Learning and Ethology Flashcards
Neil Miller
approach-avoidance conflict. This conflict refers to the state one feels when a certain goal has both pros and cons. Typically, the further one is from the goal, the more one focuses on the pros.
approach-avoidance conflict
This conflict refers to the state one feels when a certain goal has both pros and cons. Typically, the further one is from the goal, the more one focuses on the pros.
Premack Principle
the ideas that people are motivated to do what they do not want to do by rewarding themselves afterward with something they do like. (dinner/dessert)
Donald Hebb
medium amount of arousal needed for tasks (not too much or too little)
Yerkes-Dodson effect
optimal arousal looks like an inverted U curve, with lowest performance at both extremes of arousal
Avoidance conditioning
teaches an animal how to avoid something that animal does not want
Escape conditioning
teaches an animal to perform a desired behavior to get away from a negative stimulus
Latent learning
learning that takes place even without reinforcement
Chaining
the act of linking together a series of behaviors that ultimately result in reinforcement
Autoshaping
refers to experiments in which an apparatus allows and animal to control its reinforcements through behaviors, such as bar pressing or key pecking. The animal is, in a sense, shaping its own behavior
Positive transfer
previous learning that makes it easier to learn another task later
Negative transfer
previous learning that makes it harder to learn another task later
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
o Lewis Terman of Stanford University updated the Binet Scale
o Best known predictor for future academic achievements
Wechsler Adult Intelligency Scale (WAIS)
o Most commonly used intelligence test for adults
o Also one for children (WISC-R)
Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test
o Kids – detail and accuracy
Classical conditioning/respondent conditioning
result of learning connections between different events (thunder follows lightening)
Ian Pavlov usually credited with founding of basic principles of classical conditioning
Noticed that stimuli that previously had no relation to a specific reflex could come to trigger that reflex
Reflex
unlearned response that is elicited by a specific stimulus
Acquisition
period during which the association of the stimuli is learned
extinction
repeatedly present the CS without the UCS
Spontaneous recovery
after extinction and period of rest, a weak CR to the CS will occur
Generalization
tendency for stimuli similar to the CS to elicit the CR (phobias)
Second order conditioning
Neutral stimulus is paired with a CS rather than a UCS
• Light + bell = salivated
• Light = salivate
Can add a third order, etc.
Called sensory preconditioning – even without presenting food, light elicits salivation
Why classical conditioning works
Contiguity: CS and UCS are contiguous in time
Contingency (Robert Pescorla): CS is a good signal for UCS
Blocking: CS is a good signal for UCS and provides non-redundant information about UCS
Operant Conditioning
reward and punishment
