psych - unit 6: learning

learning

acquiring new info and/or behaviors

associative learning

associating 2 events (2 stimuli or response + consequence) that occur together

who introduced the term "behaviorism"? what did he believe the focus of psychology should be?

john b watson. believed it should be on observable behavior.

figure most associated w/ development of classical conditioning?

ivan pavlov

classical conditioning

learning thru linking of 2 stimuli

what did Pavlov discover during his studies of salivary response that caused him to conduct his studies in classical conditioning?

noticed that dogs associated food w/ stimuli paired w/ feeding. they would drool cus of the stimuli, even w/o food

what was pavlov criticized for ignoring?

role of thoughts + emotions

unconditioned stimulus (US)

stimulus that naturally triggers the UR

unconditioned response (UR)

naturally occurring response triggered by US

conditioned stimulus

triggers the CR after the CS is associated w/ NS. same as NS, just before + after learning

conditioned response

learned response triggered by CS

generalization

stimuli similar to CS trigger similar CR

discrimination

being able to differentiate CS + other stimuli

extinction

CR slowly goes away because it’s not conditioned enough. unlearning CS + CR

spontaneous recovery

CR reappears after some time passes from when you hear it

what was shown in Garcia and Koelling’s research?

time between CS + US may be long, but can still have conditioning. biologically adaptive CS (taste) led to conditioning, not others (light or taste) also taste aversion

according to Skinner, what controls human behavior?

reinforcements + punishments

what is the Law of Effect and who made it?

Edward Thorndike. rewarded behavior is more likely to occur again.

operant conditioning

strengthening behavior thru reinforcement or decreasing behavior thru punishment.

operant v classical conditioning

operant: voluntarily doing the behavior, rewarded or punished. classical: reflexive + autmoatic response

who developed the theory of operant conditioning?

skinner

what is a skinner box? (aka operant chamber)

chamber that has a bar/key that an animal can use to get a primary reinforcer (food or water); attached devices record animals rate of bar pressing or key pecking

experiment: put rat in chamber and make it do stuff to push t=lever/button more often bc of behavioral signal

shaping

process where reinforcers guide behavior closer towards desired behavior

successive approximation

reinforcing steps of desired behavior to get to goal; teach in small increments

primary reinforcer

innately reinforcing stimulus (food, water)

secondary reinforcer

learned reinforcer through association w/ primary reinforcer (grades)

positive v negative reinforcement

positive: giving something to increase a behavior. negative: taking away something to increase a behavior

punishment v reinforcement

punishment decreases a behavior, reinforcement increases a behavior

pros + cons of immediate reinforcers

more motivation, but more prone to extinction

pros + cons of delayed reinforcers

more resistant to extinction, takes a while to link?

what was skinner criticized for discounting?

inner thought processes + biological underpinnings

latent learning

learning that happens but is not obvious until there is an incentive to show it. IMPORTANT IN TOLMAN’S RESEARCH

edward tulman’s research

animals that never got reinforced kinda got better, animals that were reinforced the entire way consistently got better, rats that weren’t rewarded until last day did just as good as continuously reinforced rats cus they had a cognitive map of the maze

who is albert bandura and what famous research study is he responsible for?

psychologist, Bobo doll study (show kids a boxing match and give them bobo dolls. kids would beat it up)