PSY Chapter 6: Learning

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering classical conditioning, operant conditioning, cognitive and biological influences, and observational learning based on Chapter 6 of Psychology: Themes and Variations (12th Edition).

Learning

A relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience.

Conditioning

The process of learning associations between events that take place in an organism's environment.

Classical Conditioning

A type of learning where a stimulus gains the capacity to evoke a response that was originally evoked by a different stimulus.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

An unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, through conditioning, has acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning.

Trial

Any presentation of a stimulus or pair of stimuli in classical conditioning.

Evaluative Conditioning

A type of conditioning that involves the acquisition of likes and dislikes through classical conditioning.

Acquisition

The initial stage of learning a new response tendency.

Extinction

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a period of non-exposure to the conditioned stimulus.

Renewal Effect

The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response if an organism is returned to the original environment where the response was initially acquired.

Stimulus Generalization

The phenomenon in which an organism responds to new stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus.

Stimulus Discrimination

The phenomenon in which an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.

Higher-Order Conditioning

A conditioning process in which a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned stimulus.

Operant Conditioning

A type of learning where voluntary, non-automatic responses come to be controlled by their consequences.

Reinforcement

An event following a response that strengthens or increases an organism's tendency to make that response.

Punishment

An event following a response that weakens or decreases an organism's tendency to make that response.

Skinner Box (Operant Chamber)

A standard experimental enclosure where an animal can make a specific response that is recorded while the consequences are controlled.

Cumulative Recorder

A device that creates a graphic record of responding and reinforcement in a Skinner box as a function of time.

Reinforcement Contingencies

The specific circumstances or rules that determine whether responses lead to the presentation of reinforcers.

Shaping

The operant procedure involving the reinforcement of increasingly closer approximations of a desired response.

Resistance to Extinction

An organism's tendency to continue to emit an operant response after the delivery of the reinforcer for it has been terminated.

Discriminative Stimuli

Cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences (reinforcement or nonreinforcement) of a response.

Primary Reinforcers

Events or stimuli that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs.

Continuous Reinforcement

A schedule of reinforcement where every single instance of a designated response is reinforced.

Intermittent Reinforcement

A schedule of reinforcement where a designated response is reinforced only some of the time, making the response more resistant to extinction.

Fixed-Ratio (FR) Schedule

A reinforcement schedule where the reinforcer is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced responses.

Variable-Ratio (VR) Schedule

A reinforcement schedule where the reinforcer is given after a variable number of nonreinforced responses.

Fixed-Interval (FI) Schedule

A reinforcement schedule where the reinforcer is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed amount of time has passed.

Variable-Interval (VI) Schedule

A reinforcement schedule where the reinforcer is given for the first response that occurs after a variable amount of time has passed.

Positive Reinforcement

The strengthening of a response tendency because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding or pleasant stimulus.

Negative Reinforcement

The strengthening of a response tendency because it is followed by the removal of an aversive or unpleasant stimulus.

Escape Learning

The process by which an organism acquires a response that decreases or ends an ongoing aversive stimulation.

Avoidance Learning

The process by which an organism acquires a response that prevents an aversive stimulation from occurring at all.

Preparedness

A species-specific biological predisposition to be conditioned in certain ways and not others.

Latent Learning

Learning that takes place without reinforcement and is not apparent from behavior when it first occurs.

Observational Learning

A type of learning that occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by observing others, who serve as models.

Extinction

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a CR

Schedule of reinforcement

Pattern of presentation of reinforcers over time.

Elicted

is an automatic, involuntary behavior triggered directly by a specific stimulus, such as a reflex.

Emit

producing, releasing, or giving out a behavior, response, or other observable output