Psych Chapter 6

learning

a change in a organism’s actions, thoughts, or emotions as a result of experioence

habituation

process of responding less strongly over time to a repeated stimuli, the process is the earliest form of learning

skin conductance response

hands stop sweating sooner to weak stimuli than stronger stimuli (shows that the stringer stimuli produce more anxiety)

do all repeated stimuli lead to habituation

no, usually just those we deem safe or worth ignoring (for example, we wouldn’t habituate to electric shocks)

sensitization

responding more strongly over time

conditioning

forming associations among stimuli

what study did Pavlov do

the dog meat powder salivation study, found classical conditioninh

classical conditioning

form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neur=real stimulus that has been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

stimulus that elicits an automatic response (ex: meat powder)

unconditioned response (UCR)

automatic response to a non neutral stimulus that does not need to be learned, due to genes (ex: salivation)

conditioned response (CR)

response previously associated with a nonneutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning

conditioned stimulus (CS)

initially meitral stimulus that comes to elicit a response as a result of association with an unconditioned stimulus

is classical conditioning replicable

yes, highly replicable throughout studies

three phases of classical conditioning

acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery

acquisition

learning phase during which a conditioned response is established

the closer in time the pairing of the CS and UCS, the _ the learning occurs

faster

backward conditioning

the UCS is presented before the CS, rarely occurs

extinction

gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus, an active process

spontaneous recovery

sudden reemergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay in exposure to the conditioned stimulus

renewal effect

sudden reemergence of a conditioned response following the extinction when the animal/person is returned to the environment in which the conditioned response was acquired, often adaptive (ex: if we were bitten by a snake in the park a few years ago we may still be scared when we’re there of snakes)

stimulus generalization

process by which conditioned stimulus similar, but not identical, to the original conditioned stimulus elicited a conditioned response, exists on a gradient

generalization gradient

the more similar to the original CS the new CS is, the stronger the CR will be

stimulus discrimination

occurs when we exhibit a less pronounced CR to CSs that differ from the original CS (ex: enjoying scary movies because watching a tornado on TV is not as similar as seeing one come at your house)

higher-order conditioning

developing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus, each progressive level results in weaker conditioning (ex: hearing “want a coke” on a hot summer day can make one feel thirsty)

second order conditioning is _ that first order conditioning (and so on)

weaker

what may higher-order conditioning shape

addiction (the context or setting in which people take drugs serve as higher-order)

phobia

intense irrational fear

four applications of classical conditioning

advertising, the acquisition of fears?phobias, the acquisition of fetishes, and disgust reactions

what do advertisers do using classical conditioning

they pair sights/smells/sounds of products with things that produce positive emotions (like models for example)

latent inhibition

difficulty in establishing classical conditioning to a conditioned stimulus we’ve repeatedly experienced alone, without the unconditional stimulus

what did Watson and Rayner study

they studied Little Albert and the rats to show the results of phobia

what does classical conditioning contribute to phobias

it can be used to acquire AND overcome phobias

fetishism

sexual attraction to nonliving things

disgust reactions

reactions and feelings of disgust to a stimuli, often a product of classical conditioning, tend to be tied to stimuli that are biologically important to us (like scary animals, because of adaptation)

is classical conditioning inherently bad

no, it can help keep us safe

pseudoconditioning

occurs when the CS by itself triggers the UCR

operant conditioning (aka instrumental conditioning)

learning controlled by the consequences of the organism’s behavior

operant

behaviors produces by the animal/human to receive a reward (ex: asking out a crush is an operant, the date is the reward)

difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning target behavior

CC behavior is elicited automatically (reflexive and automatic), OC behavior is emitted voluntarily

difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning reward

CC reward is independent of the behavior, OC reward is dependent on the behavior (like if the animal doesn’t do something it won’t get the reward, like a date)

difference between what classical conditioning and operant conditioning behavior is primarily dependent on

CC behavior depends on ANS, OC behavior depends on skeletal muscles

law of effect

if we’re rewarded for a response to a stimulus, we’re more likely to repeat that response to the stimulus in the future

who proposed the law of effect

Thorndike

insight

grasping the underlying nature of a problem

Thorndike observed that the cats _ learned

gradually

Skinner box

developed by Skinner, a box that allowed for human researchers to electronically administer periods of conditioning to animals in the box without supervision

three key concepts in Skinnerian psych

reinforcement, punishment, discriminative stimulus

reinforcement

any outcome that STRENGTHENS the probability of a respinse

punishment

any outcome that WEAKENS the probability of a response

positive reinforcement

presenting a stimulus, increases the behavior (ex: a gold star sticker on homework, resulting in the student studying more)

negative reinforcement

taking away a stimulus, increases the behavior (ex: static on phone goes away when you stand in a certain spot, so you stand there more often)

positive punishment

presenting a stimulus, decreases the behavior (ex: scolding by a pet owner, causes dog to bark less)

negative punishment

removing a stimulus, decreases the behavior (taking away a toy, decreases child from throwing it)

4 disadvantages of punishment

tells an organism what NOT to do instead of what TO do, creates anxiety, encourages subversive behavior (sneakiness), provides a model for aggressive behavior

discriminative stimulus

stimulus that signals the presence of reinforcement (ex: an owner snapping their fingers to get the dog to come signals to the dog that it should go over there to get pet)

classically conditioned fears are often based in what part of the brain

amygdala

operantly conditioned responses are often based largely in what areas of the brain

areas rich in dopamine

two-process theory

the two types of conditioning work together in anxiety disorders - phobias are acquired through classical conditioning and reinforced through operantly conditioning

schedule of reinforcement

the pattern of delivering reinforcements

continuous reinforcement

reinforcements every time the behavior occurs

partial reinforcements

reinforcements only some of the times that the behavior occurs

behaviors we reinforce _ are slower to extinguish than those we reinforce _

partially, continuously

two dimensions of reinforcement schedules

• consistency of administering reinforcement (sometimes or all the time)

• basis of administering reinforcement (reinforcements based on number of times the behavior was done or the amount of time passed since last bahavior)

fixed ratio schedule

provide reinforcement after a regular number of responses (ex: give a rat a pellet after it pushes a button 15 times)

variable ratio schedule

provide reinforcement after a specific number of response on average, but the precise number of responses required during any given period varies (ex: a pigeon on a VR schedule with an average ratio of 10 might receive a treat after 6 pecks, then 12, then 1, then 21, so the average of those is 10)

what is more effective, fixed or variable schedules

variable

fixed interval schedule

provide reinforcement for producing the response at least once after a specific amount of time has passed (ex: a worker may get paid every Friday for going to work over the week)

variable interval schedule

provide reinforcement for producing the response after an average time interval, with the actual interval varying randomly (ex: a dog may get a treat for sitting an a schedule average of 8min, so it would get a. treat at 7 min, then 1, then 20, then 4, so the average is 8)

shaping

conditioning a target behavior by progressively reinforcing h=behaviors that come closer and closer to the target, uses fading to get closer to the target behavior (ex: dog training)

chaining

used for shaping, where a trainer may link a number of behaviors together to form a longer series (ex: animal performances in a zoo)

token economy

systems in psych hospitals for reinforcing appropriate behaviors while extinguishing inappropriate ones

secondary enforcers vs primary enforcers

secondary enforcers are neutral objects that become associated with primary reinforcers which are things that naturally increase the target behavior (like a favorite food)

radical behaviorism

advocated for by Skinner, thought that thinking and emotions are behaviors, they just aren’t observable

S-O-R psychologists

thought O (organisms) is the link between stimulus-response, thought stimulus-response wasn’t automatic and that it depends on what the stimulus means to the organism, focus on interpretation and expectations

cognitive conditioning

interpretation of the situation affects conditioning, it isn’t automatic

latent learning

found by Tolman, learning that isn’t directly observable, important because it shows that reinforcement isn’t necessary for learning

competence

what we know

performance

showing what we know

observational learning

learning by watching others, can be from watching models (parents, teachers, people who are influential to us)

what is one example of observational learning

aggression (can be from movies or video games too)

mirror neurons

in prefrontal cortex, selective and tuned to specific behaviors, become activated when an animal performs an action or observes it being performed

insight

the sudden understanding of the solution to a problem, important for work by Köhler

conditioned taste aversion

classical conditioning can lead us to develop avoidance reactions to the taste of food, typically require only one occurrence to develop, very specific (little stimulus generalization)

scapegoat food

a novel food which one isn’t fond of, used for chemo patients to avoid aversion to a well-liked food

equipotentiality

claim that we can classically condition all CS equally well to all UCSs, believed by many behavioralists

preparedness

we’re evolutionally predisposed to fear certain stimuli more than others, fears can be evolutionary memories, may make us fall to illusory correlations

instinctive drift

the tendency for animals to return to innate behaviors following repeated reinforcement

sleep-assisted learning

learning material while asleep, isn’t very proven

SALTT (accelerated learning)

allow people to pick up on information fast, not super proven

discovery learning

giving students experimental materials and asking them to figure out scientific principles on their own

direct instruction

when one tells the student how to solve problems, usually more effective than discovery

learning styles

their optimal means of acquiring information (ex: visual, auditory, spatial, etc), most people are a blend of many styles