Intro to Psychology (week 7)

Behaviorism

Learning has to do with observable behavior

and nothing with anything that has to do with

any unobservable or internal mental

processes.

Habituation

The decline in a organisms response to

stimulus once the stimulus has become

familiar

Conditioned Stimulus

A signal has no importance to an organism

until it's paired with something that does have

importance. Ringing the bell to the dog has no

significance, but once it's associated with

food, it causes a drooling mechanism. which is

a conditioned response.

Second-order Conditioning

Conditioning a procedure in which a neutral

stimulus is paired with some already-

established CS (conditioned stimulus)

stimulus generalization

they respond to a range of stimuli provided

that these stimuli are similar enough to the

original CS

Extinction

conditioned responses diminish without

reconditioning

spontaneous recovery

sometimes, long after extinction re-exposure

to the conditioned stimulus evokes the

conditioned response

operant conditioning

occurs when a behavior is associated with the

occurrence of a significant event

Thorndikeʼs Law of Effect

When a behavior has a positive effect, it is

likely to be repeated. However, if a behavior

has a negative consequence, it is less likely to

be repeated

negative reinforcers

Strengthen response even through the

removal of upsetting stimulus

variable interval schedules

reinforce the response after an unpredictable

time period