Social Learning and Biological Factors [AMSCO Ch. 10]

Mary Cover Jones

researched whether classical conditioning could reduce the fear of something; the "mother of behavioral therapy"

desensitization

therapy designed to reduce sensitivity to a feared stimulus

Joseph Wolpe

weakened a cat's anxiety for boxes by providing something pleasurable to them around the boxes

reciprocal inhibition

a process of extinguishing an undesired response to stimuli by evoking a desired response in its place

systematic desensitization

a process that first trains individuals with phobias in relaxation techniques and then exposes them to progressively more anxiety-provoking stimuli while they are relaxed

anxiety hierarchy

a list of feared objects and situations ranked from the least anxiety-provoking to the most anxiety-provoking

biofeedback

device that monitors such functions as heart rate, blood pressure, and perspiration

latent learning

one can learn something but not show the behavior right away

Edward Tolman

attempted to teach rats to run a maze during a series of one-day trials; learning can take place in an organism without the presence of a reinforcer

cognitive map

a mental representation that allows an organism to acquire, store, and recall information both in a real, spatial world

Robert Rescorla

demonstrated that cognition is at work within classical conditioning

contingency theory

posits that for learning to take place, a stimulus must provide the organism with a reliable signal that certain events will take place

instinctive drift

reversion to a natural behavior

abstract learning

understanding complex cognitive concepts or concepts that involve rules about relationships--rather than concrete stimuli

Wolfgang Kohler

co founded Gestalt psychology

gestalt psychology

based on the view that perceptions are organized wholes rather than a summary of their constituent paths

insight learning

the term for sudden realization that "just came to you" of how to solve a problem the first time you are exposed to it

David Premack

founded the premack principle

premack principle

a person will perform a less desirable activity, in order to perform the more desirable activity as a consequence

Seligman

studied learned helplessness

learned helplessness

a mental state in which an organism continues to experience a painful, unpleasant, or aversive stimulus

problem-focused coping

attempting to take control of a situation either by changing our behavior or changing the situation

emotion-focused coping

seeking out the support of others, trying to find a positive sided to the stressor, or taking our minds off the problem

locus of control

the perception of where control over life events reside

internal locus of control

the belief that people have the ability to control their lives, their choices, and the world

self-control

the ability to delay the satisfaction of immediate desires for a long-term benefits

external locus of control

believe that they have little or no control over their lives or what people do

Bandura

developed the social learning theory

social learning theory

people learn behaviors through observational learning

observational learning

watching and mimicking others

modeling

showing how something is done

vicarious learning

learning something by watching someone model a behavior

vicarious reinforcement

the viewer can also see the consequences of a behavior

reciprocal determinism

the environment influences the organism and its cognition which in turn influence the environment

social cognitive theory

part of what people know results from observing others

attention

noticing that something is happening in the environment

retention

recall of what was noticed

reproduction

a producing action that mimics what was noticed

motivation

a consequence from the environment that changes the likelihood of the behavior recurring (reinforcement and punishment)

self-efficacy

the degree to which a person believes in his or her own ability to complete tasks or reach goals and influences situations

mirror neurons

nervous system cells that fire both when an organism itself is doing a behavior and also when observing another organism doing the behavior