PSYC 100 W4: Learning

Definition of knowledge emotions

Important family of emotions associated with learning, exploration, and reflection

Functionalist theories of emotion

Emotions are responsible for driving us to complete important tasks

Appraisal theories

Emotions are caused by a group of appraisals, which are our evaluations of what certain events mean for our goals/well-being

Surprise

Simple emotion that turns our full attention completely to a potential source of danger, helping us respond quickly. Directly proportional to the unexpectedness of an event

Interest

Intrinsically motivates us to learn and explore and drives us to engage with what we don’t understand

Intrinsic motivation

The reward is completely internal (e.g. satisfies us) rather than external (e.g. getting money)

Coping potential

Our own judgement of how capable we feel of managing what is happening. We find things with high novelty and high coping potential interesting

Trait curiosity

A facet of openness which determines whether we prefer familiar or novel things

Openness to experience

One of the five main personality traits, people high in openness to experience are more likely to experience interest and awe.

Confusion

Happens when learning something novel and difficult to understand, promotes learning

Awe

Deepest and rarest of the 4, a state of wonder caused by appraising something as vast beyond our own experience and engaging in accommodation

Accommodation

Changing one’s beliefs to make room for the new experience

Chills

Mild form of awe involving goosebumps or shivers

Classical/Pavlovian conditioning

An initial neutral stimulus (CS) is combined with an US and begins to draw out a CR

Conditioned stimulus

An initially neutral stimulus that causes a CR after classical conditioning has taken place

Conditioned response

Response to the CS after classical conditioning has taken place

Instrumental/operant conditioning

Process where animals learn about the relationship between their behaviors and their consequences

Operant

A voluntary behavior controlled by its consequences e.g. the rat’s lever-pressing, which is controlled by the presence of the reinforcer

Reinforcers

Any consequence of a behavior that strengthens the behavior or increases likelihood of repetition

Thorndike’s law of effect

The idea that instrumental behaviors are influenced by their consequences. Responses followed by a pleasure will be strengthened and ones followed by discomfort will be weakened

Punisher

A stimulus that decreases the strength of an operant behavior when it is a consequence

Fear conditioning

Type of classical conditioning where the CS is associated with an adverse US and the CS comes to evoke fear as an effect of learning. The process is thought to be involved in the development of human anxiety disorders

Conditioned compensatory response

Concept in classical conditioning where a CR opposes the UR, reducing the strength of the UR

Blocking

Concept in classical conditioning that no conditioning occurs to a stimulus when combined with a previously conditioned stimulus

Prediction error

When the US is surprising because it’s different from the prediction based on present CS in the trial. Required for Pavlovian conditioning/associative learning. Reduces as learning occurs

Preparedness

The idea that an organism’s evolutionary history can make it easy to learn a particular association. E.g. you are more likely to associate the taste of tequila with getting sick rather than the circumstances surrounding drinking it

Extinction

Decrease in strength of a learned behavior occurring when the CS is present and US is not (classical) or no longer reinforced (instrumental)

Context

Stimuli in the background as learning takes place which can be external or internal e.g. drugs, mood state, or period in time

Discriminative stimulus

A concept in operant conditioning in which a stimulus determines whether the response will be reinforced, “setting the occasion” for the operant response

Categorize

Sort objects into categories

Quantitative law of effect

A mathematical rule stating the effectiveness of a reinforcer at strengthening an operant response depends on the amount of reinforcement earned for all alternative behaviors, as a reinforcer is less effective if there is already a lot of reinforcement in the environment for other behaviors

Reinforcer devaluation effect

The finding that an animal will stop performing an instrumental response that once led to a reinforcer if the reinforcer is separately made aversive or undesirable

Goal-directed behavior

Instrumental behavior influenced by animal’s understanding of the relationship between the behavior and its consequence as well as the current value of the consequence. Sensitive to the reinforcer devaluation effect

Habit

Instrumental behavior occurring automatically when stimulus is present separately from animal’s awareness of the value of the reinforcer. Insensitive to the reinforcer devaluation effect

Observational learning

Learning by watching others’ behavior

Renewal effect

Recovery of an extinguished response occurring when the context is changed after extinction. Especially strong when the context returns to the context in which conditioning originally occurred in either classical or instrumental conditioning

Social Learning Theory

The theory that people can learn new responses/behaviors through watching others

Taste aversion conditioning

When a taste is paired with sickness causing the organism to reject that taste in the future

Unconditioned response

In classical conditioning, an innate response elicited by a stimulus without conditioning

Unconditioned stimulus

In classical conditioning, the stimulus that elicits the response before conditioning occurs

Spontaneous recovery

Recovery of an extinguished response occurring some time after extinction in classical or instrumental conditioning

Stimulus control

When an operant behavior is controlled by a stimulus preceding it

Social models

Targets who model behaviors for observational learning

Vicarious reinforcement

Learning that occurs by observing the reinforcement/punishment of another person