Unit 6

Question 1

Learning

Answer 1

The process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring info or behaviors

Question 2

Associative learning

Answer 2

Learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (classical conditioning) orally response and its consequence (operant conditioning)

Question 3

Stimulus

Answer 3

Any event or situation that evokes a response

Question 4

Respondent behavior

Answer 4

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus

Question 5

Classical conditioning

Answer 5

A type of learning in which we link two or ore stimulus, as a silt, the first stimulus comes to elicit (provoke) behavior in anticipation of the second stimulus

Question 6

Behaviorism

Answer 6

The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behaviors w/o reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree w/ (1) but not (2)

Question 7

Neutral Stimulus (NS)

Answer 7

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits (provokes) no response before conditioning

Question 8

Unconditioned response (UR)

Answer 8

In classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus

Question 9

Unconditioned Stimulus

Answer 9

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally - naturally & automatically - triggers an unconditioned response

Question 10

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Answer 10

In classical conditioning, an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditional stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned stimulus

Question 11

Extinction

Answer 11

The diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus, occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

Question 12

Generalization

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Discrimination

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 14

The reappearance after a pause of an extinguished conditioned response

Question 15

Operant conditioning

Answer 15

A type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher

Question 16

Law of effect

Answer 16

Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely

Question 17

Operant chamber

Answer 17

In operant conditioning research a chamber (AKA Skinner box) containing a bar/key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food/water reinforcer, (attached to devices to record animal’s heart rate)

Question 18

Reinforcement

Answer 18

In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

Question 19

Shaping

Answer 19

An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

Question 20

Positive reinforcement

Answer 20

When adding a stimulus, the response is strengthened

Question 21

Negative reinforcement

Answer 21

When removing a stimulus, the response is strengthened

Question 22

Primary reinforcement

Answer 22

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

Food, water, sleep, warmth

Question 23

Conditioned reinforcer

Answer 23

A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer (AKA secondary reinforcer)

Question 24

Reinforcement schedule

Answer 24

A pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced

Question 25

Continuous reinforcement schedule

Answer 25

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs

Question 26

Partial (intermittent) reinforcement schedule

Answer 26

Reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

Question 27

Fixed-ratio schedule

Answer 27

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

Question 28

Variable-ratio schedule

Answer 28

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses

Question 29

Fixed-interval schedule

Answer 29

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

Question 30

Variable-interval schedule

Answer 30

In operant conditioning,a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

Question 31

Punishment

Answer 31

An event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

Question 32

Biofeedback

Answer 32

A system for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back info regarding a subtle physiological state, such as blood pressure or muscle tension

Question 33

Instinctive drift

Answer 33

The tendency of learned behavior to gradually revert to biologically predisposed patterns

Question 34

Latent learning

Answer 34

Learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it

Question 35

Intrinsic motivation

Answer 35

A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake

Question 36

Extrinsic motivation

Answer 36

A desire to perform a behavior to receive promised rewards or avoid threatened punishment

Question 37

Problem-focused coping

Answer 37

Attempting to alleviate stress directly by changing the stressor or the way we interact with that stressor

Question 38

Emotion-focused coping

Answer 38

Attempting to alleviate stress by avoiding or ignoring the stressor and attending to emotional needs related to our stress reaction

Question 39

Learned helplessness

Answer 39

The hopelessness and passive resignation an anima or person learns when able to avoid repeated aversive (heartless) events

Question 40

External locus of control

Answer 40

The perception that chance or outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

Question 41

Internal locus of control

Answer 41

The perception that we control our own fate

Question 42

Observational learning

Answer 42

Learning by observing others (AKA social learning)

Question 43

Modeling

Answer 43

The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior

Question 44

Mirror neurons

Answer 44

Frontal lobe neurons that some scientists believe fire when we perform certain actions or observe another doing so. The brain’s mirroring of another’s actions may enable imitation and empathy

Question 45

Prosocial behavior

Answer 45

Positive, constructive, helpful behavior. The opposite of antisocial behavior

Question 46

Insight

Answer 46

A sudden realization of a problem’s solution; contrasts w/ strategy-based solutions

Question 47

Cognitive map

Answer 47

A mental representation of the layout of one’s environment

Question 48

Preparedness

Answer 48

A biological predisposition to learn associations, such as between taste and nausea, that have survival value

Question 49

Discriminative stimulus

Answer 49

In operant conditioning, a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcements)

Question 50

Conditioned response (CR)

Answer 50

In classical conditioning, a learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus

Question 51

Cognitive learning

Answer 51

The acquisition of mental info, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language

Question 52

Self-control

Answer 52

The ability to control impulses and delay short-term gratification for greater long-term rewards

Question 53

Personal control

Answer 53

Our sense of controlling our environment rather than feeling helpless

Question 54

Higher-order conditioning

Answer 54

A procedure in which the conditioned stimulus in one conditioning experience is paired w/ a new neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned stimulus

Question 55

Operant behavior

Answer 55

Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences

Question 56

Habitualition

Answer 56

Decreasing responsiveness w/ repeated exposure to a stimulus

Question 57

Acquisition

Answer 57

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