Unit 4 AP Psych

Classical Conditioning

Unconditioned stimulus: something that elicits a natural and reflective response. The original stimulus that elicits a response

Unconditioned response: involuntary response of salvation*

conditioned stimulus: A stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned response.

when has classical conditioning taken place? Learning takes place once the subject responds to the CS without a presentation of the US

Extinction: the process of unlearning a behavior

• extinction is achieved by repeatedly presenting the CS without the US thus breaking the association between the two.

Generalization: the tendency to respond to similar Cs’s

Discrimination: the ability to tell the difference

Spontaneous Recovery: is the comeback of a conditioned response (fear) after extinction when the unconditioned stimulus (noise) is presented again.

John B Watson and Rosalie Rayner performed the Baby Albert experiment. this is known as aversive learning whereas Pavlov’s dogs were conditioned with something pleasant (food), baby Albert was conditioned to have a negative response to a white rat.

Higher-order conditioning: once a CS elicits a CR, it’s possible< briefly, to use that CS as a US to condition a response to a new stimulus

• Using a dog and a bell as our example, after the dog salivates to the bell (first-order conditioning), the bell can be paired repeatedly with a flash of light, and the dog will salivate to the light alone.

Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning: A kind of learning based on the association of consequences with one’s behaviors

Edward Thorndike was one of the first people to research this learning.

Law of Effect: when a stimulus receives a positive response the behavior is more likely to be repeated, and when a stimulus receives a negative response the behavior is more likely to happen less frequently.

A Skinner box usually has a way to deliver food to an animal and a lever to press or disk to peck to get the food.

Reinforcer: A stimulus that increases the likelihood that a specific behavior will occur.

Reinforcement: a method that strengthens a desired response.

Positive Reinforcement: the addition of something pleasant

Negative Reinforcer: The removal of something unpleasant.

Positive Punishment: the addition of something unpleasant

Negative punishment: the removal of something pleasant

Punishment VS Reinforcement

Punishment Is the most effective if it’s delivered immediately after the unwanted behavior and is harsh. but harsh punishment may also lead to fear and anger.

Shaping: shaping reinforces the steps needed to achieve the desired behavior.

• by rewarding approximations desired behavior is achieved faster.

Chaining: putting together multiple behaviors that form one “larger” behavior.

Primary Reinforcers: are in and of themselves rewarding. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned. Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch,

Secondary Reinforcers: reinforcers that we have learned to value such as money and praise.

Premack principle: it explains that whichever of two activities is preferred can be used to reinforce the activity that isn’t preferred.

• if Peter likes apples but does not like to practice for his piano lesson, his mother could use apples to reinforce practicing the piano.

Reinforcement Schedules

When you are first teaching a new behavior, rewarding the behavior each time is best. This process is known as continuous reinforcement. However, once the behavior is learned, higher response rates can be obtained using certain partial-reinforcement schedules.

Variable ratios are more resistant to extinction

Fixed-Ratio reinforcement: reinforcement is delivered after a set number of responses.

Fixed-Interval Reinforcement: Reinforcement is delivered after a behavior is performed following the passage of a fixed amount of time

Variable-Ratio Reinforcement: Reinforcement is delivered after a variable number of responses.

Variable-Interval Reinforcement: Reinforcement is delivered after a behavior is performed following the passage of a variable amount of time.