Psychology of Learning Flashcards

A complete comprehensive vocabulary flashcard set reviewing key people, terms, and core concepts from classical conditioning, operant conditioning, observational learning, and cognitive perspectives.

Albert Bandura

Psychologist (b. 1925) who demonstrated observational learning through the classic Bobo doll experiment.

Marian Breland Bailey

Psychologist known for her work on animal behavior and learning, particularly in the context of operant conditioning.

John Garcia

Psychologist known for his research on taste aversion, demonstrating how certain associations can form quickly and persist over time.

Rosalie Rayner

Psychologist known for her work in behaviorism and the Little Albert experiment, which studied emotional responses in children.

Martin Seligman

Psychologist known for his work on positive psychology, learned helplessness, and well-being.

John Watson

Psychologist known for founding behaviorism and his research on classical conditioning, notably the Little Albert experiment.

Behavior Modification

The application of operant conditioning principles to reduce and eliminate problem behaviors.

Behaviorism

School of psychology and theoretical viewpoint that emphasizes the study of observable behaviors, especially as they pertain to the process of learning.

B. F. Skinner

Behaviorist (1904-1990) who coined the term operant, invented the operant chamber, and studied how behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences.

Biological Preparedness

The idea that an organism is innately predisposed to form associations between certain stimuli and responses.

Charles Henry Turner

Zoologist and civil rights leader (1867-1923) who extended Pavlov's work and conducted research showing that certain moths could hear.

Classical Conditioning

A learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaning or response through conditioning, typically involving the pairing of an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned, reflexive response to a conditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A formerly neutral stimulus that acquires the capacity to elicit a reflexive response.

Conditioning

The process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses, typically involving reinforcement or punishment.

Continuous Reinforcement

A schedule of reinforcement in which every occurrence of a particular response is reinforced.

Cognitive Map

Tolman's term for a mental representation of the layout of one's environment.

Conditioned Reinforcer

A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through association with a primary reinforcer, enhancing the likelihood of a desired behavior.

Discriminative Stimulus

A stimulus that signals the availability of reinforcement for a specific behavior, influencing the likelihood of that behavior being performed.

Edward L. Thorndike

Psychologist (1874-1949) who systematically investigated animal learning and voluntary behaviors, formulating the law of effect.

Edward C. Tolman

Cognitive psychologist (1898-1956) who demonstrated that cognitive processes play an important role in learning through cognitive maps and latent learning.

Extinction (in Classical Conditioning)

The gradual weakening and apparent disappearance of conditioned behavior when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

Extinction (in Operant Conditioning)

The gradual weakening and disappearance of conditioned behavior when an emitted response is no longer followed by a reinforcer.

Higher Order Conditioning (second-order conditioning)

A procedure in which an established conditioned stimulus functions as an unconditioned stimulus in a new conditioning trial, also known as second-order conditioning.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with the performance of an operantly conditioned response.

Ivan Pavlov

Physiologist (1849-1936) who discovered and studied the principles of classical conditioning.

Learned Helplessness

A phenomenon in which exposure to inescapable and uncontrollable aversive events produces passive behavior.

Learning Styles

The concept that individuals differ in the mode of instruction that is most effective for them, a popular belief that is not supported by scientific research.

Learning

The process of acquiring new knowledge or skills through experience, practice, or study. It involves changes in behavior and understanding as a result of these experiences.

Law of Effect

The principle stating that behaviors followed by favorable consequences are more likely to be repeated, while those followed by unfavorable consequences are less likely to occur.

Latent Learning

Learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement but is not behaviorally demonstrated until a reinforcer becomes available.

Mary Cover Jones

Psychologist who demonstrated that classical conditioning could be used to extinguish a very young child's fears.

Mirror Neurons

Brain cells that activate both when an individual performs a motor act and when they observe the same motor act performed by another.

Negative Punishment

A situation where an operant response is followed by the removal or subtraction of a reinforcing stimulus, weakening the response.

Negative Reinforcement

A situation where an operant response results in the removal of, avoidance of, or escape from an aversive stimulus, strengthening the response.

Observational Learning

A learning process in which individuals acquire new behaviors by watching and imitating others, without direct experience or reinforcement.

Operant

Skinner's term for any active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequences.

Operant Chamber (Skinner Box)

An experimental apparatus invented by B. F. Skinner to study the relationship between environmental events and active behaviors.

Operant Conditioning

The basic learning process that involves changing the probability that a response will be repeated by manipulating the consequences of that active, voluntary response.

Partial Reinforcement

A schedule of reinforcement in which occurrence of a particular response is only sometimes followed by a reinforcer.

Partial Reinforcement Effect

The phenomenon in which behaviors conditioned using partial reinforcement are more resistant to extinction than behaviors conditioned using continuous reinforcement.

Placebo Response

An individual's psychological and physiological response to what is actually a fake treatment or drug.

Positive Punishment

A situation where an operant response is followed by the presentation or addition of an aversive stimulus, weakening the response.

Positive Reinforcement

A situation where an operant response is followed by the addition of a reinforcing stimulus, strengthening the response.

Primary Reinforcer

A stimulus that is naturally reinforcing because it satisfies a biological need, such as food or water.

Punishment

The presentation or removal of a stimulus or event following a behavior that acts to decrease the likelihood of the behavior being repeated.

Reinforcement

The occurrence of a stimulus or event following a response that increases the likelihood of that response being repeated.

Robert A. Rescorla

Researcher (1940-2020) who demonstrated that classical conditioning involves learning relationships between events and that the CS must reliably predict the UCS.

Shaping

The operant conditioning procedure of selectively reinforcing successively closer approximations of a goal behavior until the goal behavior is displayed.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Preset arrangements of partial reinforcement (fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, variable-interval) that produce different patterns and rates of responding.

Spontaneous recovery

The reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a pause, indicating that the response was not completely forgotten.

Stimulus Discrimination

The occurrence of a learned response to a specific stimulus but not to other, similar stimuli.

Stimulus Generalization

The occurrence of a learned response not only to the original stimulus but also to other, similar stimuli.

Taste Aversion

A biologically prepared classical conditioning phenomenon where a subject avoids a taste associated with illness, which can occur after a single pairing.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The unlearned, reflexive response that is elicited by an unconditioned stimulus.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

The natural stimulus that reflexively elicits a response without the need for prior learning.