AP Psychology Unit 3 Vocabulary

Learning

a relatively permanent/long-lasting change in behavior as a result from practice or experience

Behaviorism

observable behavior

Associative learning

process by which an element is taught through association with a separate pre-existing element

Classical conditioning

involuntary natural reflexive response to a neutral stimuli

Acquisition

a new learning has been obtained

Unconditioned stimulus

brings about a response without any learning

Unconditioned response

a natural reflexive response

Conditioned stimulus

brings about a response through training

Conditioned response

trained reflexive response

extinction

when a conditioned stimulus no longer elicits a conditioned response

Spontaneous recovery

the response was extinct, but sometimes after, a conditioned response will elicit a response

Generalization

similar stimuli will elicit a conditioned response

Discrimination

able to tell the difference between similar stimuli (similar stimuli don't elicit a conditioned response)

Aversive Conditioning

conditioning to have a negative response (ex: Little Albert fearing rats)

Taste Aversion

a conditioned dislike for and avoidance of a particular food that develops when the subject becomes ill after eating the food

Garcia Effect

an aversion or distaste for a particular taste or smell that was associated with a negative reaction (shows biological limits of classical conditioning)

Second/Higher order conditioning

once the CS elicits the CR, the CS can then be used as a US to get a response (new CS never paired with original US)

Trace conditioning

presenting the CS and then a US with a half second gap

Simultaneous Conditioning

present the US and CS at the same time (usually accidental and takes longer)

Backward conditioning

present US first and then the CS (more temporary and takes longer)

Operant Conditioning

a type of learning based on rewards and punishment (behaviors are altered by the consequences that follow)

Law of Effect

(Thorndike) If consequences are pleasant, the likelihood of that behavior will increase and vice versa

Skinner box

an experimental environment that is better suited to examine the more natural flow of behavior (shows people have no free will and will only react to awards and punishments)

Shaping

reinforce behavior that comes closer to a desired behavior (successive approximation to a goal)

Chaining

only reward when you get to that goal (succession of events to reach the final goal)

Reinforcement

any stimulus that makes an event more likely to occur

Extrinsic

comes from outside the individual (performance of an activity to obtain a goal)

Intrinsic

driven by enjoyment or the interest of the task itself

Primary reinforcer

(unconditioned) an innate biological need (ex: food & hunger)

Secondary reinforcer

(conditioned) reinforcers that has to be learned (ex: mansion vs shelter)

Generalized reinforcer

things that are overall pleasing (ex: money & praise)

Positive reinforcement

addition of a desirable stimulus to increase the likelihood of behavior

Negative reinforcement

removal of an aversive stimulus to increase the likelihood of behavior

Punishment

any stimulus that decreases or stops a behavior

Positive punishment

addition of an aversive stimulus to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

Negative punishment

(also known as omission training) removal of desired stimulus to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

Escape learning

learn to terminate an aversive stimulus (ex: get in trouble to get kicked out of a class you don't like)

Avoidance learning

avoiding an aversive stimulus altogether (ex: ditch the class you don't like)

Superstitious behavior

behavior that cannot be logically explained and reinforced/punished due to accidental timing (brain just happened to connect the 2)

Continuous Reinforcement

behavior is rewarded every time (fastest way to go extinct & to be learned)

Partial reinforcement

behavior is sometimes reinforced (slower but greater resistance to extinction)

Fixed ratio

reinforced after a set number of responses/attempts

Variable ratio

reinforced after a random number of responses (the strongest; ex: gambling)

Fixed interval

reinforced at a certain time

Variable interval

reinforced after varying times

Token economy

trade tokens (little reinforcers) for bigger reinforces (gather tickets for a bigger prize)

Premack Principle

using a preferred activity to reinforce an unpreferred activity (ex: must eat broccoli for more game time)

Overjustification

giving a reward for something that is intrinsically pleasing often backfires

Habituation

the loss of responsiveness to a reward or a punishment

Fading

the gradual pulling away of a reward or punishment that will still elicit the same response

Counterconditioning

when you uncondition a previously conditioned response

Language

a written/spoken expression of ideas

Instinctive Drift

when organisms have a tendency to revert to unconscious and automatic behavior that could interfere with learned behaviors from operant conditioning

Neuromodulators

a substance that can change the effect on a nerve of other neurotransmitters (strengthens the synapse between sensory & motor neurons)

Cognitive learning

learning that requires thinking

Contingency model of classical conditioning

(Rescorla) some thought is required in some classical conditioning (anticipation for reward/punishment = thought)

Social Learning Theory

(Bandura) we learn through observation, modeling, & imitation

Observational learning

learning through modeling behavior (ex: bobo doll)

Vicarious learning

experienced in the imagination through someone else's actions

disinhibition

watching someone else partake in a threatening activity successfully increases the likelihood we will take in the same activity

mirror neurons

a neuron that is activated by performing an action and watching someone else performing the action

Latent learning

(Tolman) learning that becomes evident only after a reward is offered

Abstract learning

understanding concepts, not just rewards and punishments

Insight Learning

(Kohler) immediate answers/solutions to problems or ideas (aha! moment)

Cognition

mental processes involved in thinking, memory, and language

Thinking

mental process with image (visual pictures in brain), concept (a mental category that groups objects), and basic concept (more specific than the concept; ex: apples from fruits)

Prototype

the most typical example of a concept (especially representative)

Cognitive Schema

a mental representation of how we expect the world to be based on experiences

Cognitive map

method used to construct and accumulate spatial knowledge

Original thought

thinking that hasn't been done before (difficult to come up with)

Reasoning

purposeful mental activity that operates on information to reach answers and conclusions

Algorithm

a problem-solving (methodical) strategy to produce a solution even if the user doesn't know how it works

Deductive reasoning

drawing conclusions from a set of premises/observations/clues

Inductive reasoning

used to generate a hypothesis (premises provide support for a conclusion but possible it is false)

Heuristics

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to solve a problem efficiently (ex: rule of thumb)

Availability Heuristic

judging a situation based on examples/similar situations that come to the mind first (bias)

Representative Heuristic

judging a situation based on how similar the aspects are to prototypes the person holds in their mind

Overconfidence

our tendency to overestimate how accurate our judgements are

Belief bias

make illogical conclusions to confirm pre-exisiting beliefs (makes incorrect answers)

Belief perseverence

maintain a belief even after the evidence is contradictory

Rigidity

(mental set) fall into established thought patterns

Framing

how a question is set up

Functional fixedness

inability to see a new use for an object

Confirmation bias

look for evidence to confirm our beliefs

Convergent thinking

thinking that's pointed towards one solution (follow the steps)

Divergent thinking

looking for multiple solutions to a problem/question

Cognitive dissonance

the tension that occurs when we hold 2 thoughts that are psychologically inconsistent (beliefs conflict with actions)

Meta Cognition

analyzing your thoughts

Phenomes

smallest unit of sound in a language

Morphemes

smallest unit of meaningful sound

Grammar

system of rules that enables us to communicate with each other

Semantics

set of rules deriving meaning from sound

Syntax

set of rules for combining words into sentences

Prosody

tone or inflection in language that adds meaning without changing the words

Babbling

(Stage 1) Practicing phenomes and is innate

Holophrastic

(Stage 2) one-word stage & around one-year old

Telegraphic

(stage 3) around 18 months and combine words into simple commands

Overgeneralization

overuse of grammatical rules (not random)

Behaviorist

(Skinner) language learned by observation/modeling, reinforcement, & imitation

Language Acquisition Device

(Chomsky) brain is pre-wired to language and eventually to that one language