Unit 3 Part 2- Learning

Question 1

Positive Reinforcement

Answer 1

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

Question 2

Negative Reinforcement

Answer 2

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (negative reinforcement is not a punishment)

Question 3

Latent Learning

Answer 3

Learning that becomes apparent only when there is some incentive to demonstrate it. Children, too, may learn from watching a parent but demonstrate the learning only much later, as needed. The point to remember: There is more to learning than associating a response with a consequence; there is also cognition.

Question 4

Insight Learning

Answer 4

Some learning occurs after little or no systematic interaction with our environment. For example, we may puzzle over a problem, and suddenly, the pieces fall together as we perceive the solution in a sudden flash of insight. “Ah ha moment”

Question 5

Observational Learning

Answer 5

learn without direct experience, through observational learning, also called social learning, because we learn by observing and imitating others. A child who sees his sister burn her fingers on a hot stove learns not to touch it. And a monkey watching another selecting certain pictures to gain treats learns to imitate that behavior. “Monkey see Monkey do”

Question 6

Learning

Answer 6

A relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience

Question 7

Classical Conditioning

Answer 7

A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events.

Question 8

Associative Learning

Answer 8

Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)

Question 9

Unconditioned Response (UR)

Answer 9

In classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation when food is in the mouth.

Question 10

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Answer 10

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally-naturally and automatically-triggers a response

Question 11

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Answer 11

In classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response

Question 12

Extinction

Answer 12

Diminishing of conditioned response. Occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus

Question 13

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 13

Reappearance after a pause of extinguished conditioned response.

Question 14

Generalization

Answer 14

The tendency once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses

Question 15

Discrimination

Answer 15

In classical conditioning, learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

Question 16

Mirror neurons

Answer 16

Frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain’s mirroring of another’s action may enable imitation and empathy

Question 17

Conditioned Taste Aversions

Answer 17

When you get sick after eating food and blame it on the food and don’t want to eat that food anymore

Question 18

Respondent behavior

Answer 18

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus.

Question 19

Operant behavior

Answer 19

Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences.

Question 20

Secondary or Conditioned Reinforcers

Answer 20

These get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers. (Ex. Skinner’s rat wants food. It work to turn on the light because it is associated with food.)

Question 21

Shaping

Answer 21

a procedure in which reinforcers, such as food, gradually guide an animal’s actions toward a desired behavior.

Question 22

Higher-order conditioning

Answer 22

Procedure where conditioned stimulus is paired with neutral stimulus, creating a second (weaker) conditioned stimulus

Question 23

Operant conditioning

Answer 23

Type of learning that strengthens with reinforcement or weakens with punishment

Question 24

Law of effect

Answer 24

Thorndike’s principle that rewarded behavior is likely to continue with favorable consequences, punished behavior is less likely to continue

Question 25

Skinner box (operant chamber)

Answer 25

A chamber containing a bar an animal can manipulate in order to get food or water

Question 26

Fixed Interval Schedule

Answer 26

a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a set time has passed

Question 27

Variable Ratio Schedule

Answer 27

a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Question 28

Variable Interval Schedule

Answer 28

a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Question 29

Superstitious behavior

Answer 29

Type of the reaction to certain situations/impulses that is brought on by a coincidence and gets so embedded in individual's course of action that he repeats it continuously.

Question 30

Behaviorists

Answer 30

psychologists that believe in studying behavior while disregarding mental processes

Question 31

Chaining

Answer 31

reinforcing individual responses occurring in a sequence to form a complex behavior.

Question 32

Continuous Reinforcement

Answer 32

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs.

Question 33

Conditioned Response

Answer 33

in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral(but now conditioned) stimulus (CS).

Question 34

Neutral Stimulus

Answer 34

a stimulus that does not produce an automatic response. In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus turns into a conditioned stimulus. ex)a tone before it turns into CS (produces no salivation on response) in Pavlov's experiment.

Question 35

Reinforcers

Answer 35

in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

Question 36

Acquisition

Answer 36

in classical conditioning, the initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response.

Question 37

Negative punishment

Answer 37

Removing something you like in order to decrease the likelihood of a behavior

Question 38

Positive punishment

Answer 38

Adding something you don't like to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. A slap to the face, spanking, squirt of water.

Question 39

Learned helplessness

Answer 39

The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events.

Question 40

Primary reinforcer

Answer 40

An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need.

Question 41

Partial/Intermittent Reinforcement

Answer 41

responses are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not. Although initial learning is slower, _______ produces greater resistance to extinction than is found with continuous reinforcement

Question 42

Fixed Ratio Schedule

Answer 42

reinforces behavior after a set number of responses. (Ex. Buy five, get one free.)

Question 43

Counterconditioning

Answer 43

a behavioral therapy technique where a previously negative conditioned response to a stimulus is replaced with a positive response by pairing that stimulus with a pleasant or relaxing stimulus. Exposure therapy is an example.

Question 44

Aversive Conditioning

Answer 44

a type of behavioral therapy that aims to decrease an unwanted behavior by pairing it with a negative stimulus, essentially creating a negative association with that behavior, based on the principles of classical conditioning; it's a method to "condition" someone to avoid a particular behavior by associating it with an unpleasant experience. Adding a nauseating substance to fingernails to condition yourself to stop biting your nails.

Question 45

One-trail conditioning

Answer 45

a learning phenomenon where a single pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus is enough to create a conditioned response, meaning learning occurs after just one exposure, without the need for repeated trials; essentially, it's a rapid and strong association formed with just one experience. Taste aversions often happen with one time getting violently ill after eating something.

Question 46

Biological Preparedness

Answer 46

the idea that organisms are naturally inclined to quickly learn associations between certain stimuli and responses due to their evolutionary history, meaning they are genetically predisposed to form certain connections that enhance survival chances, like readily fearing snakes or developing a taste aversion to spoiled food.

Question 47

habituation

Answer 47

a form of non-associative learning where an organism's response to a repeated stimulus gradually decreases over time, meaning they become less reactive to the stimulus after repeated exposure to it; essentially, "getting used to" a stimulus. If you initially jump at a loud noise, but after hearing it repeatedly, your jump response becomes smaller, this is habituation.

Question 48

Successive approximation

Answer 48

a method of shaping behavior by reinforcing responses that gradually get closer to a desired target behavior, essentially rewarding steps that progressively approximate the final goal, often used in operant conditioning techniques like shaping; meaning you reward behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired behavior until the full behavior is achieved.

Question 49

Instinctive Drift

Answer 49

the tendency for an animal that has been trained to perform a specific behavior to revert back to its natural, instinctual behaviors over time, essentially where learned behaviors are overridden by innate biological predispositions, often interfering with the previously conditioned response. A famous example is a raccoon trained to put coins into a container for food, but eventually starting to rub the coins together instead, as this is a more natural behavior for a raccoon to perform with small objects.

Question 50

Social Learning Theory

Answer 50

the idea that people learn new behaviors primarily by observing and imitating others, with a key emphasis on the role of observation, modeling, and vicarious reinforcement, most notably developed by psychologist Albert Bandura; essentially, learning occurs through a social context by watching and copying behaviors of others around them.

Question 51

Vicarious Conditioning

Answer 51

the process of learning a behavior or response by observing the reactions of others to a stimulus, essentially learning through watching how others respond to a situation rather than experiencing it directly; it's also known as "observational learning" A child might learn to be afraid of dogs by watching another child react fearfully to a dog.

Question 52

Modeling

Answer 52

the process of learning a behavior by observing and imitating the actions of another person

Question 53

Cognitive maps

Answer 53

a mental representation of a physical environment, essentially a mental picture or image of the layout of one's surroundings, which allows individuals to navigate and understand spatial relationships within that environment