Learning and Classical Conditioning (Chapter 6) test 9/8/25

A set of vocabulary-style flashcards covering key learning concepts, especially classical conditioning, behaviorism, and related terms from the lecture notes.

Learning (in psychology)

A change in thought or behavior resulting from experience; the term is broader than everyday usage and includes many forms of adaptation.

Behaviorism

A subfield of psychology focused on observable behavior and stimulus–response relationships, treating the mind as a black box to be ignored or not measured.

Stimulus

Anything in the environment that can elicit a response from an organism.

Response

The organism’s observable reaction to a stimulus.

Habituation

A simple form of learning where the response to a repeated stimulus diminishes over time.

Classical conditioning

A learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes able to elicit a reflex-like response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally provokes that response.

Ivan Pavlov

Russian physiologist who studied digestion in dogs and discovered classical conditioning by pairing a bell with food to elicit salivation.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a reflex without prior learning.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

The automatic reflex elicited by the unconditioned stimulus (e.g., salivation to food).

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that, after association with the US, comes to elicit a conditioned response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

The learned response to the conditioned stimulus, typically similar to the unconditioned response.

Acquisition

The phase in which the conditioned stimulus is reliably paired with the unconditioned stimulus, leading to the conditioned response.

Extinction

The disappearance of the conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus.

Generalization

The tendency for a conditioned response to be elicited by stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus.

Discrimination

The ability to distinguish between the conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli, responding only to the specific CS.

Higher-order conditioning

A process where a conditioned stimulus becomes a substitute for a US to create a new conditioned stimulus for a second CS (e.g., advertising associations).

Little Albert experiment

Watson and Rayner’s study conditioning fear responses in an infant to white rats, illustrating stimulus generalization.

Taste aversion

A learned avoidance of a taste after it has been associated with illness or negative consequences.

Observational learning

Learning that occurs by watching others and imitating their behavior (also called social learning).

Operant conditioning

A form of learning in which behavior is shaped by its consequences (rewards and punishments).

Mind as a black box

A view in early behaviorism that internal mental processes are not measured; focus is on observable inputs and outputs.

Pavlov’s bell–food experiment

A classic demonstration of classical conditioning where ringing a bell predicts food, causing salivation before the food is presented.