AP psych term 2

learning

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

habituation

A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposures.

associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning)

stimulus

any event or object that evokes a response.

respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to a stimulus.

operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences

cognitive learning

the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language. (p. 272)

classical conditioning

a type of learning in which we link two 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 with (2)

neutral stimulus (NS)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.

unconditioned response (UR)

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

unconditioned stimulus (US)

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers an unconditioned response UR)

conditioned response (CR)

in classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)

conditioned stimulus (CS)

in classical conditioning, 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 neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response

higher-order conditioning

a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. For example, an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone.

extinction

the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced.

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response

generalization

the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.

discrimination

(1) in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. (In operant conditioning, the ability to distinguish responses that are reinforced from similar responses that are not reinforced.) (2) in social psychology, unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

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 that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

operant chamber

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

reinforcement

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

shaping

an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavio

discriminative stimulus

in operant conditioning, a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement

positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

negative reinforcement

increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing aversive stimuli. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: Negative reinforcement is not punishment.)

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; also known as a secondary reinforcer

reinforcement schedule

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

continuous reinforcement schedule

reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

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

fixed-ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

variable-ratio schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses.

fixed-interval schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

variable-interval schedule

in operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

punishment

an event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

biofeedback

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

preparedness

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

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 an 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

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

external locus of control

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

internal locus of control

the perception that we control our own 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.

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. The opposite of antisocial behavior

cognition

all the mental activities associated with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

concept

a mental grouping of similar objects, events, ideas, or people

prototype

a mental image or best example of a category. Matching new items to a prototype provides a quick and easy method for sorting items into categories

creativity

the ability to produce new and valuable ideas

convergent thinking

narrowing the available problem solutions to determine the single best solution

divergent thinking

expanding the number of possible problem solutions; creative thinking that diverges in different directions

algorithm

a methodical, logical rule or procedure that guarantees solving a particular problem.

heuristic

a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more errorprone than an algorithm

confirmation bias

a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

fixation

(1) in cognition, the inability to see a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem solving. (2) in personality theory, according to Freud, a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

mental set

a tendency to approach a problem in one particular way, often a way that has been successful in the past.

intuition

an effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

representativeness heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events in terms of how well they seem to represent, or match, particular prototypes; may lead us to ignore other relevant information.

availability heuristic

estimating the likelihood of events based on their availability in memory; if instances come readily to mind (perhaps because of their vividness), we presume such events are common

overconfidence

the tendency to be more confident than correct—to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments.

belief perseverance

clinging to one’s initial conceptions after the basis on which they were formed has been discredited

framing

the way an issue is posed; how an issue is worded can significantly affect decisions and judgments

language

our spoken, written, or signed words and the ways we combine them to communicate meaning.

physiological need

a basic bodily requirement.

phoneme

in a language, the smallest distinctive sound unit

babbling stage

beginning around 4 months, the stage of speech development in which an infant spontaneously utters various sounds at first unrelated to the household language.

one word stage

the stage in speech development, from about age 1 to 2, during which a child speaks mostly in single words.

two word stage

beginning about age 2, the stage in speech development during which a child speaks mostly in two-word statements

telegraphic speech

early speech stage in which a child speaks like a telegram—“go car”—using mostly nouns and verbs.

aphasia

impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding).

Broca’s area

helps control language expression—an area of the frontal lobe, usually in the left hemisphere, that directs the muscle movements involved in speech.

Wernicke’s area

a brain area involved in language comprehension and expression; usually in the left temporal lobe.

linguistic determinism

the strong form of Whorf’s hypothesis—that language controls the way we think and interpret the world around us.

linguistic influence

the weaker form of “linguistic relativity”—the idea that language affects thought

intelligence

the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.

general intelligence

according to Spearman and others, underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person’s total score.

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

intelligence test

a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.

achievement test

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

aptitude test

a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age.

Stanford-Binet

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test

intelligence quotient (IQ)

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ = ma/ca × 100).

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

the WAIS and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests.

standardization

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.

normal curve

a symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (about 68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes

reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting.