Unit 6

Conditioned Emotional Response

, specifically the conditioned fear response (CFR) is an emotional response that results from classical conditioning, usually from the association of a relatively neutral stimulus with a painful or fear-inducing experience

Delayed v. Immediate Reinforcement

...

Resistance to Extinction

...

Stimulus Contiguity

...

Conditioned Stimulus

A previously neutral stimulus that, after repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus, elicits the response produced by the unconditioned stimulus itself.

Unconditioned Stimulus

A stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response; for example, food is an unconditioned stimulus for a hungry animal, and salivation is the unconditioned response.

Shaping

B.F. Skinner used shaping, a method of training by which successive approximations toward a desired target behavior are reinforced, to test his theories of behavioral psychology.

Reinforcement

In behavioral psychology, () is a consequence that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus.

Extinction

In the operant conditioning paradigm,() refers to the decline of an operant response when it is no longer reinforced in the presence of its discriminative stimulus.

Escape Learning

It refers to a learning whereby an organism learns to escape a harmful stimulus by using a response referred to as an instrumental or operant response.

Thorndike's Law of Effect

One of the first principles associated with learning and behavior was the (), which states that behaviors that lead to satisfying outcomes are likely to be repeated, whereas behaviors that lead to undesired outcomes are less likely to recur.

Renewal Effect

T refers to the recovery of an extinguished conditioned response as the result of a change in the context where that extinction took place. The present talk will draw on existing and new data to differentiate the renewal effect from other phenomena found in associative learning.

Baby Albert Experiments

The Little Albert experiment was a case study showing empirical evidence of classical conditioning in humans. This study was also an example of stimulus generalization. It was carried out by John B. Watson at Johns Hopkins University

Behaviorism

The primary tenet of , as expressed in the writings of John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, and others, is that psychology should concern itself with the observable behavior of people and animals, not with unobservable events that take place in their minds.

Continuous Reinforcement

This is an operant conditioning principle in which an organism is reinforced every single time that organism provides the appropriate operant response.

Two Process Theory of Avoidance

This theory was originally proposed in order to explain discriminated avoidance learning, in which an organism learns to avoid an aversive stimulus by escaping from a signal for that stimulus. The theory assumes that two processes take place: a) Classical conditioning of fear.

Secondary Reinforcer

Unlike primary reinforcers which are naturally reinforcing, are reinforcing only after the organism has been conditioned to find it reinforcing. Some stimulus that does not naturally provide reinforcement is paired with a primary reinforcer so that the organism begins to associate the secondary reinforcer with the primary reinforcer

Classical Conditioning

a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired; a response that is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.

Instrumental Learning

a method of training in which the reinforcement is made contingent on the occurrence of the response. Compare classical conditioning

Primary Reinforcer

a stimulus or situation that has acquired its function as a reinforcer after pairing with a stimulus that functions as a reinforcer. This stimulus may be a primary reinforcer or another conditioned reinforcer

Learning

a theoretical science. is a process that depends on experience and leads to long-term changes in behavior potential. Behavior potential designates the possible behavior of an individual, not actual behavior.

Skinner Box

an apparatus for studying instrumental conditioning in animals (typically rats or pigeons) in which the animal is isolated and provided with a lever or switch that it learns to use to obtain a reward, such as a food pellet, or to avoid a punishment, such as an electric shock.

Conditioned Response

an automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus.

Partial Reinforcement

are naturally reinforcing, i.e. there is no learning necessary for them to be reinforcing

Reinforcement Contingencies

in their simplest form, are comprised of antecedents (events that occur immediately before a behavior), responses or behaviors, and consequences (events that occur immediately after a behavior).

Higher-Order Conditioning

is a form of learning in which a stimulus is first made meaningful or consequential for an organism through an initial step of learning, and then that stimulus is used as a basis for learning about some new stimulus.

Spontaneous Recovery

is a phenomenon of learning and memory which was first seen in classical (Pavlovian) conditioning and refers to the re-emergence of a previously extinguished conditioned response after a delay.

Variable-Interval Schedule

is a schedule of reinforcement where a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of response

Fixed-Interval Schedule

is a schedule of reinforcement where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. This schedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the interval, but much slower responding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer.

Operant Conditioning

is a type of learning in which an individual's behavior is modified by its antecedents and consequences.

Punishment

is any change in a human or animal's surroundings that occurs after a given behavior or response which reduces the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future.

Unconditioned Response

is behavior that occurs naturally due to a given stimulus. However, a stimulus prompts a conditioned response only when someone has come to associate that stimulus with another. For example, when a person yelps upon being bitten by an insect, the yelp is an unconditioned response.

B.F Skinner

is best known for developing the theory of Operant Conditioning, which uses reinforcers or consequences to change behavior.

Discriminative Stimuli

is defined as 'a stimulus in the presence of which a particular response will be reinforced'

Positive Reinforcement

is the addition of a reward following a desired behavior.

Avoidance Learning

is the process by which an individual learns a behavior or response to avoid a stressful or unpleasant situation. The behavior is to avoid, or to remove oneself from, the situation.

Stimulus Discrimination

is when we learn to respond only to the original stimulus, and not to other similar stimuli. The concept of Stimulus Discrimination follows from the idea of Stimulus Generalization, which is when we respond not only to the original stimulus, but also to other similar stimuli.

Negative Reinforcement

occurs when a certain stimulus (usually an aversive stimulus) is removed after a particular behavior is exhibited. The likelihood of the particular behavior occurring again in the future is increased because of removing/avoiding the negative consequence

Variable-Ratio Schedule

of reinforcement is a schedule of reinforcement wherein a reinforcer is provided following a pre-determined average number of responses.

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

of reinforcement means that reinforcement should be delivered after a constant or "fixed" number of correct responses. For example, a fixed ratio schedule of 2 means reinforcement is delivered after every 2 correct responses.

Acquisition

refers to the first stages of learning when a response is established. In classical conditioning, it refers to the period of time when the stimulus comes to evoke the conditioned response.

Stimulus Generalization

the act or process of responding to a stimulus similar to but distinct from the conditioned stimulus. Also called response generalization. the act or process of making a different but similar response to the same stimulus.

Immunosuppression

the partial or complete suppression of the immune response of an individual. It is induced to help the survival of an organ after a transplant operation.

Ivan Pavlov

was a Russian physiologist known primarily for his work in classical conditioning.