Psych Exam 10/31/22 Flashcards
(119 cards)
learning
change in behavior or knowledge/skill that is due to experience
all animals learn it is necessary for survival
continuous process
rudimentary (non-associative) learning
automatic/built-in simple learning mecahnisms
habituation (rudimentary)
repeat neutral stimulus → decrease response (less likely to happen if stimulus is threatening)
sensitization (rudimentary)
become more sensitive/increased response after threatening stimulus (over respond the next time that same threatening stimulus occurs)
filial imprinting (rudimentary)
only applicable to birds
critical period for attachment of younger to older birds in the first 12-18 hours
imprint on the first large moving objects they see
classical conditioning (Pavlovian)
learning through forming associations between experiences → extremely simple form of learning, takes place even in the womb
Pavlov’s dogs
studied saliva production in dogs and noticed that dogs would salivate even before the meat powder was presented so he designed an experiment to verify this observation
Meat → Saliva
Bell → Meat
Bell → Saliva
unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
a stimulus that provokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning (ex. meat)
unconditioned response (UCR)
an unlearning reaction that occurs without conditioning, a reflex (ex. salivating)
conditioned stimulus (CS)
a previously neutral stimulus that has acquired meaning through conditioning and the capacity to evoke a response (ex. bell)
conditioned response (CR)
a learned reaction that occurs because of previous conditions (ex. salivating to a bell, rather than the meat)
romantic associations (classical conditioning)
“our song”, cologne/perfume
nostalgic childhood associations (classical conditioning)
smell of playdough or crayons, opening songs to childhood cartoons
anxious associations (classical conditioning)
phobias are often conditioned responses, conditioning can also occur in single context such as horror movie sounds (ex JAWs theme song)
contiguity (anxious association, classical conditioning)
onset of conditioned stimulus a bit before unconditioned stimulus and ens with unconditioned stimulus
novelty (anxious association, classical conditioning)
newer stimuli lead to faster learning because no other associations
biological preparedness (classical conditioning)
prepared stimuli are those that we are evolutionarily prepared to asscoiate
taste aversions → not all stimulus pairings can create conditioned responses (CR) as easily
Garcia’s rats (biological preparedness, classical conditioning)
easier to condition taste or smell with nausea than it is to condition light or sound with nausea because we are biologically prepared to pair internal threats with internal stimuli and external threats with external stimuli
learned fear: mineka’s monkeys (classical conditioning)
easier to teach a lab-reared monkey to fear a snake than a flower (even though they had never seen either, both novel and neutral) because primates are “hard-wired” to fear snakes
extinction (classical conditioning)
with repeated presentation of only the CS without the UCS eventually the CR will extinguishes (ex ring bell continuously without meat, dog will stop drooling at the bell because it no longer associates it with meat)
spontaneous recovery (classical conditioning)
when the CR rebounds after a time of no exposure to the CS - implies we don’t really ‘unlearn’ original association
discrimination (classical conditioning)
when learning becomes more specific (ex not all bells mean meat, only respond and drool to the specific bell sound that means they get meat)
generalization (classical conditioning)
when learned CR to one CS generalizes to any other CS, similar CS object (ex dogs started drooling to any musical sounds = meat)
Little Albert and the white rat (generalization, classical conditioning)
exposed him to rats and then played a loud sound to scare him but he generalized his fear and was terrified of not only the white rays but all furry things