Psychology 3/4 Chapter 5: Approaches to understand learning

Learning

process of acquiring knowledge or skills resulting from experience

Behaviourist approach

an approach to learning that states behaviours are learned through interactions with the environment

Conditioning

learning process by which the behaviour of an organism becomes dependent on an event occurring in its environment

stimulus

environmental response that triggers a response in an organism

response

a behavioural reaction to a stimulus

classical conditioning

learning through repeated associations between two stimuli to produce a conditioned response

before conditioning

the first stage of classical conditioning; at this stage no learning has occurred

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

a stimulus that consistently produces a naturally occurring, automatic response

Unconditioned response (UCR)

automatic/involuntary response when unconditioned stimulus is present

neutral stimulus (NS)

stimulus (prior to conditioning) that doesn't produce a response

During conditioning

second stage of classical conditioning, where learning occurs through association

acquisition

process where an organism earns to associate two events (the NS and the UCS)

After conditioning

the final stage of classical conditioning

conditioned stimulus (CS)

an originally irrelevant/neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), comes to trigger a conditioned response

operant conditioning

learning process in which the likelihood of voluntary behaviour occurring is determined by its consequences

antecedent

an environmental stimulus that triggers an action

behaviour

any observable action by an organism

consequence

something that makes a behaviour more or less likely to occur

reinforcement

a stimulus from the environment that increases the likelihood of a response occurring in the future

positive reinforcement

behaviour is followed by adding a desirable stimulus, increasing likelihood of behaviour occurring again

negative reinforcement

behaviour is followed by removal of undesirable stimulus, increasing likelihood of behaviour occurring again

punishment

Stimulus that decreases likelihood of behaviour occurring again

positive punishment

behaviour is followed by adding an undesirable stimulus, decreasing likelihood of behaviour occurring again

negative punishment

behaviour is followed by removal of a desirable stimulus, decreasing likelihood of behaviour occurring again

learner

the individual who observes, remembers and initiates the actions of the model

model

the live, pre-recorded or symbolic person being observed

observational learning

learning by the learner observing model's actions and their consequences to guide their future actions

social-cognitive approach

processing, remembering and learning info in social contexts to explain and predict their behaviour and that of others

attention

first step in observational learning, when the learner actively watches model's behaviour and the consequences

retention

second stage in observational learning, when the learner stores a mental representation of model's behaviour

Reproduction

third stage in observational learning, when learner's physical and mental capabilities enable them to perform model's behaviour

motivation

in observational learning, the learner's desire to perform the model's behaviour

reinforcement

receiving a reward or desirable factor that increases the likelihood that the learner will reproduce the behaviour in future