Ch. 6

This occurs through the process of acquisition. A human or an animal learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. During the acquisition phase, the natural stimulus begins to elicit the conditioned response. The neutral stimulus is becoming the conditioned stimulus. At the ed of the acquisition phase, learning has occurred and the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus capable of eliciting the conditioned response by itself.

How does a neutral stimulus become a conditioned stimulus?

The food being toasted in the UCS; the sound of the toaster popping up is the CS; salivating to the sound of the toaster in the CR

If the sound of your toaster popping up toast causes your mouth to water, what are the UCS, CS, and CR?

Kicked and threw the doll

In Bandura's Bobo doll study, when the children who watched the aggressive model were placed in a room with the doll and other toys, they _______.

Conditioned responses

In Pavlov's work with dogs, the psychic secretions were ______.

Stimulus generalization

In Watson and Rayner's experiments, Little Albert was conditioned to fear a white rat, and then he began to be afraid of other furry white objects. This demonstrates _______.

classical conditioning

In _____ the stimulus or experience occurs before the behavior and then gets paired with the behavior.

Model

The person who performs a behavior that serves as an example is called a _______.

neutral stimulus

A stimulus that does not initially elicit a response in an organism is a ______.

Cara is more likely to drink at the party because she has observed her parents drinking regularly. Children tend to follow what a parent does rather than what they say.

Cara is 17 years old. Cara's mother and father both drink alcohol every night. They told Cara that drinking is bad and she shouldn't do it. Cara goes to a party where beer is being served. What do you think Cara will do? Why?

Both classical and operant conditioning involved learning by association. In classical conditioning, responses are involuntary and automatic; however, responses are voluntary and learned in operant conditioning. In classical conditioning, the event that drives the behavior (the stimulus) comes before the behavior; in operant conditioning the event that drives the behavior (the consequence) comes after the behavior. Also, whereas classical conditioning involves an organism forming an association between an involuntary (reflexive) response and a stimulus, operant conditioning involves an organism forming an association between an involuntary (reflexive) response and a stimulus, operant conditioning involves an organism forming an association between a voluntary behavior and a consequence..

Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning. How are they alike? How do they differ?

In stimulus generalization, an organism responds to new stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus. For example, a dog barks when the doorbell rings. He then barks when the oven timer dings because it sounds very similar to the doorbell. On the other hand, stimulus discrimination occurs when an organism learns a response to a specific stimulus, but does not respond the same way to new stimuli that are similar. In this case, the dog would bark when he hears the doorbell, but he would not bark when he hears the oven timer ding because they sound different; the dog is able to distinguish between the two sounds.

Explain how the processes of stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination are considered opposites.

The conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without being paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Extinction occurs when ______.

Occurs as a result of experience

Learning is a best defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior that ______.

Shaping

Rewarding successive approximations toward a target behavior is ______.

Variable ratio

Slot machines reward gamblers with money according to which reinforcement schedule?

Classical conditioning; operant condition

Two forms of associative learning are ______ and _______.

A skinner box is an operant conditioning chamber used to train animals such as rats and pigeons to perform certain behaviors, like pressing a lever. When the animals perform the desired behavior, they receive a reward: food or water.

What is a skinner box and what is its purpose?

Shaping is an operant conditioning method in which you reward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. If you want to teach your dog to roll over, you might reward him first when he sits, then when he lies down, and then when he lies down and rolls onto his back. Finally, you would reward him only when he completes the entire sequence: lying down, rolling onto his back, and then continuing to roll over to his other side.

What is shaping and how would you use shaping to teach a dog to roll over?

A reflex is a behavior that humans are born knowing how to do, such as sucking or blushing; these behaviors happen automatically in response to stimuli in the environment. Learned behaviors are things that humans are not born knowing how to do, such as swimming and surfing. Learned behaviors are not automatic; they occur as a result of practice or repeated experience in a situation.

What is the difference between a reflex and a learned behavior?

In negative reinforcement you are taking away an undesirable stimulus in order to increase the frequency of a certain behavior (e.g., buckling your seat belt stops the annoying beeping sound in your car and increases the likelihood that you will wear your seatbelt). Punishment is designed to reduce a behavior (e.g., you scold your child for running into the street in order to decrease the unsafe behavior).

What is the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment?

Prosocial modeling can prompt others to engage in helpful and healthy behaviors, while antisocial modeling can prompt others to engage in violent, aggressive, and unhealthy behaviors.

What is the effect of prosocial modeling and antisocial modeling?

attention, retention, reproduction, motivation

Which is the correct order of steps in the modeling process?

Infant sucking on a nipple

Which of the following is an example of a reflex that occurs at some point in the development of a human being?

Money

Which of the following is not an example of a primary reinforcer?

Albert Bandura

Who proposed observational learning?

Negative punishment

________ is when you take away a pleasant stimulus to stop a behavior.