Classical and Operant Conditioning Flashcards

Classical Conditioning

  • Associative learning where two stimuli are paired to produce a learned response.

  • Ivan Pavlov: Studied behavior and experimented on dogs.

  • Pavlov's experiment: Dogs salivated to the sound of a bell due to conditioning.

Key Components

  • Unconditioned Stimulus (US): elicits an unconditioned response.

  • Unconditioned Response (UR): Natural response to US.

  • Neutral Stimulus (NS): Initially does not elicit a response.

  • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): NS becomes CS after association with US.

  • Conditioned Response (CR): Learned response to CS.

Operant Conditioning

  • Reinforcement: increases behavior.

    • Positive Reinforcement (+): Adding a pleasant stimulus to increase behavior.

    • Negative Reinforcement (-): Removing an unpleasant stimulus to increase behavior.

  • Punishment: decreases behavior.

    • Positive Punishment (+): Adding an unpleasant stimulus to decrease behavior.

    • Negative Punishment (-): Removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease behavior.


Study methods:

Part of a study is the independent and dependent variable.

Independent variable: a variable that changes in the study and separate from the rest.

Dependent variable: what remains constant and does not change in the study.

Standard Deviation: a statement that specifies how a research variable will be measured/manipulated. The steps and what has to be included must be very specific so that your experiment can be replicated.


Partial reinforcement: reinforcing a desired stimulus most of the time.

Continuous reinforcement: reinforcing a desired stimulus every-time.

Reinforcement sceduales:

Fixed ratio: reinforcement occurs after a set amount of responses: ex: being paid $10,000 after selling 7 cars.

Variable ratio: reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable amount of responses. Ex: gambling and earning a reward after variable of times.

Fixed interval: getting a reward after a set amount of time. Ex: getting paid every two weeks the same amount no matter how much work put in those 2 weeks.

Variable interval: being reinforced after an unpredictable amount of times: ex: getting a pop quiz at random days of the semester.

Observational learning functions:

Latent learning: learning that is not demonstrated in behavior until the person is motivated/has reason to use it. Ex: a rat might explore a maze without immediate reward. But as soon as food is placed, they will explore the maze to get it.

Biological predispositions: increased tendency to develop a particular trait, disease, or disorder due to genetics. Ex: depression and cancer.

Taste aversion: being conditioned to avoid certain foods if they make us sick from eating it. Ex: feeling sick from eating sea food so a person might avoid it.

Modeling: learning by observing/imitating others. Ex: learning your native language by watching and imitating your parents.

Bobo doll experiment: children shown adults interacting with a bobo doll. Some kids had natural interactions while others were very violent.

Perpetual constancy: perceiving objects as unchangeable despite if illuminating and retinal.

Color, shape, and size constancy: perceiving these traits as the same despite light conditions, orientation, and distance.

Linear perspective: seeing lines converge into the distance.

Phi phenomenon: when images at different positions flash on and off creating the illusion of movement. Ex: a loading circle on a video.

MEMORY:

encoding failure: information fails to be transferred and stored in memory due to information being lost.

Memory storage: memory is stored in multiple parts of the brain.

Declarative memory: memories you can state clearly. This is known as explicit memory.

Implicit memory storage: cerebellum stores implicit memory from classical conditioning.

  1. Base ganglia stores it too.

  2. It’s non-declarative and unconsciously learned. Ex: tying shoes.

Long term potential: when neurons repeatedly communicate, it leads to better long term memory.

Damage to hippocampus:

  1. Left side: verbal info disrupted

  2. Right side: visual memory disrupted.


Infantile amnesia: inability of being able to recall memories from when being a kid because hippocampus is still maturing.

State-dependent memory: being able to recall a memory when being in an emotional state you were in before in the past.

Retrieval cues: making associations to help us remember things.

Priming: using prior knowledge to help interpret events.

  1. In terms of memory: things we sense/perceive that bring about memories once often unconscious.

  2. Ex: likely to remember your grandma if your house smells like her.

Context dependent memory: being able to remember something from a certain environment. Ex: a memory from math class.

Serial position effect: being able to best recall the last and first items in a list.


Semantic encoding: thinking of a meaningful way and storing memory. Ex: thinking of the steps you took to win a game and encoding it to memory to win the next game.

Meta cognition: being aware of our thought processes like deductions and judgements.


Schema: Collection of basic knowledge about concept that serves as a guide for perception, interpretation, imagination, and problem solving.


Assimilation: Putting new ideas into our schema. We put these ideas where they fit the best.


Accommodation: changing/altering old ideas to take in new ideas/information learned. Ex: thinking that all birds can fly. But then, this old idea changes when you learn new information that chickens can’t fly like other birds.


2 types of thinking:

Convergent thinking: process where we narrow down multiple ideas to the best singular solution when solving a problem. Ex: coming up with one good single idea when solving a math problem.

Divergent thinking: process in which we generate multiple possible solutions for a problem. Ex: thinking of multiple ways to increase sales of consumer item.


Heuristic: a mental shortcut that allows you to make decisions quickly which can sometimes lead to errors. This can be used in complexed situations or in a situation you don’t have much knowledge in.


Representative Heuristic: When we make a judgement on how close something matches the prototype in our head. Ex: Categorizing a truck driver with muscles and a short shirt. But when we see a truck driver, they don’t match our prototype.


Avaliability Heuristic: A shortcut where a person estimates the likelihood of an event based on readily examples of that event come to mind. Ex: when you hear about a plane crash, you might avoid the risk of flying even though statistics show that flying is safer than driving.


ATTACHMENT TO A CAREGIVER:


Attachment: an emotional tie with another person. Young children seek this closeness to their caregiver and can be in distress if seperated from them.


Harry Harlow Experiment: tested the food source, vs comfort using a monkey. The wired mother had a feeding bottle. While the cloth mother provided only comfort.

Results: the monkey would go to the wired monkey for food but would spend more time with the cloth monkey for comfort. This showed that love is essential for infants.

Deprivation of attachment: infants that do not have a secure attachment early on can lead to negative development outcomes.

STRANGE SITUATION: Ainsworth’s strange situation.

This experiment emphasized how an infant would react being placed in an unfamiliar place with and without it’s mother.

Secure Attachment: if the mother is present, the baby happily explores the places. If the mother leaves, the infant will be in distress. When the mother returns, the baby will seek immediate contact with her.


Anxious attachment: when a child doesn’t show much distress when caregiver leaves and doesn’t make eye contact when they return.


Anxious Ambivalent: Child is clingy/hesitant to explore the place. They are in distress when the caregiver leaves and seeks contact when they return.


Disorganized Attachment: appearing dazed/confused during strange situations. They don’t display a consistent pattern of attachment behaviors. This can be due to insensitive mothers.


PARENTING STYLES:


Authoritarian: strict, makes rules, high demanding, low responsiveness, and expects rules to be followed.


Permissive: submits to a child’s desires, low demanding, and high responsiveness.


Authoritative: both demanding and responsive, set rules and enforces them, explains the reasons, encourages open discussion.


Neglectful: parents are emotionally detached and provide little to no guidance and support. Low demanding and low responsiveness.


SIGMUND FREUD:


Psychoanalysis: attitudes, thoughts, and actions are due to unconscious motives and conflicts.

When treating psychological disorders, a technique is used where the unconscious is exposed and interpreted.


The unconscious: our unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. Freud believed most of who we are is unconscious.

REPRESS: block thoughts from unconscious.

Freud believed that we did this to protect ourselves from confronting our thoughts, fears, desires, etc.


DEFENSE MECHANISMS: Freud theorized we unconsciously protect our ego.


REPRESSION: push down fears, disturbing thoughts, impulses, desired, we ignore how we really feel.


PROJECTION: worried about something in ourselves and accuse others of it. Ex: cheating on your partner but blaming them for it, knowing they did nothing.


Displacement: taking anger and frustrations on someone who didn’t cause it.


Sublimation: taking anger and frustrations our in a healthy way.


DENIAL: someone refuses to admit something that aligns with reality. Ex: denying the fact that McDonald’s is unhealthy.


Regression: someone handles a situation like a child.


Rationalization: Creating logical explanations to justify behavior and to make something seem not so bad.


Identification with Aggressor: adapting a trait from an aggressor to cope with trauma.


Reaction Formation: acting the opposite of how we feel. Ex: Being mean to your crush because you deny the fact that you like them.


SOCIAL FACILITATION: improved performance on simple or well learned tasks when being observed by others.

Our performance can be worse when we’re not used to being observed.

But those who are often observed, tend to have a better performance.


Social Loafing: tendency to put less effort when working in a group than when they are worlding alone.


Group polarization: tendency for a group’s decisions to become more extreme than the individual opinions of it’s members before discussion. Ex: if individuals are initially cautious, the group will likely become more cautious after discussion.