Theories & learning

Sigmund Freud

proposed that human behavior and personality are primarily driven by unconscious motives, childhood experiences, and suppressed internal conflicts. His theory emphasizes the tripartite structure of the mind—the id, ego, and superego—as well as psychosexual development stages. 

Freudian Slips

an unintentional error in speech, memory, or action that, according to psychoanalytic theory, reveals repressed, unconscious thoughts, desires, or anxieties. Proposed by Sigmund Freud, these mistakes are believed to be the conscious mind's momentary failure to repress unconscious material. 

Psychoanalysis

 childhood unconscious motivations and desires shape personality; thoughts and actions are caused by these things as well

Free Association

way to explore the unconscious by saying whatever comes to mind (“tell me what’s on your mind” or throw out emotionally charged words)

Dream Analysis

a psychodynamic therapeutic technique primarily developed by Sigmund Freud to interpret the latent, symbolic content of dreams. It aims to uncover repressed wishes, unconscious conflicts, and underlying motivations, often by analyzing the distinction between the dream's storyline (manifest content) and its hidden meaning (latent content). 

Conscious Mind

an individual's current awareness of external stimuli, internal sensations, thoughts, and feelings at any given moment

Preconscious Mind

place where unconscious thoughts can be stored and retrieved

Unconscious Mind

thinking and processing we’re not aware of

Id

part of personality (unconscious) that strives to satisfy basic aggressive, sexual, reproductive, etc. drives; “devil” on our shoulder; demands immediate gratification (pleasure principle)

Ego

mediator part of personality (conscious) between demands of id, superego, and reality; satisfies id’s desires realistically (reality principle)

Superego

part of personality that represents internalized ideas and provides standards for judgment; “do the right thing”

Defense Mechanisms

tactics that reduce or redirect anxiety by distorting reality
Unconscious process employed to avoid anxiety-arousing thoughts or feelings

Repression

a defense mechanism where the mind unconsciously blocks or pushes distressing thoughts, memories, or impulses out of conscious awareness to protect oneself from anxiety or pain, a core concept in Freudian psychoanalytic theory.

Regression

Acting like a child; Little boy sucking his thumb on the way to his first day of school, Angry teen stomps her feet and slams her bedroom door

Denial

Refusing to believe reality; A partner denies evidence of his loved one’s affair, A person keeps telling themself that their (dead) dog is still alive

Rationalization

Making up excuses for your behavior; An alcoholic says she drinks with her friends just to be sociable, A kid takes candy from the store because it “doesn’t really do any harm

Reaction Formation

Doing the opposite of the way you feel; Repressing angry feelings, a person is very friendly; A boy teasing a girl because he actually likes her

Projection

Seeing your faults in other people but not yourself; The thief thinks everyone else is a thief; Someone gossips and says that somebody else is a huge gossiper

Displacement

Taking anger or other strong feelings out on something unthreatening; A little girl kicks the family dog after her mother sends her to her room, A teenage boy gets very angry in an argument and punches a wall

Sublimation

Redirecting bad impulses into socially acceptable or morally good behaviors/motives; A man with aggressive urges becomes a surgeon, A woman with anger issues takes up kickboxing

Projective Tests

personality test that gives ambiguous stimuli to trigger projection of inner dynamics (e.x, an image that could be perceived as a tree or as two faces and what you see says something about you)

Thematic Apperception Test

projective test where a person sees an ambiguous image and has to make up a story about it

Rorschach Inkblot test

most widely used projective test, where ink drops are put on paper and folded and then people say what they perceive the inkblot to look like (kind of like finding shapes in the clouds)

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, self-actualization

Self Actualization

the process of fulfilling our potential

Self-Concept

all the thoughts and feelings we have in response to the question, “Who am I?”

Unconditional Positive Regard

an attitude of total acceptance toward another person (rogers)

Trait

 characteristic behaviors and conscious motives

The Big Five

(remember with CANOE or OCEAN) - five most important dimensions to describe personality (conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion)

Conscientiousness

spends more time preparing, focuses, finishes important tasks on time, pays extra attention to details, likes schedules

Agreeableness

shows a lot of interest in other people, usually cares about others, feels empathetic toward and helps other people

Neuroticism (Emotional Stability)

gets upset often, dramatic mood swings, feeling anxious

Openness

extremely creative, tries new things, extremely focused on handling new challenges, thinks about abstract concepts

Extraversion

loves being the center of attention, conversation starter, enjoys meeting new people, naturally able to make new friends

Personality Inventories

a standardized questionnaire, often using true/false or agree/disagree items, designed to assess broad personality traits, behaviors, and feelings by having individuals report on themselves, with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) being a classic example for identifying emotional disorders and other screening purposes. 

Social Cognitive Perspective

views personality and behavior as a dynamic interaction between a person's traits (cognition, beliefs, self-efficacy) and their social environment, emphasizing observational learning, personal control, and reciprocal determinism (thoughts, behaviors, and environment all influence each other)

Reciprocal Determinism

the interaction between behavior, internal factors, and environment (ex. a child’s TV-viewing habits (past behavior) influence their viewing preferences (internal factor), which influences how television (environmental factor) affects their current behavior) (bandora)

Spotlight Effect

a cognitive bias where individuals overestimate how much others notice their actions, appearance, or mistakes, believing they are in a, "spotlight" of social scrutiny.

Self-Esteem

one’s feelings of high or low self-worth

Self-Efficacy

one’s sense of competence and effectiveness

Individualistic Culture

a society that prioritizes personal goals, independence, and self-reliance, where individuals are expected to care for themselves and their immediate families, valuing personal achievement, freedom, and self-fulfillment over group needs. Key traits include emphasizing autonomy, competition, personal responsibility, and viewing the self as independent, contrasting with collectivistic cultures that focus on group harmony and loyalty. 

Collectivist Culture

a society that prioritizes group needs, harmony, and interdependence over individual desires, often seen in Asian, African, and South American nations. Key features include valuing community, family, loyalty, and tradition, with personal identity defined by group membership rather than autonomy. 

Learning

the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

Associative Learning

learning that certain events occur together. Could be two stimuli or an event and its consequences (ex. you see freshly baked bread, eat some, and find it satisfying. The next time you see and smell fresh bread, you will expect that eating it again will be satisfying. Same idea goes for sounds). It affects our habitual behaviors, and behaviors become habitual after about 66 days. Process of learning associations is called conditioning.

Classical Conditioning

learning to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events (ex. we know lightning means thunder is nearby, so when we see lightning we brace ourselves for thunder)

Unconditioned Stimulus

 in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers a response (UR)

Unconditioned response

in classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as drooling) to an unconditioned stimulus (such as food in the mouth)

Conditioned Stimulus

 in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response

Conditioned response

in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)

Neutral Stimulus

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

Acquisiton

 in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the conditioned stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response

conditioning helps an animal survive and reproduce by responding to cues that help it gain food, avoid dangers, locate mates, and produce offspring

Extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

Spontaneous Recovery

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

Higher order Conditioning

a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experienced is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus (ex. a light is shined before the tone (CS used with food for dogs, making them salivate with just the tone due to the prediction) and the dog then learns that the light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone

Stimulus Generalization

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

Stimulus Discrimination

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

many responses to many stimuli can be classically conditioned in many organisms

Pavlov showed us how a process such as learning can be studied objectively

These findings have, basically, shown a lot about humans and animals

behaviorism

the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2). Pavlov and Watson both hated “mentalistic” concepts (like consciousness) and believed the basic laws of learning were the same for all animals (John B. Watson)

little albert

John B. Watson's 1920 study demonstrating classical conditioning in humans, where a baby was conditioned to fear a white rat (neutral stimulus) by pairing it with a loud, frightening noise (unconditioned stimulus), leading to Albert showing fear (conditioned response) to the rat and similar furry objects (stimulus generalization). It's a foundational example of how fears and phobias can be learned through association, linking it to Behaviorism and concepts like phobias and stimulus generalization

taste aversion

a learned, classical conditioning response where an organism develops a strong, lasting dislike for a specific food after experiencing illness (nausea) following its consumption. This evolutionary survival mechanism often requires only one pairing of food and illness, even with a long delay. 

the law of effect

principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and those followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

B. F. Skinner built off this to perform behavior control experiments (Thorndike & Skinner)

positive reinforcement

 increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response

negative reinforcement

strengthens a response by reducing or removing something negative (NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT IS NOT PUNISHMENT - it removes a punishing event)

Positive Punishment

 increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response

negative punishment

Remove an unfavorable stimulus;Taking painkillers to end pain; fasten seatbelt to end loud beeping

primary reinforcement

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need (ex. getting food when hungry)

Secondary reinforcement

 a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as a secondary reinforcer (ex. Skinner’s box with the rats)

many animals do not respond to reinforcements when the reinforcements are delayed too long but humans frequently do (delayed gratification is a big part of this)

shaping

operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

continuous reinforcement

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs (learning occurs rapidly and makes this best for mastering a behavior but extinction is faster)

partial reinforcement

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than continuous reinforcement (ex. gambling)

fixed ratio

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedulethat reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses (ex. coffee shop giving you free coffee after your tenth coffee there)

variable ratio

 in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses (ex. slot machine players)

fixed interval

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that rewards a response only after a specific time has elapsed; animals on this type of schedule tend to response more frequently as the anticipated time for reward draws near (ex. person getting a paycheck at the end of each week)

variable interval

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals (ex. waiting for and getting a response to an email

response rates are higher when reinforcement is linked to the number of responses (a ratio schedule) rather than time (an interval schedule). But responding is more consistent when reinforcement is unpredictable (a variable schedule) than when it is predictable (a fixed schedule)

scalloped pattern

a pause followed by a gradual acceleration in responding. Humans generally show terminal-minimum (i.e., pause until the end of the interval, then make 1 or 2 responses) or constant-rate patterns.

superstitious behavior

an action repeated because it was accidentally reinforced, creating a false belief in a cause-and-effect relationship between the behavior and a reward. It stems from operant conditioning where an unrelated, coincidental action immediately precedes a positive outcome. 

latent learning

a type of cognitive learning that occurs without immediate reinforcement or behavior change, remaining hidden until an incentive or motivation arises to demonstrate it.

cognitive map

is the concept that humans and animals form mental representations of their physical environment to navigate, remember locations, and understand spatial relationships. It represents latent learning—knowledge acquired without reinforcement—demonstrating that cognitive processes guide behavior beyond simple conditioning. 

insight learning

is a type of cognitive learning where a solution to a problem suddenly appears, an "a-ha!" moment, rather than through slow trial-and-error or gradual conditioning. It involves a sudden understanding of the relationships between different elements of a problem, allowing for an immediate, creative solution, famously demonstrated by Wolfgang Köhler's

learned helplessness

is the state of passive resignation or inaction that occurs when an individual or animal is repeatedly exposed to uncontrollable, negative situations. Believing they have no control, they stop attempting to change their circumstances even when new, controllable opportunities arise. 

social learning theory

Albert Bandura, proposes that people learn new behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions by observing and imitating others within a social context. It emphasizes that learning occurs through modeling, where individuals notice the consequences (rewards or punishments) of others' actions to guide their own behavior, without needing direct experience. 

observational learning

learning from others’ experiences

modeling

a form of learning where individuals acquire new behaviors, skills, or strategies by observing and imitating others, acting as a key component of observational learning. Popularized by Albert Bandura, this process allows behavior acquisition without direct experience, often influenced by the consequences the model receives (vicarious reinforcement). 

vicarious conditioning

the process of learning behaviors, emotional responses, or attitudes by observing the consequences experienced by others, rather than through direct experience. It is a key component of social learning theory (Bandura) where observing models being rewarded or punished reinforces or inhibits behavior in the observer. 

discriminative stimulus

in operant conditioning, a stimulus that gives a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement); especially shows us if things like babies and animals can differentiate between different things