AP Psychology Unit 6: Learning Guide 1

Habituation

The sensory process by which organisms adapt to constant stimulation.

Associative Leanring

Occurs when one piece of information from the environment is linked repeatedly with another two times such as classical and operant conditioning.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response.

Condition Stimulus (CS)

An originally irrelevant stimulus that after association with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) comes to trigger a response.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (UCS).

Conditioned Response

The learned response to a previously neutral stimulus.

Acquisition

The phase where the neutral stimulus is associated with the unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit the conditioned response like a baby learning a moms smile which leads to the conditioned response of the baby understanding it means happiness.

High-Order Conditioning

A classical conditioning procedure where a previously established conditioned stimulus (CS1) acts as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to condition a new neutral stimulus (NS), creating a secondary, often weaker, conditioned response (CR) without directly using the original food/pain reward.

Extinction

It will eventually happen when the unconditioned stimulus does not follow the conditioned stimulus, like how you forget to get hungry at 1:55 or 12:16 on the weekends.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance after a rest period of an extinguished conditioned response like forgetting about your alarm during the summer and when school starts back up, the startle returns.

Generalization

The process whereby information or response learned in one particular context can be applied to other like a cat getting scared of one loud sound later gets scared from all loud sounds.

Discrimination

The learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that does not signal conditioned stimulus like the ability to recognize the footsteps and distinguish one from the other to help determine who’s coming up the steps.

Taste Aversion a.k.a Garcia Effect

A learned avoidance of a specific food or flavor after a single negative experience.

Operant Conditioning

Learning that occurs through the rewards and punishments that follow voluntary behavior.

Law of Effect

Principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors follows by unfavorable consequence becomes less likely.

Shaping

A method of gradually teaching a new behavior by reinforcing actions that get closer to the desired outcome.

Successive Approximations

Incremental steps or gradual refinements leading to a final, complex goal.

Positive Reinforcement

Strengthened a response by adding a desired stimulus after a response.

Negative Reinforcement

Strengthens a response by taking away an unpleasant stimulus.

Positive Punishment

Decreases a response by adding an unwanted stimulus after a response.

Negative Punishment

Decreases a response by taking away a desired stimulus.

Primary Reinforcer

An innately reinforcing stimulus such as one that satisfies a biological need like sex.

Secondary (conditioned) Reinforcer

A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with primary reinforcing.

Fixed Ratio

Reinforcing a response only after a specific number of responses or instances like eating four spoonfuls of dinner before you can not eat anymore.

Fixed Interval

Reinforcing a response only after a specific time or amount of time has elapsed like the lunch bell ringing after a certain amount of time at 1;55.

Variable Ratio

Reinforcing a response after an unpredictable number of responses or instances like gambling.

Variable Interval

Reinforcing a response after unpredictable time intervals like pop quizzes.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns.

Learned Helplessness

A psychological state where individuals stop trying to change negative, uncontrollable situations, even when opportunities for change arise.

Latent Learning

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demon it.

Insight

A sudden realization of a problems solution(s).

Observational Learning a.k.a social learning

Learning by observing others.

Modeling

The process of observing and limiting a specific behavior.