AP Psych Unit 4 Mods 26-30

Learning

The process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

Habituation

Decreasing responsiveness with repeated exposure to a stimulus

Associative learning

Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be the stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)

Stimulus

Any event/situation that evokes a response

Respondent behavior

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

Operant behavior

Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences

Cognitive learning

The acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, watching others, or through language

Classical conditioning

A type of learning in which we link 2 or more stimuli; as a result, to illustrate with Pavlov’s classic experiment, the first stimulus (a tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food).

Behaviorism

The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most psychologists today agree with (1) but not (2)

Neutral stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

Unconditioned response (UR)

An unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth)

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

A stimulus that unconditionally (naturally and automatically) triggers an unconditioned response (UR)

Conditioned response (CR)

A learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

An originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR)

Acquisition

In classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the NS begins triggering the CR. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

Extinction

The diminishing of a CR; occurs in classical conditioning when an US doesn’t follow a CS; occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

Spontaneous recovery

The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished CR

Generalization

In classical conditioning, the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit a similar response. In operant conditioning, this occurs when responses learned in one situation occur in other, similar situations.

Discrimination

In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and similar stimuli that do not signal an US. In operant conditioning, the ability to distinguish responses that are reinforced from similar responses that are not reinforced.

Operant conditioning

A type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer, or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher.

Law of Effect

Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely.

Operant chamber

In operant conditioning research, it is a chamber (aka a Skinner box) containing a bar or a key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food/water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing/key pecking.

Reinforcement

Any event that strengthens the behavior it followers.

Shaping

An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of desired behavior

Discriminative stimulus

In operant conditioning, a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement)

Positive reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by presenting a stimulus that, when presented after the response, strengthens the response (adds desirable stimuli)

Negative reinforcement

Increasing behaviors by stopping/reducing aversive stimuli; this reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response (NOT punishment)(removes aversive stimuli)

Primary reinforcer

An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need

Conditioned reinforcer

A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; aka secondary reinforcer

Reinforcement schedule

A pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

Continuous reinforcement

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement

Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction compared to continuous reinforcement

Fixed-ratio schedule

Reinforces a response only after a specific number of responses

Variable-ratio schedule

Reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Fixed-interval schedule

Reinforces a response after a specific time has elapsed

Variable-interval schedule

Reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Punishment

An event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

Positive punishment

Administers aversive stimuli

Negative punishment

Removes rewarding stimulus

Superstitious behavior

Tendency to repeat behaviors that are followed closely by a reinforcer, even if they are not related

Biofeedback

A system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure and muscle tension

Preparedness

A biological predisposition to learn associations that have survival value, such as between taste and nausea

Taste aversion

Biological tendency in which an organism learns after a single experience to avoid food with a certain taste, if eating it is followed by sickness

Instinctive drift

The tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns

Cognitive map

A mental representation of the layout of one’s environment

Latent learning

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is incentive to demonstrate it

Insight

A sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts with strategy-based solutions

Intrinsic motivation

A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

Extrinsic motivation

A desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

Overjustification effect

When an expected external incentive (such as money or prizes) decreases a person’s intrinsic motivation to perform a task

Personal control

Our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless

Problem-focused coping

Attempting to alleviate stress directly — by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor

Emotion-focused coping

Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring a stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

Learned helplessness

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or person learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events

Internal locus of control

The perception that we control our own fate

External locus of control

The perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

Self-control

The ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards

Observational learning

Learning by observing others

Modeling

The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Vicarious reinforcement/punishment

Learning whether or not to imitate a behavior as a result of seeing other rewarded/punished for the same actions

Mirror neurons

Frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when we perform certain actions or observe another doing so. The brain’s mirroring of another’s action may enable imitation and empathy

Prosocial behavior

Positive, constructive, helpful behavior