M

Module 7 Flashcards

  • Behaviorism = learning only has to do with observable behavior

  • Habituation = the decline in an organism’s response to a stimulus once the stimulus has become familiar

  • Unfamiliar stimulus = important and we should pay attention to it as it may signal danger or unexpected opportunity 

  • Dishabituation = an increase in response caused by a change in something familiar 

  • Classical conditioning = association between stimulus and response 

  • Unconditional stimulus = something that elicits an unconditioned response; produces a natural conditioned response

  • Conditional stimulus = a signal that has no importance to the organism until it is paired with something that does have importance 

  • Conditioned response = a trained reaction depended with the conditioned stimulus; strength of conditioned response slowly grows as the organism experiences more and more pairings of the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus; once relationship is established, the conditioned stimulus can be used in other procedures to establish other condition stimuli

  • Second-Order Conditioning = when a neutral stimulus is paired with something that is already established

  • Stimulus Generalization = similar enough stimuli will elicit the conditioned response

  • Extinction = conditioned responses diminish without reconditioning

  • Spontaneous recovery = sometimes, long after extinction, re-exposure to the CS evokes the CR  

  • Operant conditioning = a behavior is associated with the occurrences of a significant event

  • Thorndike’s Law of Effect = when a behavior has a positive effect, it is likely to be repeated; when a behavior has a negative consequence, it it less likely to be repeated

    • Reinforcers =  increase behavior

      • Positive reinforcers = strengthen responses through reward

      • Negative reinforcers = strengthen responses through the removal of upsetting stimulus

    • Punishers = decrease behavior; PUNISHERS =/= NEGATIVE REINFORCERS

  • Fixed ratio schedules = reinforce behavior after a set number of responses 

  • Variable ratio schedules = reinforce behavior after an unpredictable number of responses 

  • Fixed interval schedules = reinforce the first response after a fixed time period 

  • Variable interval schedules = reinforce the first response after an unpredictable time period  

  • Shaping = series of successive approximations of the desired behavior 

  • Cognitivism = learning also has to do with inner mental activity

  • Observational learning = individuals can learn novel responses by observing the behavior of others; does not necessarily require reinforcement, but relies on the presences of others; people observe a social model performing a behavior and the consequences of that behavior they remember a sequence of events and use this information to guide subsequent behaviors 

  • Constructivism = learning is more than acquisition. It is an active process; humans create meaning rather than acquiring it

  • Humanism = learning is a personal act to fulfill one’s potential