Psychology Ch. 5

Front 1

ethology

Back 1

The study of the behavior of animals in their natural habitat.

Front 2

fixed action pattern

Back 2

A species-specific behavior that is build into an animal's nervous system and triggered by a specific stimulus.

Front 3

learning

Back 3

A relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that results from experience.

Front 4

habituation

Back 4

The tendency of an organism to become familiar with a stimulus as a result of repeated exposure.

Front 5

classical conditioning

Back 5

A type of learning in which an organism comes to associate one stimulus with another (also called Pavlonian Conditioning).

Front 6

unconditioned response

Back 6

An unlearned response (saliva) to an unconditioned stimulus (food).

Front 7

unconditioned stimulus

Back 7

A stimulus (food) that triggers an unconditioned response (saliva).

Front 8

conditioned stimulus

Back 8

A neutral stimulus (bell) that comes to evoke a response (saliva).

Front 9

conditioned response

Back 9

A learned response to a classically conditioned stimulus.

Front 10

Acquisition

Back 10

The formation of a learned response to a stimulus through the presentation of an unconditioned stimulus (classical conditioning) or reinforcement (operant conditioning).

Front 11

extinction

Back 11

The elimination of a learned response by removal of the unconditioned stimulus or reinforcement.

Front 12

spontaneous recovery

Back 12

The re-emergence of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period.

Front 13

stimulus generalization

Back 13

The tendency to respond to a stimulus that is similar to the conditioned stimulus.

Front 14

discrimination

Back 14

In classical and operant conditioning, the ability to distinguish between different stimuli.

Front 15

law of effect

Back 15

A law stating that responses followed by positive outcomes are repeated while those followed by negative outcomes are not.

Front 16

skinner box

Back 16

An apparatus, invented by B.F. Skinner, used to study the effects of reinforcement on the behavior of laboratory animals.

Front 17

operant conditioning

Back 17

The process by which organisms learn to behave in ways that produce reinforcement.

Front 18

reinforcement

Back 18

In operant conditioning, any stimulus that increases the likelihood of a prior response.

Front 19

punishment

Back 19

In operant conditioning, any stimulus that decreases the likelihood of a prior response.

Front 20

shaping

Back 20

A procedure in which reinforcements are used to gradually guide an animal or person toward a specific behavior.

Front 21

partial-reinforcement effect

Back 21

The tendency for a schedule of partial reinforcement to strengthen later resistance to extinction.

Front 22

discriminative stimulus

Back 22

A stimulus that signals the availability of an reinforcement.

Front 23

latent learning

Back 23

Learning that occurs but is not exhibited in performance until there is an incentive to do so.

Front 24

observational learning

Back 24

Learning that takes place when one observes and models the behavior of others.