Psych--Chapter 6

Sophia likes to watch television every night after dinner. Sophia adopts a kitten, Lilo. After switching on the television each night, Sophia calls out to Lilo to come snuggle with her on the couch. After two weeks of this routine, Lilo runs in and jumps into Sophia's lap as soon as she switches on the television. According to Pavlov's procedures, Lilo's behavior in this scenario is an example of _____.

A conditioned response.

Learning Curve

A graph of the changes in behavior that occur over the course of learning.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

A response that depends on the preceding conditions.

Vicarious Reinforcement (or Punishment)

A response to an observed reinforcement or punishment as if it has happened to yourself. This type of reinforcement is better than this type of punishment, largely because most people do not identify with someone who failed or received punishment. We tend to imitate behaviors that lead to reinforcement for other people. We are less consistent in avoiding behaviors that are unsuccessful for others.

According to Pavlov, which of the following is an example of an unconditioned stimulus?

An accidental needle prick on the arm.

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

An event that automatically elicits an unconditioned response.

Punishment

An event that decreases the probability of a response. Can be either a presentation of something (e.g., receiving pain) or a removal (e.g., withholding food). Most effective when it is quick and predictable. Not always effective. Always decreases the probability of a behavior.

Discriminative Stimulus

An item that indicates whether a response is appropriate or inappropriate. Much of our behavior depends on this. For example, you learn ordinarily to be quiet during a lecture but you talk when the professor encourages discussion.

Which of the following types of learning occurs despite a delay between the associated events?

Associating a food with sickness.

Conditioned Taste Aversion

Association of a food with illness. Animals, including people, learn to avoid foods, especially unfamiliar ones, if they become ill afterward. This type of learning occurs reliably after a single pairing, even with a long delay between the food and the illness. •Illness is associated much more strongly with foods than with other stimuli.

Unconditioned Reflexes

Automatic connections between a stimulus such as food and a response such as secreting digestive juices.

Negative Reinforcement (or Escape/Avoidance Learning)

Avoiding something such as pain. The individual is reinforced by an opportunity to avoid or escape pain.

Shaping (Technique)

Establishing a new response by reinforcing successive approximations to it.

Primary Reinforcers (or Unconditioned Reinforcers)

Events that are reinforcing because of their own properties. For example, food and water.

Secondary Reinforcers (or Conditioned Reinforcers)

Events that become reinforcing by association with something else. For example, money.

Stimulus Generalization

Extension of a conditioned response from the training stimulus to similar stimuli. The tendency to respond to a new stimulus in a way similar to the response to the originally reinforced stimulus. Someone who receives reinforcement for a response in the presence of one stimulus will probably make the same response in the presence of a similar stimulus. The more similar a new stimulus is to the original reinforced stimulus, the more likely is the same response.

Annie, a second-grade teacher, rewards her students with a star for every five correct responses given by them. In this scenario, Annie uses a _____ of reinforcement.

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

Cumulative Record

How researchers sometimes graph the response results. The line is flat when the individual does not respond, and it moves up with each response.

When Thorndike studied cats escaping from puzzle boxes, what result would have suggested to him that the cats gained an understanding of how to open the box?

If the cats' speed of escaping had increased suddenly at some point

According to Pavlov, which of the following is an example of an unconditioned response?

Jerking away of the hand when one accidentally touches a hot pan

Skeletal Responses

Movements of leg muscles, arm muscles, etc. Operant conditioning applies mainly to this type of response.

Meera says to her son, "Jack, you must finish your glass of milk every day. If you do, you won't have toothaches anymore." This is an example of _____.

Negative Reinforcement

Law of Effect

Of several responses made to the same situation, those which are accompanied or closely followed by satisfaction to the animal will, other things being equal, be more firmly connected with the situation, so that, when it recurs, they will be more likely to recur.

Positive Reinforcement

Presenting something such as food.

Applied Behavior Analysis (or Behavior Modification)

Procedure in which a psychologist removes reinforcement for unwanted behaviors and provides reinforcement for more acceptable behaviors. For example, school psychologists instituted a program to encourage children with attention-deficit disorder to complete more school assignments. In addition to verbal praise, children received points for each assignment completed and additional points for completing it accurately. They lost points for any rule violation, such as being out of the seat. At the end of each week, those who had accumulated enough points could go to a party or take a field trip. The result of this program was a significant increase in completion of assignments and better in-class behavior.

Classical Conditioning (Pavlovian Conditioning)

Process by which an organism learns a new association between two stimuli—a neutral stimulus and one that already evokes a reflexive response. In this type of conditioning, the subject's behavior has no effect on the outcome (the presentation of either the CS or the UCS). This type of conditioning applies mainly to visceral responses.

Acquisition

Process that establishes or strengthens a conditioned response.

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Provides reinforcement for the first response after a specific time interval. For instance, an animal might get food for its first response after a 15-second interval. Then it would have to wait another 15 seconds before another response is effective. Animals (including humans) on such a schedule learn to pause after reinforcement and begin to respond again toward the end of the time interval. As the time of the next reinforcement approaches, the rate of responding accelerates.

fixed-ratio schedule

Provides reinforcement only after a certain (fixed) number of correct responses.

Jessica says to her boyfriend Manav, "Please call me every night while you are in New York. If you don't, I won't speak to you after you return." This is an example of _____.

Punishment as a removal.

In the context of operant conditioning, punishment differs from reinforcement in that:

Punishment decreases the probability of a response.

Intermittent Reinforcement (or Partial Reinforcement)

Reinforcement for some responses and not for others

Variable-Interval Schedule

Reinforcement is available after a variable amount of time. For example, reinforcement may come for the first response after 2 minutes, then for the first response after the next 7 seconds, then after 3 minutes 20 seconds, and so forth. You cannot know how long before your next response is reinforced. Consequently, responses on a variable-interval schedule are slow but steady. Checking your email or your Facebook account is an example: A new message could appear at any time, so you check occasionally.

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Reinforcement occurs after a variable number of correct responses.

Chaining

Reinforcing each one with the opportunity to engage in the next one.

Visceral Responses

Responses of the internal organs, such as salivation and digestion. Classical conditioning applies mainly to this type of response.

Schedules of Reinforcement

Rules for the delivery of reinforcement.

According to Pavlov, classical conditioning occurs if and only if what happens?

The CS and UCS occur close together in time.

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

The action that the unconditioned stimulus elicits.

Stimulus-Response Psychology

The attempt to explain behavior in terms of how each stimulus triggers a response.

Self-Efficacy

The belief of being able to perform a task successfully. Whether you imitate a behavior depends on whether you believe you are capable of duplicating it. You consider your strengths and weaknesses, compare yourself to the successful person, and estimate your chance of success.

Preparedness

The concept that evolution has prepared us to learn some associations more easily than others. People learn easily to turn a wheel clockwise to move something to the right and counterclockwise to move it to the left (as when turning the steering wheel of a car). If the controls work the opposite way, people often get confused. Many engineers who design machines consult with human-factors psychologists about how to set up the controls so that people can easily learn to use them.

What is the difference between Classical Conditioning and Operant (or Instrumental) Conditioning?

The defining difference between this type of conditioning and classical conditioning is the procedure. In general, the two kinds of conditioning also affect different behaviors. In operant conditioning, the subjects behavior affects the outcome, whereas in classical conditioning the behavior has not affect on the outcome.

Disequilibrium Principle

The idea that anything that prevents an activity produces disequilibrium, and an opportunity to return to equilibrium is reinforcing.

Behaviorism

The position that psychology should concern itself only with what people and other animals do, and the circumstances in which they do it.

Blocking Effect

The previously established association to one stimulus blocks the formation of an association to the added stimulus.

Operant Conditioning (or Instrumental Conditioning)

The process of changing behavior by providing a reinforcer after a response. In this type of conditioning, the subject's behavior produces an outcome that affects future behavior. Applies mainly to skeletal responses.

Reinforcemnt

The process of increasing the future probability of the most recent response.

Extinction

The process that weakens a conditioned response by presenting the conditioned stimulus without the conditioned stimulus. The result that occurs if responses stop producing reinforcements. In operant conditioning, a this happens to a response is if it is no longer followed by reinforcement. In classical conditioning, this is achieved by presenting the CS without the UCS. In operant conditioning, the procedure is response without reinforcement.

A behaviorist would be willing to accept which of these explanations?

The rat turned toward the light because of previous reinforcements for approaching light.

If Jennifer reacts to a sound with increased heart rate, which of the following would NOT be a possible explanation, according to behaviorists?

The sound had been previously been paired with a shock.

Spontaneous Recovery

The temporary return of an extinguished response after delay.

Sensitive Period

The time during which some kind of learning occurs most readily. Infant birds of some species must hear their songs during a sensitive period early in life if they are to develop a fully normal song the following spring. During the early learning, the bird makes no response and receives no reinforcement. Some species of birds have a built-in song, but others have to learn it. The male learns most readily during a sensitive period early in his first year of life. During this period, the infant bird only listens. At that point, it makes no response and receives no reinforcement, and nevertheless learning occurs. The following spring, when the bird starts to sing, we see a trial-and-error process. At first, his song is a mixture of sounds, like a babbling human infant. As time passes, he eliminates some sounds and rearranges others until he matches the songs he heard the previous summer. But his only reinforcer is recognizing that he has sung correctly.

Continuous Reinforcement

To provide reinforcement for every correct response. Not common in the real world.

Discrimination

To respond differently to stimuli that predict different outcomes. A response to one stimulus and not the other. If reinforcement occurs for responding to one stimulus and not another, yielding a response to one stimulus and not the other. For example, you smile and greet someone you think you know, but then you realize it is someone else. After several such experiences, you learn to recognize the difference between the two people.

You attend every new movie at your local theater, but you enjoy only about half of them. Which schedule of reinforcement is this?

Variable interval

Kelly, a ballet dancer, saw the video of another ballet dancer who had won several ballet competitions over the years and started imitating the actions and etiquettes of the dancer while choregraphing her own dances. She believed that the style that led to so many wins for the dancer would also lead her to win competitions. This scenario illustrates _____.

Vicarious reinforcement

Social-Learning Approach

View that we learn about many behaviors by observing the behavior of others. This kind of learning is a type of operant conditioning, and the underlying mechanisms are similar. However, social information is usually quicker and more efficient than trying to learn something from scratch on your own. For example, if you want to learn to drive a car, you start by watching people who are already skilled. When you try to drive, you receive reinforcement for driving well and punishments if you drive badly, but your observations of others facilitate your progress.

Frequently spanked children tend toward misbehavior. What (if anything) can we conclude, and why?

We can draw no cause and effect conclusion, because the evidence is correlational.

Which of the following statements explains the social learning approach?

We learn about many behaviors by observing the behaviors of other people.

Drug Tolerance

Weakened effects of a drug after someone has taken the drug repeatedly

Conditioned Response (CR)

Whatever response the conditioned stimulus elicits as a result of the conditioning (training) procedure.

In the context of classical conditioning, extinction occurs when _____.

the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus