Classical and Operant Conditioning Overview

Learning

The process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors.

Associative learning

Learning that certain events occur together.

Classical conditioning

Learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events.

Stimulus

Any event or situation that evokes a response.

Respondent behavior

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.

Habituation

An organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it.

Cognitive learning

Learning that involves mental processes and may occur without direct experience.

Ivan Pavlov

Main person who developed classical conditioning through digestion in dogs.

John B. Watson

His big focus is on behaviorism; urged psychologists to only focus on observable behavior and disregard thoughts and feelings.

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically evokes a response.

Unconditioned response (UR)

An unlearned, naturally occurring response to US.

Neutral stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that evokes no response before conditioning.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

A previously irrelevant stimulus (the NS) that comes to trigger a conditioned response AFTER association with the US.

Conditioned response (CR)

A learned response to a previously neutral, but now conditioned stimulus.

Acquisition

The initial stage of pairing when one links a NS and an US so that the NS comes to trigger a response.

Higher-order conditioning

Linking a new CS to a new NS, creating a second conditioned stimulus.

Extinction

The diminishing or elimination of a CR when the US does not follow the CS any longer.

Spontaneous recovery

After a pause, the reemergence of an extinguished CR.

Generalization

The tendency that once a response has been conditioned, similar stimuli will also elicit similar responses.

Discrimination

The learned ability to distinguish between a CS and stimuli that are different, and thus do not signal an US.

Conditioned Emotional Response

Pavlov's work provided a basis for Watson's idea that human emotions are mainly a bundle of conditioned responses.

Counterconditioning

Using classical conditioning to evoke new responses to stimuli that are triggering unwanted behaviors.

Operant conditioning

A type of learning in which a behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punishment.

B. F. Skinner

Picks up where Watson left off and becomes modern behaviorism's most influential figure.

Edward Thorndike's law of effect

Behaviors followed by pleasurable consequences will be repeated; behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences will NOT be repeated.

Operant chamber (Skinner box)

Contains a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food/water reinforcer.

Reinforcement

Any event that increases the frequency of a behavior (i.e. makes it happen again).

Shaping

Used to condition animals; reinforcers guide behavior through successive approximations and ignore other responses.

Discriminative stimulus

A stimulus that elicits a specific response after an association with reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement

A stimulus that increases the frequency of a behavior when presented after a response.

Negative reinforcement

A stimulus that increases the frequency of a behavior when removed after a response.

Primary reinforcers

Innately-reinforcing stimuli like food, water, warmth; those that satisfy a biological need.

Conditioned reinforcers

Stimuli that gain reinforcing power through association with a primary reinforcer.

Punishment

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

Positive punishment

A stimulus that decreases the frequency of a behavior when it is presented after the response.

Negative punishment

A stimulus that decreases the frequency of a behavior when it is removed after the response.

Drawbacks of (Physical) Punishment

1. Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. 2. Punishment teaches discrimination among situations. 3. Punishment can teach fear. 4. It may increase aggression by modeling violence as a way to cope with problems.

Reinforcement Schedules

Patterns that define how often a desired response will be reinforced.

Continuous reinforcement schedule

Rapidly reinforcing the behavior every time it occurs; best choice for mastering a behavior; however, extinction also occurs quickly.

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

Reinforcing a response only part of the time; learning is slower, but resistance to extinction is greater.

Fixed-ratio schedule

Reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses.

Variable-ratio schedule

Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

Fixed-interval schedule

Reinforces a response only after a specified period of time has elapsed.

Variable-interval schedule

Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals.

Skinner's critics

Critics believed his approach dehumanized people by neglecting their personal freedom and seeking to control their actions.

Superstitious behaviors

Whatever the athlete is doing at the time reinforcement is more likely to be repeated.

Biofeedback

A system for electronically recording amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension.

Spontaneous recovery

The reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished CR.

Generalization

The tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS.

Discrimination

Learning to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal a US.

Acquisition

The initial stage of learning when a response is first established.

Extinction

Responding decreases when reinforcement stops.