AP Psychology Unit 5: Learning

Learning

• long-lasting change in behavior resulting from experience

• can best be measured through changes in behavior

Classical conditioning

type of learning where people and animals can learn to associate neutral stimuli (ex: sound) with stimuli that produce reflexive, involuntary responses (ex: food) and will learn to respond similarly to the new stimulus as they did to the old one (ex: salivate).

Neutral stimuli

stimuli that only focuses attention

Unconditioned stimulus/US/UCS

original stimulus that elicits a natural, reflexive response

Unconditioned response/UR/UCR

the natural response elicited from the unconditioned stimulus

Conditioned response/CR

the learned response to a previously neutral stimulus

Conditioned stimulus/CS

the originally irrelevant stimulus that now triggers a conditioned response after association with an unconditioned stimulus

Ivan Pavlov

Prior to dogs being Fed Meat a Clicking Noise occurred.

1. Dogs started salivating after awhile when the click occurred, prior to the meat being given

2. Dogs salivated whenever Click happened, even if there was no meat

3. Salivating became a Conditioned Association

Acquisition

• The cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge

• the acquiring of a new behavior that occurs once one responds to the CS without the US present

Delayed conditioning

acquisition with the presentation of the CS followed by the US

Trace conditioning

acquisition with the presentation of the CS, followed by a short break, followed by the presentation of the US

Simultaneous conditioning

acquisition with the presentation of the CS and the US at the same time

Backward conditioning

acquisition with the US presented first, followed by the CS

Extinction

the process of unlearning a behavior, achieved when the CS no longer elicits the CR

Spontaneous recovery

phenomenon where the CR briefly reappears upon presentation of the CS after a CR has been extinguished and no further training has taken place

Generalization

the tendency to respond to similar CS'

Discrimination

the ability to tell the difference between various stimuli

Little Albert

• John Watson

• Baby was shown the stuffed animals while a loud noise was banged next to his head

• Became scared of animals

• The loud noise is the US because it elicits the involuntary, natural response of fear (UR)

• The rat is the US that becomes the Cs, and the CR is crying in response to presentation of the rat alone

Aversive conditioning

conditioning to avoid the US

Second-order/Higher-order conditioning

the brief use of a CS as a US to elicit a new stimulus (only possible once a CS elicits a CR)

Ex. By using a dog and a bell as our example, after the dog salivates to the bell (first-order conditioning), the bell can be paired repeatedly with a flash of light, and the dogs will salivate to the light alone (second-order conditioning). Even though the light has never been paired with the food.

Learned taste aversions

the aversion developed to certain foods due to illness after ingestion

Salient stimuli

easily noticeable stimuli

Taste aversions

• John Garcia

• Can learn association between taste and nausea even hours after eating

• Adaptive for survival

• Challenged idea that pairing must be immediate

• Examples: Problems for chemotherapy

• Binge Drinkers and tequila

Garcia effect

the ease with which animals learn taste aversions that occurs whenever nausea is paired with food or drink

Operant conditioning

type of learning based on the association of consequences with behaviors

• Edward Thorndike

Law of Effect

law that states that if consequences to a behavior are pleasant, the stimulus-response connection will be strengthened, increasing the likelihood of that behavior; if consequences to a behavior are unpleasant, the stimulus-response connection will weaken, lessening the likelihood of that behavior

Skinner Box

a box that delivers food to animals with a lever to press or disk to peck

Reinforcer

any event that makes the behavior more likely to occur

Reinforcement

the process of reinforcing a behavior

Positive reinforcement

the addition of something to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring

Negative reinforcement

the removal of something to increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring

Escape learning

the termination of an aversive stimulus

Avoidance learning

the avoidance of an aversive stimulus

Punishment

anything that makes a behavior less likely to occur

• Most effective if it is delivered immediately after the unwanted behavior and if it is harsh.

Positive punishment (usually referred to as punishment)

the addition of something unpleasant to make a behavior less likely to occur

Omission training/negative punishment

the removal of something pleasant to make a behavior less likely to occur

Shaping

technique that reinforces the small steps used to reach the desired behavior

Ex. first we might reinforce the rat for going to the side of the box with the lever. Then we might reinforce the rat for touching the lever with any part of its body.

Chaining

technique that links together separate behaviors into a complex activity

Primary reinforcers

• Reinforcers that have an innate basis because of their biological value to an organism

• Anything we naturally want

• Ex. Food

• Sleep

• Sex

• Air

• Water

Secondary reinforcers

• Stimuli that acquire their reinforcing power by their learned association with primary reinforcers

• Money

• Awards

• Praise

• Grades

• Success

• Power

• Virtually any stimulus can

Generalized Reinforcer

Can be traded for anything

Ex. money

Token economy

system that uses tokens as rewards for performing desired behaviors

Premack principle

principle that states that more probable behaviors can be used to reinforce less probable behaviors

Continuous reinforcement

the reward of a desired behavior continuously

Partial-reinforcement schedules

the reward of a desired behavior intermittently

Partial-reinforcement effect

the phenomenon where behaviors will be more resistant to extinction if not reinforced continuously

Fixed-ratio schedule (FR)

schedule that requires a set number of responses before a response results in reinforcement

Variable-ratio schedule (VR)

schedule that varies the number of responses before a response results in reinforcement

Fixed-interval schedule (FI)

schedule that requires that a certain amount of time elapses before a response will result in reinforcement

Variable-interval schedule (VI)

schedule that varies the amount of time that elapses before a response will result in reinforcement

Ex. The rat will be reinforced for the first response made after an average of three minutes

Variable vs. Fixed

Variable schedules are more resistant to extinction than fixed schedules, and all partial reinforcement schedules are more resistant to extinction than continuous reinforcement.

Ratio vs. Interval

Ratio schedules typically result in higher response rates than interval schedules

Instinctive drift

the tendency for animals to forgo rewards to pursue their typical patterns of behavior

Cognitive learning

type of learning that depends on processes not directly observable that argues conditioning has a cognitive component

Contiguity model (V1)

-Ivan Pavlov model

-postulates that the more times things are paired, the greater the learning that will take place

Contingency model (V2)

-Robert Rescorla

-model that postulates that A is contingent upon B when A depends on B and vice versa

Observational learning/modeling

-Albert Bandura

-type of learning that occurs through the observation of a behavior (two parts: observation and imitation)

-Bobo doll experiment

Latent learning

-Edward Tolman

-type of learning that becomes obvious only once reinforcement is given for demonstrating it

Abstract learning

type of learning that involves understanding concepts rather than learning simply to secure a reward

Insight learning

-Wolfgang Kohler

-type of learning that occurs when one suddenly realizes how -to solve a problem