Unit 3: Behavioral Psychology

Learning/Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

A learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, leading to a conditioned response. This concept was famously demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov through experiments with dogs.

Operant Conditioning

A learning process where behaviors are modified through reinforcement or punishment, influencing the likelihood of a behavior's occurrence. This concept was developed by B.F. Skinner.

Observation Learning

The type of learning in which behaviors are learned by observing a model. Often associated with Albert Bandura.

Acquisition

The initial stage in classical conditioning where the association between the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus is established, leading to the eventual development of a conditioned response.

Unconditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that elicits an automatic or involuntary response.

Unconditioned Response

Any original response that occurs naturally and in the absence of conditioning.

Neutral Stimulus

A stimulus that initially does not elicit the reflex or automatic response being studied.

Conditioned Stimulus

A previously neutral stimulus that, after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, elicits a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response

The learned or acquired response to a conditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance of a conditioned response after a period of rest following extinction.

Stimulus Generalization

The elicitation of a conditioned response by stimulation similar but not identical to the original stimulus.

Stimulus Discrimintation

TThe ability to distinguish between like stimuli and respond to specific stimuli only.

The Little Albert Experiment

A study conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in 1920 that demonstrated classical conditioning in humans by conditioning a young child to fear a white rat.

Taste Aversion

A learned avoidance of a particular food or drink due to a negative experience, often involving nausea or illness.

One-Trial Conditioning

A type of learning where a single experience leads to a strong and lasting change in behavior, often seen in cases of taste aversion.

Biological Preparedness

Our bodies are "prepared" to quickly avoid foods that might be poisonous.

Predisposition

Biological tendency for humans and animals to readily form associations between a specific taste and illness.

Habituation

A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure, allowing organisms to ignore irrelevant stimuli.

Behavioral Perspective

A psychological approach that emphasizes the role of environmental factors in shaping behavior through conditioning and reinforcement.

Biological Preparedness

The innate predisposition to learn certain associations more easily than others, particularly those that have survival value.

Counter Conditioning

A behavioral therapy technique that involves replacing an undesirable response to a stimulus with a more desirable response through conditioning.

Higher-order Conditioning

A learning process in which a conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second conditioned response.

One-trial Learning

A type of learning that occurs after a single experience, often seen in situations where the behavior is strongly reinforced or associated with a significant event.

Stimulus Discrimintation

The ability to differentiate between similar stimuli and respond only to the specific stimulus that has been conditioned.

Stimulus Generalization

the tendency to respond to a similar stimulus in a way that was originally associated with a different stimulus.