AP Psychology - Unit 3B Test

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Learning Defined

• What is LEARNING?

• Relatively permanent change in behavior that is the result of experience

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Learning Defined

• What does “RELATIVELY PERMANENT” indicate?

• Rules out short-term changes

• “Relatively” - can go away under certain conditions (brain damage, concussions)

• Ex> something you learn in class sticks with you for the rest of your life

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Learning Defined

• What does “CHANGE IN BEHAVIOR” (or behavior potential) indicate?

• Behavior potential is included because learning is not always immediately obvious in behavior

• Learning could create the potential for a change in behavior when the conditions are right (e.g. an incentive is present)

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Learning Defined

• What does “EXPERIENCE” indicate?

• result of outside stimuli (nurture-based phenomenon)

• This rules out changes in behavior resulting from maturation

• Problem: How do you know what is the result of maturation vs. experience?

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Learning vs. Maturation

• What is MATURATION?

• new tasks accomplished as a result of biological development and NOT experience

• Maturation is generally seen as preparing a species to learn a skill rapidly

• Ex> crawling/walking doesn’t result from learning, but instead maturation

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Learning vs. Maturation

• Is it easy to separate experience from maturation?

• It is hard to separate experience from maturation and say something is purely learned or purely genetic.

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Carmichael Experiment

• Explain how Carmichael addressed the question, “Do salamanders learn to swim?”

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Associative Learning

• What is ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING?

• A simple form of learning in which we comprehend that certain events occur together

  • Ex> getting sprayed in the face and “can”

• Contrast with Cognitive Learning

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Associative Learning

• What are the different types?

• Habituation

• Sensitization

• Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning

• Operant (Instrumental/Skinnerian) Conditioning

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Habituation and Sensitization

• What is HABITUATION?

• Decreased response to a stimulus judged to be of little or no importance

  • brain is getting used to the stimulus and decides it’s not important anymore, person-to-person specific

• We engage in this type of learning so we can tune out unimportant stimuli and focus on what matters

• Ex> hearing the sound of train until 1AM in new apartment, eventually brain tunes the noise out; Mr. D’Elia birds

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Habituation and Sensitization

• What is SENSITIZATION?

• Increased response to a stimulus when we are anticipating an important stimulus

  • person-to-person specific

• We engage in this type of learning so we are prepared for dangerous situations

• Ex> able to tune out train at first, but gets increasingly annoying (brain thinks it’s important); at first, don’t understand importance of lockdown drill so continue coloring, but teacher tells you to go in corner and you become sensitized to lockdowns for the future; Mr. D’Elia’s roommate w/ birds

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Classical Conditioning

• What is CLASSICAL CONDITONING?

• Learning in which a response naturally caused by one stimulus comes to be elicited by a different, formerly neutral stimulus:

  • NATURALLY: must naturally flinch to getting sprayed in the face with water even without any words being said (otherwise the experiment wouldn't work)

1. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) → Unconditioned Response (UCR)

2. Neutral Stimulus (NS) + UCS → UCR

3. Conditioned Stimulus (CS) → Conditioned Response (CR)

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Classical Conditioning

• Who is IVAN PAVLOV?

• Accidentally discovered classical conditioning

• Also worked with conditioning a defensive reflex

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Classical Conditioning

• Explain how dog training works and connect it to the spray bottle demo.

• Dogs can associate the noise of opening a cabinet with food…

1. BEFORE CONDITIONING: Food would be put out in front of the dog, and the dog would start salivating.

   1. No teaching/learning required --> dog would automatically respond (unconditioned stimulus)

      1. Ex> our spray bottle = our unconditioned spray bottle because we didn't have to teach/learn the subject to flinch when sprayed in the face; our unconditioned response was flinching

2. BEFORE CONDITIONING: Take something that doesn't usually cause a response in the dog. Dogs don't usually salivate from a bell.

   1. Neutral Stimulus --> doesn't cause a natural response in the dog

      1. Ex> the word can = our neutral stimulus because the subject wouldn't normally flinch on the word can

3. DURING CONDITIONING: The bell is rung and then presents the food everyday. This tries to get the dog to learn that the bell means food is coming. Pavlov pairs the unconditioned stimulus with the neutral stimulus.

4. AFTER CONDITIONING: Remove the unconditioned stimulus, and the dog will have learned to associate the unconditioned stimulus with the conditioned stimulus. The dog is expecting food when it hears the bell.

   1. Ex> say "can" and don't get sprayed

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Classical Conditioning: Components

• What is an UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS)?

• A stimulus that naturally and automatically causes a specific response in an organism

• And example of a UCS would be a food

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Classical Conditioning: Components

• What is an UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UCR)?

• The response caused by a UCS

• The UCR is automatic and unlearned

• An example of a UCR is salivation in response to food

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Classical Conditioning: Components

• What is a CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS)?

• A formerly neutral stimulus (NS) that is paired with a UCS and eventually causes the desired response all by itself

• An example of a CS is the bell in Pavlov’s studies

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Classical Conditioning: Components

• What is an CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR)?

• The learned response to the CS

• An example is salivation in response to the bell

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Classical Conditioning in Humans

• Explain the “LITTLE ALBERT” EXPERIMENT.

• The “Little Albert” experiment (Watson) demonstrated a classically conditioned fear of white fluffy things

  • Albert comes in for a study and is shown a white rat. He doesn't initially respond to the rat (stares at it, looks at it)

  • Then, two pipes are banged behind his ear. He starts crying.

  • Then, they present the white rat and bang the pipes over and over again. The neutral system (white rat) is paired with the unconditioned stimulus (the loud noise).

  • This conditioned a fear of rats.

    • PHOBIAS… you have bad experiences with something that is technically harmful and associate them together

  • WATSON & RAYNER are the chief researchers in the baby albert study…

    • Not ethical today because you can actually cause damage to the ears/brain because they are so delicate but also the baby will leave the study with a fear of rats without intending to!

• Ex> throwing up after having a pina colada, so no longer drink pina coladas

• Elements:

  • UCS = loud noise

  • UCR = fear of noise

  • NS = white rat

  • CS = white rat

  • CR = fear of rat

(Unit 3B - Learning - Part 1) Spray Bottle Demo

• Identify the UCS, UCR, NS, CS, and CR.

• UCS = spray bottle

• UCR = flinching

• NS = “can”

  • usually same as CS

• CS = “can”

  • usually same as NS

• CR = flinching/anxiety in response to “can”