AP Psych Unit 3: Learning Study Guide

learning

process of acquiring through experience, new & relatively enduring info or behaviors

habituation

decreasing responsiveness w/ repeated stimulation

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together

• classical conditioning: 2 stimuli

• operant conditioning: response & consequence

stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response

respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

operant behaviors

behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence

cognitive learning

acquisition of mental info, whether by observing events, watching others, or through language

classical conditoning

type of learning in which we link 2 or more stimuli

Ivan Pavlov

• 1849-1936

• Russian physiologist

• father of classical conditioning

• dog experiment: 1st stimulus (tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the 2nd stimulus (food)

John B. Watson

• 1878-1958

• American psychologist

• coined the term “behaviorism”

• searched for laws underlying learning

behaviorism

Watson’s view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior w/o reference to mental processes

neutral stimuli (NS)

stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

unconditioned response (UCR)

an unlearned, naturally occurring response (ex. salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS, ex. food in the mouth)

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

stimulus that unconditionally — naturally & automatically — triggers an unconditioned response (UCR)

conditioned response (CR)

learned response to a previously neutral, but now conditioned, stimulus (CS)

conditioned stimulus (CS)

originally neutral stimulus that, after association w/ an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR)

acquisition

initial learning of an association

• (classical) when linking a NS & UCS so that the NS begins triggering the conditioned response

• (operant) strengthening of a reinforced response

higher-order conditioning

procedure in which the CS in one conditioning experience is paired w/ a new NS, creating a 2nd CS

• occurs when a NS becomes associated w/ a previous CS

• also called second-order conditioning

extinction

• (classical) diminishing of a CR when an UCS does not follow a CS

• (operant) when a response is no longer reinforced

spontaneous recovery

reappearance, after a pause, of a weakened CR

generalization

also called stimulus generalization

• (classical) the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit similar responses

• (operant) when responses learned in one situation occur in other, similar situations

discrimination

• (classical) the learned ability to distinguish between a CS & other stimuli that have not been associated w/ a CS

• (operant) the ability to distinguish responses that are reinforced from similar responses that are not reinforced

preparedness

biological predisposition to learn associations that have survival value

ex. taste & nausea

John Garcia & Robert Koelling

J.G. — 1917-2012

• American psychologist

• challenged the prevailing idea that all associations can be learned equally well

R.K. — 1933-2025

• American psychologist

BOTH

• researched the effects of radiation in lab animals, noticed that rats began to avoid drinking water from the plastic bottles in radiation chambers

• exposed rats to particular senses (taste, sight, sound), then later to radiation or drugs (UCS) that led to nausea (UCR)

findings

• even if sickened as late as several hours after tasting, rats avoided that flavor

• sickened rats developed taste aversions, no aversions to sights or sounds

operant conditioning

type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher

B. F. Skinner

• 1904-1990

• American behaviorist

• his work elaborated on Thorndike’s law of effect

• developed a behavioral technology that revealed principles of behavior control, then used said principles to shape the behaviors of pigeons into doing things pigeons wouldn’t normally do (ex. play tennis table, keep a missile on course by pecking at a screen target)

• designed an operant chamber/the Skinner box

Edward L. Thorndike

• 1874-1949

• American psychologist

• father of the law of effect

law of effect

Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable or reinforcing consequences become more likely, & that behaviors followed by unfavorable or punishing consequences become less likely

operant chamber/Skinner box

a chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate in order to obtain food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking

reinforcement

any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

shaping

operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward the desired behavior

discriminative stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response after association w/ reinforcement

positive reinforcement

any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response

• increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus

negative reinforcement

any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response

• increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing an aversive (dislike, not pleasurable) stimulus

• NOT punishment

primary reinforcers

innately reinforcing stimuli

ex. satisfying biological needs — food, water

conditioned reinforcers

stimuli that gain its reinforcing power through its association w/ a primary reinforcer

• also called secondary reinforcers

ex. money

immediate reinforcer

any reinforcer presented immediately, instantaneously

ex. given candy for responding to a teacher’s question in class

delayed reinforcement

reinforcement that does not occur immediately after a response has been made

ex. paychecks, final progress reports (grades)

reinforcement schedules

a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

• rapid learning

• best choice for mastering a behavior

• extinction occurs rapidly

partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedules

reinforcing a response only part of the time

• slower acquisition of a response

• greater resistance to extinction

fixed-ratio schedules

reinforcing a response only after a specified number of responses

ex. free item after 10 purchases

variable-ratio schedules

reinforcing a response after an unpredictable number of responses

ex. gambling, fishing

fixed-interval schedules

reinforcing a response only after a specified time has elapsed

ex. having a package bought from online arrive at the door

variable-interval schedules

reinforcing a response at unpredictable time intervals

ex. getting a message from a desired someone after checking your phone so many times

punishment

event that tends to decrease the behavior it follows

positive punishment

give an aversive/unpleasant stimulus

ex. traffic ticket for speeding

negative punishment

remove a rewarding stimulus

ex. loss of privileges

instinctive drift

the tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns

ex. dogs holding onto a frisbee instead of dropping it on command

Robert Rescorla

• 1940-2020

• American psychologist

• argued that an animal can learn an event’s predictability

• Contingency Model

Edward C. Tolman

• 1886-1959

• American psychologist

• found evidence of cognitive processes from studying rats in mazes

• rats with rewards (food) got through the maze quickly

• rats with no rewards didn’t get through the maze

• rats with rewards presented after a set amount of time (delayed reinforcement) got through the maze after said reinforcement

• coined the term “latent learning”

cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment

ex. layout of any building one has explored

latent learning

learning that is not reinforced & not demonstrated until there’s an incentive (motivation/reason) to do so

ex. Tolman’s rats navigating maze w/ delayed food rewards

• suggests that living, conscious beings may learn simply by experiencing or watching

insight learning

solving problems through sudden insight

ex. monkey & sticks experiment

observational learning

learning by observing others

• also called social learning

modeling

the process of observing & imitating specific behaviors

mirror neurons

neurons that some scientists believe fire when we perform certain actions or observe another doing so

• the brain’s mirroring of another’s action may enable imitation & empathy

prosocial behaviors

positive, constructive, helpful behaviors

• opposite of antisocial behaviors

antisocial behaviors

negative, destructive, harmful behaviors

• opposite of prosocial behaviors

contiguity

ideas, memories, experiences are linked when one is frequently experienced w/ the other

contingency

conditional, probabilistic relationship between 2 events

p

probability

positive contingency

p(US|CS) is greater than p(US|no CS)

• US is more likely to occur when the CS occurs

• produces excitatory conditioning to the CS

neutral contingency

p(US|CS) = p(US|no CS)

• US is no more likely when the CS occurs

• procedure fails to produce any sort conditioning to the CS even with hundreds of trials where the US & CS are paired

negative contingency

p(US|CS) is less than p(US|no CS)

• US is less likely when the CS occurs

• procedure produces inhibitory conditioning to the CS

Martin Seligman

• 1942-

• American psychologist

• coined learned helplessness & learned optimism

• father of positive psychology — “all species could be inured (desensitized) to learned helplessness”

dog experiments

• #1: dogs were attached to a harness, hung in the air with their legs dangling, would receive shocks to their hind feet at random intervals, and shocks could be prevented with a simple bump of their head against the functional panels, but some panels didn’t work

• #2: each dog was set free inside a shuttle box, a 2-compartment cage separated by an adjustable barrier, each time the lights in the box went off, half the floor would become electrified & shock them, but this was preventable by simply jumping over the barrier and into the next cage where the shock could be avoided

results

• #1: dogs that had learned to avoid the shocks the first experiment avoided the shocks the second experiment

• #2: dogs that were unable to avoid the shocks the first experiment didn’t even try to avoid them the second experiment

learned helplessness

passivity that often comes after facing uncontrollable problems

• difficult to change & present in many species

aversive conditioning/avoidance learning

unpleasant stimulus paired w/ specific behavior or situation to discourage said behavior

learned optimism

all species could be taught to be more resilient

ex. through CBT (cognitive-behavioral therapy, changing one’s mindset from a negative one to a positive one)

positive psychology

study of how to go about identifying & nurturing positive emotion & using it to withstand negativity

neurosis

term used to refer to mental disorders, usually ones consisting of negativity

ex. anxiety, depression

Pawel Lewicki

• 1953-

• American psychologist

• studied the basis for biases through an experiment — assigning professors as “fair” and “unfair” in grading intuition test based on facial features

• studied the hypothesis that the unconscious mind was able to predict patterns through an experiment — have volunteers push 1 of 4 buttons of quadrants of which an “X” appeared, first the “X” had a pattern, then it didn’t, but that didn’t exactly deter the unconscious mind of the volunteers

Watson-Skinner

all learning is explainable by the processes of conditioning, associations alone influence learning

Bandura-Ross Bobo Doll Experiment

• 1961

• experimental group of children watched the adults bully Bobo

• control group of children had nothing done to them, no show of violence/aggressive behavior presented at all

• when left alone in a room with Bobo, the experimental group demonstrated violence against Bobo just as the adults had modeled

• “monkey see, monkey do”

results

• seen behavior will be mimicked, in this case it was violence