Chapter 7 - Learning

What are 2 key facts about Positive Reinforcement?

It begins something and it strengthens a behavior or makes it more frequent.

What are 2 key facts about Positive Punishment?

It begins something and it weakens a behavior or makes it less frequent.

What are 2 key facts about Negative Reinforcement?

It ends something and it strengthens a behavior or makes it more frequent.

What are 2 key facts about Negative Punishment?

It ends something and it weakens a behavior or makes it less frequent.

What is the underlying learning principle in this example: Your dog racing to greet you on your arrival home?

Operant Conditioning

In the simulation for the "eyeblink" lab, the air puff that caused the eye blink was called the:

Unconditioned Stimulus

What are ways to increase behaviour?

1) Positive Reinforcement - add a desirable stimulus; pet a dog that comes when you call it or pay the person who paints your house. 2) Negative Reinforcement - Remove an aversive stimulus; take painkillers to end pain; fasten seatbelt to end loud beeping.

What are the 4 major drawbacks of physical punishment?

1) Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten. This temporary state may (negatively) reinforce parents' punishing behavior. 2) Punishment teaches discrimination among situations. Discrimination occurs when an organism learns that certain responses, but not others, will be reinforced. 3) Punishment can teach fear. Generalization occurs when an organism's response to similar stimuli is also reinforced. 4) Physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling aggression as a way to cope with problems.

What is Intrinsic Motivation?

A desire to perform a behavior effectively for its own sake.

What is Extrinsic Motivation?

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

What is Observational Learning?

A form of cognitive learning. Learning from others experiences, learn without direct experience, by watching and imitating others.

According to psychologists, learning is what?

A relatively enduring behavior change that occurs due to experience.

What is Shaping?

An operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. Refers to gradually molding or training an organism to perform a specific response (behavior) by reinforcing any responses that are similar to the desired response. For example, a researcher can use shaping to train a rat to press a lever during an experiment (since rats are not born with the instinct to press a lever in a cage during an experiment). To start, the researcher may reward the rat when it makes any movement at all in the direction of the lever. Then, the rat has to actually take a step toward the lever to get rewarded. Then, it has to go over to the lever to get rewarded (remember, it will not receive any reward for doing the earlier behaviors now...it must make a more advanced move by going over to the lever), and so on until only pressing the lever will produce reward. The rat's behavior was "shaped" to get it to press the lever.

Whose conclusion did John Locke and David Hume echo and what was it?

Aristotles theory that we learn by association.

A word of praise is to a delicious meal as ______________ is to ______________.

Conditioned Reinforcer; Primary Reinforcer

In the simulation for the "eyeblink" lab, when the participants responded to the tone by blinking, that was the:

Conditioned Response

What is Positive Reinforcement?

Increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcers. An PR is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. It strengthens responding by presenting a typically pleasurable stimulus after a response.

What is Negative Reinforcement?

Increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli. An NR is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note: NR is NOT punishment.) It strengthens a response by reducing or removing something negative. Psychology's most misunderstood concept—removes a punishing (aversive) event. Think of it as something that provides relief—from that whining child, bad headache, or annoying alarm.

What is a Stimulus?

Any event or situation that evokes a response.

What is Discrimination?

(1) in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. (2) in social psychology, unjustifiable negative behavior toward a group and its members.

What are the steps psychologists suggest regarding operant conditioning; reinforcing desired behaviors and eliminating unwanted behaviors in our own lives?

1) State a realistic goal in measurable terms. 2) Decide how, when and where you will work toward your goal. 3) Monitor how often you engage in your desired behavior. 4) Reinforce the desired behavior. 5) Reduce the rewards gradually.

What is a Cognitive Map?

A mental representation of the layout of one's environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it.

What are Reinforcement Schedules?

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

What is Classical Conditioning?

A type of learning in which one learns to link two or more stimuli and anticipate events. It forms associations between stimuli (a CS and the US it signals). It also involves respondent behavior—actions that are automatic responses to a stimulus (such as salivating in response to meat powder and later in response to a tone). First proposed and studied by Ivan Pavlov, it is one form of learning in which an organism "learns" through establishing associations between different events and stimuli. A type of conditioning and learning process in which something (CS) that had not previously produced a particular response becomes associated with something (US) that produces the response. As a result, the conditioned stimulus will elicit the response that the unconditioned stimulus produces. Expecting and preparing for significant events such as food or pain.

What is Superstition?

Accidental reinforcement of a response can lead to superstitious behavior. It arises when the delivery of a reinforcer or punisher occurs close together in time (temporal contiguity) with an independent behavior. Therefore, the behavior is accidentally reinforced or punished, increasing the likelihood of that behavior occurring again. See Skinners "Superstition" Experiment.

The first step of classical conditioning, when an NS becomes a CS, is called ______________. When a US no longer follows the CS, and the CR becomes weakened, this is called ______________.

Acquisition; extinction

What is Positive Punishment?

Administer something that's undesired. Ex: Spray water on a barking dog; give a traffic ticket for speeding.

What are Conditioned Reinforcers?

Also called "Secondary Reinforcers", get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers. A stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer.

What is Higher-Order Conditioning?

Also called 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. For example, an animal that has learned that a tone predicts food might then learn that a light predicts the tone and begin responding to the light alone. (Also called second-order conditioning.)

What is an Instinctive Drift?

Although humans, animals, etc., can learn to perform different behaviors, there are times when they stop performing those behaviors in the way they learned and start reverting back to their more instinctual behaviors. The animal no longer performs the behaviors it has been taught, but goes back to behaviors that are in its nature. It begins to do what it is driven to do regardless of the resulting punishment.

What is Punishment?

An event that tends to decrease/weakens the behavior that it follows. Any consequence that decreases the frequency of a preceding behavior

What is a Primary Reinforcer?

An innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need; getting food when hungry or having a painful headache go away. They are innately satisfying. They are unlearned.

Every time Martin opens the cabinet where he stores his dog's treats his dog begins to bark in anticipation. This is an example of what?

Associative Learning

Learning that certain events occur together is called what?

Associative Learning

Who was John Garcia?

As the laboring son of California farmworkers, Garcia attended school only in the off-season during his early childhood years. After entering junior college in his late twenties, and earning his Ph.D. in his late forties, he received the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award "for his highly original, pioneering research in conditioning and learning." He was also elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He had an impact on psychology by defining what we know now by the term 'Conditioned taste aversion.' Conditioned taste aversion can be viewed as a survival mechanism due to the fact that people/animals can decipher whether the food about to be eaten are poisonous or not; which essentially can avoid sickness or death.

What are they key concepts within Operant Conditioning?

Basic Idea: The organism associates behavior and resulting events. Response: Voluntary and operates on environment Acquisition: Associating response with consequence (reinforcer or punisher) Extinction: Responding decreases when reinforcement stops Spontaneous Recovery: The reaappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished response Generalization: The organism's response to similar stimuli is also reinforced Discrimination: The organism learns that certain responses, but not others, will be reinforced

What are the key concepts within Classical Conditioning?

Basic Idea: The organism associates events Response: Involuntary and automatic Acquisition: Associating events; NS is paired with US and becomes CS. Extinction: CR decreases when CS is repeatedly presented alone Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished CR. Generalization: The tendency to respond to similar stimuli to the CS. Discrimination: The learned ability to distinguish between a CS and other stimuli that do not signal a US.

What is Respondent Behaviour?

Behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus. It is essential to an organism's survival. This behavior is characterized by involuntary action. For example, the pupil starts to flicker when exposed to direct sunlight. If the pupil does not flicker, the eye will be more exposed to sun rays, which may lead to blindness. Functions of this behavior include protecting the body against harmful stimuli, regulating the internal balance and economy of the organism, and promoting reproduction. Other examples are sexual arousal and sweating while running.

What is Operant Behaviour?

Behavior that operates on the environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli. This behavior (which goes along with operant conditioning) refers to behavior that "operates" on the environment or is controllable by the individual. This type of behavior is the person/organism's response to consequences and the way behavior is influenced.

What are Operant Behaviours?

Behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences.

What influenced North American psychology during the first half of the 20th century?

Behaviorism

Garcia and Koelling's studies of taste aversion in rats demonstrated that classical conditioning is constrained to what?

Biological Predispositions

What is the underlying learning principle in this example: Disliking the taste of chili after becoming violently sick a few hours after eating chili?

Biological Predispositions

Psychologist John Garcia found that rats did not learn to associate a taste with flashing lights and noise. However, rats do learn to associate a taste with getting ill. Which of the following concepts best accounts for this observation?

Biological Preparedness

An integrated understanding of associative learning in terms of genetic predispositions, culturally learned preferences, and the predictability of certain associations is most clearly provided by:

Biopsychosocial Approach

According to the "eyeblink" simulation, the 'unconditioned link' is:

Blinking to the air puff

According to the "eye blink" simulation, the 'conditioned link' is:

Blinking to the tone

How are operant conditioning and classical conditioning similar?

Both are forms of associative learning. Both involve acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.

What did scientists discover about the Nucleus Accumbens with regards to conditioning?

Brain imaging has revealed regions of the brain, that is involved in the circuits underlying many positively and negatively reinforced behaviors.

What is the impact of prosocial modeling and of antisocial modeling?

Children tend to imitate what a model does and says, whether the behavior being modeled is prosocial (positive, constructive, and helpful) or antisocial. If a model's actions and words are inconsistent, children may imitate the hypocrisy they observe.

In Pavlov's experiments, the tone started as a neutral stimulus, and then became a(n) __________ stimulus.

Conditioned

What is the underlying learning principle in this example: Salivating when you smell brownies in the oven?

Classical Conditioning

When Juan was a child he was attacked by a swarm of hornets in his back yard. Now every time he hears the sound of hornets he immediately becomes frightened. This is an example of what?

Classical Conditioning

What are the two main forms of learning associations (conditioning)?

Classical and Operant Conditioning

How do biological constraints affect classical and operant conditioning?

Classical conditioning principles, we now know, are constrained by biological predispositions, so that learning some associations is easier than learning others. Learning is adaptive: Each species learns behaviors that aid its survival. Biological constraints also place limits on operant conditioning. Training that attempts to override biological constraints will probably not endure because animals will revert to predisposed patterns.

In their dismissal of mentalistic concepts such as consciousness, Pavlov and Watson underestimated the importance of _____ processes and biological constraints on an organism's learning capacity.

Cognitive

Aiyana repeatedly hears a tone just before having a puff of air directed into her eye. Blinking in response to a tone presented without a puff of air is a(n) what?

Conditioned Response (CR)

In the simulation for the "eyeblink" lab, the tone that caused the eye blink was called the:

Conditioned Stimulus

What is the process of learning associations?

Conditioning

Within Classical Conditioning what does Ecologically Relevant mean?

Conditioning is even speedier, stronger, and more durable when the CS is something similar to stimuli associated with something in the natural environment - such as sexual activity.

The majority of correlational studies that have examined television violence and aggressive behavior suggest that the more hours children spend watching violent television shows, the more likely they are to exhibit aggressive behaviors. What is the major problem with these findings?

Correlation does not prove causation.

Taste-aversion research has shown that some animals develop aversions to certain tastes but not to sights or sounds. This finding supports what?

Darwin's principle that natural selection favors traits that aid survival.

Evidence that cognitive processes play an important role in learning comes in part from studies in which rats do what?

Develop cognitive maps

Dogs have been taught to salivate to a circle but not to a square. This process is an example of __________.

Discrimination

The law of effect states that rewarded behavior is likely to recur; it is which of the following psychologist's principle?

Edward Thorndike

What is Negative Punishment?

End something that's desired. Ex: Take away a misbehaving child's TV privliges, cancellation of a credit card for nonpayment of bills.

Ali was conditioned to blink using an air puff and a tone. The experimenter then presented only the tone until the blink response disappeared. What is Ali displaying?

Extinction

When a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without a unconditioned stimulus what will happen?

Extinction will occur

Why does Pavlov's work remain so important?

First, in the finding that many other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other organisms—in fact, in every species tested, from earthworms to fish to dogs to monkeys to people. Thus, classical conditioning is one way that virtually all organisms learn to adapt to their environment. Second, Pavlov showed us how a process such as learning can be studied objectively. He was proud that his methods involved virtually no subjective judgments or guesses about what went on in a dog's mind. The salivary response is a behavior measurable in cubic centimeters of saliva. Pavlov's success therefore suggested a scientific model for how the young discipline of psychology might proceed—by isolating the basic building blocks of complex behaviors and studying them with objective laboratory procedures.

A restaurant is running a special deal. After you buy four meals at full price, your fifth meal will be free. This is an example of a ___________ schedule of reinforcement.

Fixed Ratio

People checking the oven to see if the cookies are done are on which schedule?

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Airline frequent flyer programs that offer a free flight after every 25,000 miles of travel are using which reinforcement schedule?

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

What are Mirror Neurons?

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

The idea that any perceivable neutral stimulus can serve as a CS was challenged by who?

Garcia and Koelling's findings on taste aversion in rats.

Which research showed that conditioning can occur even when the unconditioned stimulus (US) does not immediately follow the neutral stimulus (NS)?

Garcia and Koelling's taste-aversion studies

After Watson and Rayner classically conditioned Little Albert to fear a white rat, the child later showed fear in response to a rabbit, a dog, and a sealskin coat. This illustrates what?

Generalization

Shaping is a method used by Skinner to what?

Guide an organism to exhibit a complex behaviour using successive approximations.

Why are habits so hard to break?

Habits form when we repeat behaviors in a given context and, as a result, learn associations—often without our awareness. For example, we may have eaten a sweet pastry with a cup of coffee often enough to associate the flavor of the coffee with the treat, so that the cup of coffee alone just doesn't seem right anymore!

Who is Albert Bandura?

He is an innovative scholar whose pioneering work in social cognitive theory has served as a rich resource for academics, practitioners, and policy makers alike across disciplinary lines. He is the pioneering researcher of observational learning. He agrees with the behaviorist learning theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas: 1) Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses. 2) Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. His seminal research on social modeling expanded our view of human learning and the growing primacy of this mode of learning in this electronic era. His later research on self-regulatory mechanisms laid the theoretical foundation for his theory of human agency.

What was Ivan Pavlov?

He was a Russian physiologist, NOT a psychologist, whose research on the physiology of digestion led to the development of the first experimental model of learning, Classical Conditioning. Most of his research was gathered studying salivating dogs.

Who is B.F.Skinner?

He was a college English major and aspiring writer who later entered psychology graduate school. He became modern behaviorism's most influential and controversial figure. Expanding on Edward Thorndike's law of effect, he and others found that the behavior of rats or pigeons placed in an operant chamber (Skinner box) can be shaped by using reinforcers to guide closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. Regarded as the father of operant conditioning. His work was based on Thorndike's Law of Effect, which he introduced Reinforcement. Using Thorndike's law of effect as a starting point, He developed a behavioral technology that revealed principles of behavior control. Behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated. Behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out or be extinguished. He studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments in his "Skinner Box".

Who was John B. Watson?

He was a pioneering psychologist who played an important role in developing behaviorism. He believed that psychology should primarily be scientific observable behavior. He is remembered for his research on the conditioning process as well as the Little Albert experiment, in which he demonstrated that a child could be conditioned to fear a previously neutral stimulus. His research also revealed that this fear could be generalized to other similar objects.

Tyler has just been released from a drug rehabilitation center where he was treated for heroin addiction. His therapist recommended that he stay away from old drug-related associates and places where he used the drug. Studies show this is a wise recommendation. Why?

He will experience a craving for drugs when in these situations due to classical conditioning.

What are the two factors of the violence-viewing effect?

Imitation and desensitization

What is a Conditioned Response (CR)?

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

What is a Neutral Stimulus?

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning.

What is an Unconditioned Stimulus?

In classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers an unconditioned response (UR).

What is a Conditioned Stimulus (CS)?

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

What is an Unconditioned Response?

In classical conditioning, an unlearned, naturally occurring response (such as salivation) to an unconditioned stimulus (US) (such as food in the mouth).

How do cognitive processes affect classical and operant conditioning?

In classical conditioning, animals may learn when to expect a US and may be aware of the link between stimuli and responses. In operant conditioning, cognitive mapping and latent learning research demonstrate the importance of cognitive processes in learning. Other research shows that excessive rewards (driving extrinsic motivation) can undermine intrinsic motivation.

What is Acquisition?

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.

How does observational learning differ from associative learning?

In observational learning, as we observe and imitate others we learn to anticipate a behavior's consequences because we experience vicarious reinforcement or vicarious punishment. In associative learning, we merely learn associations between different events.

What is an Operant Chamber?

In operant conditioning research, a chamber (also known as a Skinner Box) 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. The box has a bar (a lever) that an animal presses—or a key (a disc) the animal pecks—to release a reward of food or water. It also has a device that records these responses. This design creates a stage on which rats and other animals act out Skinner's concept of reinforcement: any event that strengthens (increases the frequency of) a preceding response.

What are Variable-Ratio Schedules?

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after an unpredictable number of responses. They provide reinforcers after a seemingly unpredictable number of responses. (After an unpredictable number). Reinforcement after a random number of behaviors. Example: Slot machines - players have no way of knowing how many times they have to play before they win. All they know is eventually a play will win. This is why they are so effective, and players are often reluctant to quit. There is always the possibility that the next coin they put in will be the winning one.

What are Variable-Interval Schedules?

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals. They reinforce the first response after varying time intervals. They tend to produce slow, steady responding because there is no way in knowing when the wait will be over. (Unpredictably often). Reinforcement for behavior after a random amount of time, as when checking for a Facebook response.

What is a Fixed-Ratio Schedule?

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified number of responses. These reinforce behavior after a set number of responses. (Every so many) Example: a coffee shop rewarding you with a free drink after 10 purchases OR pay workers per product unit produced.

What are Fixed-Interval Schedules?

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response only after a specified time has elapsed. (Every so often). Reinforcement for behavior after a fixed time such as a stores' Tuesday Discount or Sunday Savings Bonanza every week. Example: Animals on this schedule respond more frequently as the anticipated time for reward draws near. Or people checking for their mail when the delivery time approaches.

What is Reinforcement?

In operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. It is any consequence that strengthens behavior.

Learning is defined as "the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring __________ or __________.

Information; Behaviours

What is Vicarious Reinforcement?

It is a learning process that was hypothesized in Social Learning Theory. It refers to the process of learning behaviors through observation of reward and punishment, rather than through direct experience. For example, children who have grown up with older brothers and sisters often learn about behavior and expectations through watching their siblings. When they see their sibling get rewarded for a certain action, they learn that they should also do the behavior.

What is Successive Approximation?

It is a series of rewards that provide positive reinforcement for behavior changes that are successive steps towards the final desired behavior. Ex: You reward responses that are ever closer to the final desired behavior, and you ignore all other responses. By making rewards contingent on desired behaviors, researchers and animal trainers gradually shape complex behaviors.

What is Operant Conditioning?

It is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened (meaning it will occur more frequently) when it's followed by reinforcement, or diminished/weakened (will happen less frequently) if followed by punishment. Organisms associate their own actions with consequences. Actions followed by reinforcers increase; those followed by punishments often decrease. It is based on a simple premise - that behavior is influenced by the consequences that follow. When you are reinforced for doing something, you're more likely to do it again. When you are punished for doing something, you are less likely to do it again. Typically learning to repeat acts that bring rewards and avoid acts that bring unwanted results.

What is the Garcia Effect?

It is an aversion or distaste for a particular taste or smell that was associated with a negative reaction (such as nausea or vomiting). This effect was discovered by John Garcia while he was studying effects of radiation on mice. He noticed that rats would avoid a new food when it was initially presented around the time of radiation exposure, which causes nausea and a general feeling of sickness. It occurs in patients undergoing treatment for cancer who are exposed to radiation as treatment. It can also happen in humans when a bad reaction occurs as a result of ingesting a particular food or drink, either from food poisoning or overindulgence.

What is Theory of Mind?

It is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one's own.

What is Vicarious Punishment?

It occurs when the tendency to engage in a behavior is weakened after having observed the negative consequences for another engaging in that behavior. This is a form of observational learning as described by social learning theory.

The first person to do careful scientific studies of learning was who?

Ivan Pavlov

The idea that an animal's natural behavior patterns did not matter and had little or no effect on the effectiveness of operant conditioning principles was challenged by research conducted by _____.

Keller and Marian Breland

Learning that is not immediately demonstrated in overt behavior is called what?

Latent Learning

What is the underlying learning principle in this example: Knowing your way from your bed to the bathroom in the dark?

Latent Learning

Rats that explored a maze without any reward were later able to run the maze as well as other rats that had received food rewards for running the maze. The rats that had learned without reinforcement demonstrated ___________ ___________.

Latent learning

What do Conditioned and Unconditioned mean?

Learned; Unlearned

What is Associative Learning?

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).

What is Latent Learning?

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

Within the process of learning associations, what is operant conditioning?

Learning to associate a response (our behavior) and its consequence. We learn to repeat acts followed by good results and avoid acts followed by bad results.

Within the process of learning associations, what is classical conditioning?

Learning to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events.

What did Pavlov and Watson share a distain for?

Mentalistic concepts such as consequences and the belief that the basic laws of learning were the same for all animals.

An experimenter sounds a tone just before delivering an air puff to your blinking eye. After several repetitions, you blink to the tone alone. What is the NS? The US? The UR? The CS? The CR?

NS = tone before conditioning US = air puff UR = blink to air puff CS = tone after conditioning CR = blink to tone.

What are the Biological Predispositions on Classical Conditioning?

Natural predispositions constrain what stimuli and responses can easily be associated.

_______________________ involves an aversive stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response.

Negative Reinforcement

Your dog is barking so loudly that it's making your ears ring. You clap your hands, the dog stops barking, your ears stop ringing, and you think to yourself, "I'll have to do that when he barks again." The end of the barking was for you a what?

Negative Reinforcer

Will a rat respond to a delayed reinforcer?

No. It will move on to other incidental behaviours to get its desired reinforcer.

One form of cognitive learning is called what?

Observational Learning

What is the underlying learning principle in this example: Your little brother getting in a fight after watching a violent action movie?

Observational Learning

Children learn many social behaviors by imitating parents and other models. This type of learning is called ___________ ___________.

Observational learning

If Jamal wanted to train his dog to sit and lay down when he commanded the behavior, which of the following types of conditioning should he utilize to train his dog?

Operant Conditioning

What are the Cognitive Processes on Classical Conditioning?

Organisms develop expectation that CS signals the arrival of US.

What are the Cognitive Processes on Operant Conditioning?

Organisms develop expectation that a response will be reinforced or punished; they also exhibit latent learning, without reinforcement.

What are the Biological Predispositions on Operant Conditioning?

Organisms most easily learn behaviours similar to their natural behaviors; unnatural behaviors instinctively drift back toward natural ones.

How may observational learning be enabled by mirror neurons?

Our brain's frontal lobes have a demonstrated ability to mirror the activity of another's brain. Some psychologists believe mirror neurons enable this process. The same areas fire when we perform certain actions (such as responding to pain or moving our mouth to form words) as when we observe someone else performing those actions.

Reinforcing a desired response only some of the times it occurs is called ___________ reinforcement.

Partial

What stimulus did B. F. Skinner believe was the best way to shape desirable behavior?

Positive Reinforcement

_______________________ involves any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response.

Positive Reinforcement

What is Prosocial Behaviour?

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

Correlational studies show that prolonged viewing of televised violence ________ increased rates of violent behavior.

Predicts

What is a Discriminative Stimulus?

Psychologists say an operant behavior is under stimulus control if it is triggered (or suppressed) by certain stimuli. Because an organism must discriminate between these stimuli or "tell them apart" in order to respond to them in different ways, these are called discriminative stimuli. As a part of the process of operant conditioning. It is a type of stimulus that is used consistently to gain a specific response and that increases the possibility that the desired response will occur. For example, in an experiment where a rat is being taught to navigate a maze it is easiest to train the rat with a highly desirable treat (such as peanut butter) rather than a less desirable reward such as a piece of broccoli.

A medieval proverb notes that "a burnt child dreads the fire." In operant conditioning, the burning would be an example of a what?

Punisher

What is the basic idea of Fixed-Interval reinforcement?

Reinforcement occurs after a specified amount of time.

What is the basic idea of Fixed-Ratio reinforcement?

Reinforcement occurs after a specified number of responses.

What is the basic idea of Variable-Ratio reinforcement?

Reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable number of responses.

What is the basic idea of Variable-Interval reinforcement?

Reinforcement occurs after an unpredictable time period.

What is a Partial (Intermittent) Reinforcement Schedule?

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. Responses are sometimes reinforced, sometimes not. Learning is slower to appear, but resistance to extinction is greater than with continuous reinforcement. Example: Slot machines reward gamblers in much the same way- the players keep trying again and again, with intermittent reinforcement, there is hope in receiving the occasional and unpredictable reward. You don't win every time or win the same amount when using a slot machine- this wouldn't be exciting or fun. The reinforcement is intermittent and causes a positive and euphoric response in the brain that in some circumstances can lead to gambling addiction.

What is Continuous Reinforcement?

Reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs. With CR, learning occurs rapidly, which makes this the best choice for mastering a behavior. But extinction also occurs rapidly. When reinforcement stops—the behavior soon stops.

Classical conditioning focuses on ________________ behavior, whereas operant conditioning focuses on ________________ behavior.

Respondent; Operant

Salivating in response to a tone paired with food is a(n) ______________ behavior; pressing a bar to obtain food is a(n) ______________ behavior.

Respondent; Operant

What are Reinforcers?

Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. They can be either positive or negative.

What are Neutral Operants?

Responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated.

Which of the following psychologists proposed a cognitive explanation of classical conditioning?

Robert Rescorla

Pavlov was conducting research on _____ before he started researching associations?

Salivation

One way to change behavior is to reward natural behaviors in small steps, as they get closer and closer to a desired behavior. This process is called __________.

Shaping

Thorndike's law of effect was the basis for __________ work on operant conditioning and behavior control.

Skinner's

Jessie was conditioned to blink using an air puff and a tone. The experimenter then presented only the tone until the blink response disappeared. When Jessie returns to the lab the next day she blinks when she hears the tone. This is referred to as:

Spontaneous Recovery

Long after her conditioned fear of dogs had been extinguished, Marcy experienced an unexpected surge of nervousness when she first met her cousin's new cocker spaniel. Her unexpected nervousness best illustrates what?

Spontaneous Recovery

Tim has been conditioned to blink using air puffs and a 700 MHz tone. The experimenter finds that the conditioned response also occurs for 750 MHz tones and 650 MHz tones but not for 1250 MHz tones or 500 MHz tones. Tim is displaying what?

Stimulus Discrimination

Amy has been conditioned to blink using air puffs and a 1000 MHz tone. The experimenter finds that the conditioned response also occurs for 750 MHz tones, 850 MHz tones, 1250 MHz tones and 1500 MHz tones. This is an example what?

Stimulus Generalization

What happened after Little Albert was classically conditioned to fear a tame, white rat?

Stimulus generalization occurred; Albert responded with fear to other furry animals and fuzzy objects.

Animals most readily learn the specific associations that promote what?

Survival

Regarding classical conditioning, do most psychologists agree on?

That it is a basic form of learning by which all organisms adapt to their environment.

Bella developed a phobia of clowns after she experienced a scary thunderstorm in a room with clown wallpaper as a child. In Bella's case the clown wallpaper served as:

The Conditioned Stimulus

In Watson and Rayner's experiments, "Little Albert" learned to fear a white rat after repeatedly experiencing a loud noise as the rat was presented. In this experiment, what was the US? The UR? The NS? The CS? The CR?

The US was the loud noise; the UR was the fear response to the noise; the NS was the rat before it was paired with the noise; the CS was the rat after pairing; the CR was fear of the rat.

What is Cognitive Learning?

The acquisition of mental information, whether by observing events, by watching others, or through language. We acquire mental information that guides our behavior. It is the function based on how a person processes and reasons information. It revolves around many factors, including problem-solving skills, memory retention, thinking skills and the perception of learned material. Learning new behaviors by observing events and watching others, and through language, we learn things we have neither experienced nor observed.

If the aroma of a baking cake sets your mouth to watering, what is the US? The CS? The CR?

The cake (and its taste) are the US. The associated aroma is the CS. Salivation to the aroma is the CR.

What is Extinction?

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.

Pavlov was inspired to look into associations when he noticed what?

The dogs would salivate before the meat powder was presented.

What is Taste Aversion?

The mind develops a resistance towards a certain food. In simpler terms, eating certain types of food can cause a bad reaction. This is a form of classical conditioning when the body uses a natural instinct as a means of protection. This is also called a survival mechanism. It warns the body if a type of food (berries or mushrooms) is harmful. A person can acquire a taste aversion to a type of food, due to circumstances, as well.

What is Overimitation?

The performance of an act whose stimulus is the observation of the act performed by another person.

What is Learning?

The process of acquiring through experience new information or behaviors. OR in other words...The process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors.

What is Modelling?

The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior. We learn our native language and various other specific behaviors by observing and imitating others.

What is Spontaneous Recovery?

The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response. It is called spontaneous because the response seems to reappear out of nowhere.

The early "school" or approach to psychology called behaviorism emphasized what?

The scientific study of observable behaviors rather than mental processes.

What is Generalization?

The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses. It occurs when an organism makes the same response to similar stimuli. It is the tendency for the conditioned stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned. It can be adaptive.

In psychologist Robert Rescorla's classical conditioning experiment, one group of rats experienced a tone just before each of 20 shocks. A second group of rats experienced the same number of tone-shock pairings plus an additional 20 shocks with no tone. Rescorla found that the rats in the first group showed a much stronger conditioned fear response than the rats in the second group. How did Rescorla explain this finding?

The tone was a more reliable predictor of the shock for the first group of rats.

What is Behaviourism?

The view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2).

According to Bandura, we learn by watching models because we experience ___________ reinforcement or ___________ punishment.

Vicarious; Vicarious

What is the Violence-Viewing Effect?

This effect can occur when an individual viewing television or film witnesses a scenario in which a violent act is not punished (the person committing the violence faces no consequences), the pain of the victim is not shown, the violent act is portrayed as being justified or the individual committing the violence is physically attractive. The results of the violence viewing effect vary with individuals copying the behavior of the violent character or developing desensitization to media violence (becoming used to and less affected by the violence). There is limited research on this topic and studies have shown that media violence and real life violence are only correlated which does not necessarily imply causation.

What is the Law Of Effect?

Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely. Rewarded behavior is likely to reoccur, and punished behavior is less likely to reoccur.

How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?

Through classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, we associate different stimuli we do not control, and we respond automatically (respondent behaviors). Through operant conditioning, we associate our own behaviors—which act on our environment to produce rewarding or punishing stimuli (operant behaviors)—with their consequences.

In classical conditioning one learns _____, while in operant conditioning one learns _____.

To associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events; to associate a response (our behavior) and its consequence.

Most learning involves the process of association. With classical conditioning, an organism comes to associate what?

Two Stimuli

In the simulation for the "eyeblink" lab, when the participants responded to the air puff by blinking, that was the:

Unconditioned Response

The partial reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response after unpredictable time periods is a ___________-___________ schedule.

Variable-Interval

Telemarketers are reinforced by which schedule?

Variable-Ratio Schedule - after a varying number of calls.

When are models most effective?

When actions and words are consistent.

When are response rates higher?

When reinforcement is linked to the number of responses (a ratio schedule) rather than to time (an interval schedule).

When are response rates more consistent?

When reinforcement is unpredictable (a variable schedule) than when it is predictable (a fixed schedule).

What was the "Little Albert" experiment?

Working with an 11-month-old, Watson and Rosalie Rayner showed how specific fears might be conditioned. Like most infants, "Little Albert" feared loud noises but not white rats. Watson and Rayner presented a white rat and, as Little Albert reached to touch it, struck a hammer against a steel bar just behind his head. After seven repeats of seeing the rat and hearing the frightening noise, Albert burst into tears at the mere sight of the rat. Five days later, he had generalized this startled fear reaction to the sight of a rabbit, a dog, and a sealskin coat, but not to dissimilar objects, such as toys.