AP Psychology: Unit 3 (Development and Learning)

Learning

the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

Habituation

the decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation

Associative learning

learning that certain events occur together; events may be two stimuli (classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (operant conditioning)

Stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response

Respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

Operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence

Cognitive learning

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

Classical conditioning

a type of learning in which we link two or more stimuli

Ivan Pavlov's classic experiment

the first stimuli (a tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food)

Much of John B. Watson's work was inspired by

Pavlov

Behaviorism

the view that psychology

(1) should be an objective science that

(2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes

How do modern psychologists view behaviorism?

they agree that it should be an objective science but not without reference to mental processes

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

Unconditioned response (UCR)

an unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus (salivation when food is in the mouth)

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

a stimulus that unconditionally (naturally and automatically) triggers an unconditioned response

Conditioned response (CR)

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

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

Acquisition

the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response (in operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response)

Higher-order conditioning

CS is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus (aka second-order conditioning)

Extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response when an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS)

What is extinction in operant conditioning?

when a response is no longer reinforced

Spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response

Generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

Discrimination

in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been associated with a conditioned stimulus

What are some applications of classical conditioning?

Human health and well being: drug cravings, food cravings, immune response

John Watson & Rosalie Rayner's "Little Albert" experiment

John B. Watson believed that emotions were conditioned responses and thus could be manipulated through classical conditioning. In his experiment with baby Albert, he conditioned the child to be afraid of previously neutral stimuli like a furry rat by paring it with a loud noise. Albert learned to become afraid of the rat without the noise, making the rat a conditioned stimuli.

Preparedness

a biological predisposition to learn associations (such as taste and nausea) that have survival value

Garcia & Koelling's conditioned taste aversion experiments

John Garcia and Robert Koelling found that conditionings connected to taste were more easily learned, since eating food that makes us sick could hurt us. One-trial conditioning, a single pairing of contaminated food and illness, can produce a taste aversion.

Operant conditioning

a 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

Actions associated with consequences

Edward Thorndike's Law of Effect

behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely / behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Operant Chamber (Skinner Box)

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

Reinforcement

any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Shaping (aka successive approximations)

a procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Discriminative stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement)

Positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting a pleasurable stimulus (positive reinforcer: any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response)

Negative reinforcement

increases behaviors by stopping or reducing an aversive stimulus (negative reinforcer: any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response)

Primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus (ex. satisfies a biological need)

Conditioned reinforcer

(aka secondary reinforcer) a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer

Reinforcement schedule

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

Continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

Fixed-ratio schedule

reinforces a response only after a specific number of responses

Variable-ratio schedule

reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Fixed-interval schedule

reinforces a response only after a specific time has elapsed

Variable-interval schedule

reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Punishment

an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows; can be positive (present) and negative (remove)

Skinners Controversy:

lack of free will, critics believed it to be manipulative and dehumanizing

Skinner's response:

people's reactions are already controlled by external consequences

Instinctive drift

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

Cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one's environment. (ex. after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it)

Latent learning

learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

Insight learning

solving problems through sudden insight (contrasts with strategy-based solutions)

Observational learning (aka social learning)

learning by observing others

Modeling

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment

Mirror neurons

neurons that scientists believe fire when we perform certain actions or observe another doing so (the brain's mirroring of another's action may enable imitation and empathy)

Prosocial behavior

positive, constructive, helpful behavior

Antisocial behavior

negative, destructive, harmful behavior