| Term | Definition |
|---|
| operant conditioning | a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher. |
| respondent behavior | behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus; Skinner’s term for behavior learned through classical conditioning. |
| operant behavior | behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences. |
| law of effect | Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely, and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely. |
| operant chamber | a chamber also known as a Skinner box, containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforcer, with attached devices to record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking. Used in operant conditioning research. |
| shaping | an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior. |
| reinforcer | in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior it follows. |
| positive reinforcement | increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as food. A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response. |
| negative reinforcement | increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative stimuli, such as shock. A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response. (Note, this is not the same thing as punishment.) |
| primary reinforcer | an innately reinforcing stimulus, such as one that satisfies a biological need. |
| conditioned reinforcer | a stimulus that gains its reinforcing power through its association with a primary reinforcer; also known as secondary reinforcer. |
| continuous reinforcement | reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs. |
| partial reinforcement | reinforcing a response only part of the time; results in slower acquisition of a response but much greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement. |
| punishment | an event that decreases the behavior that it follows. |
| cognitive map | a mental representation of the layout of one’s environment. For example, after exploring a maze, rats act as if they have learned a cognitive map of it. |
| latent learning | learning that occurs but is not apparent until there is an incentive to demonstrate it. |
| intrinsic motivation | a desire to perform a behavior for its own sake. |
| extrinsic motivation | a desire to perform a behavior due to promised rewards or threats of punishment. |
| observational learning | learning by observing others. |
| modeling | the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior. |
| mirror neurons | frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another doing so. The brain’s mirroring of another’s action may enable imitation, language learning, and empathy. |
| prosocial behavior | positive, constructive, helpful behavior. The opposite of antisocial behavior. |
| unconditioned stimulus | in classical conditioning, a stimulus that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—triggers a response. |
| conditioned stimulus | in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (US), comes to trigger a conditioned response. |
| conditioned response | in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned) stimulus (CS). |
| unconditioned response | in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus (US), such as salivation when food is in the mouth. |
| learning | a relatively permanent change in an organism’s behavior due to experience. |
| associative learning | learning that certain events occur together. The events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning). |
| classical conditioning | a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. A neutral stimulus that signals an unconditioned stimulus (US) begins to produce a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. Also called Pavlovian or respondent conditioning. |
| behaviorism | the view that psychology (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior without reference to mental processes. Most research psychologists today agree with (1) but not with (2). |
| acquisition | the initial stage in classical conditioning; the phase associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response. In operant conditioning, the strengthening of a reinforced response. |
| extinction | the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned stimulus (CS); occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced. |
| spontaneous recovery | the reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished conditioned response. |
| generalization | the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses. |
| discrimination | in classical conditioning, the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus. |
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