AP PSYCH 3.7-3.9 Vocabs

Learning

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

Associative learning

learning that certain events occur together. (classical & operant conditioning)

Habituation

when repeated stimulus produces decreasing responsiveness

How does the process of learning take form in CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

we learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events.

How does the process of learning take form in OPERANT CONDITIONING

we learn to associate a response (our behavior) and its consequence.

Stimulus

any event or situation that evokes a response.

Respondent behavior

behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.

Operant behavior

behavior that operates on the environment, producing a consequence.

Behaviorism

A psychological approach that focuses on observable behavior, not thoughts or feelings.

cognitive learning

the acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language

Classical conditioning

A type of learning where you connect two stimuli, so one (like a tone) makes you expect the other (food) and causes a response (drooling).

Ivan Pavlov’s discovery

Classical conditioning

John B Watson’s discovery

Behaviorism & little albert

BF skinner’s discovery

Operant conditioning

Thorndike

Law of effect

UCS (Unconditioned Stimulus)

a stimulus that unconditionally — naturally and automatically — triggers an unconditioned response (UCR).

UCR (Unconditioned response)

naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (such as food in the mouth).

NS (neutral stimulus)

a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.

CS (conditioned stimulus)

an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an UCS, comes to trigger a conditioned response.

CR (conditioned response)

a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).

Acquisition

when one links a NS and a UCS so that the NS begins triggering the CR (NS->CS)

higher-order conditioning

A process where a learned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus, so the new one also causes a response, but usually weaker (second-order conditioning).

extinction

When a conditioned response gets weaker because the unconditioned stimulus no longer follows the conditioned stimulus.

spontaneous recovery

the reappearance, after a pause, of a weakened conditioned response.

Generalization

when stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus trigger the same response.

discrimination

the learned ability to tell the conditioned stimulus apart from other stimuli and respond only to the one linked with reinforcement.

How does classical conditioning apply to food cravings?

Tastes, smells, or situations linked to sugary foods can trigger cravings even without hunger, showing how conditioned stimuli can cause automatic responses.

How does classical conditioning apply to immune responses?

The immune system can be conditioned too—when a taste is paired with a drug that affects immunity, the taste alone can trigger an immune response.

preparedness

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

operant conditioning

a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher.

Difference between classical cond. & operant cond

Classical conditioning is respondent, involuntary behavior, operant conditioning is voluntary, has the choice to behave a certain way

Law of effect

Behaviors with rewards (reinforcers) increase, and behaviors with punishments decrease.

Shaping

reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.

Reinforcer

anything that causes an behavior to INCREASE

Punishment

anything that causes an behavior to DECREASE

discriminative stimulus

A stimulus that triggers a response because it has been linked to reinforcement.

Positive reinforcement

increasing behaviors by adding something pleasant (+ more allowance)

Negative reinforcement

increasing behaviors by subtracting something displeasure (-curfew, screentime)

positive punishment

Adding something unpleasant to decrease a behavior (extra hw for talking in class)

negative punishment

Taking away something desirable to decrease a behavior (phone taken away)

primary reinforcer

an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need (food, pain relief)

conditioned (secondary) reinforcer

a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer. (money to buy food)

Delayed gratification

the ability to delay what we desire to get it (choosing to study now instead of hanging out with friends to get good grades later.)

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. (giving a sticker to a student every time they answer correctly)

partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

Reinforcing a behavior only sometimes, which makes learning slower but the behavior harder to stop. (A parent praises their child for cleaning their room only sometimes, but the child keeps cleaning anyway.)

Limits of continuous reinforcement & learning

Rapid extinction, when continuous reinforcement stops, so does the behavior

Fixed ratio schedules

reinforcement occurs after a set number of responses (gift cards, points)

Fixed interval schedules

reinforcement occurs after a set length of time (paychecks, monthly allowance)

variable ratio schedules

reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable # of responses (gambling)

Variable interval schedules

reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable length of time (stocks)

applications of operant conditioning

at school, in sports, computer programs, at work, in parenting, changing your own behavior

How to change your own behavior

state a realistic goal and announce it, reduce the rewards gradually

instinctive drift

The tendency for learned behavior to slowly return to natural, biological patterns.

cognitive map

a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment

latent learning

Learning that happens but isn’t shown until there’s a reason or reward to show it.

insight learning

solving problems through sudden insight

observational (social) learning

learning by observing others.

modeling

the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior (BOBO doll experiment)

mirror neurons

Neurons that activate when we do an action or watch someone else do it, helping with imitation and empathy.

Humans are..?

natural imitators

prosocial behavior

positive, constructive, helpful behavior

antisocial behavior

negative, destructive, harmful behavior

violent programming

glorifying violence often in media -> people usually expect people to be violent

desensitization

viewers become progressively less shocked/scared at violence due to video games and violent programs

Extrinsic motivation

external source (studying to get good grades)

intrinsic motivation

internal source (playing video games for fun)

Overjustification

relied too heavily on extrinsic motivation that the person won't do the action without getting that extrinsic motivation (reward/punishment)

Learned helplessness

occurs when a person could do the things they want to/make choices but never attempt to because they're not used to doing it.

Locus (loci) of control

where do you think your control of life is located

Internal (locus of control)

choices that i make matters and good things will happen (optimistic)

External (locus of control)

choices are less important, can't control a lot (pessimistic)

Types of learning

• classical conditioning

• operant conditioning

• observational learning

• cognitive learning

Generalizability chance

p<0.05 = greater than 5% chance that the results were random (the lower the better)

Correlational coefficient

Between -1 to 1 (closer to -1 = negative correlation) (closer to 1 = positive correlation)