AP Psych Learning Vocabulary

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behavior resulting from experience or practice.

Behaviorists

Adhering to the behavioral perspective, theorized that thoughts or cognition played no role in the study of behavior.

Conditioning

A key psychological process that involves learning new behaviors, changing existing ones, or stopping unwanted ones by forming connections between stimuli and responses.

Stimulus

Any event or situation that evokes response from an organism.

Response

The actions or behavior that is triggered by the stimulus.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning that links a neutral stimulus to another stimulus that elicits a natural or involuntary response in a given organism.

Associative Learning

A learning mode in which ideas and experiences are mentally linked and thereby reinforce each other.

Acquisition

The formation of a learned association.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US or UCS)

Any stimulus that causes an automatic response, such as the presentation of food to dogs.

Unconditioned Response (UR or UCR)

Behavior that is a reflexive response to a stimulus.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Former stimulus that eventually causes a response because it has been paired with the UCS.

Conditioned Response (CR)

Behavior that is considered a reflex or response to a CS.

Stimulus Discrimination

A response to only the specific stimulus that has been conditioned.

Stimulus Generalization

A response to another stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus.

Extinction

The conditioned stimulus becoming a neutral stimulus, causing no particular response.

Spontaneous Recovery

Reappearance of the stimulus-response suddenly and seemingly without cause.

Counterconditioning

Involves introducing a series of stimuli similar to a person's phobia.

Taste Aversion

A unique conditioned response that occurs after a single pairing of an illness with eating a specific food.

Biological Preparedness

The notion that evolutionary mechanisms have hardwired animals to swiftly establish connections between specific stimuli and responses.

Habituation

The process by which an organism becomes accustomed to a repeated stimulus, resulting in a decreased response over time.

Law of Effect

States that any behavior followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated.

Superstitious Behaviors

Actions that are randomly tied to good results.

Learned Helplessness

A mental state in which an organism continues to experience a painful stimulus.

Reinforcement

A consequence that increases the likelihood of a behavior occurring again.

Punishment

A consequence that decreases the likelihood of a behavior occurring again.

Primary Reinforcement

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

Secondary Reinforcement

Learned through association.

Positive Reinforcement

A pleasant consequence that increases the likelihood of repeating a behavior.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of an unpleasant stimulus to increase a behavior.

Positive Punishment

Adding an unpleasant stimulus to reduce a behavior.

Negative Punishment

The removal of a pleasant stimulus to decrease or eliminate a specific behavior.

Reinforcement Discrimination

The ability to distinguish between situations in which a behavior will be reinforced.

Reinforcement Generalization

Occurs when a behavior that has been reinforced in one situation elicits similar behaviors in related situations.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Helps understand what would happen to behaviors that were reinforced only occasionally.

Continuous Reinforcement

Occurs when each instance of a desired behavior is reinforced.

Partial Reinforcement

Not reinforcing a response every time; a more common type of reinforcement.

Ratio Schedules

Reinforcement based on the number of behaviors required.

Interval Schedules

Reinforcement based on the passage of time.

Variable Reinforcement

Reinforcement after a changing number of desired actions.

Fixed Reinforcement

Reinforcement after a predetermined number of desired actions.

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Provides reinforcement for the first behavior after a predetermined period of time.

Variable-Interval Reinforcement

Unpredicted reinforcement.

Fixed-Ratio Reinforcement Schedule

A behavior is reinforced after a specific number of behaviors.

Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedule

Behavior is reinforced after a variable number of behaviors.

Shaping

A technique using a series of positive reinforcements to create more complex behavior.

Successive Approximations

Steps toward a target goal.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of some trained animals to revert back to instinctual behaviors.

Social Learning Theory

Explores the idea that we learn not just through direct experience, but also by observing others.

Observational Learning

Watching and mimicking models.

Vicarious Conditioning

Learning something by watching someone model behavior.

Social Cognitive Theory

Resting on the idea that part of what people know results from observing others.

Insight Learning

A sudden realization of how to solve a problem.

Latent Learning

Learning that occurs but is not immediately reflected in behavior.

Cognitive Map

Mental representation that allows an organism to acquire, store, and recall information.