3.7-3.9 ap psychology

associative learning

learning that certain events go together

classical conditioning

learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli

unconditioned stimulus (US)

a stimulus that naturally & automatically triggers an unlearned response

unconditioned response (UR)

the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US)

conditioned stimulus (CS)

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

conditioned response (CR)

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

pavlov's experiment

• originally a physiologist interested in digestion, later a psychologist who studied how dogs learned to associate stimuli with food
• dogs learned to associate salivation with a sound by pairing a bell with the presentation of food (the dog eventually salivated at the sound of the bell)

watson's experiment

• conditioned "Little Albert" to fear white rats, later all white, fluffy animals
• child previously not afraid of white rats, Watson presented a loud banging sound when Albert saw a white rat → conditioned fear of rats

acquisition

initial stage of learning to associate two things

extinction

the diminishing of a response

spontaneous recovery

the random reappearance of a response after extinction

stimulus generalization

the tendency for similar stimuli to elicit a learned response

stimulus discrimination

the ability to produce a learned response to a specific stimulus

higher order conditioning

a form of classical conditioning in which a previously conditioned stimulus (CS) is used to produce further learning

taste aversion

biological tendency in which an organism learns after a single experience to avoid a food/drink with a certain taste

one-trial conditioning

learning takes place in a single pairing of a stimulus and a response

doesn't get stronger by repeated exposure (already as strong as possible)

operant conditioning

learning in which behaviors are strengthened/diminished by consequence

consequence

result or outcome of a behavior

shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

instinctive drift

the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that could interfere with a conditioned response

could undermine intentions of shaping

reinforcement

any consequence that STRENGTHENS behaviors

punishment

any consequence that DIMINISHES behaviors

positive reinforcement

ADDing a desired stimulus

negative reinforcement

REMOVing an undesired stimulus

positive punishment

ADDing an undesired stimulus

negative punishment

REMOVing a desired stimulus

superstitious behavior

• occurs when the delivery of a reinforcer or punishment happens close together in time with an independent behavior
• accidentally reinforced/punishing an behavior, increasing the likelihood of that behavior occurring again

learned helplessness

the hopelessness and passive resignation an organism learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

continuous reinforcement

reinforcing the desired behavior every time it occurs

typically used at the beginning of an operant conditioning process

partial/intermittent reinforcement

reinforcing a behavior only sometimes

fixed ratio (FR)

reinforces only after a set/certain number of times the behavior occurs

variable ratio (VR)

• reinforces after varying/unpredictable number of times the behavior occurs
• produces the longest lasting behaviors

fixed interval (FI)

reinforces only after a certain amount of time has passed

variable interval (VI)

reinforces behavior after varying/unpredictable time intervals

observational learning

• learning by observing others
• proves that learning does not always happen as a byproduct of experience

modeling

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

albert bandura's experiment

• group of preschoolers were exposed to an adult beating a blow-up (Bobo) doll for 10 minutes and then left to see if they would do the same
• application: children exposed to aggressive adult models were more likely to be aggressive towards the doll when alone with the toys

latent learning

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