Chapter 5: Learning Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering core learning concepts including non-associative learning, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, reinforcement, punishment, and observational learning.

Learning

A relatively enduring change in behavior or knowledge as a result of experience.

Conditioning

The process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses.

Long-term potentiation (LTP)

The strengthening of synaptic connections between neurons that is involved in learning and memory.

Non-associative learning

A form of learning in which a person learns information about one external stimulus, such as a sight, smell, or sound.

Habituation

A decrease in behavioral response after lengthy or repeated exposure to a stimulus, reflecting the ability to ignore irrelevant, repetitive stimuli.

Sensitization

An increase in behavioral responsiveness as a result of repeated application of a stimulus or exposure to an aversive (undesirable) stimulus.

Associative Learning

Learning that occurs by understanding how two or more pieces of information, environmental events, or behaviors and outcomes are related.

Classical Conditioning

A basic learning process that involves repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with a response-producing stimulus until the neutral stimulus elicits the same response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that elicits an innate response and does not require any prior learning.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

A response that does not have to be learned, such as a reflex.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response to a conditioned stimulus.

Stimulus Generalization

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

Stimulus Discrimination

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

Extinction

The process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

The process in which a previously extinguished conditioned response reemerges after the conditioned stimulus is presented again.

Conditioned Emotional Response

An emotional response, such as fear or a phobia, that has become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli.

Counterconditioning

A technique that focuses on changing previously conditioned responses to stimuli by presenting the stimulus and pairing it with something enjoyable.

Systematic Desensitization

A type of counterconditioning that involves exposure to a feared stimulus combined with relaxation exercises.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

The development of a nausea or aversive response to a particular taste because that taste was followed by a nausea reaction, occurring after only one association.

Operant Conditioning

A learning process in which the consequences of an action determine the likelihood that the action will be repeated in the future.

Thorndike's Law of Effect

A psychological principle stating that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, while behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

Reinforcement

Any consequence that makes a response more likely to recur.

Positive Reinforcement

The addition of a pleasurable stimulus to increase the probability that a behavior will be repeated.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal, escape, or avoidance of an aversive stimulus to increase the probability that a behavior will be repeated.

Punishment

Any consequence that makes a response less likely to recur.

Positive Punishment

The addition of an unpleasant stimulus to decrease the probability that a behavior will recur.

Negative Punishment

The removal of a pleasurable stimulus to decrease the probability that a behavior will recur.

Shaping Behavior

An operant procedure of establishing a behavior in small steps by providing heavy early reinforcement, reinforcing less over time, and gradually incorporating harder steps.

Observational Learning

Learning or changing a behavior after watching a person engage in that behavior.

Modeling

The act of imitating a behavior seen in others.

Vicarious Conditioning

Learning to engage in a behavior, or not, after seeing others being rewarded or punished for performing that action.

Ivan Pavlov

Russian physiologist (1849-1936) who discovered classical conditioning through his research on reflexes, stimuli, and responses in dogs.

B. F. Skinner

Psychologist who studied observable voluntary behaviors (operants) and demonstrated how behavior is influenced by its consequences.

Albert Bandura

Psychologist (b. 1925) who contended that most human behavior is acquired through observational learning, as demonstrated in his classic Bobo Doll experiment.