Learning

Question 1

What is learning?

Answer 1

A change in an organism’s behaviour or thought as a result of experience

Question 2

What is habituation?

Answer 2

The process of responding less strongly over time to repeated stimuli (i.e. the feeling of our clothes on our skin)

Question 3

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 3

A form of learning in which animals (including humans) come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response

Question 4

Who discovered classical conditioning?

Answer 4

Ivan Pavlov

Question 5

What is the unconditioned stimulus?

Answer 5

Stimulus that elicits an automatic response

Question 6

What is an unconditioned response?

Answer 6

An automatic response to a non-neutral stimulus that does not need to be learned

Question 7

What is a conditioned response?

Answer 7

Response previously associated with a non-neutral stimulus that is elicited by a neutral stimulus through conditioning

Question 8

What is a conditioned stimulus?

Answer 8

The neutral stimulus following conditioning

Question 9

What is acquisition?

Answer 9

A learning phase during which a conditioned response is established

Question 10

What is extinction?

Answer 10

Gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned response after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus

Question 11

What is spontaneous recovery?

Answer 11

Sudden reemergence of an extinct conditioned response after a delay in exposure to the conditioned stimulus

Question 12

What is the renewal effect?

Answer 12

The sudden re-emergence of a conditioned response following extinction when an animal is returned to the environment in which the conditioned response was acquired

Question 13

What is stimulus generalisation?

Answer 13

Process by which conditioned stimuli similar, but not identical, to the original conditioned stimulus elicits a conditioned response

Question 14

What is stimulus discrimination?

Answer 14

Displaying a less pronounced conditioned response to conditioned stimuli that differ from the original conditioned stimulus

Question 15

What is higher-order conditioning?

Answer 15

Developing a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus by virtue of its association with another conditioned stimulus

Question 16

What applications does classical conditioning have to everyday life?

Answer 16

Advertising
The acquisition of fears and phobias
The acquisition of fetishes
Disgust reactions

Question 17

What is latent inhibition?

Answer 17

Difficulty in establishing classical conditioning to a conditioned stimulus we have repeatedly experienced alone; that is, without the unconditioned stimulus

Question 18

Who conducted the Little Albert experiment?

Answer 18

John B. Watson

Question 19

What is pseudoconditoning?

Answer 19

An apparent conditioned response that actually turns out to be an unconditioned response to the conditioned stimulus

Question 20

True or False: habituation to meaningless stimuli is generally adaptive

Answer 20

True

Question 21

True or False: in classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus initially yields a reflexive, automatic response

Answer 21

False

Question 22

True or False: conditioning is most effective when the CS precedes the UCS by a short period of time

Answer 22

True

Question 23

True or False: extinction is produced by the gradual decay of the CR over time

Answer 23

False

Question 24

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 24

Learning controlled by the consequences of the organism’s behaviour

Question 25

What is the difference between operant and classical conditioning in relation to the nature of the target behaviour, reward and behaviour?

Answer 25

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Target behaviour is... elicited automatically Reward is... provided unconditionally Behaviour depends primarily on... autonomic NS OPERANT CONDITIONING Target behaviour is... emitted voluntarily Reward is... contingent on behaviour Behaviour depends primarily on... skeletal muscles

Question 26

What is the law of effect?

Answer 26

Principle asserting that if a stimulus followed by a behaviour results in a reward, the stimulus is more likely to elicit the behaviour in the future

Question 27

Who put forth the law of effect?

Answer 27

E. L. Thorndike

Question 28

What is insight?

Answer 28

The sudden realisation of the solution to a problem

Question 29

What is a Skinner box?

Answer 29

Small animal chamber constructed by B. F. Skinner to allow sustained periods of conditioning to be administered and behaviours could be recorded unsupervised

Question 30

What is reinforcement?

Answer 30

Outcome or consequence of a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour

Question 31

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 31

Positive outcome or consequence of a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour

Question 32

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 32

Removal of a negative outcome or consequence of a behaviour that strengthens the probability of the behaviour

Question 33

What is punishment?

Answer 33

Outcome or consequence that weakens the probability of the behaviour

Question 34

What are the disadvantages of punishment?

Answer 34

- Only tells the organism what not to do; doesn't give a replacement behaviour - can create anxiety which interferes with future learning - can promote subversive behaviour, prompting people to become sneakier with their actions - may provide a model for children's aggressive behaviour

Question 35

What is the discriminative stimulus?

Answer 35

Stimulus associated with the presence of reinforcement

Question 36

What is a schedule of reinforcement?

Answer 36

A pattern of reinforcing a behaviour

Question 37

What is partial reinforcement?

Answer 37

Only occasional reinforcement of a behaviour, resulting in slower extinction than if the behaviour had been reinforced continually

Question 38

What is a fixed ratio schedule?

Answer 38

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement following a regular number of responses

Question 39

What is a variable ratio (VR) schedule?

Answer 39

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement after a specific number of responses on average, with the number varying randomly

Question 40

What is a fixed interval (FI) schedule?

Answer 40

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for producing the response at least once following a specified time interval

Question 41

What is a variable interval (VI) schedule?

Answer 41

Pattern in which we provide reinforcement for producing the response following an average time interval, with the interval varying randomly

Question 42

What is shaping?

Answer 42

Conditioning a target behaviour by progressively reinforcing behaviours that come closer and closer to the target

Question 43

Which schedule of reinforcement yields the highest rate of responding?

Answer 43

Variable ratio

Question 44

What is chaining?

Answer 44

Linking a number of behaviour together to form a series so that each behaviour becomes a cue for the next

Question 45

What is the Premack principle?

Answer 45

Principle that a less frequently performed behaviour can be increased in frequency by reinforcing it with a more frequent behaviour

Question 46

What are secondary reinforcement?

Answer 46

Neutral objects that people can trace in for reinforcers themselves (I.e. Gold stars)

Question 47

What are primary reinforcers?

Answer 47

Items or outcomes that are naturally pleasurable (I.e. Bag of lollies)

Question 48

True or False: in classical conditioning, responses are emitted; in operant conditioning, they are elicited.

Answer 48

False

Question 49

True or False: negative reinforcement and punishment are superficially different, but they produce the same short-term effects on behaviour

Answer 49

False

Question 50

True or False: the principle of partial reinforcement states that behaviours reinforced only some of the time extinguish more rapidly than behaviours reinforced continuously

Answer 50

False

Question 51

True or False: we can reinforce less frequent behaviours with more frequent behaviours

Answer 51

True

Question 52

What is latent learning?

Answer 52

Learning that is not directly observable

Question 53

What is S-R psychology?

Answer 53

Looking at how stimuli elicits certain responses but not addressing the cognitive processes that occur

Question 54

What is S-O-R psychology?

Answer 54

Looks at how the organism's response to a stimulus depends on what this stimulus means to it.

Question 55

What is cognitive conditioning?

Answer 55

Individual interpretation of the situation affects our responses to stimuli

Question 56

What is a cognitive map?

Answer 56

Mental representations of how physical space is organised

Question 57

What is observational learning?

Answer 57

Learning by watching others and copying their behaviour

Question 58

What are mirror neurons?

Answer 58

Cells in the brain that become activated by specific motions when an animal both performs and observes an action

Question 59

True or False: according to Skinner, animals do not think or experience emotions

Answer 59

False

Question 60

True or False: proponents of latent learning argue that reinforcement is not necessary for learning

Answer 60

True

Question 61

True or False: research on observational learning demonstrates that children can learn aggression by watching aggressive role models

Answer 61

True

Question 62

True or False: there is no good evidence for insight learning

Answer 62

False

Question 63

What is equipotentiality?

Answer 63

The assumption that any conditioned stimulus can be associated equally well with any unconditioned stimulus

Question 64

What is preparedness?

Answer 64

The evolutionary predisposition to learn some pairings of feared stimuli over other things owing to their survival value

Question 65

True or False: many conditioned taste aversions are acquired in only a single trial

Answer 65

True

Question 66

True or False: most research suggests that the assumption of equipotentiality is false

Answer 66

True

Question 67

True or False: the phenomenon of preparedness helps explain why virtually all major phobias are equally common in the general population

Answer 67

False

Question 68

Julie is expected to cut the lawn weekly. Her parents only give her money once in a while after she cuts the lawn. Julie is big conditioned using a _____________________ schedule of reinforcement

Answer 68

Partial