Comprehensive Guide to Classical and Operant Conditioning in Psychology

Learning

Any relatively permanent change in behavior brought by experience or practice.

Classical Conditioning

Learning to make a reflex response to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the reflex.

Ivan Pavlov

Russian physiologist who discovered classical conditioning through his work on digestion in dogs.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an involuntary response.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

An involuntary response to a naturally occurring or unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned reflex response by being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response (CR)

Learned reflex response to a conditioned stimulus.

Acquisition

The repeated pairing of the NS and the UCS; the organism is in the process of acquiring learning.

Stimulus Discrimination

The ability to distinguish between one stimulus and similar stimuli.

Stimulus Generalization

The tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to the original conditioned stimulus with a conditioned response.

Extinction

The disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the removal or absence of the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of a learned response after extinction has occurred.

Conditioned Emotional Response

An emotional response that has become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli.

Vicarious Conditioning

Classical conditioning of a reflex response or emotion by watching the reaction of another person.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

Development of a nausea or aversive response to a particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction.

Stimulus substitution

The original theory, in which Pavlov stated that classical conditioning occurred because the conditioned stimulus became a substitute for the unconditioned stimulus.

Operant Conditioning

The learning of voluntary behavior through the effects of pleasant and unpleasant consequences on responses.

Thorndike's Law of Effect

The law states that if a response is followed by a pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated, and if followed by an unpleasant consequence, it will not be repeated.

Burrhus Frederic Skinner

Behaviorist; wanted to study only observable, measurable behavior. Gave "operant conditioning" its name. Learning depends on what happens after the response - the consequence.

REINFORCEMENT

Any event or stimulus that, when following a response, increases the probability that the response will occur again.

Primary reinforcer

Any reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic biological need, such as hunger, thirst, or touch.

Secondary reinforcer

Any reinforcer that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, tokens, or gold stars.

Positive Reinforcement

The reinforcement of a response by the addition or experience of a pleasurable stimulus.

Negative Reinforcement

The reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape from, or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus.

Shaping

The reinforcement of simple steps in behavior that lead to a desired, more complex behavior.

Successive approximations

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

Partial Reinforcement Effect

The tendency for a response that is reinforced after some, but not all, correct responses to be very resistant to extinction.

Continuous Reinforcement Effect

The reinforcement of each and every correct response.

Fixed Ratio Schedule of Reinforcement

A schedule of reinforcement where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses.

Variable Interval Schedule of Reinforcement

When the reinforcement is provided after a random (unpredictable) amount of time passes, following a specific behavior being performed.

Fixed Interval Schedules

Those where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed.

Variable Ratio Schedule

A schedule of reinforcement where a behavior is reinforced after a random number of responses.

PUNISHMENT

Any event or object that, when following a response, makes that response less likely to happen again.

Punishment by Application

The punishment of a response by the addition or experiencing of an unpleasant stimulus.

Punishment by Removal

The punishment of a response by the removal of a pleasurable stimulus.

Punishment Drawbacks

Severe punishment may cause avoidance of the punisher instead of the behavior being punished.

Negative Punishment

Losing access to a toy, being grounded, and losing reward tokens

Making Punishment More Effective

Punishment should immediately follow the behavior it is meant to punish. Punishment should be consistent. Punishment of the wrong behavior should be paired, whenever possible, with reinforcement of the right behavior.

Discriminative Stimulus

It is created when the response is reinforced in its presence, but not when it is absent.

Behavior Modification

The use of operant conditioning techniques to bring about desired changes in behavior.

Token Economy

Type of behavior modification in which the desired behavior is rewarded with tokens.

Time-out

A technique, originating from behavior therapy, in which undesirable behavior is weakened and its occurrence decreased, typically by moving the individual away from the area that is reinforcing the behavior.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

A scientific approach to understanding behavior that focuses on how behaviors change, or are affected by the environment, as well as how learning takes place.

Biofeedback

An alternative medicine approach that teaches people to change the way their bodies function.

Neurofeedback

A form of biofeedback using brain-scanning devices (fMRI) to provide feedback about brain activity in an effort to modify behavior.

Cognitive Learning Theory

In the early days of learning, the focus was on behavior, but by the 1950s and 1960s, psychologists recognized the importance of cognition.

Latent Learning

Knowledge that only becomes clear when a person has an incentive to display it.

Edward Tolman

An early cognitive scientist known for experiments involving teaching three groups of rats the same maze.

Group 1 - Maze Learning

Rewarded each time at the end of the maze and learned the maze quickly.

Group 2 - Maze Learning

In the maze every day; only rewarded on the 10th day and demonstrated learning of the maze almost immediately after receiving a reward.

Group 3 - Maze Learning

Never rewarded and did not learn the maze well.

Insight Learning

A form of cognitive learning where animals use insight to accomplish something, characterized by the sudden discovery of the correct solution. Trial and error

Learned Helplessness

Occurs when an individual continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable situation and stops trying to change their circumstances.

Observational Learning

Learning new behavior by watching a model perform that behavior.

Learning/Performance Distinction

The difference between learning a behavior and performing it.

Four Elements of Observational Learning

Attention, Memory, Imitation, Motivation.

Attention

The learner must first pay attention to the model.

Memory

The learner must also be able to retain the memory of what was done.

Imitation

The learner must be capable of reproducing, or imitating, the actions of the model.

Motivation

The learner must have the desire to perform the action.

Neutral stimulus

it can become a conditioned stimulus when paired with an unconditioned stimulus.