Psychology Review: Chapter 6

What is habituation?

• A result of learning; decreased response to repeated stimulus (when stimulus is deemed unimportant/adaption)

  • Ex. when you live near a park and eventually come to ignore the sounds of children playing b/c your brain recognizes them as harmless

• Occurs in the brain (cognitive process)

• It is reversible if the stimulus changes or intensifies

What is sensory adaption?

• Definition: reduced sensitivity of sensory receptors

  • ex. n longer smelling perfume after a while

• Occurs in sensory organs (i.e. eyes, nose, skin etc.)

• Reversible if the stimulus changes or intensifies

What is classical conditioning and what are the variables involved?

Definition: where a neural stimulus is associated with another to elicit a response (think! pavlov)

AKA: first order conditioning

• Neural stimulus (NS): a stimulus that elicits no response

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): stimulus that triggers a response with no prior learning

• Unconditioned response (UCR): the response to unconditioned stimulus

• Conditioned stimulus (CS): causes a response in association with unconditioned stimulus (previous neutral stimulus)

• Conditioned Response (CR): the learned response from conditioned stimulus

Explain Pavlov’s Conditioning Model using the variables of classical conditioning

• Making what was once unconditioned become conditioned

• Variables before conditioning: tuning fork (NS), food (UCS), and salivation (UCR)

• Step 1: Food (UCS) = Salivation (UCR)

• Step 2: Tuning fork (NS) = No Salivation (no response)

• Step 3: Tuning Fork + Food = Salivation (UCR)

• Step 4 (After Conditioning): Tuning fork (CS) = Salivation (CR)

• Variables after conditioning: tuning fork (CS), Salivation (CR)

What are the principles of classical conditioning?

• Acquisition

• Extinction

• Spontaneous recovery:

• Stimulus generalization

• Stimulus discrimination

Explain the principle of acquisition

• gradual learning of CR

  • CR association becomes greater

  • Timing is significant (CR and UCS occur directly after one another)

Explain the principle of extinction

• gradual disappearance of CR

  • Occurs when a new behavior occurs as CS is presented without UCS

Explain the principle of spontaneous recovery

• the sudden reappearance of "extinct" CR

  • b/c CR was suppressed, not forgotten

  • Results in possibilities of therapy (renewal effect)

Explain the principle of generalization

• similar stimulus to CS causes CR

  • Creates generalization gradient (makes a causation relationship between new CS and CR)

    • i.e. anxiety caused by gunshots in war relates to anxiety caused by fireworks

Explain the principle of stimulus discrimination

• a less effectives CR occurs when new CS differs from original CS

What are the potential applications of conditioning

• taste aversions (classical adjacent)

• phobias (classical)

• procrastination (operant conditioning)

How do taste aversions differ from typical classical conditioning

Only requires a single "trial" (food poisoning)

• Association can occur over time (does not have to be immediate)

• Maintains specificity (no generalization)

• Adaptive

How are phobias an application of classical conditioning?

•  its development and treatment

• Look at little albert case

  • boy began to fear white rabbits because appearance would be paired with a loud sound

How is procrastination an application of conditioning

• An example of negative reinforcement

  • the act of delaying a task (the behavior) is reinforced by the immediate removal of an unpleasant feeling (stimulus), such as anxiety or the desire to do the task, resulting in negative reinforcement

What is operant conditioning?

• Controls learning by introducing consequences for behavior

• Behavior is shaped by what follows it (positive or negative response)

What are the types of reinforcement/punishment and what is the difference?

• Positive: adding a stimulus

• Negative: removing a stimulus

• Neither is better or worse: it depends on what you're goal is

Why are token economies significant to the relevance of operant conditioning?

• it is an example of operant conditioning

  • i.e. getting a sticker (positive reinforcement)

• Primary reinforcer: food, drink (affects a person's biological needs)

• Secondary reinforcer: tokens, stickers etc. (doesn't impact a person's biological needs)

What is the difference between reinforcement and punishment?

Under the umbrella of operant conditioning

• Reinforcement (encourages): makes behavior more likely to reoccur

• Punishment (discourages): makes behavior less likely to occur

• Discriminative Stimulus: stimulus that shows reinforcement will soon occur

  • think: school bell ringing = class is almost over

Why does reinforcement need a “schedule” and what are the types?

If we want our stimulus to be more effective in eliciting a response, then more reinforcement needs to occur

• Types:

  • Continuous (every time/automatic)

  • Partial (sometimes)

How does partial reinforcement work?

It is manipulated in 2 ways

1. Consistency: fixed (regular) and variable (irregular)

2. basis (why is it occurring): ratio (# of responses) and interval (time between responses)

What are the 4 major schedules of reinforcement?

• Fixed ratio (FR): reinforcement after regular # of responses

  • i.e. after a dog rolls over 5 times

• Variable ratio (VR): reinforcement after average # of responses

  • think of gambling (the more you play the more likely you are to win b/c jackpots occur every (blank) times)

• Fixed Interval (FI): reinforcement after a specified amount of time

  • i.e. salaried employees (gets paid after an amount of time passes)

• Variable Interval (VI): reinforcement after average time interval

  • i.e. health inspection occurs every quarter, but randomly in every quarter

When do classical and operant conditioning overlap?

• Persistence of fears or anxiety disorders

• Through the two-process theory of phobias

  • Phobia Acquired: through classical conditioning

    • NS (dog) + UCS (bite) = CR (fear) + CS (dog)

  • Phobia Maintained: through operant conditioning

    • Continual avoidance of CS (dogs) which is negative reinforcement

What is the role of the autonomic and somatic nervous systems in conditioning?

1. Autonomic nervous system

   1. adjusts internal bodily functions (i.e. heart rate, respiration etc.)

   2. could be attributed to involuntary responses to stimuli in classical conditioning

2. Somatic nervous system

   1. provides the pathways for learning new, voluntary behavioral responses

What are the different cognitive models of learning?

• S-O-R psychology

• Observational Learning

• Insight Learning

• Latent Learning

What is "S-O-R" psychology?

• Argues that a person's interpretation of an event matters to behavioral response

  • "Cognitive conditioning"

  • b/c behavioral responses differ in people

What is latent learning?

• Differs between competence and performance

  • Someone may be competent, but are unwilling to perform such competence

• Learning can occur when unobservable and without direct reinforcement (Tolman & Honzik)

  • External stimulus/incentive isn't always necessary

What is observational learning?

• Learning via watching (mimicry)

• Can cause bad habits (similar to the idea of nature v. nurture)

  • Kids following in parent’s footsteps

What is insight learning?

• The "aha" moment

  • The sudden understanding of a problem, allows us to create solutions later on for similar problems

What is instinctive drift and its significance?

• the return to innate behaviors despite reinforcement

• Shows that despite the actions of conditioning there is always the possibility of returning to basic instincts

What does preparedness mean in the context of biological influences on learning?

• Preparedness: looks at addressing fear or phobias even without having such an experience

  • Our fear of something without having ever interacted with bad stimulus could be attributed to an evolutionary response

  • "evolutionary memories"

What are learning fads and what are some types?

An attempt to hack ones way to learning something

• Sleep-assisted learning (hypnopaedia)

• Accelerated learning

  • techniques to help learning at an accelerated pace (i.e. if you buy a study packet then you’ll learn concepts faster)

• Discovery learning (giving students experimental materials and making them create something by themselves)

  • Con: some students find it difficult to function without formal instruction