PSYCH 100 Exam #2- Week 7: Conditioning and Learning

Habituation

Process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli; getting used to a stimulus; usually a neutral stimulus.

Ex: Background noise at a restaurant, Wearing glasses

Sensitization

Process of responding more strongly over time to repeated stimuli; usually a dangerous or irritating stimulus

Ex: Chinese water torture, Sibling pokes you – don’t > quit > stop it. > IWILLMURDERYOU

Unconditioned Response (UR)

That automatic response (already there, not learned)

Ex: Dog

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

Produces a reflexive/automatic response

Ex: Food

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

Stimulus that elicits an automatic response (reflex) ◦ Eventually the neutral stimulus triggers the reflex on its own

Ex: Bell

Conditioned Response (CR)

Automatic response now triggered by CS

Ex: Salivation

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Initially neutral, becomes associated with UCS

Ex: Bell

Acquisition

Learning phase; when UCS is paired with CS, after which CS produces (or acquires) CR

Extinction

CS appears alone and the CR weakens, CR is eventually eliminated (CR becomes extinct), useful for getting rid of an undesired response

Ex: Bell slowly stops making dog salivate

Spontaneous recovery

Extinct CR suddenly emerges again after a delay

Renewal Effect

Sometimes a response is extinguished when the organism is in different context(s); however, the response may come back when the organism returns to the original setting.

Generalization

Respond to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus

Ex: Dog salivating to other bell tone

Discrimination

Respond to a particular stimulus but not similar stimuli, don’t respond to stuff that is too different

Ex: Dog doesn’t salivate to sound of gong

Blocking

A prior association with a conditioned stimulus prevents learning of an association with another stimulus

Ex: Bell already leads to the expected outcome (food), so there is no prediction error

Preparedness

Biological predisposition to learn some associations more quickly than other associations

Ex: Phobias of dark/heights/spiders ◦ Based on survival value

Taste Aversion Conditioning

Associating nausea with food, help avoid food that has gone bad or is poisonous

Ex: Taste aversion and cancer patients

Law of Effect

Behavior is a function of its consequences, if a certain behavior leads to favorable consequences a then more likely to repeat that behavior in the future

Basic Assumption

Learning is controlled by the consequences of the organism’s behavior

Stimulus Control

Stimulus signals the consequence

Ex: If you don’t stop when you see the red light, you’ll get a ticket

Discriminative Stimulus

Any stimulus that signals the presence of reinforcement.

Describe Skinner Box (Operant Chamber)

Behavior = press lever when light comes on

Change the behavior using food and shocks

Positive Reinforcement

The addition of a pleasant stimulus reinforces the behavior and strengthens it

Ex: Children are given stickers for working hard

Negative Reinforcement

The removal of the unpleasant stimulus reinforces the behavior and strengthens it.

Ex: Leaving the house early to avoid the traffic jam

Positive Punishment

The addition of an unpleasant stimulus reduces the likelihood of performing that behavior in the future

Ex: Getting a speeding ticket

Negative Punishment

The removal of a pleasant stimulus reduces the likelihood of performing that behavior in the future.

Ex: Being grounded for staying out too late

Pavlov And His Dogs

Automatic behavior: Salivation

Associate: Meat + Bell

Result: Salivate for bell

Skinner And His Rats

Voluntary behavior: Press lever

Associate: Lever press + Food

Result: Press lever more

Quantitative Law of Effect

The effects of reinforcing one behavior depend on how much reinforcement is earned for the behavior’s alternatives

Ex: If a pigeon learns that pecking red light will give 2 food pellets, and the green light only gives 1; it will peck the red light

Fixed Ratio

Reinforce after constant # of responses (consistent)

Ex: A salesperson receiving a bonus for every five items sold

Variable Ratio

Reinforce after variable # of responses (on average)

Ex: Putting money into a slot machine or a child is rewarded with snacks after they read a variable number of books. 8

Fixed Interval

Reinforce after constant amount of time (consistent)

Ex: Teacher giving weekly quizzes

Variable Interval

Reinforce after variable amount of time (on average)

Ex: Teacher giving pop quizzes at variable intervals

Social Learning Theory

Learning is a cognitive process derived from social observation, and does not necessarily require reinforcement

Ex: Bobo Doll Study

According to Bandura, observational learning consists of 4 parts:

1. Attention – you must pay attention to learn!

2. Retention – you must be able to keep the behavior in your memory.

3. Initiation – you must be able to execute (or initiate) the learned behavior.

4. Motivation – you must possess motivation to engage in observational learning

Insight Learning

Grasping the underlying nature of a problem

Ex: “Aha” moment, and get the solution and apply in the future