psychology- 3.8-3.9 test prep

behavioral perspective

behavior that is learned by conditioning and shaped by environmental factors, focusing on observable actions followed by a stimulus.

classical conditioning

Pavlov’s theory based on associating stimulus with a response

unconditioned stimulus

a natural stimulus that automatically produces a response (the food)

unconditioned response

reaction that happens by UCS (drool)

Conditioned Stimulus

stimulus that teaches a response (bell)

conditioned response

learned response to stimulus (drool caused by the bell but associated with the food)

acquistion

association between stimuli. Order of presentation is important, so the CS is actually effective

extinction

Over time, when a conditioned response doesn’t cause a reaction

spontaneous recovery

A formerly extinct conditioned stimulus is activated, causing a conditioned response

generalization

responding to similar stimuli

discrimination

being able to discern between similar stimuli

john Watson

believed humans could be classically conditioned. father of behavioralism- little Albert

Higher order Conditioning

A conditioned stimulus is used to teach a new association.

counterconditioning 

a method of overriding a fear or emotion with a positive response. 

taste aversion

avoiding a food because of an association with a bad experience.

biological preparedness

Associating something like food with nausea causes us to avoid it

habituation

response to a repeated stimulus gets weaker over time

operant conditioning

associating a behavior with a consequence (positive or negative)

positive reinforcement

receiving something/getting something that increases a behavior

negative reinforcement

Taking something away to increase a behavior

positive punishment

giving something to decrease a behavior

negative punishment

take something to decrease a behavior

primary reinforcers

something that is naturally rewarding (sleep, food, rest)

secondary reinforcers

something that is used to gain a natural reinforcer/ a stand in for something rewarding (money, hope)

shaping behavior

a step-by-step approach to teaching a single behavior. dog opens door, dog then gets drink, dog closes door, dog brings drink to me

instinctive drift

Animals may “drift” back to natural behaviors even after being trained

superstitious

random behavior accidentally associated with a reward

learned helplessness

giving up after repeated failure or punishment

fixed ratio

a specific number of inputs it takes to gain a stimulus

variable ratio

a random number of inputs it takes to get a reward

fixed interval

a specific amount of TIME between an action and its reward

variable interval

a RANDOM amount of time between an action and its rewar