Chapter 7 - Learning (Behaviorism)

Learning

enduring changes in behavior that occur with experience

classical conditioning (Ivan Pavlov)

learning occurs when a neural stimulus is paired with a automatic, inborn response

conditioned

learned

stimulus generalization

exhibiting response to a similar stimulus (ex. a buzzer, phone ring)

stimulus discrimination 

learning to exhibit response only to the precise stimulus (differentiating between the bell and the buzzer) 

extinction

when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus the conditioned response will disappear

spontaneous recovery

after extinction occurs, some time later, the conditioned response reappears following the conditioned stimulus

little Albert study 

wanted to demonstrate that anxiety or fear could be learned. that it didn’t only arise from inner conflicts (white rat experiment) 

called operant conditioning

because the organism “operates” in its environment to produce specific consequences

the Law of Effect (thorndike, 1950)

states that “the consequences of a behavior increases or decreases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated”

postive renenforcement

if the frequency of the behavior increases, then its

negative reinforcement

when the removal of stimulus increases the frequency of the behavior it follows 

punishment

the presentation of a stimulus that reduces the frequency of behavior It follows

continuous schedule

behavior is rewarded each time and every time it occurs

intermittent schedules

fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval