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28 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
natural selection
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A process that allows individuals with certain features to leave more offspring in the next generation; typically, individuals without those features are less successful.
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fitness
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An individual's ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment-and to have offspring that will survive and reproduce.
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ethology
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The study of how animals behave in their natural environments, typically with an emphasis on the evolution of the behavior.
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fixed action patterns
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An innate sequence of behaviors that is triggered by a specific stimulus and continues to its end without regard to immediate consequences or feedback.
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releaser or releasing stimulus; also called a sign stimulus
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A specific stimulus that elicits a fixed action pattern. Also called a sign stimulus.
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artificial selection
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When humans intervene in animal or plant reproduction to ensure that desirable traits are represented in successive generations. Individuals with less desirable traits are not allowed to reproduce.
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habituation
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A decrease in the strength of a naturally elicited behavior that occurs through repeated presentations of the eliciting stimulus.
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reward learning
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An instrumental or operant conditioning procedure in which the behavior is followed by a positive event. The behavior typically increases in strength.
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positive punishment
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An instrumental or operant conditioning procedure in which the behavior is followed by a negative or aversive stimulus. The behavior typically decreases in strength.
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negative punishment; also called omission; also called response cost
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An instrumental or operant conditioning procedure in which the behavior prevents the delivery of a positive (reinforcing) stimulus. The behavior typically increases in strength.
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punisher
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An aversive stimulus that decreases the strength or probability of an operant behavior when it is made a consequence of the response.
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avoidance
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An instrumental learning situation in which performing an action or reponse prevents a noxious or aversive stimulus from occurring. Involves negative reinforcement.
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escape
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An instrumental learning situation in which performing an action or response terminates a noxious or aversive stimulus that is already present. Involves negative reinforcement.
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law of effect
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Originally, Thorndike's idea that responses that are followed by pleasure will be strengthened and those that are followed by discomfort will be weakened. Nowadays, the term refers to the idea that operant or instrumental behaviors are lawfully controlled by their consequences.
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reinforcement
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An instrumental or operant conditioning procedure in which the behavior's consequences strengthens or increases the probability of the response. Two kinds of reinforcement are outlined by Skinner, positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.
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positive reinforcement
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An instrumental or operant conditioning procedure in which the behavior is followed by a positive stimulus or reinforcer. The behavior typically increases in strength.
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negative reinforcement
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An instrumental or operant conditioning procedure in which the behavior is followed by the removal or prevents a negative or aversive stimulus. The behavior typically increases in strength.
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shaping; also called shaping by successive approximations
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A procedure for training a new operant behavior by reinforcing behaviors that are closer and closer to the final behavior that is desired.
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taste aversion learning
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The phenomenon in which a taste is paired with sickness, and this causes the organism to reject or avoid that taste in the future.
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conditioned compensatory response
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In classical conditioning, a conditioned response that opposes, rather than being the same as, the unconditional response. It functions to reduce the strength of the conditional response, as in drug tolerance.
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drug tolerance
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A reduction in the effectiveness of a drug that can occur with repeated exposure to the drug.
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sign tracking
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Movement toward a stimulus that signals a positive event or the reduced probability of a negative event.
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negative sign tracking
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Movement away from a stimulus that signals either an aversive event or the reduced probability of a positive event.
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extinction
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Reduction in the strength or probability of a learned behavior that occurs when the conditional stimulus is presented without the unconditional stimulus (in classical conditioning) or when the behavior is no longer reinforced (in operant or instrumental conditioning). The term describes both the procedure and the result of the procedure. Behaviors that have been reduced in strength through extinction are said to be "extinguished."
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acquisition
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The phase in a learning experiment in which the subject is first learning a behavior or contingency.
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exposure therapy
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A form of cognitive behavior therapy in which a patient is e3xposed, without consequenc e, to stimuli that elicit undesirable cognitions, emotions, or behaviors in order to weaken their strength. A form of either extinction (if the undesirable responses were learned) or habituation (if the undesirable responses were naturally occurring or not learned).
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spontaneous recovery
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The reappearance, after the passage of time, of a response that had previously undergone extinction. Can occur after extinction in either classical conditioning or operant conditioning.
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preparedness
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The extent to which an organism's evolutionary history makes it easy for the organism to learn a particular association or response. If evolution has made something easy to learn, it is said to be "prepared."
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