AP Psych Unit 3 Review

Behavioral Perspective

Focuses on observable behaviors and the ways they're learned.

Associative Learning

Learning that involves connecting certain stimuli or events that occur together in the environment.

Habituation

Decreased response to a repeated stimulus over time.

Classical Conditioning

A learning process that pairs a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response until the neutral stimulus alone elicits that response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without conditioning.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

The natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

• A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus that becomes conditioned.

Acquisition

The initial stage in classical conditioning during which association between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus is learned.

Extinction

The diminishing of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus no longer follows the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.

Stimulus Discrimination

Learning to respond only to the original stimulus, and not to other similar stimuli.

Stimulus Generalization

The tendency to respond to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus.

Higher-Order Conditioning

A procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus.

Counterconditioning

A behavior therapy procedure that uses classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors.

Taste Aversion

The intense dislike and/or avoidance of particular foods that have been associated with nausea or discomfort.

One-Trial Conditioning

Conditioning that occurs with only one pairing of a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus.

Biological Preparedness

The propensity of living beings to learn certain associations, such as taste and nausea, with only one or few pairings due to the survival value of the learning.

Operant Conditioning

A method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior.

The Law of Effect

Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

Reinforcement

In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

Primary Reinforcers

Events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs.

Secondary Reinforcers

Events that acquire reinforcing qualities through their association with primary reinforcers.

Reinforcement Discrimination

Occurs when an organism learns to make a response in the presence of one stimulus but not another.

Reinforcement Generalization

The spread of a response to stimuli similar to the one that was conditioned.

Punishment

An event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows.

Positive Reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food.

Negative Reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock.

Positive Punishment

The administration of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring.

Negative Punishment

The removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability of a behavior's recurring.

Shaping

A conditioning paradigm used primarily in the experimental analysis of behavior.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that interfere with a conditioned response.

Superstitious Behavior

Behavior that increases in frequency because its occurrence is accidentally paired with the delivery of a reinforcer.

Reinforcement Schedules

A rule stating which instances of a behavior will be reinforced.

Continuous Reinforcement

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

Partial Reinforcement

Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement.

Fixed Interval

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed.

Variable Interval

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.

Fixed Ratio

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

Variable Ratio

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

Learned Helplessness

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.

Social Learning Theory

The theory that we learn social behavior by observing and imitating and by being rewarded or punished

Vicarious Conditioning

Learning that occurs through observing the reactions of others to an environmental stimulus.

Insight Learning

A form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden insight into or understanding of a problem’s solution.

Latent Learning

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

Cognitive Maps

A mental representation of the layout of one's environment.