important definitions Flashcards
(46 cards)
a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience.
learning
decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner.
habituation
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).
associative learning
a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.
classical conditioning
the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).
behaviorism
in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US), such as salivation when food is in the mouth.
unconditioned response (UR)
in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a response.
unconditioned stimulus (US)
in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).
conditioned response (CR)
in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response.
conditioned stimulus (CS)
in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.
acquisition
a procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus. For example, an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone. (Also called second-order conditioning.)
higher-order conditioning
the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced.
extinction
the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response.
spontaneous recovery
the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses.
generalization
in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus.
discrimination
the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.
learned helplessness
behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.
respondent behavior
a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.
operant conditioning
the network of factors and events involved in the behavior of human and non-human animals
operant behavior
The principle that behaviors are selected by their consequences
law of effect
operant chamber
in operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner box) containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer; attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking.
an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
shaping
in operant conditioning, a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement).
discriminative stimulus
in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.
reinforcers
