Chapter 6: Learning

Avoidance learning

A conflict situation in which a choice must be made between two unattractive goals.

Operant conditioning

A form of learning in which voluntary responses come to be controlled by their consequences.

Cumulative recorder

A graphic record of reinforcement and responding in a Skinner box as a function of time.

Conditioned response (CR)

A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus that occurs because of previous conditioning.

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

A previously neutral stimulus that has, through conditioning, acquired the capacity to evoke a conditioned response.

Escape learning

A type of learning in which an organism acquires a response that decreases or ends some aversive stimulation.

Observational learning

A type of learning that occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models.

Behavioral contract

A written agreement outlining a promise to adhere to the contingencies of a behavior modification program.

Primary reinforcers

Events that are inherently reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs.

Secondary (conditioned) reinforcers

Stimulus events that acquire reinforcing qualities by being associated with primary reinforcers.

Reinforcement contingencies

The circumstances or rules that determine whether responses lead to the presentation of reinforcers.

Acquisition

The formation of a new conditioned response tendency.

Extinction

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response tendency.

Elicit

To draw out or bring forth.

Emit

To send forth.

Intermittent reinforcement

A reinforcement schedule in which a designated response is reinforced only some of the time.

Fixed ratio schedule (FR)

A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after a fixed number of nonreinforced responses.

Variable-ratio schedule (VR)

A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given after a variable number of nonreinforced responses.

Variable-interval schedule (VI)

A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given for the first response after a variable time interval has elapsed.

Fixed interval schedule (FI)

A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcer is given for the first response that occurs after a fixed time interval has elapsed.

Learning

A relatively durable change in behavior or knowledge that is due to experience.

Skinner box

A small enclosure in which an animal can make a specific response that is systematically recorded while the consequences of the response are controlled.

Schedule of reinforcement

A specific presentation of reinforcers over time.

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

A stimulus that evokes an unconditioned response without previous conditioning.

Behavior modification

A systematic approach to changing behavior through the application of the principles of conditioning.

Higher order conditioning

A type of conditioning in which a conditioned stimulus functions as if it were an unconditioned stimulus.

Classical conditioning

A type of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to evoke a response that was originally evoked by another stimulus.

Reinforcement

An event following a response that strengthens the tendency to make that response.

Punishment

An event that follows a response that weakens or suppresses the tendency to make that response.

Unconditioned response (UCR)

An unlearned reaction to an unconditioned stimulus that occurs without previous conditioning.

Discriminative stimuli

Cues that influence operant behavior by indicating the probable consequences (reinforcement or nonreinforcement) of a response.

Evaluative conditioning

Efforts to transfer the emotion attached to a UCS to a new CS.

Trial

In classical conditioning, any presentation of a stimulus or pair of stimuli

Spontaneous recovery

In classical conditioning, the reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of nonexposure to the conditioned stimulus.

Resistance to extinction

In operant conditioning, the phenomenon that occurs when an organism continues to make a response after delivery of the reinforcer for it has been terminated.

Phobias

Irrational fears of specific objects or situations.

Latent learning

Learning that is not apparent from behavior when it first occurs.

Positive reinforcement

Reinforcement that occurs when a response is strengthened because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus.

Continuous reinforcement

Reinforcing every instance of a designated response.

Negative symptoms

Schizophrenic symptoms that involve behavioral deficits, such as flattened emotions, social withdrawal, apathy, impaired attention, and poverty of speech.

Stimulus discrimination

The phenomenon that occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus does not respond in the same way to stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.

Stimulus generalization

The phenomenon that occurs when an organism that has learned a response to a specific stimulus responds in the same way to new stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus.`

Law of effect

The principle that if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects, the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened.

Shaping

The reinforcement of closer and closer approximations of a desired response.

Instinctive drift

The tendency for an animal's innate responses to interfere with conditioning processes.