Psychology of Learning and Research Methods

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards generated from the Psychology of Learning and Science Inquiry Skills lecture notes.

Psychology of Learning

A relatively permanent change in thinking and behaviour.

Classical Conditioning

Learning via association of two or more stimuli that are normally unrelated, causing a conditioned response, and always involving an involuntary (reflex) response.

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

A stimulus that does not evoke a response at first, but becomes a conditioned stimulus through association with an unconditioned stimulus.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

A reflex or innate response that does not require learning or conditions.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that now produces a classically conditioned (learned) response.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response to a previously neutral stimulus.

Acquisition Phase (Classical Conditioning)

The process during conditioning of pairing the US with the CS to acquire the CR.

Performance Phase (Classical Conditioning)

The phase when the CR is elicited without the US needing to be present.

Contiguity

The time interval in the UCS-CS pairing, which is most effective when the interval is small ($0.5\,\text{sec}$ is ideal).

Contingency (Classical Conditioning)

The predictability of occurrence of one stimulus from the presence of another, requiring the CS to remain predictable and consistent for a strong CR.

Stimulus Generalisation

Occurs when the CR is elicited upon the presentation of other stimuli similar to the original CS.

Stimulus Discrimination

Occurs when a person or animal only responds to the original CS, and not to other stimuli that are similar to the CS.

Extinction

A reduction or loss in the strength or rate of the CR when the UCS is withheld.

Spontaneous Recovery

The reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished CR.

Preparedness

Occurs when certain conditioned responses are learned more rapidly and easily than others due to biological predispositions.

Fear

An unpleasant emotion caused by a threat of danger, pain, or harm.

Phobia

An extreme and/or irrational fear or aversion to a stimulus that negatively impacts everyday functioning.

Systematic Desensitisation

A behavioural therapeutic tool widely used to modify learned behaviours associated with phobias by counter-conditioning the CR of fear with relaxation.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

A widely recognised effective therapy providing a safe environment for exposure therapy to manage and change cognitive distortions, provide coping strategies, and reduce relapse.

Operant Conditioning

A learning process where the strength of a behaviour is modified by the consequence that follows the behaviour.

Reinforcer

Any stimulus that strengthens or increases the likelihood of a response occurring again.

Punisher

Any stimulus that weakens or decreases the likelihood of a response occurring again.

Reinforcement

Any process that increases the frequency of a targeted behaviour.

Positive Reinforcement

The addition of a pleasant stimulus after a desired behaviour.

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of an unpleasant stimulus following a desired behaviour.

Punishment

A stimulus or event that decreases the frequency or occurrence of the behaviour that it follows.

Aversive Punishment

The addition of an unpleasant stimulus after an undesired behaviour.

Response Cost

The removal of a pleasant stimulus after an undesirable behaviour.

Shaping

A common and successful way of learning increasingly complex behaviours using positive reinforcement.

Acquisition Phase (Operant Conditioning)

The phase when reinforcers or punishers are administered to achieve an increase or decrease in behaviour while acquiring a new behaviour.

Performance Phase (Operant Conditioning)

The phase when a behaviour is performed without the presence of a reinforcer or punisher.

Fixed Interval Schedule

A reinforcement schedule where reinforcement is delivered at predictable time intervals as long as the behaviour is performed at least once.

Variable Interval Schedule

A reinforcement schedule where reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals.

Fixed Ratio Schedule

A reinforcement schedule where reinforcement is delivered after a predictable number of responses.

Variable Ratio Schedule

A reinforcement schedule where reinforcement is delivered after an unpredictable amount of responses.

Placebo Effect

A phenomenon that occurs when a person believes he or she is receiving real treatment and reports an improvement in their condition.

Observational Learning

A type of learning that happens indirectly through the process of watching others and then imitating their behaviour (also known as modeling).

ARRM Process

The four components of observational learning: Attention (pay attention), Retention (remember), Reproduction (copy), and Motivation.

Mirror Neurons

Neurons whose existence allows observational learning and the subsequent imitation of behaviour to occur.

Learned Helplessness

Results when a person or animal is repeatedly prevented from avoiding an aversive stimulus and subsequently becomes passive and depressed.

Objective Quantitative Assessment Methods

Numerical assessment methods based on observable phenomena, such as behaviour counts and physical responses.

Subjective Quantitative Assessment Methods

Numerical assessment methods relying on personal perceptions or self-reports, such as rating scales and subjective questionnaires.

Qualitative Assessment Methods

Descriptive assessment methods gathering non-numerical data, such as focus groups, Delphi techniques, interviews, and pictures.

Standard Deviation

A descriptive statistic that measures how spread out a set of scores is around the mean, indicating how much individual results vary from the average result.

Reliability

A measure of consistency indicating that repeating a particular measurement will yield the same results.

Validity

The extent to which an assessment or measure evaluates what it sets out to measure.

Internal Validity

Concerned with whether research findings are due to the suggested mechanisms (i.e., whether results are caused by the independent variable or an unwanted variable).

External Validity

The extent to which research results can be generalised to an entire population.

Ecological Validity

The extent to which research results can be generalised to real-life situations.