Conditioning & Behavior Change

Practice flashcards covering Conditioning and Behavior Change concepts from the Week 4 General Psychology lecture.

Who famously stated in $1925$ that they could guarantee to train any healthy infant to become any specialist?

John B. Watson

How is Learning defined according to the lecture notes?

A relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.

What does the Behaviorist View argue is the only objective way to study learning?

By observing what comes in (stimuli) and what comes out (responses).

What three factors does the behaviorist view typically ignore?

Cognition, biology, and culture.

What were the birth and death years of Ivan Pavlov?

$$1849\text{-}1936$$

In Ivan Pavlov's experiment with dogs, what was the Unconditioned Stimulus ($UCS$)?

Food

In Pavlov's experiment, what served as the Neutral Stimulus ($NS$) before conditioning?

The Tuning fork

In Pavlov's experiment, what did the Tuning fork become after conditioning was successful?

The Conditioned Stimulus ($CS$)

What was the Unconditioned Response ($UCR$) in Pavlov's dog digestion study?

Salivation

What was the Conditioned Response ($CR$) in Pavlov's experiment?

Salivation (in response to the tuning fork)

Who conducted the controversial Case Study of Little Albert in $1920$?

John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner

What was the Neutral Stimulus ($NS$) that Little Albert initially showed no fear of?

A white rat

What Unconditioned Stimulus ($UCS$) was used to elicit crying in Little Albert?

A loud noise from a steel bar being banged

List three things to which Little Albert's fear categorized through generalization.

Rabbits, dogs, and fur coats (also Santa's beard)

What was the major ethical concern regarding the Little Albert study?

Albert was never deconditioned and left the hospital with his fear intact.

Define the process of Generalization in conditioning.

When similar stimuli trigger the same response.

In conditioning, what is Discrimination?

Learning that ONLY a specific stimulus matters.

What occurs during Extinction in classical conditioning?

The Conditioned Stimulus ($CS$) is no longer paired with the Unconditioned Stimulus ($UCS$), causing the Conditioned Response ($CR$) to fade away.

What is Spontaneous Recovery?

The sudden reappearance of a Conditioned Response ($CR$) after extinction has occurred.

How do advertisers use classical conditioning to influence consumer feelings?

They pair a product ($NS$) with attractive people or scenery ($UCS$) to trigger positive feelings.

What did the Garcia ($1955$) study demonstrate about taste aversion?

It can occur after just ONE pairing because biology prepares us for it.

What did research by Lee et al. ($2024$) find regarding social anxiety patients?

They show overgeneralization of conditioned fear.

What is the key difference between the responses in Classical and Operant conditioning?

In Classical conditioning the response is reflexive; in Operant conditioning the response is a choice based on consequences.

What does Thorndike's Law of Effect ($1898$) state?

Behavior followed by a good outcome is more likely to repeat, while behavior followed by a bad outcome is less likely.

What animal subjects did Thorndike use to study the Law of Effect in puzzle boxes?

Cats

What did Skinner demonstrate with his Operant Chamber ($1938$)?

That consequences shape behavior, such as a rat learning to press a lever to receive food.

Define Positive Reinforcement and provide a transcript example.

A stimulus is presented to encourage behavior; example: good grades.

Define Negative Reinforcement and provide a transcript example.

A stimulus is removed or withheld to encourage behavior; example: being excused from chores.

What is Presentation Punishment (Type I Punishment)?

A stimulus is presented to suppress behavior; example: after school detention.

What is Removal Punishment (Type II Punishment)?

A stimulus is removed to suppress behavior; example: no TV for a week.

In reinforcement schedules, what is the difference between Ratio and Interval?

Ratio is reward based on the number of responses, whereas Interval is reward based on time.

What is the difference between Fixed and Variable reinforcement schedules?

Fixed is predictable timing, whereas Variable is unpredictable timing.

Why is the Variable Ratio schedule considered the most resistant to extinction?

Because the timing of the reward is unpredictable (e.g., slot machines or social media notifications).

What is Shaping (Successive Approximations)?

Reinforcing each step that gets closer to a target behavior.

What was the primary finding of Bandura’s ($1961$) Bobo doll study?

Observational Learning; people learn by watching others (models) without being reinforced themselves.

Who are the figures associated with the development of Systematic Desensitization?

Mary Cover Jones and Wolpe

What does Aversion Therapy involve?

Pairing an unwanted behavior with an unpleasant Unconditioned Stimulus ($UCS$).

How does a Token Economy function in operant therapy?

Patients earn tokens for desired behavior and exchange them for rewards.

What is 'Habit Stacking' in self-improvement?

Anchoring a new behavior to an existing one using a cue and consequence.

According to the meta-analysis by Kausche et al. ($2025$), what characterizes anxiety, OCD, and PTSD patients?

They show stronger fear conditioning.