Unit 6: Learning

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience

Question 2

Habituation

Answer 2

an organism’s decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it

Question 3

Associated learning

Answer 3

learning that certain events occur together

Question 4

Classical conditioning

Answer 4

type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

Question 5

Behaviourism

Answer 5

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes

Question 6

Unconditioned response

Answer 6

in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus such as salivation when food is in the mouth

Question 7

Unconditioned stimulus

Answer 7

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers a response

Question 8

Conditioned response

Answer 8

in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus

Question 9

Conditioned stimulus

Answer 9

in classical conditioning an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

Question 10

Acquisition

Answer 10

in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditional response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

Question 11

Higher order conditioning

Answer 11

a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus

Question 12

Extinction

Answer 12

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditional stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus; occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

Question 13

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Generalization

Answer 14

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

Question 15

Discrimination

Answer 15

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

Question 16

Learned helplessness

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Biopsychosocial influences on learning

Answer 17

Today’s learning therapists recognize that our learning results not only from cognitive and biological influences

Question 18

Romantic red

Answer 18

In a series of experiments that controlled for other factors (such as the brightness of the image), men found women more attractive when framed in red

Question 19

Pavlov’s work

Answer 19

It shows the way all organisms can adapt to their environment. It shows learning can be studied objectively.

Question 20

Drug users and cravings

Answer 20

former drug users often feel a craving when they are again in the drug-using context (people and places associated with their drug use.)

Question 21

Taste

Answer 21

when a particular taste accompanies a drug that influences immune responses, the taste itself may come to produce an immune response

Question 22

Respondent behavior

Answer 22

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

Question 23

Operant conditioning

Answer 23

a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Question 24

Operant behavior

Answer 24

behavior that operates on the environment producing consequences

Question 25

Law effect

Answer 25

Edward Thorndike’s principle that behavior followed by favourable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavourable consequences become less likely

Question 26

Operant chamber

Answer 26

in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or keg that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer

Question 27

Shaping

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Reinforcer

Answer 28

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Question 29

Positive reinforcement

Answer 29

increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food, after a response

Question 30

Negative reinforcement

Answer 30

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing a negative stimuli, such as shock.

Question 31

Primary reinforcer

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Conditional reinforcer

Answer 32

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer

Question 33

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 33

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

Question 34

Partial reinforcement

Answer 34

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater chance of long term success

Question 35

Fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 35

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

Question 36

Variable-ratio schedule

Answer 36

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Question 37

Fixed-interval schedule

Answer 37

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

Question 38

Variable-interval schedule

Answer 38

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Question 39

Punishment

Answer 39

an event that decreases the behavior that it follows

Question 40

Cognitive map

Answer 40

a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment. Rats + maze

Question 41

Latent learning

Answer 41

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

Question 42

Insight

Answer 42

a sudden and often novel realization of the solution to a problem

Question 43

Intrinsic motivation

Answer 43

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

Question 44

Extrinsic motivation

Answer 44

a desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

Question 45

B.F Skinner

Answer 45

repeatedly insisted that external influences (not internal thoughts and feelings) shape behavior

Question 46

Observational learning

Answer 46

learning by observing others. It is also called social learning.

Question 47

Modeling

Answer 47

the process of observing and initiating a specific behavior

Question 48

Mirror neurons

Answer 48

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.

Question 49

Bandura’s experiments

Answer 49

Beating up Bobo. The experiment revealed that children imitate the aggressive behavior of adults. The findings support Bandura’s social learning theory, which emphasises the influence of observational learning on behavior.

Question 50

Prosocial behavior

Answer 50

positive constructive helpful behavior.
*The opposite of antisocial behavior