Psychology 6.1 What Is Learning?

learning

___ like reflexes and instincts, allows an organism to adapt to its environment

reflexes

a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment

learning

a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that result from experience

behaviorism

all the approaches covered in this chapter are part of a particular tradition in psychology called what?

reflexes and instincts

both __ and __ help an organism adapt to its environment and do not have to be learned

pavlovian

classical conditioning is also known as what?

unconscious

classical conditioning tends to involve __ processes

unlearned behaviors

dogs shake water off wet fur; salmon swim upstream to spawn; spiders spin intricate webs

knee jerk flex and the contraction of the pupil in bright light

give an example of a reflex

sexual activity and migration

give an example of an instinct

when you see a flash of lighting in the sky during storm and then hear a loud boom of thunder; the sound of the thunder naturally makes you jump; because lightning reliably predicts the impending boom of thunder; you may associate the two and jump when you see lightning

give an example of classical conditioning

observation of a dad surfing helping a son surf

give an example of observational conditioning

you teaching your dog to sit; you tell him to sit and give him a treat when he does; after repeated experiences, the dog begins to associate the act of sitting with receiving a treat; he learns that the consequence of sitting is that he gets a soggy biscuit; conversely if the dog is punished when exhibiting a behavior, it becomes conditioned to avoid that behavior like receiving a small shock when crossing the boundary of an invisible fence

give an example of operant conditioning

watching others and then imitating what they do

in contrast to classical and operant conditioning, in which learning occurs only through direct experience, observational learning is the process of what?

instincts

innate behaviors that are triggered by a reader range of events such as aging and the change of seasons

simplest components;

learning has traditionally been studied in terms of its ___ ; the associations our minds automatically make between events

experience

learning involves acquiring knowledge and skills though ___

social and cognitive

observational learning adds __- and __ layers to all the basic associative processes, both conscious and unconscious

associative learning

occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment

conscious

operant conditioning tends to involve ___ processes

operant conditioning

organisms learn again to associate events- a behavior and its consequence (reinforcement or punishment)

classical conditioning

organisms learn to associate events- or stimuli that repeatedly happen together

behaviors

psychologists who study classical conditioning, they study what?

change and experience

unlike instincts and reflexes, learned behaviors involve ___ and __

classical conditioning

we experience this process throughout our daily lives