Classic Theories of Learning and Behavior

Flashcards covering classic learning theories, including contiguity, contingency, and specific theories by Thorndike, Guthrie, Tolman, Hull, and Skinner.

Contiguity

The idea that learning is the result of associations between things that are close together in time and space.

Contingency

The concept that learning is based on the idea that something is conditional upon something else, meaning a certain response makes an outcome more likely.

Thorndike

An association theorist known for instrumental learning, specifically his work with cats associating a response to escape from a puzzle box.

Guthrie

A theorist who argued for hardcore contiguity, viewing complex behavior as a robotic sequence of little bits of learning joined together.

Cognitive Maps

A concept introduced by Tolman suggesting that animals like rats negotiate mazes by building an internal mental representation of their environment.

Latent Learning

Learning that occurs without reward, demonstrated by rats that solve a maze faster once a reward is introduced after having practiced without one.

Clark Hull

A dominant psychologist from the 1930s to the 1952 whose work focused on motivation and drive reduction as the basis for learning.

Drive Reduction Theory

The theory that learning is purposeful and driven by the need to satisfy a physiological drive, such as hunger or thirst.

Habit Strength

Represented as the accumulated welding of responses to stimuli over time, signifying the learning component of behavior.

Reaction Potential

In Hull's model, the likelihood of a response occurring, calculated as the product of habit strength and the animal's motivational drive.

Habit Family Hierarchy

An adaptive system where an animal has a best solution (dominant response) followed by a second best and third best solution if the first fails.

Fractionary Goal Responses

The idea that the completion of one response in a sequence acts as a trigger or cue for the next response, often associated with muscle memory.

Incentive Value

The qualitative value assigned to a reinforcement that affects its effectiveness, such as a rat preferring sweetened water over bore water.

Stimulus Intensity Dynamism

The principle that stronger or more intense stimuli tend to be conditioned more effectively and elicit stronger responses.

Operant Conditioning

Skinner's theory that learning is contingent on the consequences of behavior, where animals modify responses based on outcomes.

Discriminative Stimulus

A cue (often denoted as $S^d$) that signals whether reinforcement is currently available for a particular response.

Positive Reinforcement

A reward added following a behavior that increases the probability of that behavior occurring again.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of an unpleasant or negative stimulus (such as taking aspirin for a headache) that increases the probability of the behavior.

Extinction

The process of a behavior disappearing when it is no longer reinforced.

Spontaneous Recovery

The phenomenon where an extinguished behavior suddenly reappears, often due to being in the original stimulus environment.

Conditioned Reinforcement

Reinforcers like money or tokens that gain their value by being associated with primary reinforcers like food or drink.

Response Chaining

A technique for training complex behaviors (either forwards or backwards) where each step becomes the discriminative stimulus for the next.

Barnabas Maze

An apparatus involving a great big plastic box used to train rats in complex sequences of tricks using response chaining.

Fading

A behavior modification technique where the response does not change, but the stimulus is gradually morphed or shifted.

Assistive Force Learning

A type of shaping where a trainer physically positions a person or animal to ensure they perform a behavior correctly.

Cumulative Record

A graph plotting responses over time where the steepness of the gradient indicates the speed of responding.

Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedule

A reinforcement schedule based on a set volume of behavior, such as FR 100 requiring 100 responses before a reward is given.

Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule

A schedule where reinforcement occurs after a varying number of responses that averages out to a set value, such as a VR 5.

Random Ratio Schedule

A volatile type of VR schedule used in poker machines where the probability of winning is calculated for every outcome with no upper bound.

Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule

A schedule that reinforces the first response after a set amount of time (e.g., FI 60 seconds), often producing a scallop-style pattern.

Variable Interval (VI) Schedule

A schedule where reinforcement is available after an unpredictable amount of time, resulting in a slow, steady rate of responding.

DRL (Differential Rate of Low Responding)

A schedule that rewards a person or animal for delaying a response or withholding behavior for a specific timeframe.

DRH (Differential Rate of High Responding)

A schedule that requires an individual to maintain a high level of response output per unit of time, such as in fitness training.

DRO (Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior)

A behavioral modification strategy where everything except the target unwanted behavior is reinforced.