated stimulus gradually decreases over time, meaning they become less reactive to the stimulus after repeated exposure to it; essentially, “getting used to” a stimulus. If you initially jump at a loud noise, but after hearing it repeatedly, your jump response becomes smaller, this is habituation.
Successive approximation
a method of shaping behavior by reinforcing responses that gradually get closer to a desired target behavior, essentially rewarding steps that progressively approximate the final goal, often used in operant conditioning techniques like shaping; meaning you reward behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior until the full behavior is achieved.
Instinctive Drift
the tendency for an animal that has been trained to perform a specific behavior to revert back to its natural, instinctual behaviors over time, essentially where learned behaviors are overridden by innate biological predispositions, often interfering with the previously conditioned response. A famous example is a raccoon trained to put coins into a container for food, but eventually starting to rub the coins together instead, as this is a more natural behavior for a raccoon to perform with small objects.
Social Learning Theory
the idea that people learn new behaviors primarily by observing and imitating others, with a key emphasis on the role of observation, modeling, and vicarious reinforcement, most notably developed by psychologist Albert Bandura; essentially, learning occurs through a social context by watching and copying behaviors of others around them.
Vicarious Conditioning
the process of learning a behavior or response by observing the reactions of others to a stimulus, essentially learning through watching how others respond to a situation rather than experiencing it directly; it’s also known as “observational learning” A child might learn to be afraid of dogs by watching another child react fearfully to a dog.
Modeling
the process of learning a behavior by observing and imitating the actions of another person
Cognitive maps
a mental representation of a physical environment, essentially a mental picture or image of the layout of one’s surroundings, which allows individuals to navigate and understand spatial relationships within that environment
