psych (6.1) Flashcards
learning
the process by which behaviour or knowledge changes as a result of experience
who is ivan pavlov
Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist best known in psychology for his discovery of classical conditioning. During his studies on the digestive systems of dogs, Pavlov noted that the animals salivated naturally upon the presentation of food.
“psychological reflex”
any of a number of automatic, unlearned, relatively fixed responses to stimuli that do not require conscious effort and that often involve a faster response than might be possible if a conscious evaluation of the input were required.
Examples include blinking, sneezing, the adjustment of pupils in response to light, raising an arm to protect the face, automatic changes in heart rate, and coughing.
unconditioned stimulus (US)
An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that leads to an automatic response.
example, if the smell of food is the unconditioned stimulus
In Pavlov’s experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus. An unconditioned response is an automatic response to a stimulus. The dogs salivating for food is the unconditioned response in Pavlov’s experiment.
unconditioned response (UR)
a reflexive, unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus such as: salivation, flinching, blinking, etc.
the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the unconditioned response.
-more examples:
-Gasping in pain after being stung by a bee.
-Jerking your hand back after touching a hot plate on the oven.
-Jumping at the sound of a loud noise.
-Twitching your leg in response to a doctor tapping on your knee.
-Salivating in response to a sour taste.
neutral stimulus
a stimulus that does not normally elicit a reflexive response.
A good example of a neutral stimulus is a sound or a song. When it is initially presented, the neutral stimulus has no effect on behavior. As it is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus, it will begin to cause the same response as the UCS.
conditioned stimulus (CS)
A conditioned stimulus is a stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned response. In the described experiment, the conditioned stimulus was the ringing of the bell, and the conditioned response was salivation. It is important to note that the neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus.
Conditioned response (CR)
the learned response that occurs to the conditioned stimulus. ex: salivation, flinching, blinking,etc.
-the CS must elicit a CR in the absence of the US (eg food) for conditioned to have occurred
Acquisition
The initial phase of learning in which a response is established (e.g., salivating in response to a tone)
Imagine that you are teaching a pigeon to peck a key whenever you ring a bell. Initially, you place some food on the key and sound a tone right before the pigeon pecks the key. After several trials, the pigeon begins to peck the key whenever he hears the tone, meaning he has acquired the behavior.
Extinction
The loss or weakening of a CR when a CS and US no
longer occur together
Phobia
– When fear of an object or situation becomes irrational and
interferes with normal activities.
– Some phobias occur naturally (possibly due to genetics);
however, many fears are learned through experience.
Conditioned emotional responses
– Emotional and physiological responses that develop to a
specific object or situation.
Preparedness
Preparedness
– The biological predisposition to rapidly learn a
response to a particular class of stimuli
acquisition
the initial phase of learning in which a response is established
classical conditioning (Pavlovian conditioning)
a form of associative learning in which an organism learns to associate a neutral stimulus(e.g., a sound) with a biologically relevant stimulus (e.g., food), which results in the change in the response to the previously neutral stimulus
