Psychology of Learning Exam 1 (Chapters 1-3)

Learning: Hull vs. Tolman

-Hull says: behavior must be rewarded for learning to take place; example: only goal is to get an A in the course; in the absence of some type of reward, nothing can be learned -Tolman says: learning can occur even if its not readily apparent; example: maybe learning happened with or without the reward, maybe even if the reward was not present at the end

Example of IV and DV involving Drew

-IV: pickup line; which pick up line is most successful (5 levels of pickup line) -DV: # of phone numbers he gets; success rate

Fixed action pattern

-a complex behavior, made up of fixed-seequence of responses, that is elicited by a specific stimulus -example: covering ears to a loud, unexpected noise -sequence of motor neurons take place to get in the car; open the classroom door to enter the room; getting up and leaving when the fire alarm goes off -example: the kid who entered class --> the door was the stimulus to the fixed action pattern (him opening the door and walking in; however if the door had been open, he would have just kept walking in)

Response (R)

-a particular instance of behavior -example: loud noises (S) --> cover ears (R) -example: feeling hungry (S) --> food-seeking behavior (R) -example: getting an 'A' (S) --> grinning (R) -the response of an organsim can be a stimulus for another

Establishing operations and example

-a procedure that affects the appetitiveness or aversiveness of a stimulus -how pleasant or unpleasant a stimulus is perceived to be -example: food is very appetitive if you have not eaten in 6 hours, but less so if you have eaten recently -there are two types: deprivation and satiation

Flexion response and example

-allows fast removal of an intense tactile stimulus -example: withdrawal of hand from a hot surface or from touching a pointy/spikey cactus

John Locke - british empirist

-almost all knowledge is a function of experience -the mind is a tabula rasa (blank slate) -we are born as a blank slate upon which environmental experiences are written

Aversive stimulus and examples

-an event that an organism will avoid; generally unpleasant -something you don't want -example: electric shock (skinner box with shock plate) or extreme heat -example: hotsauce, however, some people have conditioned it to be a good thing -example: aversive values of rain (aversive stimulus) --> hair/physical appearance gets ruined/wet; driving can be dangerous, driving may be impaired; phone

Appetitive stimulus and examples

-an event that an organism will seek out; generally pleasnt -something you want; an organism desires and seeks out -example: food when hungry, water when thirsty -example: "but be careful! i hate coffee, but i drink it every day! coffee/caffeine is clearly an appetitive stimulus to me" -example: appetitive values of rain (appetitive stimulus) --> plants need water/H20; rain is soothing to fall asleep to

Sensitization and examples

-an increase in response after exposure to a stimulus -increase in strength of an elicited response by repeated stimulation -example: startle response in battle -adaptable (if you are a cop and you sense something feels suspicious) -example: leilani with fast rats; at first she could never grab them and they were too quick for her, but noe she can quickly grab them -example: you can tell when food is almost ready or even burnt by the smell

Startle response and example

-an involuntary defensive action toward a sudden unexpected stimulus -in other words, it would be your response to a loud sound -example: rodents (rabbits, rats, etc.) freeze when they see a cat

Reflex

-an unconscious resposne to a stimulus -a relatively simple, autonomic response to a stimulus

Behavior

-any activity of an organism that can be observed or somehow measured -can be internal (fear) or external (fear response - screaming); internal responses may not be visible to others, but external responses are

Stimulus (S)

-any event that can potentially influence behavior -examples: loud noises, feelings of hunger, an 'A' on a paper -can serve as a cue for a certain behavior - serves as a signal for the occurence of a certain behavior -example of que: red light serves as a cue for stopping, green light serves as a cue for proceeding -example: rain; loud, unexpected noises (should elicit fear) -the feeling of being hungry (internal) -a stimulus can be one trying or a group of things or even a memory -example of a que: being a smoker and seeing a lighter or seeing someone smoke/vape or hearing someone pack a pack of cigarettes

If someone goes "looking for a fight" then fighting must be an _______ stimulus for that individual

-appetitive -just because it's appetitive, doesn't mean it's a good idea

Structuralism - Wilhelm Wundt & Edward Titchener

-assumes it's possible to determine the structure of the mind by identifying the basic elements that compose it -main method: introspection (self-observation of one's conscious thoughts/feelings) -example of introspection: "i feel happy because..." -the problem with introspection is that it's very subjective -suggested human mind should be studied in a similar method as the rest of the sciences (such as biology, chemistry, etc.); proposed using scientific method to strudy conscious experience

Functionalism - William James

-assumes the mind evolved to help us adapt to the world around us -the study of the adaptive mind -as an adpative process, learning was of great interest -functionalists and those in favor of evolution were not opposed to the study of human behavior

Behavior changes and examples

-behavior changes do not have to be immediate, they may be exhibited later; you may not realize you can do something until later -example: you used to have a hard time with a new computer/phone but now it's 2nd nature -example: thunder/lightning may not scare you because you are used to it -example: the loud noise from a dishwasher or the phone ringing -learning causes change in behavior

Tolman's cognitive behaviorism: cogntive map - rats

-cognitive map: mental representation of spatial surroundings -three groups of rats: I. given reward (R) II. given no reward (NR) III. given no reward and then after 10 days began giving a reward (NR-R) -even without (+) and (-) consequences

Habituation and examples

-decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation -decrease in strength of an elicited behavior followed by repeated stimulation -example: the ticking of a clock -example: habituated to the smell of the trash after being home for 5 minutes -example: the rat and shock video :( ; and his changes between 7 trials

Five schools of behaviorism: Tolman's cognitive behaviorism

-disagreed with Watson and Hull -viewed behavior as "goal-directed" -influenced by Gestalt psychologists - "whole greater than the sum of its parts" -believed internal cognitive processes like "Expectations" and "hypotheses" guided behavior instead of just physiological processes -example: seeking out food when hungry -example: looking for an answer after an exam so you have "complete package" -latent learning: learning occurs despite any observable indication; distinction between learning and performances

Sensitization and habituation phenomena _____________ after time

-disappear -both can disappear -either habituation or sensitization

Problem with duration

-duration tells me how long ive been running, but not how far i've gone -example: did i run the whole 30 minutes or did i walk? -example: having 3 min to hit a punching bag, but maybe only physically punching it for 15 sec

Law of association: contrast

-events that are opposite are readily associated -example: "tall --> short"; "wealth --> poverty"; "on --> off" -example: on a word association task - black and white; clean and dirty

Law of association: similarity

-events that are similar to each other are readily associated with each other -similar things are easily associated -example: cars are easily associated with trucks - have doors, wheels, go beep beep and they have the similar function of moving people (cars --> trucks) -example: "get stuff out for exam" and you'd grab a pencil, eraser, and ID-events

Law of association: contiguity

-events that occur in close proximity to each other in time or space are readily associated -contiguity means "closeness" -example: mouse and keyboard --> spatial contiguity -example: lightning and thunder --> both time and space (temporal and spatial contiguity) -example: yellow light --> cars slow down -example: hearing sirens --> people turn around and look

Instinctual behavior/species-specific behavior

-fixed action patterns are also known as these two terms -example: most species flee i the other direction when they sense fear, or see a predator, or see fire/smoke -in turn of the 20th century, animal/human behavior was attributed to evolved instincts such as the red stickleback fish

Long-term habituation

-habituation that occurs to some stimulus that is repeated after substansive time intervals -example: every friday around 5pm, the trash gets picked up -example: daily morning train -that may persist over extended periods of time (i.e., weeks to months)

Short-term habituation

-habituation that occurs to some stimulus that is repeated relatively frequently in time in a single session and rapidly diminishes following the stimulus -example: noisy child next door -example: tipper barking -tune/block it out

Reflex arc: polysynaptic

-has two or more interneurons -more control -multiple of these -results in a "go-no go" decision that determines whether or not the motor neuron will fire (example: flexion reflex)

Speed and example

-how quickly or slowly a behavior occurs -example: the time it took to run a marathon, or the time it took for a rat to finish a race -example: the time it took to reach the other side of the pool -the amount of time to travel some set distance

Example of Hull's Neobehaviorism

-hunger - can intervene between a cause (food deprivation) and an effect (food seeking behavior -drink deprivation --> thirsty --> how much they drank -control for hunger would be deptivation for 4-6 hours

Fixed action patterns - nature**

-inherited, instinctive behavior patterns -example: mating displays, courtship behaviors, or how a cat scratches at the ground to cover their mess

Latency and example

-length of time required for the behavior to begin -example: reaction time, amount of time between waking and getting out of bed, tv buzzers, or synchronized swimmming -example: time to start swimming after instructor says "go" -could be some measure of confidence or anxiety

Operant conditioning example

-level press (R) --> food pellet (S^R) -the food pellet is a reinforcer, because it follows the lever press AND increases the future probability of lever pressing R= goal-directed or voluntary S^R= reinforcement S^P= punishment

Contiguity

-means "closeness or nearness" -the extent to which events occur close together in time or space -temporal vs. spatial contiguity

Classical conditioning example

-metronome (CS) --> salivation (CR) -jaws soundtrack or "scream" soundtrack -if everytime you see a specific color highlighter you get $5, then you'd get excited everytime you see that highlighter even if you don't get the $5

Five schools of behaviorism: Bandura's social learning theory

-most different from Watson's view -interested in the influences of observational learning on behavior -emphasized expectations as having a primary role in the learning process -example: if i also clean up my room i'll expect to get reinforcement - such as money or going out to eat -example: bobo doll study and aggressive behavior -proposed "reciprocal determinism(each behavior has a cause)" - enviornmental events, observable behavior, and "person variables" (thoughts and feelings) have a recipricol influence on each other

Aristotle

-nativism (nature) vs. empiricism (nurture) -Aristotle followed the epiricist perspective; knowledge is acquired through experience -believed ideas come to be connected or associated with each other via four laws of association: similarity, contrast, contiguity, frequency -compared to playing a flute, the more you practice, the better you play

Evolution - Charles Darwin

-natural selection: the concept that individuals or species that are capable of adapting to environmental pressures are more likely to reproduce and pass along their adaptive characteristics than those that cannot adapt - this is about reproductive advantage -three components of natural selection: 1. traits vary, both within a species and between species (variation in traits) --> some dogs are bigger than other dogs; humans have a slower metabolism that hummingbirds 2. many traits are heritable --> traits can be inherited by offspring 3. organisms must compete for limited resources --> may involve cooperation and competition -evolutionary adaptation: a trait that evolves as a result of natural selection

Rate of response examples

-number of cups of coffee per day -number of times striking a punching bag during a 3-min round (you may have had 3 min to hit it, but maybe only his it for 15 seconds during that time frame) -number of lever-presses every 30 seconds

How should we define anxiety and what are some observable aspects of anxiety?

-observable aspects: increased heart rate; increased breathing; increase/decrease in body temperature; sweating; difficulty speaking -define: heart rate over 100BPM; volume of sweat; number of speech errors

How should we define aggression and what are some observable aspects of agression?

-observable aspects: yelling, language, physical (kicking/hitting) -define: raise in pitch/volume; swear/violent words; striking another person

Reflex arc: monosynaptic

-one synapse between the sensory neuron and the motot neuron -example: hitting knee at doctors office and knee raises -only one of these

Sleeping is a(n) _______ behavior while dreaming is a(n) _______ behavior

-overt; covert -people with vivid dreams - they're real perceptions and dreams don't time warp; however the only person who witnesses/seen is the person dreaming -vivid dreaming is your own perceptions

Covert behavior

-private behaviors -a behavior that can be perceived only by the person performing the bahvior -thoughts, feelings, sensory experiences-was it too loud? was the music too scary? -example: anxiety level; can measure yawning but can't tell how tird you are; pupil dilation-stress

Classical conditioning (also known as pavlovian or respondent conditioning)

-process by which certain inborn behaviors come to be produced (elicited) in new situations -involuntary/reflexive response to some neutral stimulus (such as eye blink to puff of air, sneezing ro dust, salivating in resposne to food) -NS becomes CS which elicits CR (CR-refelxive/involuntary)

Satiation

-prologed exposure to an event -decreases the appetitiveness of that event -example: overeating may result in a remporary avoidance of food -example: song on the radio (such as imagine dragons - radioactive)

Deprivation

-prolonged absence of an event -increases the appetitiveness of that event -example: social deprivation will result in desire for social contract -a procedure that increases the reinforcing value of an event -example: going without food for a lon period of time increases the appetitiveness of food

Descartes - "i think, therefore i am"

-proposed a dualitic model (mind-body dualism) of human behavior -said they could be inherited and learned -voluntary vs. involuntary -example: we can choose to be happy or angry, etc. -we have a body that functions like a machine and produces involuntary, reflexive responses to external stimulation (ex. sneesing in response to dust) but we also have a mind that has free will and allows us to produce voluntary behaviors -example: you can choose whether or not you will come to class, but you cant choose whether or not you will sneeze to pollen

The coolidge effect

-refers to the enhances sexual arousal displayed in the presence of a different female -example: lola-rubust pigeon, the sexy pigeon -example: the sheep example

Five schools of behaviorism: Hull's neobehaviorism - new behaviorism

-rejected watson's view that unobservable events couldn't be studied -thought unobservable events (internal processes) could be operationalized -example: gravity cant be observed, but you can still see its effect on objects -example: "thirst" defined as number of minutes since last drink -example: with rats and their freezing behavior when they are scared -believed some processes could mediate between the environement and behavior - maybe it's hot oustide, in regard to "thirst" example -took a pure S-R approach to learning -shared the view that psychology's mentalistic must go -only used internal measures that could be measured -example: "fatique" measured as # of hours since sleep -theory also mechanistic

Number of errors and example

-responses categorized as right or wrong -example: recall errors, the number of wrong turns a rat takes in a maze, number of errors on an exam -the number of errors on exams is the traditional method of assessing how well students know the material

Sign stimulus and examples

-sign stimulus means "stay away from me" - example: behavioral mimicry -example for humans: seeing an ex-boyfriend and getting red in the face -example: sign stimulus (releaser) - the red belly of another stickleback encroaching

Infantile reflexes and examples

-some reflexes and prewired and evident in a newborn, but disappear over time -rooting/orienting relex: a tap on the newborns cheek will cause oritentation of the mouth to the nipple -suckling reflex: a stage two reflex; First-expression stage: when the nipple touches the newborn's palate it will press it between tongue and palate to enable drawing out milk, second-milking stage: the infant's tongue moved from the areola to the nipple, coaxing out milk -grasping reflex: the baby will grasp/grip your finger if you put it in their palm -blunking bunnies: reflex of puff of air on eye

Five schools of behaviorism: Skinners radical behaviorism

-strict form of behavorism -emphasized influence of environmental consequences on covert/overt behavior and rejects internal events as explanations for behavior -example of internal events: sensing, thinking, feeling -agreed with Watson, and disliked the increasing interest in internal processes -emphasized influence of environment on overt behavior -believed thoughts and feelings were themselves behviors that needed to be explained by environmental events (example: the sexy pigeon example from comparative) -focused on influene of environment -emphasized environmental consequences as causes of behavior (example: baby stands up for the first time --> and is praised by everyone, the baby will try to stand up in the future (caused by the praise) because it was rewarded -not as mechanic as Watson and Hull - we're not helplessly controlled by environment -countercontrol - changing our environment in order to change our behavior; deliberate manipulation of environmental events to alter their impact on our behavior -example: study habits - shut off phone and TV while studying to improve concentration -emphasis on environmental events as the ultimate cause of both observable behavior and internal events -can make selection to change if not happy

Five schools of behaviorism: Watson's methodological behaviorism

-study only publicly observed behavior; nothing to do with internal behavior, reject thoughts and feelings -among the most extreme versions of behaviorism -psychology's "mentalism" must be stopped for the discipline to survive -remove selves from mentalistic approach -called "S-R theory" (stimulus-response theory or stimulus reaction) -learning invloves the development of a simple connection between an environmental event (the "stimulus") and a specific behavior (the"response") -example: lights turned off in classroom (S) --> students will stop talking (R) -mechanistic view (robotic) -extreme position on nature vs. nurture issue - only a few reflexes and basic emotions were inherited: love, rage, fear

Some refelxes evolved to maximize possibility of survival:

-swallowing and salivation aid digestion -vomiting purges stomach of poisons -flexion response

Examples of variables

-temperature, height, weight, hair color, marital status, sexual orientation -rain --> variation of weather

Observational learning - nurture**

-the act of observing someone else's behavior facilitates the development of a similar behavior in oneself -example: child who grows up in an abusive home might grow up to be abusive themselves -as a child you learn by doing this -changing behavior to match those around you -example: going to a 5-star resteraunt or going to a club and seeing how people act

Orienting response and example

-the autonomic positioning of the body to facilitate attending to a stimulus -example: hearing honking when you are crossing the street, you'll typically stop and tryo to figure out where it came from; same as police/ambulance/firetruck sirens

Example of learning

-the child begins pushing the volume button more often when he notices the change in loudness that occurs -reading the chapter (behavior) and increasing your ability to speak knowledgeably about the subject (learning)

Spatial contiguity

-the extent to which events are situated close to each other in space -example: cologne and BF -example: doorbell/knock meant someone was at door

Temporal contiguity

-the extent to which extents occur close together in time -example: sniffy and lever press -example: child throwing a tantrum

Intensity and examples

-the force of magnitude of the behavior -example: volume of salivation in response to some stimulus -example: how hard someone hits a punching bag

Rate of response

-the frequency with which a response occurs in a certain period of time -appropriate when behavior has a well-defined start and finish -clear start and finish, be sure to include time -highly sensitive to influence of other variables

Duration and example

-the length of time that an individual repeatedly or continuously performs a certain behavior -example: length of time studying, running, eating, practicing the violin, crying, watching netflix, etc. -example: amount of time she spends at swim lessons; says nothing about what she has accomplished, just how long she was there

Law of association: frequency

-the more frequently two items occur together, the more strongly they are associated -example: may associate drinking and smoking if you frequently do both together -example: will associate a friend with their perfume/cologne over time -example: the larger the thunder, the brighter the lightning -example: flashcards - help associate a term with its definition if you use them to study between classes -example: dog training - follow desirable behavior immediately with a treat; practice many times

Contingency

-the occurrence of one event predicts the probable occurence of another -example: relationship with parents is contingent on how often you talk to them; if they are yelling at you everything you guys talk on the phone, you may be less likely to answer the phone in the future -example: final grade is contingent on attendance; the more you attend class, the more you understand the subject and that will reflect in the final grade -a predicitve (or functional) relationship between two events, such that the occurence of one even predicts the probable occurence of another -example: if sniffy has learned to press a lever for food, then there is a contingency between lever pressing and food (delivery of food is contingent on lever-pressing)

Male red stickleback fish - fixed action pattern example

-the red belly of another male stickleback elicits the aggression -when the fish is mad, the belly is red and when the fish is not mad, the belly is not red -sign stimulus means "stay away from me" - example: behavioral mimicry -the stimulus is always the thing you are reacting to; the response is something you are doing

Operant conditioning (also known as instrumental conditioning)

-the strengthening or weakening of a behavior as a result of its consequences -these types of behaviors tend to be goal-oriented or voluntary

Behaviorism - John B. Watson

-the study of observable behavior -disliked previous approaches, such as introspection -behaviorism is a natural (objective) that focuses on the study of environmental influences on observable behavior -internal processes (thoughts, feelings) that couldn't be objectively measured by an outside observer, weren't used for analysis -wants to shift from thoughts and feelings to actual things -example: (leilani's smile ex.)-"i could ask if you are happy but if you are smiling..."

Independent variable (IV) and example

-what is manipulated in an experiment -example: driving and cell phone use, passenger -example: "does using a cellphone, distract while driving?" (IV-cellphone use; DV-driving; executed by playing mario kart and having some use cellphone while playing)

Dependent variable (DV) and example

-what is measured in an experiment -changes in DV are dependent upon changes in the IV -example: driving and cell phone use -example: number of errors in a driving course -depending on the DV, the IV changes -dependent variable (DV) is also known as dependent measure (DM) -example: DV-driving (the may look for swerves, increase/decrease in speed, slamming on breaks, etc.)

What type of psychologist was Tolman?**

cognitive

Debbie suffers from insomnia whenever she drinks coffee during the evening. Another way of saything this is that her insomnia is __________ upon coffee drinking

contingent

Saturation usually ________ the appetitiveness of an event

decreases

Unambiguous

ensure our measurements of the behavior are relatively consistent over time, across settings, and across researchers

The two most basic processes that invovle actual learning (learning is conditioning) are _________ and __________

habituation and sensitization

Deprivation usually _________ the appetitiveness of an event

increases

The length of time that I procrastinate before starting to clean on a particular evening is a(n) ________ measure of behavior

latency

The basic emotions Watson studied**

love, rage, and fear

An organism like a sea slug or a cricket has more __________ than humans**

monosynaptic

Overt behavior

publicly observable and obvious behavior example: lever-pressing (BF Skinner), smiling, laughter, foot-tapping, crossing legs, coughing, etc.

Objective

refer to some obervable apect of the individual's behavior

Jan winks at Tyler. The wink is an example of a ______ by Jan and a ________ to Tyler

response; stimulus

The specific stimulus that initiates a fixed action pattern is called a __________________ or _____________

sign stimulus or releaser

In a residence, students are more likely to date those who live in units that are relatively near to their own. In other words _________ contiguity seems to be an important factor in the formation of relationships

spatial

Length of time it takes me to clean my house, from start ro finish, is a(n) _________ measure of behavior

speed

The sound of a door slam causes your cat to jump off the couch. The sound of the door slam is a ______.

stimulus

Example of internal behavior

your heart rate increasing when you hear scary music or when you are passing under a yellow light and it turns red

Interobserver reliability

calculate the extent to which two independent observers agree vs. disagree on their observations

In an experiment concerncing the effect of food deprivation on anxiety level, anxiety level is the ______.

DV

In an experiment on the effectiveness of different mosquito repellants on reducing mosquito bites, the different repellents consititue the _______.

IV

Who is the founder of american psychology?**

William James

Godfather of stimulus response theory

Watson

Variables

a characteristic of a person, place, or thing that can change (vary) over time or from one situation to another

Example of external behavior

a child randomly pushes buttons on a stereo

Learning

a relatively permanent change in behavior that results from some type of behavior/experience