Psych of Learning Test 1 part 1

Chapters 1 and 2

behavior

any activity, internal or external, that can be observed or somehow measured

learning

a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from some type of experience

classical conditioning

the process by which certain inborn behaviors come to be produced in new situations; reflexive/involuntary

operant conditioning

involves the strengthening or weakening of a behavior as a result of its consequences; goal-directed/voluntary

nativist (nature)

assumes that a person’s abilities and behavioral tendencies are largely inborn

Plato

nativist

empiricist (nurture)

assumes that a person’s abilities and tendencies are mostly learned

Aristotle

empiricist

Aristotle’s four laws of association

laws of similarity, contrast, contiguity, frequency

laws of contiguity and frequency

still considered important aspects of learning

mind-body dualism

some human behaviors are automatic reflexes but others are controlled by the mind

John Locke

proposed that a newborn’s mind is a blank slate

structuralism

it is possible to determine the structure of the mind by identifying the basic elements that compose it (introspection)

functionalism

assumes that the mind evolved to help us adapt to the world

behaviorism

approach to psychology that focuses on the study of environmental influences on observable behavior

Watson’s methodological behaviorism

psychologists should study only publically observable behavior

Neobehaviorism

psychologists should infer existence of internal events that might mediate between environment and behavior (Hull)

Cognitive Behaviorism

latent learning, cognitive maps (Tolman)

Social Learning Theory

cognitive-behavioral appraoch that strongly emphasizes the importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behavior

Radical Behaviorism

emphasizes the influence of the environment on observable behavior, rejects the use of internal events to explain behavior (Skinner)

Skinner’s molar view

only reflexive behaviors are automatically elicited by the stimuli that precede them

Skinner’s view of genetic factors

behavior is fundamentally the result of the interaction between genes and the environment

applied behavior analysis

basic principles of behavior are applied to analyzing and solving real-world issues

stimulus

any event that can potentially influence behavior

response

a particular instance of a behavior

overt behavior

behavior that has the potential for being directly observed by an individual other than the one performing the behavior

covert behavior

behavior that can be perceived only by the person performing the behavior (Skinner validated)

appetitive stimulus

an event that an organism will seek out

aversive stimulus

an event that an organism will avoid

motivating operations

anything affecting the appetitiveness or aversiveness of an event

establishing operations

increases the appetitiveness or aversiveness of an event (deprivation/satiation)

abolishing operations

decreases the appetitiveness or aversiveness of an event

deprivation

the prolonged absence of an event that tends to increase the appetitiveness of that event

satiation

the prolonged exposure to an event, which tends to decrease the appetitiveness of that event

temporal contiguity

the extent to which events occur close together in time

spacial contiguity

the extent to which events are situated close to each other in space

contingency

the occurcence of one event predicts the probable occurrence of another

rate of response 

the frequency with which a response occurs in a certain period of time

cumulative recorder

classic device that measures the total number of responses over time and provides a graphic depiction of the rate of behavior

intensity

force or magnitude of behavior

speed

length of time it takes for behavior to start and finish

duration

the length of time that an individual repeatedly or continuously performs a certain behavior (does not indicate quality of the behavior)

latency

the length of time required for the behavior to begin

interval recording

measurement of whether or not a behavior occurs within a series of continuous intervals

time-sample recording

measures whether or not a behavior occurs within a series of discontinuous intervals

descriptive research

describing behavior and situation within which it occurs

naturalistic observation

the systematic observation and recording of behavior in its natural environment (RIP Jane Goodall)

experimental research

experiments to discover cause-and-effect relationships between environmental events and behavior

factorial design

control group designs that examine the interaction of more than one independent variable.

comparative design

control group design in which the different species are independent variables (evolutionary hypotheses)

reversal design

a type of single-subject design that involves repeated alternations between a baseline period and a treatment period (If the behavior changes each time the treatment is instituted and later withdrawn, then a functional relationship has been demonstrated.)

more than one treatment

a reversal design can be used to assess the effectiveness of more than one treatment

multiple baseline design

a treatment is instituded at successive points in time for two or more persons, settings, or behaviors

criterion-changing design

the effect of the treatment is demonstrated by how closely the behavior matchs a criterion that systematically altered