Where do fears come from?

• psychodynamic, behavioral, genetics (fight or flight)

Learning: a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience

Inate: (opposite of learned) natural/biological, don’t have to be taught it

Conditioned: learned behavior (ex: responding to name, greetings, exited for Christmas)

Unconditioned: something that is an innate, natural, or reflex (crying, burping, startling)

Response: a reaction to a stimulus (stoppingat a red light, Yawning when you see someone else)

Stimulus: energy that causes a response (red light - you stop)

Neutral Stimulus: a stimulus that at first elicits no response

Classical Conditioning: a type of learning in which an organism responds in a natural way to a neutral stimulus that normally does not bring about that response

Unconditioned Response: a natural/innate/”born with” response (startling at loud noise)

Extinction: when a previously conditioned response decreases in frequency and eventually disappears

Spontaneous Recovery: when an extinguished response reemerged

Stimulus Generalization: the tendency to respond to a similar conditioned stimulus

Stimulus Discrimination: the ability to tell the difference between similar stimuli

Higher Order Conditioning: when a second conditioned stimulus becomes associated with an initial conditioned stimulus and invokes a conditioned response by itself.

Operant Conditioning

Thorndike’s Law of Effect: a response that is satisfying is more likely to be repeated

Operant Conditioning: a voluntary response is strengthened or weakened depending on its consequences.

Reinforcer: any stimulus that increases the chances a preceding behavior will be repeated

• Positive: candy for good behavior, getting an “A” for hard work

• Negative: we’ve learned that these actions get rid of a bad feeling (gloves on a cold day)

Punishment: an unpleasant or painful stimulus that reduces the chances a behavior will happen again.

• removal of a positive reinforcer

• application of a negative stimulus

Disadvantages to routine punishments

• punishment is ineffective if not administered right away

• ineffective if person can just withdraw from setting

• sends messages that “might is right” and it is ok to hit in some instances

• often this style of punishment may be the tool of out-of-control people - danger of excess/ abuse

• will you be feared or respected?

• lower self-esteem

• punishment doesn’t necessary