AP Psych Unit 7 (Learning)

learning

process of acquiring new+relatively enduring information or behaviors through experience

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together (two stimuli or a response and its consequence)

conditioning

process of learning an association

pavlov’s experiments

measuring dog’s saliva by first using meat UCS to get UCR salivation and then pairing meat UCS with bell CS to get CS salivation

classical conditioning

we learn to associate two stimuli + thus respond automatically

stimulus

any event/situation that evokes a response

John B Watson Little Albert experiment

UCR- loud noise → UCR- fear

UCR loud noise + neutral bunny → fear

CS bunny → CR fear

counter conditioning/desensitization

reverse classical conditioning

operant conditioning

associate a voluntary response with a consequence

Edward thorndike’s law of effect

behaviors followed by favorble consequences are more likely to occur than behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences

B.F. Skinner’s idea

use reinforcements/punishments to get people to do something

shaping

reinforcers gradually guide an animal’s actions toward a desired behavior (reward as they get closer to goal)

reinforcers

any event that strengthens a behavior

positive reinforcer

adding something

negative reinforce

taking something away

punishment

any event that decreases a behavior’s frequency

positive punishment

giving something bad

negative punishment

taking away something good

primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus (satisfies biological need)

secondary/conditional reinforcer

stimulus gains reinforcing power through association w/ primary reinforcer (have to learn it has meaning)

token economy

reward symbolizing movement towards goal (the actual reinforcer) ex- get sticker if do HW, 10 stickers = prize

process of extinction

behavior is no longer reinforced so its frequency decreases and eventually ceases

schedules of reinforcement

how often a behavior is reinforced

continuous reinforcement

reinforce behavior after each instance

quickest way to learn new behavior

once stopped, quickest extinction of behavior

intermittent reinforcement

responses are reinforced only some of the time

longer lasting behaviors w/ fewer reinforcements

ratio reinforcement schedule

based on number of responses

interval reinforcement schedule

based on elapsed time

fixed ratio

reinforcement given after specific # of responses

variable ratio

behavior is reinforced after average # of responses

fixed interval

reinforcement given after set period of time

variable interval

reinforcement given after different amounts of Time that amount to a certain average

acquisition

learning occurs in classical conditioning- neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus

generalization

CS gets confused with other stimuli

discrimination

learn that it’s only specific stimuli

spontaneous recovery

response comes back strong after it’s been extinguished

higher order conditioning

do learning with new neutral stimulus paired with CS without pairing new stimulus with original UCS