Psychology chapter 8 Learning

When Anna was a child, a dog named Max used to bark at her whenever she walked past him, and even bit her once. As an adult, whenever she meets a pet named Max, her palms start to sweat and her heart races. Anna's behavior an example of

association.

Conditioning is a form of ________ learning in which a behaviors are triggered by associations with events in the environment.

associative

Which of the following is an example of a primary reinforcer?

Caffeine

How do psychologists define learning?

Enduring changes in behavior that occur with experience

Learning:

Enduring changes in behavior that occur with experience -Occurs when information moves from short term to long term memory.

________ is the scientific study of animal behavior.

Ethology

Stimulus generalization:

Extension of the association between UCS and CS to include a broad array of similar stimuli. -Example; One time you got sick to a chocolate doughnut and now you're not only nauseated by chocolate ones but also glazed doughnuts.

True or False? Negative reinforcement is the same as punishment.

False: All reinforcement, including negative, increases behaviors, whereas all punishments decrease behaviors.

True or False? Kids are not affected by watching violence in movies or killing in video games.

False: Various studies support the idea that children imitate violence they see, especially if it is reinforced or rewarded.

A factory pays its employees on Wednesdays, and on Thursdays employee productivity seems to be a little slow. The productivity gradually increases over the week and reaches its peak on Wednesday. This is an example of which of the following types of schedules?

Fixed-interval schedule

________ provides clear evidence of a sensitivity period in learning.

Imprinting

Primary reinforcers:

Innate, unlearned reinforcers that satisfy biological needs (such as food, water, or sex). - Often satisfy biological needs

Which of the following is true with respect to Albert Bandura's social learning theory?

It noted that observation and modeling are major components of learning.

Classical conditioning:

Learning occurs when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a stimulus to which the learner has an automatic, inborn response.

Latent learning:

Learning that occurs in the absence of reinforcement and is not demonstrated until later, when reinforcement occurs. -A person who is riding passenger in a carpool learns the route to work each day without actually driving.

Schedules of reinforcement:

Patterns of intermittent reinforcement distinguished by whether reinforcement occurs after a set number of responses or after a certain amount of time has passed since the last reinforcement.

Which of these statements is most likely to be made by psychologist B. F. Skinner?

People are more likely to repeat a behavior that has been rewarded.

________ reinforcers are innate and often satisfy biological needs.

Primary

Secondary (conditioned) reinforcers:

Such as money, grades, and peer approval, are learned by association. -If a sports car is always shown in commercials with attractive individuals then it becomes linked in memory with something that is inherently desirable. The car itself becomes a secondary reinforcer due to its association with sex.

Using the definition provided in the text, which is the best example of learning?

Ten-year-old Jerry can snowboard down the mountain after practicing for a week.

Positive punishment:

The addition of a stimulus that decreases behavior. - Spanking a child (adding a stimulus) is a positive punishment because it decreases the frequency of the behavior. -If you are fined for parking in the faculty lot and stop parking there, you have received positive punishment.

The law of effect:

The consequences of a behavior increase (or decrease) the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated.

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS):

The environmental input that always produces the same unlearned, involuntary response. - In Pavlov's experiment the meat powder was the unconditioned stimulus.

Social learning theory:

The kind of learning that occurs when we model the behavior of others. -Albert Bandura proposed we do this by both observing and doing.

Conditioned taste aversion:

The learned avoidance of a particular taste or food. -nausea happening at the same time of taste of food.

Unconditioned response (UCR):

The natural, automatic, inborn, and involuntary reaction to a stimulus. - "Unlearned" - In Pavlov's experiment salivating was unconditioned response to the stimulus (the meat powder).

Learning curve:

The plot of the rate at which learning occurs over time.

Positive reinforcement:

The presentation or addition of a stimulus after a behavior occurs that increases how often that behavior will occur. -Something is added to the situation -Giving extra credit points for turning in homework on time

Behavior modification:

The principles of operant conditioning used to change behavior. -Help individuals stop smoking

Operant conditioning:

The process of changing behavior by manipulating the consequences of that behavior. -Example; If a hungry dog does something (whining) and then the presentation of food appears then the dog is more likely to do that thing in order to get food.

Imprinting:

The rapid and innate learning of the characteristics of a caregiver very soon after birth.

Shaping:

The reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired behavior. - Used a lot in animal training - Also can be used on humans, and is often used in order to help improve the attention span in patients with schizophrenia.

Stimulus discrimination:

The restriction of a CR (such as salivation) to only the exact CS to which it was conditioned. - Opposite to stimulus generalization - If in Pavlov's experiment the dogs only salivated to the bell and not buzzer they would be discriminating against other stimuli such as buzzers, clicks etc.

Spontaneous recovery:

The sudden reappearance of an extinguished response.

Embodied cognition:

The thought processes involved in representing parts of the body and/or reenacting bodily actions in thoughts. -MNS takes part in embodied cognition

True or False? Humans and rats basically learn in the same way.

True: Most animals learn from association (classical conditioning) and reinforcement (operant conditioning).

Punishment:

Which is any stimulus that decreases the frequency of a behavior. -Remember, however, that punishers decrease the frequency of behavior. By definition, negative reinforcers increase desired behaviors, so they cannot be punishers.

Reinforcer:

An internal or external event that increases the frequency of a behavior. - A mothers smile to her babies smile makes the baby smile more -If your credit card company offered iTunes credits for using your card, you might use it more often -Two kinds Primary and Secondary reinforcers

Netural stimulus:

An object or situation that when presented alone does not lead to an automatic (or unconditioned) response. - The bell in Pavlov's experiment with dogs

Mirror neuron system (MNS):

Animals and primates respond in much the same way while watching an action as they do while performing an action.

Research generally shows that children:

are likely to be aggressive after watching aggression on TV or in movies.

An ________ is the process by which two pieces of information from the environment are repeatedly linked, so that we begin to connect them in our minds.

association

Imprinting and sensitivity periods in learning remind us that

certain kinds of experiences are more or less easily learned at different periods in life.

Donald once accidentally fell into a swimming pool and almost drowned. After that incident, he developed an intense phobia of water and refused to go near swimming pools. In an effort to treat Donald's phobia, a psychologist gradually motivated him to go near swimming pools. After many sessions of having nonthreatening experiences of being in water, Donald overcame his phobia. This scenario exemplifies

extinction

The weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response in the absence of the pairing of unconditioned stimuli and conditioned stimuli is called

extinction.

A tap just below your kneecap will cause your leg to jerk forth. This is an example of a(n)

fixed stimulus-response.

A pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which responses are always reinforced after a set period of time has passed is referred to as a

fixed-interval (FI) schedule.

In a ________, reinforcement produces a response pattern in which the rate of response immediately following reinforcement is low. The response rate accelerates as the time of reinforcement approaches.

fixed-interval schedule

If a worker's wages or tips depend on the number of units he or she produces, he or she will work faster—possibly risking injury—to make more money. This is an example of a

fixed-ratio (FR) schedule.

When Rose enters her grandparent's home, there is always a distinct scent of incense sticks. After staying a little while inside the house, however, she no longer notices the smells at all. This scenario is an example of

habituation.

Because Konrad Lorenz was the first and only animal baby geese knew for the first few weeks of their lives, they thought Lorenz was their "mother." This kind of association is known as:

imprinting.

Research on learning and the brain has shown that rats raised in impoverished environments:

learn more slowly and have fewer neurons and synaptic connections than rats raised in enriched environments.

Because Sela always opens a drawer to get the can opener whenever she feeds her cat, Socks, use a can opener when getting her Socks runs into the kitchen each time he hears someone open a drawer. Socks has:

made an association between the drawer opening and being fed.

A reinforcer is anything that ________; a punisher is anything that ________.

makes a behavior more likely; makes a behavior less likely

Drake teaches his three-year-old daughter, Sarah, how to sharpen a pencil. The next day, Sarah successfully sharpens her pencils. This scenario is an example of

mimicry.

What biological structure(s) or system(s) might best explain why we cry along with characters in a sad movie?

mirror neurons

Revoking a child's TV-watching privileges for repeatedly hitting a sibling is a form of ________ if it stops the hitting.

negative punishment

The removal of a stimulus after a behavior to increase the frequency of that behavior is known as

negative reinforcement.

Albert Bandura called learning by watching the behavior of others

observational learning.

Brenda recently joined a new company. She watches how her colleagues dress and act so that she can fit in better. This type of learning is referred to as

observational learning.

Nate was fined for parking his car in a no-parking zone. Thereafter, he stopped parking his car in no-parking zones. In this scenario, Nate received a(n)

positive punishment.

Spanking a child for repeatedly breaking glass showpieces is a form of:

positive punishment.

Mark has just completed an important project. Henry, his manager, walks up to Mark and says, "Good work, Mark. Keep it up!" Henry knows that praising employees for good work encourages them to strive to consistently perform better. This is an example of

positive reinforcement.

Smoking can cause the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system and mild relaxation of the muscles. From a learning perspective these are considered

positive reinforcers.

John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner's experiment with Little Albert showed that

psychological studies can raise ethical issues.

In Pavlov's classical conditioning experiment, salivation is a ________, an automatic response to a particular stimulus (food) that requires no learning.

reflex

A rat presses a lever, resulting in food delivery. The rat then presses the lever more frequently. This is an example of:

reinforcement.

According to research, when a baby sees that he can get a big smile from his mother when he smiles at her, he is likely to smile more often. The mother's smile in response to the infant's is a(n)

reinforcer.

Derrick's mother gave him $10 because he got an 'A' on his math test. He studies hard for his next math test because he wants his mother to give him another $10. In this scenario, the money is serving as a(n)

reinforcer.

Most teens start smoking because they seek some of the rewards that appear to come with smoking: coolness, peer acceptance, and looking like an adult. All of these rewards are ________ reinforcers.

secondary

Jenny sees that her mom smokes a cigarette to relax whenever she gets stressed, so she thinks that it will work for her too. This is an example of

social learning.

When Ivan Pavlov accidentally discovered classical conditioning, a simple association was formed between

the sound of the apparatus and the meat powder.

A simple association forms between two events when

the two events occur together.

In order for an association to form between them, the ________ must be paired or presented very close together in time.

unconditioned stimulus and conditioned stimulus

In a ________, the first response is reinforced after time periods of different duration have passed.

variable-interval schedule

A slot machine player cannot know how many pulls of the slot machine arm it will take to win. On one occasion it might take just one pull to win a small jackpot. Other times dozens of quarters might be spent before winning. This payout schedule is what kind of schedule of reinforcement?

variable-ratio

During the classic study of the power of conditioning techniques, John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner conditioned Little Albert to develop a fear of

white fluffy objects.

Conditioned response (CR):

A behavior that an organism learns to perform when presented with the CS alone. - The dogs would salivate to the bell alone.

Conditioning:

A form of associative learning in which behaviors are triggered by associations with events in the environment. -Two types: Classical or Operant

Fixed-ratio(FR) schedule:

A pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which reinforcement follows a set number of responses. -One example is a worker being paid by the number of units he or she produces.

Fixed-interval (FI) schedule:

A pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which responses are always reinforced after a set period of time has passed. - If tests are given every 4 weeks, students learn that immediately after the test their performance will not be evaluated, so we would expect to see a drop in the rate of studying at that time.

Variable-interval (VI) schedule:

A pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which responses are reinforced after time periods of different duration have passed. -Suppose you are trying to reach a friend on the phone, but every time you call you get her voice mail. You can tell she is on the line already, so you keep calling back every few minutes to see if she is off. Her conversation can last only so long. Eventually, she will pick up the phone (your reward), but the wait time is unpredictable.

Variable-ratio (VR) schedule:

A pattern of intermittent reinforcement in which the number of responses needed for reinforcement changes. - A slot machine, the player doesn't know how many times the lever needs to be pulled. Some times it may be 5, 10 or sometimes you get the jackpot on pull one.

Sensitivity period in learning:

A period when a particular type of learning occurs very readily if an animal is exposed to a particular stimulus or situation. -Happens soon after birth or not at all

Which of the following situations is most likely to occur according to the law of effect?

A person who receives a reply that is more interesting than an ongoing lecture is more likely to keep on texting.

Conditioned stimulus (CS):

A previously neutral input that an organism learns to associate with the UCS. - In Pavlov's experiment the bell became the conditioned stimulus. - The dogs heard the bell and thought of the meat powder.

Skinner box:

A simple chamber in which a small animal can move around, with a food dispenser and a response lever to trigger food deliver

Biological constraint model:

A view on learning which proposes that some behaviors are inherently more likely to be learned than others.

The Bobo Doll experiment:

Bandura demonstrated how modeling and reinforcement affect behavior. Focusing on the power of observational learning specially for aggressive behaviors. -Half the children saw the adults hit the doll, half saw the adults casually play with the doll. -As a result the kids who saw the adults hit the doll played more aggressively with the toys during free time. -The kids who saw the adults play politely with the doll played nicely with other toys during free time.

Why did Skinner and Watson ignore the role of cognitive and brain processes in learning?

Because they could not be observed

The major finding(s) from Bandura's Bobo doll experiments were that:

Children learn to be aggressive by watching other people be aggressive and children learn to be aggressive by observing reinforced aggression in others.

Darren had eaten a cheeseburger right before he felt extremely nauseous from the flu. Now, every time Darren smells a cheeseburger he feels nauseous. In this scenario, what is Darren experiencing?

Conditioned taste aversion

Observational learning:

Learning influenced by watching the behaviors of others.

What is an essential characteristic of learning?

Learning involves acquiring new knowledge, skills, values, or behaviors.

Negative punishment:

Decreases behavior by removing a stimulus, (usually a desirable stimulus). -Revoking a child's TV-watching privileges for repeatedly hitting a sibling is a form of negative punishment if it stops the hitting.

Who discovered classical conditioning?

Ivan Pavlov

Instinctive drift:

Learned behavior that shifts toward instinctive, unlearned behavior tendencies. -It seems that raccoons naturally wash, pigs root, and chickens peck

Barbara just started a new job, and she watches how her colleagues dress and act. The type of learning Barbara is doing is:

Observational learning

Modeling:

Observational learning that involves imitating behaviors performed by others. -Younger kids model their older siblings behavior -When we spend a lot of time around certain individuals we start to pick up their mannerisms.

Intermittent reinforcement example:

Occasionally, a very important or interesting (reinforcing) email or post arrives, but we don't know when the next one will come (intermittent), so we check and we check, each time hoping for that important message, a behavior shaped by intermittent reinforcement.

Association:

Occurs when you experience one object or situation that is linked with another.

Negative reinforcement:

Refers to the removal of a stimulus to increase behavior. - Something is taken away from the situation -The beeper that sounds in your car until you fasten your seat belt. The removal of the annoying beeping is negative reinforcement for fastening the seat belt.

Which of the following statements best describes John Watson's belief in the power of conditioning?

Regardless of inborn traits, people can be trained to shape their behavior through conditioning.

Continuous reinforcement:

Reinforcement of a behavior every time it occurs. -Giving a dog a treat after every time it sits.

Intermittent reinforcement:

Reinforcement of a behavior—but not after every response. -Uses memory and expectation - Has stronger responses -If an animal gets a food pellet every time it hits a lever, it will remember and expect that food will appear each time it presses the lever, but if it sometimes receives food after one lever press and other times it takes five or 10 presses, the animal will not learn a predictable pattern. It will keep responding as fast as possible in hope that eventually it will receive food, because it is not sure when food will come.

What did B. F. Skinner conclude about the effectiveness of reinforcements and punishments?

Reinforcements are more effective than punishments for modifying behavior.

In a typical classical conditioning experiment, a neutral stimulus is:

Repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus.

Extinction:

The weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response in the absence of reinforcement. -When the CS is no longer paired with the UCS -After the bell was being rung and no meat powder was accompanied, the dogs stopped salivating to the bell.

In order to discourage smoking, some public health campaigns show pictures of diseased lungs or smokers who look older than they are. This is an example of

classical conditioning.

Habituation refers to a

cognitive process that results in decreased response to a stimulus.

The behavior that an organism learns to perform when presented with a conditioned stimulus is termed as a(n)

conditioned response.

Tina's car was sideswiped as she was making a blind turn while leaving a parking lot. After this accident, Tina had a panic attack whenever she was near that lot, so she could not park there. Several months later, the attacks stopped, and she started parking there again. Then, one day as she was approaching the parking lot, Tina had an unexpected panic attack. This scenario exemplifies

spontaneous recovery.

Hank was bitten by his friend's Rottweiler once. Since then, he prefers not to go near any dog. This scenario exemplifies

stimulus generalization.

Tracy was bitten by her neighbor's dog, and now she will not go near any household pets. This is an example of

stimulus generalization.

To be effective, reinforcers have to be things that

the learner wants.