Psy 101 Chapter 6

Based on the book Psychology in Your Life 4th Edition

Behaviorism

A school of thought that emphasizes the role of environmental forces in producing behavior.

Learning

A change in behavior resulting from experience.

Habituation

A decrease in behavioral response after lengthy or repeated exposure to a stimulus.

Sensitization

An increase in behavioral response after lengthy or repeated exposure to a stimulus.

Classical conditioning

A type of learned response in which a neutral object comes to elicit a response when it is associated with a stimulus that already produces a response.

Conditioned response (CR)

A response to a conditioned stimulus; a response that has been learned.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

A stimulus that elicits a response only after learning has taken place.

Unconditioned response (UR)

A response that does not have to be learned, such as some reflexes.

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

A stimulus that elicits an innate response and does not require any prior learning.

Acquisition

The gradual formation of an association between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli.

Extinction

A process in which the conditioned response is weakened when the conditioned stimulus is repeated without the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous recovery

A process in which a previously extinguished response reemerges after the conditioned stimulus is presented again.

Stimulus discrimination

Learning that differentiates between two similar stimuli when only one of them is consistently associated with the unconditioned stimulus.

Stimulus generalization

Learning that occurs when stimuli that are similar but not identical to the conditioned stimulus produce the conditioned response.

Operant conditioning

A learning process in which an action's consequences determine how likely an action is to be performed in the future.

Operant

An action that is performed on an environment and has consequences.

Reinforcer

A consequence of an action that affects the likelihood of the action being repeated in the future.

Negative punishment

The removal of a stimulus to decrease the probability that a behavior will recur.

Negative reinforcement

The removal of a stimulus to increase the probability that a behavior will be repeated.

Positive punishment

The addition of a stimulus to decrease the probability that a behavior will recur.

Positive reinforcement

The addition of a stimulus to increase the probability that a behavior will be repeated.

Fixed interval (FI) schedule

Reinforcing the occurrence of a particular behavior after a predetermined amount of time since the last reinforcement.

Variable interval (VI) schedule

Reinforcing the occurrence of a particular behavior after an unpredictable and varying amount of time since the last reinforcement.

Fixed ratio (FR) schedule

Reinforcing a particular behavior after that behavior has occurred for a predetermined number of times.

Variable ratio (VR) schedule

Reinforcing a particular behavior after the behavior has occurred for an unpredictable and varying number of times.

Partial-reinforcement extinction effect

The greater persistence of behavior under partial reinforcement than under continuous reinforcement.

Behavior modification

Using operant conditioning to solve specific behavior problems by reinforcing desirable behaviors and/or punishing undesirable behaviors.

Cognitive map

A visual-spatial mental representation of an environment.

Latent learning

Learning that takes place in the absence of reinforcement.

Observational learning

The acquisition or modification of a behavior after exposure to at least one performance of that behavior.

Modeling

Demonstrating a behavior to imitate a behavior that was previously observed.

Prosocial

Acting in ways that tend to benefit others.

Vicarious conditioning

Learning the consequences of an action by watching others being reinforced or punished for performing the action.