| A | B |
|---|
| learning | a relatively permanent change in behavior caused by experience |
| classical conditioning | type of learning in which a stimulus gains the power to cause a response |
| stimulus | anything in the environment that one can respond to |
| response | any behavior or action |
| unconditioned stimulus (UCS) | stimulus that triggers a response reflexively and automatically. |
| unconditidioned response (UCR) | Automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus |
| conditioned stimulus (CS) | previously neutral stimulus that, through learning, gains the power to cause a response |
| conditioned response (CR) | Response to the conditioned stimulus |
| acquisition | process of developing a learned response |
| extinction | diminishing of a learned response |
| spontaneous recovery | return of an extinguished classically conditioned response after a rest period |
| Ivan Pavlov | learning theorist famous for the discovery of classical conditioning |
| generalization | producing the same response to two similar stimuli |
| discrimination | producing different responses to two stimuli |
| behaviorism | view that psychology should restrict its efforts to studying observable behaviors, not mental processes. |
| John Watson | Founder of behaviorism, the theory that psychology should restrict its efforts to studying observable behaviors, not mental processes. |
| Rosalie Rayner | Graduate student of Watson and co-researcher for the famous little Albert demonstration of classically conditioned emotion |
| Little Albert | used in famous demonstration of establishing fear through the use of a loud noise and a rat |
| cognition | mental processes |
| Robert Rescorla | Developed, along with Allan Wagner, a theory that emphasized the importance of cognitive processes in classical conditioning. |
| John Garcia | identified, along with Robert Koelling, the phenomenon of taste aversion, which established that classical conditioning was influenced by biological predispositions. |
| operant conditioning | type of learning in which the frequency of a behavior depends on the consequence that follows that behavior. |
| Edward Thorndike | author of the law of effect, the principle that forms the basis of operant conditioning. |
| B.F. Skinner | developed the fundamental principles and techniques of operant conditioning and devised ways to apply them in the real world. Invented a special contraption named a Skinner box, used to research animal learning. |
| Skinner box | Delivers food to an animal by a lever to press or disk to peck in order to get food. The food is the reinforce, and the process of giving the food is called reinforcement |
| the law of effect | states that if the consequences of a behavior are pleasant, the stimulus-response connection will be strengthened, and the likelihood of the behavior will increase. However, if the consequences of a behavior are unpleasant, the stimulus-response connection will weaken and the likelihood of the behavior will decrease. |
| reinforcement | any consequence that increases the future likelihood of a behavior |
| punishment | any consequence that decreases the future likelihood of a behavior. |
| positive reinforcement | in operant conditioning, anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior by following it wish a desirable event or state. |
| negative reinforcement | in operant conditioning, anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior by following it with the removal of an undesirable event or state. |
| primary reinforcement | something that is naturally reinforcing, such as food (if you were hungry), warmth (if you were cold), and water (if you were thirsty). |
| secondary reinforcement | something that you have learned to value, like money |
| shaping | reinforcement of behaviors that are increasingly similar to the desired one; the operant technique used to establish new behaviors. |
| discrimination | ability to distinguish between two similar signals or stimuli |
| extinction | in operant conditioning, the loss of a behavior when no consequence follows it |
| continuous reinforcement | in operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement in which a reward follows every correct response |
| partial reinforcement | in operant conditioning, a schedule of reinforcement in which a reward follows only some correct responses |
| fixed-interval schedule | in operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards only the first correct response after some defined period |
| variable-interval schedule | in operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards the first correct response after an unpredictable amount of time |
| fixed-ratio schedule | in operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards a response only after some defined number of correct responses. |
| Variable-ratio schedule | in operant conditioning, a partial reinforcement schedule that rewards an unpredictable number of correct responses |
| Latent learning | learning that occurs but is not apparent until the learner has an incentive to demonstrate it. |
| Cognitive map | mental representative of a place |
| Overjustification effect | effect of promising a reward for doing what one already likes to do; the reward may lessen and replace the person’s original, natural motivation so that the behavior stops if the reward is eliminated |
| Positive reinforcement | refers to t he addition of something pleasant, make a behavior more likely to occur |
| Insight learning | occurs when one suddenly realizes how to solve a problem. |
| Shaping | reinforcing steps used to reach the desired behavior. The goal is to mold a single behavior |
| Chaining | teaching subjects to perform a number of responses successively in order to get a reward, the goal is to link together a number of separate behaviors into a more complex activity (running an obstacle course) |
| Positive punishment | addition of something unpleasant to make a behavior less likely (example: giving a rat an electric shock every time it touches the lever) |
| Observational learning (modeling) | learning by observing others, this type of learning is said to be species-specific; it only occurs between members of the same species |
| Token economy | every time people perform a desired behavior, they are given a token. Periodically, they are allowed to trade their tokens for any one of a variety of reinforcers. |
| Instinctive drift | tendency for animals to forgo rewards to pursue their typical patterns of behavior. Animals will not perform certain behaviors that go against their natural inclinations. For example, rats will not walk backward. |
| Omission training (negative punishment) | affects behavior by using unpleasant consequences. The removal of something pleasant. For example, removing the rat’s food when it touches the lever. |
| Albert Bandura | Major figure in the study of observational learning and several other important topics. |
| Antisocial behavior | negative, destructive, unhelpful behavior |
| Prosocial behavior | positive, constructive, helpful behavior. |
| Vicarious learning | learning by seeing the consequences of another person’s behavior. |
| Mirror neurons | brain cells located in the front of the brain that activate when performing certain actions or when observing another do so. |
