Unit 4: Learning

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

The process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

Question 2

Habituation

Answer 2

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated exposure to a stimulus

** wearing a perfume every day, you eventually won’t notice it

Question 3

Associative learning

Answer 3

learning that certain events occur together. the events may be two stimuli (classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (operant conditioning)

**sitting earns a dog a treat

Question 4

Classical conditioning

Answer 4

learning to associate two stimuli (any event or situation that evokes a response) and thus anticipate events

Question 5

Operant conditioning

Answer 5

learning to associate a response (an automatic response to a stimulus) with its consequences, thus we learn/repeat good actions followed by good results

• operant behavior: behavior that operates on the environment, producing concequences

Question 6

Behaviorism

Answer 6

• the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes
• Pavlov explored classical conditioning, driving Watson to create behaviorism

Question 7

Pavlov Dog

Answer 7

A dog was set up in a room, salivating upon the arrival of food. Pairing various neutral stimuli that the dog did not associate with food with the arrival of food; the dog learned to link them and salivated before the arrival of food in the presence of a stimulus.

NOTE: taught us how to objectively study processes like learning, and that classical conditioning is how organisms learn to adapt to their environment

Question 8

Unconditioned stimulus

Answer 8

a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers an unconditioned response

e.g. food in Pavlov experiment

Question 9

Unconditioned response

Answer 9

an unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus

e.g. salivation in Pavlov experiment

Question 10

Conditioned stimulus

Answer 10

an originally neutral stimulus that, after associating with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

e.g. the tone in Pavlov experiment

Question 11

Conditioned response

Answer 11

a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

e.g. salivation in Pavlov experiment

Question 12

Acquisition

Answer 12

The initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus beings triggering the conditioned response - in operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response

Question 13

Higher-order conditioning

Answer 13

a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experiment is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second, weaker, conditioned stimulus

** a light that precedes the tone, where the tone predicts food, may instigate a response from an animal (Pavlov)

Question 14

Extinction

Answer 14

-the diminishing of a classically conditioned response when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus

• occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

Question 15

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 15

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response

Question 16

Generalization

Answer 16

classical: the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for similar stimuli to the one conditioned to elicit similar responses

operant: when responses learned in one situation occur in another, similar situation

Question 17

Discrimination

Answer 17

classical: the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

operant: distinguishing reinforced responses from similar, unreinforced responses

Question 18

Little Albert

Answer 18

Watson and Rayner: “Little Albert” feared loud noises, not white rats. By precursing the loud noise with the arrival of a white rat, he began to fear the rats alone.

• counterconditioning like this is now used to treat emotional disorders and promote personal growth

Question 19

Law of effect

Answer 19

• Thorndike
• principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Question 20

Law of effect

Answer 20

• Thorndike
• the principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Question 21

Skinner Box/operant chamber

Answer 21

a chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate in order to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the rate of bar pressing or key pecking

Question 22

Shaping

Answer 22

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Question 23

Discriminative stimulus

Answer 23

a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement)

Question 24

Positive reinforcement

Answer 24

increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers, any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response

Question 25

Negative reinforcement

Answer 25

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing aversive stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response

Question 26

Primary reinforcers

Answer 26

An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

Question 27

Conditioned reinforcers

Answer 27

(sometimes called secondary reinforcers)
A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with. primary reinforcer

Question 28

Immediate vs. delayed reinforcement

Answer 28

While humans respond to delayed reinforcement, our desire for instant gratification often prioritises immediate reinforcement

Question 29

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 29

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

Question 30

Partial reinforcement

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Schedules of partial reinforcement

Answer 31

FIXED-RATIO
reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses
** a free drink after every 10 cups

VARIABLE-RATIO
reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses
** slot machines/gambling

FIXED-INTERVAL
reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed
** mail delivery

VARIABLE-INTERVAL
reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals
** waiting for an important text message

Question 32

Positive punishment

Answer 32

administering an aversive stimulus

Question 33

Negative punishment

Answer 33

withdrawing a rewarding stimulus

Question 34

Biofeedback

Answer 34

a system for electronically recording, amplifying and feeding back information regarding a subtle psychological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension

Question 35

Limits on conditioning

Answer 35

classical conditioning: an animal’s capacity for conditioning is limited by biological constraints

operant conditioning: we most easily learn and retain behaviors that reflect our biological predispositions

Question 36

Instinctive drift

Answer 36

the tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns

Question 37

Latent learning

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Cognitive map

Answer 38

a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment after passing through it previously

Question 39

Insight learning

Answer 39

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Question 40

Intrinsic motivation

Answer 40

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for it’s own sake

Question 41

Extrinsic motivation

Answer 41

a desire to perform a behavior to reap rewards/avoid punishments

Question 42

Two types of coping with personal problems

Answer 42

• problem-focused coping: attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor
• emotion-focused coping: attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

Question 43

Two types of locus of control

Answer 43

• external locus of control: the perception that chance or outside forces beyond our control determine our fate
• internal locus of control: the perception that we control our own fate

Question 44

Learned helplessness

Answer 44

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or person learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Question 45

observational learning

Answer 45

learning by observing the behaviors of others

Question 46

modeling

Answer 46

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Question 47

mirror neurons

Answer 47

Frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when we perform certain actions or observe another doing so. The brain’s mirroring of another’s actions may enable imitation and empathy.

Question 48

Albert Bandura “Bobo Doll Experiment”

Answer 48

• Bandura was a leading observational learning researcher
• children imitated the very acts they observed and used the very words they had heard after actions were modeled to them by adults by the treatment of a doll

Question 49

Prosocial models

Answer 49

positive, constructive, helpful behavior demonstrated by a role model; after helpful/good behavior is exemplified by a prosocial model, it often prompts similar behavior from others