Psych Modules 26-27

The process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

An organism’s decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it 

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)

Any event or situation that evokes a response

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

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

The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without references to mental processes

Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not (2)

A stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning

An unlearned, naturally occurring response (ex. salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (ex. food in the mouth)

A stimulus that unconditionally- naturally and automatically- triggers a response (UR)

A learned response to a previously neutral, but now conditioned stimulus (CS)

An originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response (CR)

In classical conditioning, the initial stage where 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

(AKA second-order conditioning)

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

The diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS)

Occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced

The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinct conditioned response

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

The learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

A type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher

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

(AKA Skinner Box)

A chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer

Attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking

Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows

A procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior

A stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement)

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers

Any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli

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

Any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response

(AKA secondary reinforcer)

A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer

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

Reinforcing a desired response every time it occurs

Reinforcing a response only part of the time

Results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses

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

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed

A reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

An event that tends to decrease the behavior that it follows

Giving an undesirable consequence after an unwanted behavior to make it less appealing

Reduces a behavior by taking away a favorable stimulus following that action