Unit 4 Vocab

Big Ol' Vocabulary for Unit 4

Learning

The process of acquiring and relatively enduring information or behaviors. Bring Reward.

Habituates

An organisms decreasing response to a stimulus with a repeated exposure to it.

Operant Learning

Learn to associate a response and its consequence

Associative Learning

Certain events go together, the events may be two stimuli or a response and its consequence.

Cognitive Learning

The acquisition of mental info whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language.

Observational Learning

Lets us learn from others experience. Form of cognitive learning.

Classical Learning

One learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.

Respondent Behavior

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

Stimulus

Any event or situation that evokes a response

Classical Conditioning

Learning where we link two or more stimuli. The first stimulus comes to elicit behavior in anticipation of the second stimulus

Behaviorism

Psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes

Neutral Stimulus

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

Unconditioned Response

Naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus

Unconditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers an unconditioned response

Conditioned Response

Learned response to a previously neutral, but now continued, stimulus

Conditioned Stimulus

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

Acquisition

When one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering that conditioned response

High-Order Processing

The conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second conditioned stimulus

Extinction

The diminishing of a conditioned response.

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

The learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

Operant Behavior

Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences

Operant Conditioning

A method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior.

Positive Reinforcement

The introduction of a desirable or pleasant stimulus after a behavior

Negative Reinforcement

Something uncomfortable or otherwise unpleasant is taken away in response to a stimulus.

Accuracy

Did the reinforcement deliver the desired response

Duration

How long did the response continue

Frequency

How often did the response occur

Persistance

Did the response occur each and every time

Continuous Reinforcement

Presents the reinforcer after every performance of the desired behavior

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Reinforcing a behavior after a specific period of time has elapsed

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

Reinforcing a behavior after a specific number of responses have occurred

Variable-Interval Schedules

Reinforcing the behavior after an unpredictable period of time has elapsed

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Reinforcing the behavior after an unpredictable number of responses has occurred

Involuntary Response

The presence of a neutral stimulus that will eventually provide the same response as an unconditioned one on its own.

Biological Psychology

Study of the biology of behavior, focuses on the nervous system, hormones, genetics

Cognition

All forms of knowing and awareness. Perceiving, conceiving, remembering, reasoning, judging, imagining, problem solving.

Predisposition

A natural or acquired habit or characteristic tendency in a person or thing.

Law of Effect

We are likely to repeat behaviors that are followed by a favorable consequence. We are likely to stop behaviors that are followed by a non-favorable consequence.

Shaping

Occurs when you reinforce successive approximations of a desired behavior

Mirror Neuron

Neuron that fires both when an animal acts and when the animal observes the same action performed by another

Somatosensory Cortex

Region of the brain which is responsible for receiving and processing sensory information from across the body, such as touch, temperature, and pain.

Antisocial Modeling

Can prompt others to engage in violent, aggressive, and unhealthy behaviors.

Prosocial Modeling

Can prompt others to engage in helpful and healthy behaviors. Demonstrating positive behavior.

Punishment

Anything that decreases the outcome from occurring

Biofeedback

A system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension.

Preparedness

A biological predisposition to learn associations, such as between taste and nausea, that have survival value.

Instinctive Drift

The tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns.

Latent Learning

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

Intrinsic Motivation

A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake.

Extrinsic Motivation

A desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment.

Emotion-Focused Coping

Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction.

Learned Helplessness

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or person learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Active Avoidance

Behavior avoids anxious stimulus.

Reproduction

Depending on physical capabilities, the learner converts the mental representations into actions.

Retention

Learner mentally represents and retains what has been observed.