Chapter Eight Flashcards
Learning
A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience
Adaptability
Our capacity to learn new behaviors that enables us to cope with changing circumstances
Associative Learning
Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)
Conditioning
The process of learning associations
Classical Conditioning (or Pavlovian/Respondent Conditioning)
A type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (US) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus.
Behaviorism
The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research agree with (1) but not (2)
Unconditioned Response (UR)
In classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US), such as salivation when food is in the mouth
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally and automatically - triggers a response
Conditioned Response (CR)
In classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response.
Acquisition
The initial stage in classical conditioning; the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response.
In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.
Extinction
The diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) doesn’t follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced.
Spontaneous Recovery
The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response
Generalization
The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
Discrimination
In classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus
Operant Conditioning
A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher
Respondent Behavior
Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.
Skinner’s term for behavior learned through classical conditioning
Operant Behavior
Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences
Law of Effect
Edward Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely
Operant Chamber (Skinner’s Box)
A chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer, with attached devices to record the animal’s rate of bar pressing/key pecking. Used in operant conditioning research.
Shaping
An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior
Reinforcement
Any event that strengthens, or increases the frequency of, a preceding response
Reinforcer
In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows
Positive Reinforcement
Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.
