| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Learning | Relatively permanent change in an organism that occurs as a result of experiences in the environment |
| Conditioning | Systematic procedure through which associations and responses to specific stimuli are learned |
| Reflex | Automatic behavior that occurs involuntarily in response to a stimulus and without prior learning and usually shows little variability from instance to instance |
| Classical Conditioning | Conditioning process in which an originally neutral stimulus, by repeated pairing with a stimulus that normally elicits a response, comes to elicit a similar or even identical response; aka Pavlovian conditioning |
| Unconditioned Stimulus | Stimulus that normally produces a measurable involuntary response |
| Unconditioned Response | Unlearned or involuntary response to an unconditioned stimulus |
| Conditioned Stimulus | Neutral stimulus that, through repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus, begins to elicit a conditioned response |
| Conditioned Response | Response elicited by a conditioned stimulus |
| Higher-order Conditioning | Process by which a neutral stimulus takes on conditioned properties through pairing with a conditioned stimulus |
| Extinction (classical conditioning) | The procedure of withholding the unconditioned stimulus and presenting the conditioned stimulus alone, which gradually reduces the probability of the conditioned response |
| Spontaneous Recovery | Recurrence of an extinguished conditioned response, usually following a rest period |
| Stimulus Generalization | Process by which a conditioned response becomes associated with a stimulus that is similar but not identical to the original conditioned stimulus |
| Stimulus Discrimination | Process by which an organism learns to respond only to a specific stimulus and not to other stimuli |
| Operant Conditioning | Conditioning in which an increase or decrease in the probability that a behavior will recur is affected by the delivery of reinforcement or punishment as a consequence of the behavior; |
| Skinner Box | Named for its developer, B.F. Skinner, a box that contains a responding mechanism and a device capable of delivering a consequence to an animal in the box whenever it makes the desired response |
| Shaping | Selective reinforcement of behaviors that gradually approach the desired response |
| Reinforcer | Any event that increases the probability of a recurrence of the response that preceded it |
| Positive Reinforcement | Presentation of a stimulus after a particular response in order to increase the likelihood that the response will recur |
| Negative Reinforcement | Removal of a stimulus after a particular response to increase the likelihood that the response will recur |
| Primary Reinforcer | Reinforcer that has survival value for an organism; this value does not have to be learned |
| Secondary Reinforcer | Any neutral stimulus that initially has no intrinsic value for an organism but that becomes rewarding when linked with a primary reinforcer |
| Superstitious Behavior | Behavior learned through coincidental association with reinforcement |
| Punishment | Process of presenting an undesirable or noxious stimulus, or removing a desirable stimulus, to decrease the probability that a preceding response will recur |
| Primary Punisher | Any stimulus or event that is naturally painful or unpleasant to an organism |
| Secondary Punisher | Any neutral stimulus that initially has no intrinsic negative value for an organism but acquires punishing qualities when linked with a primary punisher |
| Learned Helplessness | The behavior of giving up or not responding to punishment, exhibited by people or animals exposed to negative consequences or punishment over which they have no control |
| Fixed-interval Schedule | A reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer (reward) is delivered after a specified interval of time, provided that the required response occurs at least once in the interval |
| Variable-interval Schedule | A reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer (reward) is delivered after predetermined but varying amounts of time, provided that the required response occurs at least once after each interval |
| Fixed-ratio Schedule | A reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer(reward) is delivered after a specified number of responses has occurred |
| Variable-ratio Schedule | A reinforcement schedule in which a reinforcer (reward) is delivered after a predetermined but variable number of responses has occurred |
| Extinction (operant conditioning) | The process by which the probability of an organism's emitting a response is reduced when reinforcement no longer follows the response |
| Latent Learning | Learning that occurs in the absence of direct reinforcement and that is not necessarily demonstrated through observable behavior |
| Observational Learning Theory | Theory that suggests that organisms learn new responses by observing the behavior of a model and then imitating it; aka. Social learning theory |
| aversive conditioning | learning involving an unpleasant or harmful stimulus or reinforcer |
| Law of Effect | behaviors followed by pleasant consequences are strengthened while behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences are weakened (Thorndike) |
| Premack principle | commonly occurring behavior can reinforce a less frequent behavior |
| shaping | positively reinforcing closer and closer approximation of a desired behavior to teach a new behavior |
| token economy | operant training system that uses secondary reinforcers (tokens) to increase appropriate behavior; learners can exchange tokens for desired rewards |
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