Behaviorism and Conditioning

These flashcards cover key concepts related to behaviorism, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning as discussed in the lecture notes.

Behaviorism

Area of psychology that insists only observable, measurable behaviors be studied, excluding mental processes.

Methodological Behaviorism

Adheres to studying observable behaviors but occasionally infers mental processes.

Radical Behaviorism

States that events in the environment cause behavior, excluding mental processes and internal events.

Classical Conditioning

Process where an organism learns to associate a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that evokes a reflexive response.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

Stimulus that consistently and automatically elicits a natural response.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

Action that the unconditioned stimulus automatically elicits.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Neutral stimulus that comes to evoke a particular response after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

Conditioned Response (CR)

Response elicited by the conditioned stimulus as a result of the conditioning process.

Reinforcement

Increases the frequency of a response; can be positive or negative.

Positive Reinforcement

Occurs when a favorable event follows a behavior, increasing its frequency.

Negative Reinforcement

Occurs when a negative event is withheld as a result of a behavior, increasing its frequency.

Punishment

Decreases the frequency of a response; can be positive (applying an unpleasant event) or negative (removing a pleasant event).