Learning Theory and Behavior Therapy

Question 1

Classical conditioning

Answer 1

type of learning in which a stimulus acquires the ability to elicit the response that is naturally elicited by another stimulus

Question 2

Operant conditioning

Answer 2

type of learning in which responses become controlled by their consequences

Question 3

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Answer 3

naturally produces the target response - without conditioning trials

Question 4

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Answer 4

does not naturally produce the target response and prior to conditioning, is referred to as a neutral stimulus. When repeatedly presented with US, the CS produces a conditioned response (CR)

Question 5

Factors that affect conditioning

Answer 5

• number of trials
• order and timing: delay conditioning (CS precedes and overlaps US), trace conditioning (CS starts/stops, then US), simultaneous conditioning (together) - delay is most effective at 0.5 sec

Question 6

Classical extinction

Answer 6

CS is repeatedly presented without US, CR gradually disappears

Question 7

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 7

CR that had been extinguished would sometimes suddenly return - extinction trials don’t eliminate CR, but weaken it

Question 8

Stimulus generalization

Answer 8

stimuli similar to CS elicit CR

Question 9

Stimulus discrimination

Answer 9

ability to discriminate between a CS and stimuli similar to CS and only respond to CS with CR

Question 10

Experimental neurosis

Answer 10

when required to make difficult discriminations between very similar stimuli, unusual behaviors exhibited

Question 11

Higher-order conditioning

Answer 11

second level of conditioning in which the CS1 becomes the US and another neutral stimulus becomes the CS2

Question 12

John Watson and Little Albert

Answer 12

father of modern behaviorism

Question 13

Little Albert

Answer 13

an unusually calm baby was conditioned to fear a white rat paired with an unexpected loud noise, with only a few conditioning trials, exhibited stimulus generalization and feared other white furry objects

Question 14

Implosive therapy

Answer 14

type of exposure in imagination in which the therapist exaggerates the scenes being imagined by the client so that they elicit max anxiety and embellishes the scenes with psychodynamic themes that are believed to be the source of the client’s anxiety

Question 15

Counterconditioning

Answer 15

eliminate an anxiety or fear response by pairing CS associated with that response with an US that naturally produces an incompatible response (ie systematic desensitization and behavioral sex therapy)

Question 16

Systematic desensitization

Answer 16

1 - training in relaxation
2 - anxiety hierarchy
3 - desensitization

Question 17

In vivo aversive counterconditioning

Answer 17

the undesirable behavior or stimuli associated with the behavior are paired with a stimulus that naturally elicits pain, nausea, or other unpleasant reaction so that the undesirable behavior or stimuli produce the unpleasant reaction and are avoided

Question 18

Covert sensitization

Answer 18

conducted in imagination and may include alternating scenes in which the client engages in the target behavior with scenes in which the client engages in alternative behavior

Question 19

Thorndike

Answer 19

• cats in a puzzle box
• trial and error learning
• focused on the connection between responses and their consequences - referred to as connectionism and instrumental learning

Question 20

Thorndike’s laws of learning: law of effect

Answer 20

responses that are following by a satisfying consequence are more likely to be repeated in the future, while responses that are followed by an unsatisfying consequence are less likely to be repeated

Question 21

Thorndike’s laws of learning: law of exercise

Answer 21

repeated practice strengthens the connection between response and consequence

Question 22

Thorndike’s laws of learning: law of readiness

Answer 22

an organism must be ready/motivated to act in order to form a connection between a response and its consequence

Question 23

Skinner and operant conditioning

Answer 23

• operant behaviors are acquired through operant conditioning and are voluntarily emitted or not emitted as the result of their consequences

Question 24

Operant extinction

Answer 24

occurs when reinforcement is withheld from a previously reinforced behavior and as a result the behavior decreases or is eliminated

Question 25

Response burst

Answer 25

termination of reinforcement produces a response burst, temporary increase in the behavior before it begins to decrease

Question 26

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 26

after a behavior has been extinguished, it may reappear after a period of time

Question 27

Behavioral contrast

Answer 27

when two different behaviors have been reinforced separately and reinforcement is withdrawn from one of the behaviors, there is a temporary increase in the other behavior

Question 28

Primary reinforcers

Answer 28

inherently valuable - food, water, comfort, sexual pleasure

Question 29

Secondary reinforcers

Answer 29

acquire value by being linked to a primary reinforcer - verbal message Generalized reinforcer - secondary reinforcer linked to multiple primary and/or secondary reinforcers - money

Question 30

Schedule of reinforcement: fixed ratio (FR)

Answer 30

- reinforcement after a fixed number of responses

Question 31

Schedule of reinforcement: variable ratio (VR)

Answer 31

- reinforcement is provided after a variable number of responses - gambling - produces the fastest and steadiest rate of responding during acquisition trials and the greatest resistance to extinction when reinforcement is no longer provided

Question 32

Schedule of reinforcement: fixed interval (FI)

Answer 32

- after a fixed period of time - biweekly paycheck

Question 33

Schedule of reinforcement: variable interval

Answer 33

- after an unpredictable amount of time - pop quizzes

Question 34

Stimulus control

Answer 34

when the subject emits a response in the presence of one stimulus, but not another stimulus; stimulus A is the discriminative stimulus, stimulus B is the extinction or S-delta stimulus

Question 35

Stimulus generalization

Answer 35

similar stimuli elicit the same response (mama for all women)

Question 36

Response generalization

Answer 36

stimulus elicits similar responses (mama, mother, mommy for mom)

Question 37

Escape learning

Answer 37

learning to escape an undesirable stimulus by engaging in a particular behavior

Question 38

Avoidance learning

Answer 38

learning to avoid and undesirable stimulus by engaging in a behavior

Question 39

Shaping

Answer 39

successive approximation conditioning, reinforcing responses that come closer and closer to the desired behavior

Question 40

Chaining

Answer 40

establish complex behaviors that consist of a sequence of responses that must be linked together to form a behavioral chain - compared to shaping: in shaping, the final behavior is the goal - chaining, each response is important

Question 41

Premack Principle

Answer 41

high-frequency behavior as reinforcement for low-frequency behavior (ie child can play games after she finishes chores/hw)

Question 42

Differential reinforcement

Answer 42

combine extinction and positive reinforcement by removing reinforcement from the undesirable behavior and reinforcing desirable behaviors (ie reducing child's head banging by giving praise/stars for each period child abstains)

Question 43

Effectiveness of punishment

Answer 43

- immediate, consistent - moderate in intensity - verbal clarification of the relationship between behavior and punishment - combined with reinforcement for an alternative behavior

Question 44

Time-out

Answer 44

positive punishment, temp loss of access to reinforcers, most effective when relatively brief, child is reminded of duration and reason

Question 45

Response cost

Answer 45

negative punishment, removes a specific reinforcer (privilege, item)

Question 46

Overcorrection

Answer 46

positive punishment 1 - restitution phase: individual corrects the consequences of the undesirable behavior 2 - positive practice phase: practices an alternative behavior

Question 47

Contingency contract

Answer 47

behavioral contract, written agreement, identifies behaviors to be modified, ST and LT goals, measurable goals, consequences for noncompliance, procedures

Question 48

Token economy

Answer 48

environment in which tokens are used as generalized reinforcers; involves specifying bx, token exchange/reinforcers, plan for reducing tokens and replacing with other reinforcers

Question 49

Function-based interventions/functional behavioral analysis (FBA)

Answer 49

- determine the function of the problem behavior, antecedents and consequences - develop bx plan to target appropriate replacement bx

Question 50

Insight learning

Answer 50

aha experience due to mental restructuring of a problem - the learner perceives the situation as a whole - perceives and tries to understand the various elements of the situation - learner grasps the solution

Question 51

Tolman's latent learning

Answer 51

learning can occur without reinforcement; rats learned layout of maze (cognitive maps) without reinforcement

Question 52

Observational learning

Answer 52

``` Bandura's social learning theory, social cognitive theory 1 - Attention 2 - Retention 3 - Motor Reproduction 4 - Motivation ```

Question 53

Sensory memory

Answer 53

iconic memory: visual info | echoic memory: auditory info

Question 54

Short-term memory

Answer 54

- Without rehearsal, STM fades in 30 sec - Primary memory: capacity ~ 7+/-2 bits (5-9); chunking can extend - Working memory: ability to mentally manipulate info in STM

Question 55

Long-term memory

Answer 55

sufficiently rehearsed - transferred to LTM

Question 56

Serial position effect

Answer 56

primary v recency effect | distracting task - words at beginning are well-remembered

Question 57

Levels of processing

Answer 57

Structural processing: shallowest level and involves encoding the physical properties of stimulus Phonemic processing: involves encoding the sound properties (ie rhyming) Semantic processing: deepest level, encoding the meaning, leads to greatest retention and recall

Question 58

Working memory components

Answer 58

1 - Central executive: control center, directs attention to relevant aspects 2 - Phonological loop: processes and temporarily stores verbal info 3 - Visuospatial sketchpad: processes and temporarily stores visual info 4 - Episodic buffer: integrates verbal and visual info and transfers info to LTM

Question 59

Procedural v declarative memory

Answer 59

Procedural memory: knowing how | Declarative memory: knowing what; Semantic memory: factual knowledge, Episodic memory: personal experiences

Question 60

Implicit v explicit memory

Answer 60

Implicit memory: recalled automatically and without conscious awareness Explicit memory: deliberate and conscious effort to be recalled

Question 61

Encoding specificity

Answer 61

- the more similar the learning and recall conditions, the easier it is to retrieve information from LTM - Context-specific memory: tendency to retrieve info more easily when recall occurs in the same environment in which learning occurred - State-dependent memory: tendency to retrieve info more easily when in the same physical or psychological state during learning and recall

Question 62

Yerkes-Dodson law

Answer 62

optimal level of arousal for performance on tasks; relationship between arousal and performance is an inverted U

Question 63

Anterograde v retrograde amnesia

Answer 63

Anterograde: unable to retain info exposed to after trauma, recall info acquired before trauma Retrograde: cannot recall info acquired before trauma (generally recent past more than remote), able to retain info after trauma

Question 64

Maintenance v elaborative rehearsal

Answer 64

Maintenance: simply repeating info, most useful for maintaining STM Elaborative: making info meaningful through different strategies, transfers to LTM

Question 65

Mnemonic devices

Answer 65

- verbal and visual techniques for enhancing memory - acronym - acrostic: phrase or sentence in which each word begins with the first letter of an item in the list (We just like Rushmore - Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt) - method of loci: memorizing a list of items imagining walking through a familiar room and visually associating each item with a different place/item in the room - keyword method: memorizing a pair of items and forming a visual image that represents both

Question 66

Decay theory

Answer 66

memory involves a physiological change in the brain that decays over time if the memory is not accessed (subjects who slept recalled more than those awake/distracted)

Question 67

Interference theory

Answer 67

forgetting occurs when the ability to recall particular info is affect by info learned before or after Proactive: learned before, forward effect Retroactive: new info learned, backwards effect

Question 68

Cue-dependent forgetting

Answer 68

forgetting is often result of inability to access info stored in LTM due to retrieval cues - resulting in tip of tongue, multiple choice > free recall

Question 69

Attention

Answer 69

Sustained attention: ability to direct and focus cognitive activity on a specific stimulus over an extended period of time Divided: ability to focus attention on more than one stimulus simultaneously Selective: focusing on one stimulus while filtering out irrelevant stimuli, cocktail party phenomenon

Question 70

Feature integration theory (FIT)

Answer 70

- the processing of visual stimuli involves 2 stages: - Detection of features (pre-attention) stage: occurs rapidly and automatically and involves parallel processing - Integration of features (attention) stage: features are processed serially and slowly, focused visual attention and perception of stimulus as an integrated whole

Question 71

Filter Theory of Selective Attention

Answer 71

- bottleneck theories of attention - when two or more sensory stimuli are presented simultaneously, they are maintained in a sensory buffer, one is allowed to pass through a selective filter, other remains in the buffer to be lost or processed later, the stimulus that passes through enters STM, where it is analyzed for semantic content and enters conscious awareness

Question 72

Dichotic listening task (filter theory of selective attention)

Answer 72

- subjects listen to different auditory stimuli delivered to each ear simultaneously and repeat what they heard - brain processes one ear then the other, not integrated