Psych Exam 4

learning

a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience

conditioning

process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses

stimulus

a event or occurrence that generally leads to a response

habituation

a basic form of learning evident when an organism does not respond as strongly or as often to an event following multiple exposures to it

animal research

many principles of learning have come from this

learning

refers to 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

classical conditioning

explains how certain stimuli can trigger an automatic response

classical conditioning

only deals with reflex

operant conditioning

useful in understanding how we acquire new, voluntary actions;

shaped and maintained by their consequences

operant conditioning

only deals with voluntary behavior

observational learning

when we acquire new behaviors by observing the action of others

observational learning

involves both types of behavior (classical and operant)

Ivan Pavlov

accidentally discovered classical conditioning

behaviorism

psychology should be an objective science (study behaviors without taking mental processes into account; should be measurable and observable, NOT subjective)

Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner

psychologists who believed in behaviorism

classical conditioning

a type of learning where we learn to associate two stimuli and anticipate events

classical conditioning

repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with a response-producing stimulus until the neutral stimulus elicits the response

John B. Watson

took Pavlov’s experiment to a realistic level with Little Albert

John B. Watson

argued that the goal of psychology was to observe and predict behavior

basic principle of classical conditioning

pairing a neutral stimulus with an unlearned, natural stimulus that automatically elicits a reflexive response

unconditioned stimulus

natural stimulus that reflexively elicits a response without the need for prior learning (the food in Pavlov’s experiment)

unconditioned response

unlearned, reflexive response that is elicited by an unconditioned stimulus (salivating when presented with food in Pavlov’s experiment)

conditioned stimulus

formerly neutral stimulus that acquires the capacity to elicit a reflexive response (the bell in Pavlov’s experiment)

conditioned response

learned, reflexive response to a conditioned stimulus (dogs salivating to the bell)

acquisition

the initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship

NS; US; CR

as the __ and __ are paired more often, the __ becomes stronger

factors that affect conditioning

timing, stimulus generalization, stimulus discrimination, higher order/second order conditioning

conditioned stimulus is presented 1/2-few seconds before unconditioned stimulus

when is conditioning most effective?

stimulus generalization

the occurrence of a learned response not only to the original stimulus but to other similar stimulus as well (ie: conditioned to salivate to a low-pitched tone, a dog will also salivate to a slightly higher-pitched tone)

higher order/second order conditioning

procedure in which a conditioned stimulus from one learning trial functions as the unconditioned stimulus in a new conditioning trial (ie: pairing a metronome and a shock causes a dog to be scared of the metronome. then pairing a bell with the metronome makes the dog fear the bell)

stimulus discrimination

the occurrence of a learned response to a specific stimulus but not to other similar stimuli (ie: give a dog some food following a high-pitched tone but not to low-pitched tone. the dog learns to salivate to higher-pitched tone but not to low-pitched tone)

higher order/second order conditioning

stimulus comes to elicit the conditioned response even though it was never directly paired with the unconditioned stimulus

extinction

Gradual weakening and apparent disappearance of conditioned behavior

when does extinction occur in classical conditioning?

when conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without unconditioned stimulus

spontaneous recovery

Reappearance of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a period without exposure to conditioned stimulus

Rescorla and Wagner

who expanded classical conditioning to include the role of cognition and the mind?

why an animal can learn the PREDICTABILITY of an event

Rescorla and Wagner’s research explained what?

classical conditioning occurs when an animal has set up an EXPECTANCY or awareness of an event

what did Rescorla and Wagner find?

Pavlovian conditioning

Rescorla viewed THIS as a sophisticated and sensible mechanism by which organisms represent the world

reliable signal that predicts presentations of unconditioned stimulus

conditioned stimulus must be a…

active processing of information

animals assess the predictive value of stimuli

Rescorla-Wagner model of classical conditioning

CS serves to set up an expectation. expectation in turn leads to an array of behaviors associated with the presence of the CS

demonstrate the importance of natural behavior patterns influenced by evolution; ADAPTIVE VALUE

what do conditioned taste aversions do?

classically conditioned dislike and avoidance of food occurs when…

an organism becomes ill after eating the food; SURVIVAL VALUE; violates standard conditioning model

standard conditioning model

needs more than one pairing, time between CS and UCS must be fairly small

biological preparedness

an organism is innately predisposed to form associations between certain stimuli and responses

Seligman

Phobias seem to be quite selective Humans biologically prepared to develop fears of objects or situations, such as snakes, spiders, and heights- that may have once posed a threat to humans

Bregman

Unable to produce a conditioned fear response to wooden blocks and curtains

Ohman and Mineka

Because poisonous snakes, reptiles, and insects have been associated with danger throughout the evolution of mammals, there is an evolved “fear module” in the brain that is highly sensitized to such evolutionary relevant stimuli

major figures of operant conditioning

Edward Lee Thorndike and BF Skinner

Edward Thorndike’s experiment

cat experiment- learned how to open hatch of puzzle box for food; led to Law of Effect

Law of Effect

Thorndike- Responses followed by a satisfying effort become strengthened and are more likely to recur in a particular situation; Responses followed by a dissatisfying effect are weakened and less likely to recur in a particular situation

Law of Effect (definition)

behaviors change as a result of consequences

BF Skinner

Radical Behaviorism (psychology should restrict itself to siding only phenomena that could be objectively measured and verified- outwardly observable behavior and environmental events); Believed that internal thoughts, beliefs, emotions, or motives could not be used to explain behavior

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BF Skinner

who coined the term “operant?”

operant

any active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequences

shaping

reinforcers are used to change behaviors toward a more complex behavior

Skinner; taught his pigeons to perform behaviors involving a series of actions, like bowling and tennis

who used shaping?

primary reinforcer

a stimulus that is inherently reinforcing for a species (biological necessities)

Conditioned (secondary) reinforcer

a stimulus that has acquired reinforcing value by being associated with a primary reinforcer (ie: money)

overjustification effect

circumstances when external rewards can undermine the intrinsic satisfaction of performing a behavior

positive reinforcement

response is strengthened because something is ADDED

negative reinforcement

response is strengthened because something is being SUBTRACTED OR REMOVED

aversive stimuli

involve physical or psychological discomfort an organism seeks to escape or avoid

Behaviors are said to be negatively reinforced when they let you either:

Escape aversive stimuli that are already present or avoid aversive stimuli before they occur

punishment

Process in which a behavior is followed by an aversive consequence that decreases the likelihood of behavior being repeated

two types of punishment identified by Skinner

positive punishment and negative punishment

positive punishment

a situation in which an operant is followed by presentation or addition of an aversive stimulus; also called PUNISHMENT BY APPLICATION

negative punishment

a situation in which an operant is followed by the removal or subtraction of a reinforcing stimulus; also called PUNISHMENT BY REMOVAL

alternatives to punishment

reinforce an incompatible behavior, stop reinforcing the problem behavior, reinforce the nonoccurrence of the problem behavior, remove the opportunity to obtain positive reinforcement

discriminative stimuli

Specific stimulus in the presence of which a particular operant is more likely to be reinforced

discriminative stimuli

what is effective through learned association with primary reinforcers?

shaping

operant conditioning procedure of selectively reinforcing successive approximations of a goal behavior is displayed

explain how people acquire a wide variety of abilities and skills

Skinner believed that shaping could…

generalization

applying a new behavior to similar situations

superstitious behavior

rare or odd behaviors may be repeated if they are accidentally reinforced, which may lead to mistaken beliefs regarding causal relationships

extinction

gradual weakening and disappearance of conditioned behavior

continuous reinforcement

what did early work by Skinner use?

continuous reinforcement

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

early conditioning or shaping a new behavior

what does continuous reinforcement work best for?

partial reinforcement

behaviors that are conditioned using partial reinforcement are more resistant to extinction than behaviors that are conditioned using continuous reinforcement

more consistent responses and behavior more resistant to extinction

what does moving from continuous reinforcement to partial reinforcement lead to?

fixed-ratio schedules

reinforce behavior after a set number of responses; high rates of responding

variable-ratio schedules

reinforce behavior after an unpredictable number of responses; high rates of responding; very difficult to extinguish

fixed-interval schedules

reinforce first response after a fixed time period; produces a choppy stop-start pattern of responding

variable-interval schedules

reinforce the first response after varying time intervals; produces slow steady response; most difficult extinction of response

buy 10 coffees, get 11th free

fixed-ratio

slot machine gambling

variable-ratio

checking for snail mail, cramming for a test

fixed-interval

variable-interval

checking for email

nucleus accumbens

what do heavily liked photos (especially ones posted themselves) showed heightened activity in what part of the brain?

drug-seeking behaviors and overeating

the nucleus accumbens has been implicated in what behaviors?

behavior modification

An application of learning principles to help people and animals develop more effective or adaptive behavior

demonstrated that animals learn a cognitive map of a maze, not a series of responses

Tolman

cognitive map

mental representation of the layout of a familiar environmentl

latent learning

occurs in the absence of reinforcement, but is not demonstrated until a reinforcer is available

operant conditioning involves a cognitive representation of the relationship between a behavior and its consequence

what did Tolman believe?

learned helplessness

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

Seligman

who explored learned helplessness?