Psychology 2000 | Chapter 6 | Biopsychology

reflex (stimulus)

automatic (ex: blinking)

instinct (stimulus)

birds flying south for winter

learning

is a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience

associative learning

occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment

classical conditioning

is a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events

stimulus

any event in the environment that produces a response, even if the response is as simple as noticing the stimulus occurred

operant conditioning

behavior becomes more or less likely to occur, depending on  consequences

unconditioned stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism

unconditioned response

a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus

conditioned stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

conditioned response

the behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus

respondent behavior

involuntary, reflex / unlearned behavior

neutral stimulus

stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response.

acquisition

act of gaining possession of something

forward conditioning

fast learning / ex: sound of opening a can tells your pets they are about to get fed

backward conditioning

slower learning / ex: once my cat starts eating their wet food, that’s where all their attention is.  They wouldn’t notice a conditioned stimulus if it occurred after they started eating

taste aversion

after you eat something and get sick of it you won’t go back to it

single-trial learning

only. takes one pairing

extinction

conditioned response decreases/disappears when conditioned stimulus no longer paired w/unconditioned stimulus (ex: Pavlov rang the bell, but no longer gave the dogs food after, they would eventually stop drooling to the sound of the tone alone)

spontaneous recovery

reappearance of conditioned response after a pause following extinction conditioned response not totally gone; just dormant

stimulus discrimination

differentiate between conditioned stimulus and other stimuli not paired with/unconditioned stimulus (ex: scared of roaches but not other bugs)

stimulus generalization

stimuli similar to conditioned stimulus can provoke conditioned response (ex: shape of chocolate is important)

habituation

decrease in responsiveness after repeated presentation of stimulus (ex: getting used to a certain smell after a while)

example of classic conditioning

little Albert

higher-order / second-order conditioning

pairing a new neutral stimulus w/conditioned stimulus / using conditioned stimulus to condition another stimulus / ex: cat associates can opener w/food; drools to can opener. later, associates squeaky drawer w/can opener

operant

any active behavior that operates on environment to generate consequences

thorndike’s law of effect

behaviors followed by consequences we do want will likely be repeated / behaviors followed by consequences we don’t want are not likely to be repeated

reinforcement

any consequence that increases likelihood behavior will be repeated

positive reinforcement

giving something they want after behavior / adding something to the situation that makes the behavior more likely to occur

negative reinforcement

removing something they don’t want from behavior / removing something from the situation that makes the behavior more likely to occur

punishment

any consequence that decreases frequency of behaviors

positive punishment

adding something they don’t want to decrease behavior / ex: lecturing child

negative punishment

taking away something they like to decrease behavior / ex: taking any tv

drawbacks to physical punishments

1. Changes are temporary

2. Does not give info on what is desired.

3. May produce fear, not learning

4.Teaching child that hitting others will get you what you want.

shaping

guiding behs to closer and closer approximations of beh you want to see

primary reinforcers

unlearned; are naturally reinforcing / ex: basic survival needs – food

secondary reinforcers

have to be learned / ex: liking money

immediate reinforcers

occur immediately after behavior / ex: vending machine

delayed reinforcers

occurs after a delay / ex: working out

reinforcement schedule

rule stating which instances of a behavior will be reinforced.

continuous reinforcement

desired behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs

partial reinforcement

response is reinfrocedted only part of the time

fixed-ratio (partial reinforcement)

behavior reinforced after a specified number of responses (predictable)

variable-ratio (4 partial reinforcement)

creates a high steady rate of responding.

fixed-interval (partial reinforcement)

behaviors reinforced after specified amount of time has passed

variable-interval (partial reinforcement)

behavior reinforced after unpredictable amount of time has passed

observational learning

learning by observing others

live model

individuals demonstrating or acting out a behavior (ex: yoga instructor leading a class)

verbal model

descriptions / explanations of behavior (ex: teacher in class)

symbolic model

real or fictional characters displaying hehaviors in books, films, television programs, or online media (ex: watching a yt video on how to cook a particular dish)

latent learning

not reflected in an immediate behavior change (ex: stop, drop, and roll)