Chapter 6 - Learning Flashcards
(51 cards)
reflexes
- a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment
- is an unlearned behavior
instincts
- innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as maturation and the change of seasons
- more complex patterns of behavior, involve movement of the organism as a whole (ex. migration)
learning
- a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience
- involves acquiring knowledge and skills
associate learning
occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment
classical conditioning
a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate events
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
a stimulus that elicits a unlearned response in an organism
unconditioned response (UCR)
a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus
neutral stimulus (NS)
- a stimulus that does not naturally elicit a response (but can train to make a response)
- eventually will be able to elicit CR on its own
- ex. Pavlov’s bell eventually making dogs salivate
conditioned stimulus (CS)
- a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
- ex. the bell now making the dogs salivate
conditioned response (CR)
- The behavior caused by the conditioned stimulus
- ex. the dogs salivating
second-order/higher-order conditioning
- when the conditioned stimulus serves to condition another stimulus
- aka associating something else with the same thing you associated the CS with
- very hard to get more than a second order CS
acquisition
when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
extinction
the decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus
spontaneous recovery
- the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period
- don’t need to “retrain” the CR, it just happens again anyway
stimulus discrimination
- When an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar
- ex. Pavlov’s dogs responding to bell but not to a doorbell
stimulus generalization
when an organism demonstrates the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the condition stimulus
Behaviorism
- the idea that all behavior can be studied as a simple stimulus-response reaction, without regard for internal processes
- can’t understand innerworkings of mind, so must study outside behavior
- founded by John B. Watson, influenced by Pavlov
Little Albert
- study where Watson wanted to apply classical conditioning to humans (a baby in this study)
- conditioned to fear furry animals, seen as unethical study
observational learning
the process of watching others and then imitating what they do
operant conditioning
- organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence
- tend to repeat behavior w/good consequence and vice versa
law of effect
behaviors followed by consequences that are good are more likely to be repeated, and behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated
positive reinforcement
- a desirable stimulus is added to increase a behavior
- ex. giving a kid candy when they’re good
negative reinforcement
- an undesirable stimulus is removed to increase a behavior
- ex. your car stops beeping after you put on your seatbelt
positive punishment
- you add an undesirable stimulus to decrease a behavior
- ex. scolding a kid for texting in class