AP Psych Unit 4

Learning

A change in behavior due to experience

Habituation

Simple form of adaptive learning where an organism stops paying attention to stimuli that are often repeated and dont signal anything important; Occurs in the brain

Associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. The events could be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a behavior and its consequences (as in operant conditioning or vicarious learning).

Defintion of Classical Conditioning

The learning of invountary emotional and/or physiological reactions through the association of two stimuli

Pavlov's Dog Experiment *NEED TO KNOW FOR TEST*

Pavlov showed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time that they were given food.

Unconditioned Stimulus(US/UCS)

a natural/unlearned stimuus that elicits a natural/reflexive/involuntary response

Unconditioned Response(UR/UCR)

the natural/reflexive/involuntary reaction(emtional and/or physiological to the US

Neutral Stimulus(NS)

Prior to pairing/association, the NS does not elicit the UR/CR on its own

Conditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that an organism has learned to associate with the unconditioned stimulus; After pairing/association, the NS becomes the CS

Conditioned Response

The learned reaction(emotional and/or physiological) to the CS(The same as the UR,or very close)

Classical conditioning paradigm

US------->UR
NS+US------->UR
CS-------->CR

Little Albert Study *NEED TO KNOW FOR TEST*

After several pairings of the white rat with the loud noise, Albert began to exhibit signs of fear upon merely seeing the rat, even in the absence of the noise

Aquisition(classical conditioning)

The pairing stage(NS+UCS); When the organism "aquires" the association between the stimuli

Extinction(classical conditioning)

After UCS is no longer presented, the association becomes weaker and eventually disappears(CS alone will not elicit CR)

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance, after extinction, of a weakened conditioned response

Stimulus Generalization(classical conditioning)

Stimuli similar to the CS also elicit the CR

Stimulus Discrimination(classical conditioning)

Only the CS elicits the CR

Contingency Factor: Timing

Best if UCS follows NS, by no more than a few seconds

Contingency Factor: Predictability

Need to consistently pair the NS with the UCS and only use the NS to signal the UCS

Contingency Factor: Signal Strength

Increase strength of a stimulus = stronger association(more quickly too) = stronger CR

Biopreparedness

A biological to make certain associations, such as between taste and nausea(taste aversions), that have survival value

One-trial conditioning/learning

Occurs when associations are made after just one pairing(can be applied to both CC and OC)
Ex: Taste-aversions

Counterconditioning

A type of therapy based on the principles of classical conditioning that attempts to replace bad or unpleasant emtional responses to a stimulus with more pleasant, adaptive rsponses

Law of Effect

Principle that states that behaviors followed by a favorable(or reinforcing) consequence become more likely to occur, and that behaviors followed by an unfavorable(or punishing) consequence become less likely

Definition of Operant Conditioning

The voluntary change in behavior as a result of the association between a behavior and its consequence(good or bad)

B.F. Skinner and the Skinner Box

Skinner showed how positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat in his Skinner box. The box contained a lever on the side, and as the rat moved about the box, it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately, it did so that a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever

Reinforcement

A consequence that increases the likelihood a behavior will occur again(strengthens response)

Primary Reinforcer

An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need
Ex: food, water, sleep, love

Secondary Reinforcer

Reinforcement 'power' is learned
Ex: money, praise, medal

Positive Reinforcement

Adding something desirable to increase/strengthen a behavior

Negative Reinforcement

Taking away something undesirable to increase/strengthen a behavior

Punishment

A consequence that decreases the likelihood a behavior will occur again(weakens response)

Positive Punishment

Adding something undesirable to decrease/weaken a behavior

Negative Punishment(omission training)

Taking away something desirable to decrease/weaken a behavior

Aquisition(operant conditioning)

Initial learning stage; when the organism recognizes the behavior and consequence(cause and effect)

Shaping

Rewarding succesive approximations of a desired behavior(reinforce a similar/smaller behavior) as the organsim gets closer and closer to the desired behavior

Superstitions and superstitious behavior

Superstitious behavior occurs when consequences reinforce unrelated behaviors

Extinction(operant conditioning)

Occurs if when the consequence stops, behavior reverses

Instinctive drift

The tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically, predisposed patterns(also tells us that not all behaviors can be modified through reinforcements)

Learned Helplessness

Tendency to give up any effort to control ones environment after repeated failures

Generalization(operant conditioning)

Occurs when an organism learns that similar behaviors produce the same consequences

Discriminative Stimuli(operant conditioning)

Only a particular behavior signals/produces the consequence; an organism displays a behavior in one situation but not another; believes the consequence is only available in certain circumstances

Continuous Reinforcement

A behavior is reinforced every time it occurs

Fixed Ratio(FR)

Reward is given after a set # of responses

Variable Ratio(VR)

Reward is given after an average/unknown/inconsistent # of responses

Fixed Interval(FI)

Reward is given after a set amount of time

Variable Interval(VI)

Reward is given after an average/unknown/inconsistent amount of time

E.C Tolman's rat experiment

Took 3 groups of rats: Group A was reinforced to go through a maze, Group B was not reinforced, and Group C was only reinforced after 11 tries to go through the government. After being reinforced, Group C's errors in going through the maze drastically decreased.

Cognitive Map

Mental representations of familiar locations(developed through experience)

Latent Learning

Learning that is not immediately evident(usually demonstrated later on when there is an incentive to demonstrate

Kohler Experiment

He taught Sultan, a chimp, how to stack boxes or how to use a stick to obtain food (separate). When the food was higher he then figured how to stack the boxes AND use the stick to get the food

Insight learning

The sudden realization/understanding of a solution to a problem

Observational/Social learning

Learning by watching others(the experience doesnt have to be our own)

Modeling

Learning new behaviors by watching others(models) and imitating their behaviors ("monkey see, monkey do")

Bobo Doll Experiment

nursery school students observed an adult play aggressively (yelling & hitting) with an inflatable clown (Bobo); when children were later allowed to play with the Bobo, those children who witnesses the Bobo doll performed the same aggressive actions and improvised new ways of playing aggressively

Vicarious conditioning

When a behavior is learned/modified after observing the consequences of others' behaviors