Psychology Exam 2

Front 1

Classical conditioning

Back 1

the relationship between learning and the adaptive value of behavior that is essential for survival

Front 2

Habituation

Back 2

learning to ignore. When a stimulus is repeated over and over again the orientating reflex diminishes or stops.

Front 3

Orientating reflex

Back 3

orient sense organs in the direction of unexpected stimuli (visual-retina-superior colliculus) or (auditory-cochlea-inferior colliculus)

Front 4

What if we could not habituate?

Back 4

1. Constantly attend to stimuli
2. Our basic functioning would be disrupted

Front 5

Advantages of Habituation

Back 5

1. Attend to potentially threatening stimuli
2. Ignore non-threatening stimuli

Front 6

Dishabituation

Back 6

a more intense response to a stimulus which previously habituated
-Caused by change in the quality of a stimulus over time
*Both dishabituation and habituation are the simplest types of learning that are accomplished with repeated exposure

Front 7

CC is based on _______.

Back 7

Associative learning

Front 8

Pavlov

Back 8

learning to associate a certain cue or stimuli with the presentation of food is associative learning. He used dogs, meat, and a buzzer. The dog began to associate the buzzer with food. The dogs would salivate.

Front 9

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Back 9

stimulus that naturally elicits the UR. No training is required

Front 10

Unconditioned response (UR)

Back 10

occurs as a result of the US

Front 11

Conditioned stimuli (CS)

Back 11

combining the CS with US= conditioning trial
*the degree of conditioning to the CS is determined in a “critical trial”

Front 12

Conditioned response (CR)

Back 12

response elicited by the CS
*same as UR

Front 13

Neutral Stimulus

Back 13

does not evoke the response of interest. Presented immediately before the US is made available. As the conditioning develops, the NS become the CS and eventually produce the CR.

Front 14

Acquistion

Back 14

process of learning a conditioned response or behavior

Front 15

Temporal Contiguity

Back 15

1. NS/CS and US must occur close together in time
2. NS/CS should immediately precede the US

Front 16

Contingency

Back 16

1. NC/CS should reliably predict the presentation of the US

Front 17

Extinction

Back 17

the removal of a conditioned response. The weakening of a CR when the US is no longer presented following the CS. Reinforcement is withdrawn.
*When reinforcers are no longer available, the operant behavior often ceases.

Front 18

Extinction burst

Back 18

temporary increase in behavior in the absence of reinforcer

Front 19

Spontaneous Recovery

Back 19

during extinction, the tendency of a conditioned response to reappear and strengthen over a brief period of time before reextinguishing. The reappearance of a CR when a CS is presented some time after extinction and without pairings of the CS and US.

Front 20

Operant Conditioning

Back 20

learning from the consequences of behaviors

Front 21

Instrumental conditioning

Back 21

powerful means of learning and goes hand in hand with operant conditioning
1. Reinforcement or Punishment
2. Behavior will either increase or decrease
3. All related to outcomes

Front 22

Operant Response

Back 22

a behavior that does something to the world. The operant operates on the animal’s environment.

Front 23

Reinforcer

Back 23

An outcome/event that increases the probability that a particular event will occur again.

Front 24

Positive Reinforcement

Back 24

occurs when a stimulus is given/ applied and following a behavior that increases the probability that it will occur again. Adding something pleasant to the organism’s environment

Front 25

Negative Reinforcement

Back 25

occurs when a stimulus is withdrawn following the behavior and increases the probability the behavior will occur again. Removing something unpleasant from the organism’s environment

Front 26

Positive Punishment

Back 26

occurs when a stimulus is applied/presented following a behavior and the prob of the behavior reoccurring decreases

Front 27

Negative Punishment

Back 27

occurs when a stimulus is withdrawn following a behavior and the probability decreases. (i.e- getting your car taken away for missing curfew)

Front 28

Classical v. Operant/ Instrumental Conditioning

Back 28

A. Classical conditioning, passive role of person/animal
B. In instrumental conditioning, the subject plays a much more active role
*Because the subject’s behaviors “operate” on the environment to determine a consequence, this type of learning was termed operant conditioning.

Front 29

Schedules of Reinforcement

Back 29

A. Schedules of reinforcement define the timing and consistency of the reinforcer presentation following performance of the operant behavior.
*The type of schedule used affects the rate at which behavior is acquired or extinguished

Front 30

Continuous Reinforcement Schedule

Back 30

behavior rewarded each time it’s exhibited

Front 31

Partial Reinforcement Schedule

Back 31

1. Fixed-ratio (FR; e.g. FR 25)
2. Variable-ratio (VR; e.g. VR 25)
3. Fixed-interval (FI; e.g. FI 60 s)
4. Variable-interval (VI; e.g. VI 60s)

Hint 31

1. Reinforcer will be presented after X responses
2. Reinforcer will be presented after X responses, on average.
3. Reinforcer will be presented after the first response after X amount of time passes
4.Reinforcer will be presented after the first response after an average of X amount of time passes

Front 32

Schedules and Extinction

Back 32

1. If a response is never reinforced, it will eventually extinguish (unless the response itself has become a secondary reinforcer).
2. Partial reinforcement schedules are much harder to extinguish than continuous reinforcement schedules (expectation)
3. Variable schedules are the hardest to extinguish
4. The resilience of superstitious behaviors (sometimes wearing your “lucky shirt” is associated with success just by chance).

Front 33

Shaping Behavior

Back 33

A. The process of obtaining the desired behavior by positively reinforcing increasingly closer approximations to that behavior.
B. “Successive approximation” in shaping behaviors

Front 34

Secondary Reinforcers

Back 34

A. Certain stimuli (e.g. sex, food, water, sleep, and so on) are innately rewarding. These are referred to as secondary reinforcers.
B. Other stimuli become reinforcers because of their close association with primary reinforcers.
*These are known as secondary reinforcers
C. MONEY is perhaps the best example!

Front 35

Neurobiology

Back 35

A. There is a common neurobiological pathway for ALL sources of reinforcement:
*Drugs of Abuse, Sex, food,gambling, exercise, escape
B. Main structure is the “nucleus accumbens” which is the reinforcement center of the brain.

Front 36

Learned Helplessness

Back 36

A. A passive response to stressors based on exposure to previously uncontrolled negative events
B. The belief that one cannot control the outcome of events

Front 37

3 Stages of Learning

Back 37

A. Sensory Memory-system of memory that briefly stores sensory impressions so that we can extract relevant information from them for further processing
B. Short-term Memory (STM)-system of memory that is limited in both capacity and duration. The intermediate stage between sensory and long term. Functions as a temporary learning tank for a limited amt. of information. Humans can typically hold 7 units +/- 2.
C. Long Term Memory (LTM)-system of memory that works to store memories for a long time; perhaps permanently.

Front 38

Iconic Memory

Back 38

sensory memory for visual information

Front 39

Echoic Memory

Back 39

sensory memory for auditory information

Front 40

Working Memory

Back 40

contains short term memory, central executive, phonological loop, and visuospatial sketch pad (3 components are bold). It accesses, moves, and processes info we are currently using.
A. Working memory retrieves information from long term memory to help process info in short term memory
B. Working memory retrieves stored information when you need it (i.e- for a test, an address) and sends it to short term memory
C. Working memory also moves info from short term memory into long term memory for storage, like when you are studying.
D. Central executive- the attention controlling component of memory. 2 subordinate systems= phonological loop (processes sound qualities of info) and visuospatial sketch pad (visual and spatial aspects of info)

Front 41

Primacy effect

Back 41

tendency for people to recall words from the beginning of a list better than words that appeared in the middle of the list

Front 42

Recency effect

Back 42

tendency for people to recall words from the end of the list better than the words that appeared in the middle

Front 43

Implicit memory

Back 43

the unconscious use of memory. (motor memory)

Front 44

Explicit

Back 44

the conscious use of memory. (declarative memory-encompasses memories that are easily verbalized, episodic memory-autobiographical events, and semantic memories- conceptual information)

Front 45

Repressed Memory Phenomenon

Back 45

Scientists have proven that this is not a legit theory, that the brain can’t repress information about events like child abuse to be recalled 30 years later

Front 46

Heuristics

Back 46

a short cut or rule of thumb that may or may not lead to a correct solution of the problem (i.e- “BIGGER is always better”)

Front 47

Representativeness in heuristics

Back 47

heuristic in which we rely on the degree to which something is representative of a category, rather than the base rate, to help us judge whether or not something belongs in a category. (irrational judgments rather than factual probabilities)- plane crash and car crash

Front 48

Eugenics

Back 48

humans can be bred

Front 49

Frances Dalton

Back 49

grandfather of intelligence assessment. One of the first to study the measurement of intelligence.

Front 50

Aptitude v. Achievement Tests

Back 50

A. Aptitude- can’t really study for it, reveals your mental capabilities
B. Achievement- tests you study for that reveal how much you have learned regarding a particular topic

Front 51

Binet Test

Back 51

A. 3 main components
B. Focused on the subject’s attention, judgment, and reasoning
C. Concept of mental age-the age that reflects the person’s mental abilities in comparison to the average person of that age

Front 52

Intelligence Quotient

Back 52

A. One’s mental age divided by one’s chronological age multiplied by 100
B. 2/3 of people are within one standard deviation of the IQ 100, meaning between 85-115

Front 53

Reliability v. Validity

Back 53

A. Reliability- a test is reliable if the results remain consistent.
B. Validity-the degree to which a test measures the trait that it was designed to measure. Validity of a test requires that the test also has validity.

Front 54

Generalized Intelligence

Back 54

A. Generalized intelligence- ‘g’ the notion that there is a general level of intelligence that underlies our separate abilities.
B. A high ‘g’ indicates that the individual can use thoughts to solve high level problems.

Front 55

Fluid intelligence

Back 55

abilities that rely on info processing skills such as reaction time, attention, and working memory

Front 56

Crystallized Intelligence

Back 56

abilities that rely on knowledge, expertise, and judgment. Increases as you get older.

Front 57

Multiple Intelligence Theory

Back 57

idea that we possess different types of intelligence rather than a single, overall level of intelligence (HOWARD GARDNER)

Front 58

Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence

Back 58

theory that proposes that there are three different domains of intelligence--> social, analytic, and creative that help us adapt to our environment.