AP Psychology Unit VI: Learning

Learning

The process of acquiring relatively enduring information or behaviors.

Habituation

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

Associative learning

Learning that certain events occur together. This may be 2 stimuli, or a response and its conditions.

Classical conditioning

Learning to associate 2 stimuli and anticipate events.

Operant conditioning

Learning to associate a response (our behavior) and its consequence. Thus, we learn to repeat acts followed by good results. ,

Ivan Palvov

Classical conditioning, Palvov’s bell/dog experiment.

John Watson

Classical conditioning, Little Albert.

Behaviorism

States that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes.

Neutral stimulus

Elicits no response before conditioning.

Unconditioned reponse

Naturally occurring response to a naturally occuring stimulus

Unconditioned stimulus

Stimulus that naturally triggers a response.

Conditioned response

Learned response to a previously neutral stimulus.

Conditioned stimulus

Originally irrelevant stimulus that after conditioning now triggers a conditioned response.

Acquisition

The initial stage that one links neutral stimulus and unconditional stimulus to be triggered and linked. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of reinforced response.

Higher-order conditioning

When a CS in a conditional experience is paired with a new neutral stimulus, creating a second weaker response.

Extinction

Diminished CR after a US does not follow a CS.

Spontaneous recovery

The reapperence of an extinguished conditional response after a pause.

Generalization

Tendency to respond to similar stimuli to the CS.

Discrimination

The learned ability to distinguish between a CS and another stimuli that does not trigger unconditional stimulus.

Palvov’s legacy

Revealed the idea that stimuli can be classically conditioned in many organisms, showed us how learning could be studied objectively.

B.F. Skinner

Operant conditioning, elaborated on Thorndike’s law of effect, famous for his box.

Operant chamber/Skinner’s box

A chamber containing a bar or key that animals can manipulate to obtain food or water reinforcer. Attached device records animals’ clicking.

Reinforcer

Any event that strengthens the behavior it follows.

Shaping

Operant conditioning procedure where reinforcers guide behavior towards closer and closer approximations of desired behavior.

Discriminative stimulus

A stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement.

Primary reinforcers

Innately reinforcing reinforcers, such as ones that satisfy a biological need (IE: food and water).

Secondary/conditioned reinforcers

Gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer. Such as money, good grades, etc.

Reinforcement schedule

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

Continuous reinforcement

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs. Best choice for mastering a behavior, but extinction is fast— but also spontaneous recovery.

Partial/intermittent reinforcement

Reinforcing a response only part of the time. Results in slower acquisition but much greater resistance to extinction.

Fixed ratio schedule

Reinforcement schedule that reinforces behavior only after a specified number of responses.

Variable ratio schedules

Provides reinforcers with a response after an unpredictable amount of responses.

Fixed interval schedule.

Reinforces a response only after a certain time has elapsed.

Variable interval schedule

Reinforc

Punishment

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Respondent behavior

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to a stimulus.

Operant behavior

Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences.

BIofeedback

System for electronically recording, amplifying, and feeding back information regarding a physical state such as blood pressure or muscle tension.

John Garcia

Highly original pioneering research on conditioning and learning. Rats and taste aversion.

Biological constraints

Predispose organisms to learn associations that are naturally adaptive.

Instinctive drift

Reverting back to biologically predisposed patterns.

Cognitive map

Mental representation of the layout of an environment.

Latent learning

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

Insight

Sudden realization of a problem’s solution.

Observational learning

Also called social learning.