AP PSYCHOLOGY UNIT 3: Learning Psychology Set I

Learning

the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviours

Habituation

an organism’s decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it

Stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response

Classical Conditioning

a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events

Neutral Stimulus

a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

Unconditioned Response

an unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus

Unconditioned Stimulus

a stimulus that unconditionally-naturally and automatically-triggers a response

Conditioned Response

a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus

Conditioned Stimulus

an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

Acquisition

when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response; the strengthening of a reinforced response

Extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus; occurs when a response is no longer reinforced

Spontaneous Recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response

Generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elect similar responses

Discrimination

the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

Operant Conditioning

a type of learning in which behaviour is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

Law of Effect

Thorndike’s principle that behaviours followed by favourable consequences become more likely, and that behaviours followed by unfavourable consequences become less likely

Reinforcement

any event that strengthens the behaviour it follows

Shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behaviours toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behaviour

Discriminative Stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement

Positive Reinforcement

increasing behaviours by presenting positive reinforcers