psychology exam 3

learning

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

Behaviorism

one of the first areas of psychology to establish it as a science

observational learning

learning through observation and imitation

classical conditioning

associations between stimuli invoking involuntary responses

operant conditioning

association between voluntary behaviors and their consequences

Albert Bandura

pioneer in observational learning (AKA social learning), stated that people profit from the mistakes/successes of others; Studies: Bobo Dolls-adults demonstrated 'appropriate' play with dolls, children mimicked play

violent media and agression

many people argue that violence in media teaches kids to behave violently

third variable problem

A problem that occurs when the researcher cannot directly manipulate variables; as a result, the researcher cannot be confident that another, unmeasured variable is not the actual cause of differences in the variables of interest.

Directionality problem

a situation in which it is unclear which variable in an association came first

prosocial behavior

behavior intended to benefit others or society as a whole

Habituation

automatic responses to stimuli diminish after multiple exposures to the same stimuli

if you move to new apartment and its close to train tracks, you react, to it and eventually you can hibuate to it

know this example

Sensitization

automatic response to stimuli increase after multiple exposures to the same stimuli

Stimulus

any event in the enviroment

Ivan Pavlov

discovered classical conditioning; trained dogs to salivate at the ringing of a bell

unconditoned stimulus

stimulus that naturally produces a response

unconditioned response

the natural response to the UCS

conditioned stimulus

neutral stimulus after conditioning

neutral stimulus

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

Condtioned Response

the learned response to the CS

Requirement for classical conditioning

the CS generally must come before the UCS, not after
CS and UCS must arrive close together in time
The neutral stimulus must be paired many times
CS must be noticable

stimulus generalization

similar stimulus to the CS elicits the CR

Stimulus discrimination

ability to distinguish CS from non CS

Extinction

learning to stop responding to an unpaired CS

spontaneous recovery

the response to the CS returns after a period of time

higher-order conditioning

associating new stimuli with CS

Hebbian learning

simultaneous activation of cells leads to pronounced increases in synaptic strength between those cells

conditioned taste aversion

classical conditioning that occurs when an organism associates a particular food or drink with illness

conditioned emotional response

learned emotions towards stimuli

vicarious conditioning

conditioned by watching another person

goal of classical conditioning

modify a reflexive behavior

Puzzle Box Experiment

Edward Thorndike. This is when cats were in a box and had to find how they were fed

law of effect

the probability of a behavior occurring is a function of the consequences that the behavior had in the past

pleasant consequences

behavior increases (reinforcement)

unpleasant consequences

weaken behavior

Operants

voluntary (and generally goal-directed) behaviors emitted by a person or an animal

skinner box

apparatus designed to study operant behavior
uses an arbitrary response as a measure of learning

Shaping Procedure

establishing a new response by reinforcing successive approximations to it

successive approximations

small steps in behavior, one after the other, that lead to a particular goal behavior

Reinforcement

an outcome that increases the the likelihood of a behavior to be repeated in the future

primary reinforcer

stimulus that is reinforcing in its own right

secondary reinforcer

stimulus that has acquired value through learning. ex: money

continous reinforcement

reinforce all responses

intermittent (partial) reinforcement

reinforce some responses
more resistant to extinction

ratio schedule

reinforce after a certain number of responses

interval schedule

reinforce after a certain period of time

fixed ratio

the number of responses required for reinforcement is the same always

variable schedule

the number of responses required for reinforcement is the same on average

fixed interval

the time to reinforcement is the same always

variable interval

the time to reinforcement is the same on average

respond more under ratio or interval?

subjects tend to respond more under ratio than interval schedules

respond more under variable or fixed?

subjects tend to respond more under variable than fixed schedules

post-reinforcement pause

fixed schedules result in a pause after reinforcement

scalloped responding

fixed interval schedules result in this

which schedule of reinforcement is most effective

variable ratio

positive reinforcement

addition of an outcome following a behavior

negative reinforcement

removal of an outcome following a behavior

positive and negative reinforcement

both forms function to increase frequency of behaviror

punishment

an outcome that decreases the likelihood of a behavior to be repeated in the future

positive punihsment

addition of an outcome following a behaviror

Negative punishment

removal of an outcome following a behavior

positive and negative punishment

both forms function to decrease frequency of behaviror

positive

does not equal good
your adding something

negative

does not equal bad
your removing something

latent learning

learning from experience without conscious awareness and regardless of reinforcement

Tolman's Rats

rats in a maze experiment. forming cognitive maps without being reinforced

insight

sudden coming together of awareness of a situation, leading to solution of a problem

why do we use brain capacity

to acquire and retain knowledge and skills for later use

memory involves

storing and retrieving sensory impressions

general stages of memory

encode, store, retrieve

encoding

the process by which we translate the information into a code that can be used by our memory storage containers

storage

process by which we place the information into a memory storage container

processed sensory information is

modified, retained, and stored, or is not processed further

retreival

process by which stored information is accessed

retrevial cues

contextual, situational, or sensory qualities that help facilitate retrival of information

informaiton processing model

sensory, short term, long term

sensory memory

large capacity (all we can sense at a given time)
very brief, allows for meaningful perceptions

short term memory

brief, limited capacity (information immediately in use)

long-term memory

long lasting, unknown capacity, relatively permanent store of memories

iconic

visual sensory memory
anything that can be seen at one time

eidetic imagery

can see an image or object long after it is removed from sight, not always perfect

echoic

auditory sensory memory
capacity is anything that can be heard at one time

selective attention

determines which items in the sensory memory go to short term memory

bottom-up processing

sensory memory is ..... because we are constantly receiving information from the enviroment

top down processing

decides what to pay attention to and therefore what to remember

sensory overload

without selective attention you would have....

from sensory to short term

sensations to thalamus to cortex

rehersal

repeating information to yourself can increase the duration for which information is held in short term

memory span

george miller in 1950 determined that we can hold about 7 items

chunking

process of clustering items into fewer but larger units

working memory

active processing in short term that keeps information available

central executive

directs attention to relevant information, plans, and coordinates, the ceo

visouspatial sketchpad

manipulation and processing of visual and spatial information

episodic buffer

integrates information active in working memory with long term memory

phonological loop

Manipulation and processing of verbal and auditory information

elaborative rehearsal

results in better long term retention of memories than maintenance rehersal
method of connecting incoming information to knowledge in long term memory

schemas

cognitive structures that help us perceive, organize, process, and use information (top down processing)

implicit

Individual is not aware of the process of retrieving the memory (seemingly effortless)

procedural memory

skills for task completion

explicit

subject makes a conscious effort to retrieve information