Unit 4: Reading Flashcards
Taste Aversion
The avoidance of a specific food or taste if it makes the organism sick
Cognitive Map
A mental representation of the layout of one’s enviornment
Latent Learning
Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it
Intrinsic Motivation
A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake
Extrinsic Motivation
A desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment
Problem-Focused Coping
Addressing the issue head on
Emotion-Focused Coping
Trying to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor
Learned Helplessness
The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated adverse events
External Locus of Control
The perception that chance or outside forces beyond personal control determine our fate
Internal Locus of Control
The perception that you control your own fate
Observational Learning
Learning by observing others
Mirror Neurons
Frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when performing certain actions or when observing another do so
Prosocial Behavior
Positive, constructive, and helpful behavior
Learning
The process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors
How do we learn
By repeating acts that bring rewards and avoiding acts that bring unwanted results
Classical vs. Operant Conditioning
Classical - learning to expect something because of something else happening that indicates it
Operant - Learning to repeat or not repeat behaviors based on their consequences
Habituation
An organism’s decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it
Associative Learning
Learning that certain evens occur together. The events may be two stimuli or a response and its consequences
Stimulus
Any event or situation that evokes a response
Cognitive Learning
The acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language
How did Pavlov study classical conditioning
Rung a bell and then fed dogs to create a conditioned response so that the dogs would salivate every time the bell was rung, even if there was no food
Neutral Stimulus
Stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning
Unconditioned response
An unlearned, naturally occurring response
Unconditioned stimulus
A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response
Conditioned response
A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus
Conditioned stimulus
An originally irrelevant stimulus that comes to trigger a conditioned response
Higher-Order conditioning
A procedure in which the conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus, often creating a second weaker conditioned stimulus
Shaping
An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior
Law of Effect
Responses that produce desirable results will be learned, or “stamped” into the organism
Operant Chamber
A chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer
Discriminative Stimulus
A stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement
Primary vs. Conditioned reinforcers
Primary - an innately reinforcing stimulus (one that satisfies a biological need)
Conditioned - A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer
Positive reinforcement
Adding a desirable stimulus
Negative reinforcement
Removing an aversive stimulus
Reinforcement Schedule
Pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced. Behaviors are harder to learn, but extinction is rarer
Fixed Ratio
reinforcement after every <em>nth</em> behavior
Variable Ratio
reinforcement after a random number of behaviors
Fixed Interval
Reinforcement for behavior after a fixed time
Variable Interval
Reinforcement for behavior after a random amount of time
Punishment vs. Reinforcement
Punishment decreases behavior, reinforcement increases behavior
