unit 8 - learning

Question 1

learning

Answer 1

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

Question 2

classical conditioning

Answer 2

learning by connecting two things that happen in sequence

Question 3

operant conditioning

Answer 3

learning through rewards and punishments

Question 4

observational learning (modeling)

Answer 4

learning by watching others

Question 5

ivan pavlov

Answer 5

• first highlighted classical conditioning
• his work provided basis for later behaviorists like john watson and b.f. skinner

Question 6

pavlov’s experiments with dogs

Answer 6

• pavlov saw the dogs naturally salivated to meat
• pavlov then rang a bell every time he gave the dogs meat
• eventually the dogs would salivate only to the bell, providing classical conditioning

Question 7

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Answer 7

natural stimulus

in pavlov’s experiment: food

Question 8

unconditioned response (UCR)

Answer 8

naturally response

in pavlov experiment: salivation to food

Question 9

conditioned stimulus (CS)

Answer 9

unnatural/learned stimulus

in pavlov experiment: bell

Question 10

conditioned response (CR)

Answer 10

unnatural/learned response

in pavlov experiment: salivation to the bell

Question 11

neutral stimulus

Answer 11

no connection

Question 12

acquisition

Answer 12

the first moment a connection occurs

the first time a dog salivates to the bell

Question 13

extinction

Answer 13

the moment a connection is lost

you ring a bell long enough without food, the dog will stop salivating to the bell

Question 14

spontaneous recovery

Answer 14

after a rest period an extinguished learned behavior can return

Question 15

stimulus generalization

Answer 15

• anything close to the CS get the desired response
• (the dog salivates to the bell but also salivates to a doorbell or anything that sounds close)

Question 16

stimulus discrimination

Answer 16

• only the CS gives the desired response

the dog salivates to a bell, but NOT a doorbell

Question 17

cognitive processes

Answer 17

• pavlov did not pay attention to how thought or thinking affected learning
• humans can often “out-think” conditioning

Question 18

biological predispositions

Answer 18

pavlov thought all animals (including humans) could be conditioned the same way, which is not true

Question 19

john garcia’s rat experiments

Answer 19

• garcia was testing taste aversion in rats
• his experiments showed that rats could learn to aviod tastes that led to sickness better than connecting sickness to any other senses
• rats were stronger at taste aversion than other animals, thus proving biological predispositions

Question 20

john watson’s little baby albert experiment

Answer 20

• used classical conditioning
• he paired something a child wasn’t afraid of: white rats, with something the child was afraid of: loud noises
• eventually by pairing loud noises with rats enough times watson got albert to cry just at the sight of the white rat

Question 21

law of effect

Answer 21

if you are rewarded for doing something you are likely to repeat it

Question 22

b.f. skinner’s rat and pigeon experiments

Answer 22

skinner used the ideas of a psychologist named thorndike who came up with the idea of the law of effect

Question 23

operant chamber (skinner box)

Answer 23

• skinner developed the operant chamber or skinner box
• to study operant conditioning

Question 24

shaping

Answer 24

the operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward the desired target behavior through successive approximations

Question 25

successive approximations

Answer 25

each step toward the desired target behavior (shaping)

Question 26

positive reinforcement

Answer 26

add something good

Question 27

negative reinforcement

Answer 27

take away something bad

Question 28

positive punishment

Answer 28

add something bad

Question 29

negative punishment

Answer 29

take away something good

Question 30

primary reinforcement

Answer 30

a reward that has direct value

(ex: food/water)

Question 31

secondary (conditioned) reinforcement

Answer 31

a reward that only has value because it can be exchanged for something desirable

(ex: money)

Question 32

immediate reinforcement

Answer 32

a reward that is given right away after an action

Question 33

delayed reinforcement

Answer 33

a reward that is given at a later time

Question 34

continuous reinforcement

Answer 34

rewards given each time you do something

(easy acquisition, easy extinction)

Question 35

partial reinforcement

Answer 35

rewards given only sometimes after you do something

(slow acquisition, slow extinction)

Question 36

fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 36

reward based on the number of times you do something, and that number remains the same

(ex: 10 combos for a movie poster)

Question 37

variable-ratio schedule

Answer 37

reward based on the number of times you do something, and that number changes

(ex: gambling)

Question 38

fixed-interval schedule

Answer 38

reward based on the time you wait, and the time stays the same

(ex: mr. babiarz’s paycheck)

Question 39

variable-interval schedule

Answer 39

reward based on the time you wait, and that time changes

(ex: waiting for a sunny day)

Question 40

cognitive map

Answer 40

rats created a 3D representation of a maze in their mind

Question 41

latent learning

Answer 41

you prove you know something only after you’re rewarded for it

Question 42

intrinsic motivation

Answer 42

wanting to do something for the joy of doing it

Question 43

extrinsic motivation

Answer 43

wanting to do something for any other reason (praise, money, etc.)

Question 44

the overjustification effect

Answer 44

if you are rewarded for doing something you already like doing, you will like doing it less

Question 45

mirror neurons

Answer 45

if you are watching someone do an action, neurons in your brain will copy the neurons in theirs

Question 46

bandura’s bobo doll experiment

Answer 46

• known as the “bobo doll experiment”
• testing obervational learning
• half of the kids watched a violent video, half did not
• all kids were then placed in a room filled with many different toys

results:
- kids who watched the violent video were much more likely to show violence with the toys, proving obervational learning, or modeling