Conditioning and Learning

Learning

Any relatively permanent change in behavior that can be attributed to experience.

Associative learning

The formation of simple associations between various stimuli and responses.

Cognitive learning

Higher-level learning involving thinking, knowing, understanding, and anticipation.

Antecedents

Events that precede a response.

Consequences

Effects that follow a response.

Reflex

Innate, automatic response to a stimulus.

Classical conditioning

A form of learning in which reflex responses are associated with new stimuli.

Operant conditioning

Learning based on the positive or negative consequences of responding.

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Something that elicits a response without any prior experience.

Unconditioned response (UR)

Response to a stimulus that requires no previous experience.

Neutral stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that does not evoke a response.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Neutral stimulus that, through pairing with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to elicit a learned response.

Conditioned response (CR)

Learned reaction elicited by pairing an originally neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus.

Principles of Classical Conditioning:

Acquisition

The period in conditioning during which a response is reinforced.

Higher-order conditioning

Classical conditioning in which a conditioned stimulus is used to reinforce further learning.

Informational view (of conditioning)

A perspective that explains learning in terms of information imparted by events in the environment.

Expectancies

Anticipations concerning future events or relationships.

Extinction (classical conditioning)

Weakening of a learned response by repeatedly presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus.

Generalization

Tendency to respond to stimuli similar to a conditioned stimulus.

Discrimination

The learned ability to respond differently to similar stimuli.

Spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of a learned response after its apparent extinction.

Stimulus generalization

Tendency to respond to stimuli similar to a conditioned stimulus.

Stimulus discrimination

The learned ability to respond differently to similar stimuli.

Conditioned emotional response (CER)

An emotional response that has been linked to a previously nonemotional stimulus by classical conditioning.

Systematic desensitization

Method of reducing fear by gradually exposing people to the object of their fear.

Vicarious classical conditioning

Classical conditioning brought about by observing another person react to a particular stimulus.

Operant conditioning

Learning based on the positive or negative consequences of responding.

Law of effect

Responses that lead to desirable results are repeated while those that produce undesirable ones are not.

Reinforcement

Any event that increases the probability of responses it follows.

Operant conditioning chamber (Skinner box)

An apparatus designed to study operant conditioning in animals.

Response contingent

Occurring only after a response.

Superstitious behavior

A behavior repeated because it seems to produce reinforcement, even though it is actually unnecessary.

Response chain

A series of actions that eventually lead to reinforcement.

Shaping

Reinforcement of increasingly close approximations of a desired response.

Extinction (operant conditioning)

Weakening of a learned response when it is no longer followed by reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement

When a response is followed by a reward or other positive event.

Negative reinforcement

Strengthening a behavior by removing something unpleasant from the environment of the organism.

Positive punishment (punishment)

Any event that follows a response and decreases its likelihood of occurring again.

Negative punishment (response cost)

Removal of a positive reinforcer after a response is made.

Stimulus control

Stimuli present when an operant response is acquired tend to control when and where the response is made.

Operant stimulus generalization

The tendency to respond to stimuli similar to those that preceded reinforcement.

Operant stimulus discrimination

The tendency to make an operant response when stimuli previously associated with reward are present and to withhold the response when stimuli associated with non-reward are present.

Discriminative stimuli

Stimuli that precede rewarded and nonrewarded responses in operant conditioning.

Primary reinforcers

Nonlearned reinforcers; usually those that satisfy physiological needs.

Secondary reinforcement

Reward that organisms learn to like.

Secondary reinforcer

A learned reinforcer; often one that gains reinforcing properties by association with a primary reinforcer.

Token reinforcement (reinforcer)

A tangible secondary reinforcer such as money, gold stars, poker chips, and the like.

Social reinforcer (reinforcement)

Reinforcement based on receiving attention, approval, or affection from another person.

Continuous reinforcement

Pattern in which a reinforcer follows every correct response.

Partial reinforcement

Pattern in