Psych Unit 4 Study Guide

learning

the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively **enduring** information or behaviors

classical conditioning

we learn to expect and prepare for significant events such as food or pain

* a type of associative learning that involves learned involuntary responses
* we learn to associate two stimuli that we don’t control, and thus anticipate events, responding automatically
* exhibiting respondent behavior


* stimuli are things we do not control and that we respond automatically (involuntary response)
* Involuntary responses include salivation, blinking, sweating, and cringing or the automatic bodily reactions to strong emotions such as fear
* Classical conditioning supports reproduction

operant conditioning

a type of learning in which behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher

* we learn to repeat acts that bring rewards and avoid acts that bring unwanted results


* a type of associative learning
* we learn to associate a response (our voluntary behavior) and its consequences
* the behavior is voluntary, we operate on the environment to produce a consequence
* these associations produce operant behaviors


* operant behavior

observational learning

we learn by observing events and people

cognitive learning

**we learn things we have neither experience or observed**

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together

* the events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning)

habituation

what happens when repeated stimulation produces waning responsiveness

* a type of learning or relatively permanent change in behavior that involves a reduced response as a result of repeated but not constant exposure
* fueled by associative learning

sensory adaptation

a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when the brain stops recognizing a constant and unchanging stimulus

stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response

response

the behavior that follows the stimulus

respondent behaviors

behaviors that occur as an automatic response to some stimulus

* ex: woman tensing for thunder boom

operant behaviors

behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences (rewarding or punishing stimuli)

* ex: boy saying “please”

unconditioned stimulus

a stimulus that leads to an automatic response

* in Pavlov's experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus

unconditioned response

an automatic response to a stimulus

* the dogs salivating for food is the unconditioned response in Pavlov's experiment

John B. Watson

* according to this behaviorist, the science of psychology should study how organisms respond to stimuli in their environments
* simply said, psychology should be an objective science based on observable behavior

neutral stimulus

a stimulus which initially produces no specific response other than focusing attention

conditioned stimulus

a stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned response

* in the described experiment, it was the ringing of the bell, and the conditioned response was salivation

conditioned response

an automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus

* ex: if you witness a terrible car accident, you might develop a fear of driving

Ivan Pavlov

* he taught us that significant psychological phenomena can be studied objectively, and that classical conditioning is a basic form of learning that applies to all species
* he and Watson both believed the basic laws of learning were the same for all animals and humans
* studied digestive system of dogs
* produced the phenomenon of classical conditioning

acquisition

1. in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned involuntary response
2. in operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response or the decreasing of a punished response

high-order conditioning

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

* ex: an animal has learned a tone predicts food can learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone
* a.k.a second-order conditioning

extinction

when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS)

spontaneous recovery

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

generalization

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

* Pavlov attached miniature vibrators to various parts of a dog’s body
* after conditioning salivation to stimulation of the thigh, he stimulated other areas
* the closer a stimulated spot was to the dog’s thigh, the stronger the conditioned response

discrimination

the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

B.F. Skinner

* behaviorism’s most influential and controversial figure
* his work elaborated on what psychologist Edward L. Thorndike called the law of effect
* for his pioneering studies on operant conditioning, Skinner designed an operant chamber

law of effect

Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

operant chamber

* in operant conditioning research, a chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking
* a.k.a the Skinner Box

reinforcement

any event that strengthens (increases the frequency of) a preceding response

shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcement guides behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

* a.k.a reward by successive approximations

discriminative stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement)

positive reinforcement

any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response

* increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers
* ex: studying hard (B) to receive an good grade (R) from the teacher
* ex: arriving at work on time (B) to receive praise and a pay raise (R) from your boss

negative reinforcement

any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response

* increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing aversive stimuli
* ex: taking an aspirin (B) to reduce a painful headache (removal of aversive stimulus)
* ex: hitting the snooze button (B) to shut off an annoying alarm (removal of aversive stimulus)

primary reinforcers

innately reinforcing stimuli such as those that satisfy a biological need

* ex” food, pain relief

conditioned (secondary) reinforcers

stimuli that gain their reinforcing power through their learned association with a primary reinforcer

* ex: money, good, grades, a pleasant tone of voice

reinforcement schedules

patterns that define how often a desired response will be reinforced

continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

* learning occurs rapidly, so it’s the best choice for learning a behavior
* extinction also occurs rapidly; when continuous reinforcement stops, the behavior soon stops (is extinguished)

partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

reinforcing a response only part of the time

* real life rarely provides continuous reinforcement; salespeople don’t sell every pitch, but they persist because their efforts are occasionally rewarded
* responses are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not
* learning is slower to appear, but resistance to extinction is greater that with continuous reinforcement
* works with children

4 types of partial reinforcement

1. fixed ratio schedules


2. fixed interval schedules


3. variable ratio schedules


4. variable interval schedules

fixed ratio schedules

reinforcement occurs after a set number of responses

* ex: one free coffee after every 10 purchases

fixed interval schedules

reinforcement occurs after a set length of time

* ex: mail arriving at 2:00 pm every afternoon

variable ratio schedules

reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable number of responses

* ex: payoff on slot machine after a varying number of plays

variable interval schedules

reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable length of time

* ex: checking our phones for a text from a friends

punishment

an event that tends to decrease the behavior it follows

* behavior that is punished is less likely to occur again
* punishment adds an aversive stimulus or removes a pleasant one

positive punishment

adds something negative

negative punishment

takes away something positive

4 drawbacks of physical punishment

1. punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten


2. punishment teaches discrimination among situations
3. punishment can teach fear
4. physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling violence as a way to cope with problems

school, sports, work, home, self-improvement, stress-management

how can operant conditioning techniques be applied?

school

* online adaptive quizzing allows for immediate feedback
* students receive reinforcement for correct understanding

sports

the key to shaping behavior in athletic performance as elsewhere, is first reinforcing small successes and then gradually increasing the challenge

work

rewards are most likely to increase productivity if the desired performance is both well-defined and achievable

parenting

when parents say “get ready for bed” and then cave into protests of defiance, the child’s whining and arguing is reinforced

self-improvement

to build up you self-control, you need to reinforce your own desired behaviors and extinguish the undesired ones

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5 steps toward self-control →


1. state a realistic goal in measurable terms and announce it
2. decide how, when, and where you will work toward your goal
3. monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior
4. reinforce the desired behavior
5. reduce the rewards gradually

manage stress

* there is some evidence that when we have feedback about our bodily responses, we can sometimes change those responses
* researcher Neal Miller, working with *biofeedback*, found that rats could modify their heartbeat increased or decreased
* later researcher revealed that some paralyzed humans could also learn to control their blood pressure

*Biofeedback* systems

such as this one, which recorded tension in the forehead muscle of a headache sufferer, allow people to monitor their subtle physiological responses

biopsychosocial influences on learning

learning results not only from environmental experiences, but also from cognitive and biological influences

john garcia

* Garcia was among those who challenged the prevailing idea that all associations can be learned equally well
* he and Robert Koelling exposed a group of rats to a particular taste, sight, or sounds and later also to radiation or drugs that led to nausea and vomiting

taste aversion

if you became violently ill after eating oysters, you would probably have a hard time eating them again

* Their smell and taste would have become a CS for nausea
* This learning occurs readily because our biology prepares us to learn taste aversions to toxic foods

instinctive drift

the tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns

* pigs conditioned to pick up large wooden “dollars” and deposit them in a piggy bank began to drift back to their natural ways
* they dropped the coin, pushed it with their snouts as pigs are prone to do, picked it up again, and then repeated the sequence, delaying their food reinforcement

cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment

* ex: after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it

latent learning

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

* learning that involves cognition; there is more to learning than associating a response with a consequence


* in a classic experiment, rats in one group repeatedly explored a maze, always with a food reward at the end
* rats in another group explored the maze with no food reward, but once given a food reward at the end, the rats ran as quickly as possible in the following trials (Tolman & Honzik)

insight learning

a sudden realization of a problem’s solution

* Contrasts with strategy-based solutions

extrinsic motivation

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

* ex: feeling pressured to finish homework by a deadline? Worried about your grade? Eager for college credit on AP Exam?
* if yes, then you are extrinsically motivated

intrinsic motivation

a desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

* ex: Are you finding the material interesting? If there was no stake of a grade, would you be curious enough to learn the material for yourself?
* if yes, intrinsic motivation fuels your efforts

overjustification effect

promising people a reward for a task they already enjoy can backfire

* excessive rewards can destroy intrinsic motivation

problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping

what are the 2 ways to learn to cope with personal problems?

problem-focused coping

attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor

emotion-focused coping

attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

personal control

our sense of impacting and directing our environment rather than feeling helpless

* in humans, uncontrollable threats trigger the strongest stress responses
* losing control provokes an outpouring of stress hormones, predicting health problems
* ex: captive animals experience more stress and disease than their wild counterparts

learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or person acquires when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

* in experiments, dogs were strapped in a harness and repeatedly shocked, given no chance to avoid them
* later, when placed in another situation where they could escape the punishment by leaping a hurdle, the dogs displayed learned helplessness, cowering as if without hope

external locus of control

the perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal direction determine our fate

* Julian Rotter

internal locus of control

the perception that we direct and create our own fate

locuses of control

* “internals” have achieved more in school and work, acted more independently, been healthier, and felt less depressed than “externals”
* people with an internal locus of control at age 10 exhibited more exhibited less obesity, lower blood pressure, and less distress at age 30
* compared with nonleaders, military and business leaders have a lower-than-average levels of stress hormones and reports less anxiety, thanks to their greater sense of control

self control

the ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for long-term rewards

* predicts good health, higher income, and better school performance
* in studies of American, Asian, and New Zealander children, self-control outdid intelligence test scores in predicting the future academic and life success
* it varies over time; like a muscle, it tends to weaken after use, recover at rest, and grow stronger with exercise

observational learning

higher animals, especially humans, learn without direct experience, by watching and imitating others

* modeling: we learn our native languages and various other specific behaviors by observing and imitating others
* ex: a child who sees his sister burn her fingers on a hot stove learned not to touch it

modeling

we learn our native languages and various other specific behaviors by observing and imitating others

Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study

result→

* compared with children not exposed to the adult model, those who viewed the model’s aggressive actions were more likely to lash out at the doll
* observing the aggressive outburst apparently lowered their inhibitions
* the children imitated the very acts they had observed and used the very words they heard

takeaway→

* by watching models, we experience **vicarious reinforcement** or **vicarious punishment**, and we learn to anticipate a behavior’s consequences in situations like those we are observing
* we are especially likely to learn from people we perceive as similar to ourselves, as successful, or as admirable

mirror neurons

frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when we perform certain actions or observe another’s actions

* the brain’s mirroring of another action may enable imitation and empathy

we imitate emotions and feel other’s pain

prosocial modeling

positive, constructive, helpful behavior

* people who exemplify nonviolent, helpful behavior can also prompt similar behavior in others
* watching others help pick up spilled books or coins, or viewing positively-themed television programming can produce positive helping behaviors in others
* ex: this girl is learning orphan-nursing skills, as well as compassion, by observing her mentor in this Humane Society program

antisocial modeling

observational learning may also have antisocial effects which help us understand why abusive parents might have aggressive children

* this helps us understand why abusive parents might have aggressive children

imitation

experimental studies have found that media violence viewing can cause aggression

desensitization

viewers become progressively less bothered by the violence

* compared to a control group, subjects expressed less sympathy for domestic violence victims and rated victims’ injuries as less severe