Chapter Six - Knapp 2000

reflex

a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment. They tend to be simpler than instincts, involve the activity of specific body parts and systems (e.g., the knee-jerk reflex and the contraction of the pupil in bright light), and involve more primitive centers of the central nervous system (e.g., the spinal cord and the medulla)./ EX. blinking when a light is flashed in your eyes.

instinct

are innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as aging and the change of seasons. They are more complex patterns of behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole (e.g., sexual activity and migration), and involve higher brain centers./ EX. birds flying south for the winter

learning

a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience. In contrast to the innate behaviors discussed above, learning involves acquiring knowledge and skills through experience.

associative learning AKA conditioning

occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment. You will see that associative learning is central to all three basic learning processes discussed in this chapter

classical conditioning

a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events/ classical conditioning tends to involve unconscious processes

stimulus

any event or situation that produces a response; could be as simple as noticing that the event has occurred/ EX. How many of you saw Jaws? It's an older movie, but really good. My family saw it on a trip to Galveston, which may have not been the best idea. I couldn't enjoy the ocean after. For those of you that haven't seen it, there is this very specific music that plays when the shark is about to eat someone. To this day, if I'm in my parent's pool, my dad sometimes does the song, and I pretty much have to get out of the pool. It's that deeply ingrained. So the music in this story would be the stimulus; my fear is the response.

operant conditioning

/EX. If I study hard for an exam, I am likely to do well. If I hurt one of my friends, I am likely to feel guilty. I learn to associate a behavior with its likely consequences.

Pavlov's experiment

During the 1890s, Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov was researching salivation in dogs in response to being fed. He inserted a small test tube into the cheek of each dog to measure saliva when the dogs were fed (with a powder made from meat).

respondent behavior

occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus/ EX. Dogs naturally salivate when they get fed/ But he noticed that the dogs would start salivating before the powder was put in their mouths. In fact, they'd start salivating when they heard the experimenter walking down the hall.

neutral stimulus

/ So he's wondering, what makes them drool, even though they don't have food in their mouths? They were drooling in response to the sound of footsteps, which would normally be/ He theorized that over time, the dogs had begun to associate the sound of the experimenter's footsteps with getting fed, which made them drool.

unconditioned stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in an organism/ EX. a puff of air in your eye.

unconditioned response

a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus/ EX. blinking because you got a puff of air in your eye

conditioned stimulus

a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus./ EX. the plastic frame you put your face in for a glaucoma test at the eye doctor (when they puff air into your eye)

conditioned response

behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus/ EX. blinking when you see the plastic frame.

acquisition

period of initial learning in classical conditioning in which a human or an animal begins to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus will begin to elicit the conditioned response

forward conditioning

Learning is fastest. The conditioned stimulus is presented before the unconditioned stimulus. In this way, it acts as a signal that the unconditioned stimulus is coming/ EX. the sound of opening a can tells your pets that they are about to get fed.

backward conditioning

slower learning. The conditioned stimulus is presented after the unconditioned stimulus/ EX. once my cat starts eating their wet food, that's where all their attention is. They wouldn't notice a conditioned stimulus if it occurred after they started eating.

extinction

the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus. When presented with the conditioned stimulus alone, the dog, cat, or other organism would show a weaker and weaker response, and finally no response/ there is a gradual weakening and disappearance of the conditioned response/ EX. If Pavlov rang the bell, but no longer gave the dogs food after, they would eventually stop drooling to the sound of the tone alone.

spontaneous recovery

the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period/ EX. Pavlov has extinguished the conditioned response in the dogs by repeatedly sounding the tone, but not giving them food. He then waited a few days, during which he didn't ring the bell. When he came back to those dogs again and rang the bell, a lot of them drooled in response. This tells us that the association was not removed completely; it was just dormant, because it was no longer useful.

stimulus discrimination

When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar,/ EX. I am horrified of roaches - literally horrified. But I'm not scared of other, similar looking insects, like beetles.

stimulus generalization

when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus/ EX. Who likes chocolate? If I hand you a chocolate bar, you eat it right up. But if I molded that chocolate into the shape of feces, you probably don't want the chocolate much anymore, even though you knew it was still just chocolate. You have generalized the disgust you feel when you see feces.

habituation

occurs when we learn not to respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change. As the stimulus occurs over and over, we learn not to focus our attention on it./ EX. It's like when you go to a town that smells strange. At first, that's all you can smell. But after you're there for a while, you habituate - you stop noticing the weird smell.

operant conditioning AKA instrumental conditioning

The target behavior is followed by reinforcement or punishment to either strengthen or weaken it, so that the learner is more likely to exhibit the desired behavior in the future/ process by which a response becomes more or less likely to occur, depending on its consequences. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior

operant

to refer to any active behavior that operates upon the environment to generate consequence. In other words, Skinner's theory explained how we acquire the range of learned behaviors we exhibit each and every day.

Thorndike's Law of Effect

behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors that are followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated/ Essentially, if an organism does something that brings about a desired result, the organism is more likely to do it again. If an organism does something that does not bring about a desired result, the organism is less likely to do it again. An example of the law of effect is in employment. One of the reasons (and often the main reason) we show up for work is because we get paid to do so. If we stop getting paid, we will likely stop showing up—even if we love our job.

reinforcement

implementation of a consequence in order to increase a behavior/ EX. hugging your child. Giving your 4-year-old a hug after they do something nice will probably be a reinforcer for that child - they crave parental approval. Now try giving your 15-year-old football player son a hug in front of all his jock friends. Not as much of a reinforcer this time. So if you are trying to figure out if something is a reinforcer, don't get hung up on the form it takes - look at its effect on behavior. If the behavior increased after the consequence - no matter what form the consequence took - it was a reinforcer.

shaping

rewarding successive approximations toward a target behavior/ often used in teaching a complex behavior or chain of behaviors

positive reinforcement

a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior./ Something is added to increase the likelihood of a behavior./Don't think of "positive" as "good" - think of it as a plus sign. You are adding something to the situation that makes the behavior more likely to occur. In situations that reflect positive reinforcement, a response or behavior is strengthened by the addition of something, such as praise or a direct reward./ EX. Giving a child a treat when they do something you want them to do.

negative reinforcement

an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior./ Something is removed to increase the likelihood of a behavior./Don't think of "negative" as "bad" - think of it as a minus sign. You are removing something from the situation that makes the behavior more likely to occur./ EX. When you get in your car, what happens when you forget to put on your seatbelt? The annoying little "Ding ding ding" sound from your car starts. If you put your seatbelt on, the sound goes away. This means you are probably more likely to put on your seatbelt the next time you get in the car, so you don't have to hear that annoying sound.

primary reinforcers

reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned. Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch, among others, are primary reinforcers/ EX. things that satisfy basic survival needs such as water, food, sleep, air and sex.

conditioned reinforcers

has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer/ EX. Money is a type of secondary reinforcement. Cash is not reinforcing on its own - you can't eat it for nutrition, you can't use it to keep you warm, etc. However, money can be used to reinforce behaviors because it can be used to acquire primary reinforcers such as food, clothing, shelter and other such things.

immediate reinforcers

occur immediately after the behavior/ EX. put money into a vending machine, and immediately get a Coke.

delayed reinforcer

occur after a delay following the behavior/ EX. It takes a long time to see the results of working out.

reinforcement schedule

rule stating which instances of a behavior will be reinforced. In some case, a behavior might be reinforced every time it occurs. Sometimes, a behavior might not be reinforced at all.

continuous reinforcement

When an organism receives a reinforcer each time it displays a behavior,/ Generally, this schedule is best used during the initial stages of learning in order to create a strong association between the behavior and the response. Once the response if firmly attached, reinforcement is usually switched to a partial reinforcement schedule./ EX. - If I told my students I would give them $5 every time they showed up for class, I'd have close to perfect attendance every single day!

partial reinforcement

also referred to as intermittent reinforcement, the person or animal does not get reinforced every time they perform the desired behavior/ Learned behaviors are acquired more slowly with partial reinforcement, but the response is more resistant to extinction./ EX. I'm a teacher, which means I'm not rich enough to give students money all semester. If I had started out telling students I'd give them $5 every class, and then ran out of money, my attendance would plummet. But if I start the semester by saying I will randomly give students $5 for attending class, my initial attendance rate would not be as high as continuous reinforcement, but students would remain motivated to come to class all semester - you never know when you would get $5!

fixed-ratio schedule

Reinforcement is delivered after a predictable number of responses (e.g., after 2, 4, 6, and 8 responses)./ This schedule produces a high, steady rate of responding./ EX. My parents used to make my allowance dependent on the number of times I mowed the lawn.

variable-ratio schedule

Reinforcement is delivered after an unpredictable number of responses (e.g., after 1, 4, 5, and 9 responses)./ This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding./ EX. Gambling and lottery games are good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule.

fixed-interval schedule

Reinforcement is delivered at predictable time intervals (e.g., after 5, 10, 15, and 20 minutes)./ This schedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the interval, but much slower responding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer./ EX. Santa Claus! Kids are good right before Christmas, but once they get their presents, they go back to misbehaving. Santa's not coming back for a whole year!

variable-interval schedule

Reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals (e.g., after 5, 7, 10, and 20 minutes)./ This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of response./ EX. Does your boss check up on you a few times throughout the day to check your progress? This is an example of a variable-interval schedule. These check-ins occur at unpredictable times, so you never know when they might happen. The chances are good that you work at a fairly steady pace throughout the day since you are never quite sure when your boss is going to pop in, and you want to appear busy and productive when she does happen to stop by.

punishment

any consequence that makes a behavior less likely to occur in the future

positive punishment

adding an undesirable stimulus to stop or decrease a behavior/ Again, don't think of "positive" as "good" - think of it as a plus sign./ EX. Giving your child a lecture when they break curfew.

negative punishment

taking away a pleasant stimulus to decrease or stop a behavior/ Don't think of "negative" as "bad" - think of it as a minus sign. You are removing something from the situation that makes the behavior less likely to occur./ EX. Taking away their video games for bad grades.

preparedness

some associations form easily because we are predisposed to form such connections, while other associations are much more difficult to form because we are not naturally predisposed to form them./ EX. It has been suggested that preparedness explains why certain types of phobias tend to form more easily. We tend to develop a fear of things that may pose a threat to our survival, such as heights, spiders, and snakes. Those who learned to fear such dangers more readily were more likely to survive and reproduce. You are less likely to form a phobia of butterflies - they're not dangerous in any way.

Conditoned Taste Aversion

eating a substance is followed by illness, and then subsequently avoided./ EX. Have you ever eaten something and then gotten sick afterwards? Chances are probably good that you avoided eating that particular food again in the future, even if it wasn't the food that caused your illness.

Single-trial learning

It requires only one pairing of the previously neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus to establish and automatic response.

cognitive learning

acquiring mental information, through observing events, watching others, or through language./ EX. Your learning in this class- through listening to me, taking notes, reading the text, doing the homework, you are acquiring mental information.

observational learning

we learn by watching others and then imitating, or modeling, what they say or do./ EX. In his famous Bobo doll experiment, Bandura demonstrated that children learn and imitate behaviors they have observed in other people. The children in Bandura's studies observed an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll. When the children were later allowed to play in a room with the Bobo doll, they began to imitate the aggressive actions they had previously observed.

live model

/ EX. A yoga instructor leading a class.

verbal model

/ EX. - Me telling you about different behaviors in class.

symbolic model

/ EX. Watching a YouTube video on how to cook a particular dish.

latent learning

learning that occurs but is not observable in behavior until there is a reason to demonstrate it./ EX. What are you supposed to do if you catch on fire? Stop, drop, and roll! That's never personally happened to me, but I still know that information.