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57 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Learning
Change in an organism's behavior or thought as a result of experience.
Habituation
Process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli.
Classical (Pavlovian or respondent) Conditioning
Form of learning in which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response.
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
Initially neutral stimulus which, after conditioning, elicits a condition response (CR).
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
Stimulus that elicits an automatic response without prior conditioning.
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Automatic response to an unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned Response (CR)
Response elicited by a previously neutral stimulus as a result of conditioning.
Acquisition
Learning phase during which a conditioned response is established.
Extinction
Gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus.
Spontaneous Recovery
Sudden reemergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay following an extinction procedure.
Stimulus Generalization
Process by which conditioned stimuli that are similar, but not identical to, the original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned response.
Stimulus Discrimination
Displaying a less pronounced conditioned response to conditioned stimuli that differ from the original conditioned stimulus.
Higher-Order Conditioning
Developing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus.
Latent Inhibition
Difficulty in establishing classical conditioning to an already familiar stimulus.
Conditioned Compensatory Response
A CR that is the opposite of the UCR and serves to compensate for the UCR.
Fetishism
Sexual attraction to nonliving things.
Pseudoconditioning
An apparent conditioned response that actually turns out to be an unconditioned response to the stimulus.
Operant Conditioning
Learning controlle by the consequences of the organism's behaviour.
Law of Effects
Principle asserting that if, in the presence of a certain stimulus, a behaviour results in a satisfying reward, that behaviour is more likely to occur in the presence of that stimulus in the future.
Insight
Grasping the nature of a problem.
Skinner Box
Small animal chamber constructed by Skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviours to be recorded unsupervised.
Reinforcement
Outcome or consequence of a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.
Positive Reinforcement
The presentation of a stimulus (what we would usually think of as a pleasant stimulus) following a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.
Negative Reinforcement
The removal of a stimulus (what we would usually think of as a pleasant stimlulus) following a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour.
Punishment
Outcome or consequence of a behaviour that weakens the probability of the behaviour.
Discriminative Stimulus (Sd)
Stimulus associated with the availability of reinforcement.
Partial Reinforcement
Only occasional reinforcement of a behaviour, resulting in slower extinction than if the behaviour had been reinforced continually.
Schedule of Reinforcement
Pattern by which a behaviour is reinforced.
Fixed Ratio (FR) Schedule
Pattern in which we provide reinforcement following a regular number of responses.
Fixed Interval (FI) Schedule
Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for the first response following a specified time interval.
Variable Ratio (VR) Schedule
Pattern in which we provide reinforcement after a variable number of responses, with the number varying randomly around some average.
Variable Interval (VI) Schedule
Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for the first response following a variable time interval, with the actual intervals varying randomly around some average.
Shaping by Successive Approximations
Conditioning a new target behaviour by progressively reinforcing behaviours that come closer and closer to the target.
Premack Principle
Principle that a less frequently performed behaviour can be strengthened by reinforcing it with a more frequent behaviour.
Secondary Reinforcers
Objects and events that have become reinforcers because of their association with other reinforcers.
Primary Reinforcers
Objects and events that are naturally reinforcing.
Latent Learning
Learning that's not directly observable.
Cognitive Maps
Mental representations of how a physical space is organized.
Observational Learning
Learning by watching others.
Mirror Neurons
Cells in the prefrontal cortex that become activated by specific motions when an animal both performs and abserves that action.
Equipotentiality
Assumption that any conditioned stimulus can be associated equally well with any unconditioned stimulus.
Preparedness
Evolutionary predisposition to learn some pairings of feared stimluli over others owing to their survival value.
Instinctive Drift
Tendency for animals to return to innate behaviours following repeated reinforcement.
Learning Styles
Individuals' preferred or optimal method of acquiring new information.
Describe examples of classical conditioning and discriminate conditioned stimuli and responses from unconditioned stimuli and responses.
In classical conditioning, animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus (the CS) that elicits an automatic response. After repeated pairings with the UCS, which elicits an automatic reflexive response (the UCR) from the organism, the CS comes to elicit a conditioned response (CR).
Explain how conditioned responses are acquired, maintained, and extinguished.
Acquisition is the process by which we gradually learn the CR. Extinction is the process whereby following repeated presentation of the CS alone, the CR decreases in magnitude and eventually disappears. Extinction appears to involve an "overwriting" of the CR by new information.
Explain how complex behaviors can result from classical conditioning and how they emerge in our daily lives.
Higher-order conditioning occurs when organisms develop classically conditioned responses to other CSs associated with the original CS.
Describe how behaviors are acquired through operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning is learning that is controlled by its consequences.
Identify the similarities and differences between operant and classical conditioning.
Both forms of conditioning involve many of the same processes, including acquisition and extinction. Nevertheless, in operant conditioning, responses are emitted rather than elicited, the reward is contingent on behaviour, and responses mostly involve skeletal muscles rather than the autonomic nervous system.
Describe reinforcement and its effects on behaviour.
Thorndike's law of effect tells us that if a response, in the presence of a stimulus, is followed by a reward, it is likely to be repeated, resulting in the gradual "stamping in" of S-R conntections. Reinforcement can be either positive (pleasant outcome) or negative (withdrawal of a positive outcome).
Distinguish negative reinforcement from punishment as influences on behavior.
Negative reinforcement increases a behaviour, whereas punishment weakens a response. One disadvantage of punishment is that it tells the organism only what not to do, not what to do.
Outline the evidence that supports learning in the absence of conditioning.
S-O-R psychologists believe that the organism's interpretation of the stimuli plays a central role in learning. Tolman's work on latent learning, which showed that animals can learn without reinforcement, challenged the radical behavioural view of learning.
Explain how learning can occur through observation.
Research suggests that individuals can acquire aggressive behaviour by observational learning. Correlational studies, longitudinal studies, laboratory studies, and field studies suggest that media violoence contributes to aggression.
Identify evidence of insight learning.
Kohler's work suggested that apes can learn through insight, and later work with humans suggests the same conclusion. This research calls into question Thorndike's conclusion that all learning occurs through trial and error.
Explain how biological predispositions can facilitate learning of some associations.
Most psychologists have increasingly recognized that our genetic endowment influences learning. Conditioned taste aversions refer to the phenomenon whereby classical conditioning can lead us to develop avoidance reactions to the taste of food. John Garcia and his colleagues showed that conditioned taste aversions violate the principle of equipotentiality, because they demonstrated that certain CSs are more easily conditioned to certain UCSs. Research on preparedness suggests that we are evolutionarily predisposed to learn to fear some stimuli more easily than others.
Evaluate popular techniques marketed to enhance learning.
Proponents of sleep-assisted learning claim that individuals can learn new material while asleep. Nevertheless, well-controlled studies of sleep-assisted learning have yielded negative results. Early reports of successful learning during sleep appear to be attributable to a failure to carefully monitor subjects' EEGs to ensure that they were actually asleep while listening to the tapes. Studies of accelerated learning techniques also show few or no positive effects. Positive reports appear to be attributable to placebo effects, Hawthorne effects, and other artifacts. Although popular in science education, discovery learning approaches often appear to be less effective and efficient than direct instruction.
Determine whether individuals' learning ability depends on how well the instructional style matches their learning styles.
Some educational psychologists claim to be able to boost learning by matching individuals' learning styles with different teaching methods. NEvertheless, learning styles are difficult to assess reliably; moreover, studies that have matched learning styles with teaching methods have typically yielded negative results.