Chapter 9

What does learning refer to?

Learning refers to any enduring change in the way an organism responds based on its experience.

What is classical conditioning?

Classical conditioning is learning in which an environmental stimulus produces a response in an organism.

What is an unconditioned reflex?

An unconditioned reflex is a response that occurs naturally, without any prior learning.

What is the term for the stimulus that produces a response in an unconditioned reflex?

The stimulus is called an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).

What is a conditioned response (CR)?

A conditioned response (CR) is a response that has been learned.

What does stimulus generalization mean?

Stimulus generalization is the phenomenon where an organism responds to stimuli that resemble the conditioned stimulus with a similar response.

What is extinction in classical conditioning?

Extinction refers to the process by which a conditioned response is weakened by the presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus.

What is Thorndike’s law of effect?

Thorndike’s law of effect states that an animal’s tendency to produce a behavior depends on that behavior’s effect on the environment.

What is positive reinforcement?

Positive reinforcement is when the presentation of a stimulus after a behavior makes the behavior more likely to occur again.

What is negative reinforcement?

Negative reinforcement is when the termination of an aversive stimulus makes a behavior more likely to recur.

What is punishment in operant conditioning?

Punishment is a process that decreases the probability that a behavior will occur.

What is extinction in operant conditioning?

Extinction occurs when enough trials pass in which the operant is not followed by its previously learned environmental consequence.

What is cognitive–social theory?

Cognitive–social theory incorporates conditioning concepts but adds a focus on cognition and social learning.

What is learned helplessness?

Learned helplessness is the expectancy that one cannot escape aversive events.

What does modeling refer to in social learning?

Modeling is a procedure in which a person learns to reproduce behavior exhibited by a model.

What is an operant?

An operant is a behavior that is emitted rather than elicited by the environment.

What is a cognitive map?

Cognitive maps are mental representations of the environment.

What is the definition of habituation?

Habituation is the decreasing strength of a response after repeated presentations of a stimulus.

What is the term used for the connection between a behavior and its consequence?

Response contingency is the connection that exists between a behavior and a consequence.

What is stimulus discrimination?

Stimulus discrimination is the tendency for an organism to respond to a very restricted range of stimuli.

What is reinforcement?

Reinforcement is a conditioning process that increases the probability that a response will occur.