PSY 200 - Module 5 - Learning

Reflex

An automatic reaction to a stimulus that you’re born with, like blinking or sucking.

Instinct

A built-in, complex behavior triggered by life events or the environment, like migration or mating.

Learning

A lasting change in behavior or knowledge caused by experience.

Associative Learning

Learning by connecting events that occur together, forming patterns in your mind.

Classical Conditioning

Learning that links a neutral signal to something that naturally causes a response, like a bell predicting food.

Operant Conditioning

Learning by connecting actions to consequences; rewards increase behavior, punishments decrease it.

Observational Learning

Learning by watching others and imitating their behavior.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

Something that naturally triggers a reaction, like food causing salivation.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The automatic reaction to a UCS, like salivating at food.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that initially causes no reaction, like a bell before training.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that triggers a learned response after being paired with a UCS.

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned reaction to the CS, like salivating when hearing the bell.

Acquisition

The stage when a neutral stimulus starts producing a response because it’s paired with a UCS.

Extinction

When a CS stops causing a CR because it’s no longer paired with the UCS.

Spontaneous Recovery

When a CR reappears after a rest period, even after extinction.

Stimulus Generalization

Responding to stimuli similar to the CS, like fearing all furry animals after a white rat scared you.

Stimulus Discrimination

Learning to respond only to the CS and ignore similar stimuli.

Higher-Order Conditioning (Second-Order Conditioning)

Using a CS to teach a new stimulus to trigger the same response.

Habituation

Learning to ignore a repeated, unchanging stimulus, like constant background noise.

Reinforcement

A consequence that makes a behavior more likely to happen again.

Punishment

A consequence that makes a behavior less likely to happen again.

Behaviorism

The idea that psychology should study only observable behaviors, not thoughts or feelings.

Little Albert Experiment

Demonstrated that fear can be learned by pairing a neutral object with a scary event; showed stimulus generalization.

Taste Aversion

Avoiding a food after a single negative experience, even hours after eating it; an example of one-trial learning.

Key Idea

Reflexes and instincts are built-in, but learning comes from experience—through associations, consequences, or observing others.