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Learning Theory Mid Term

Terms in this set (132)

behavior
any organism's activity that can be observed/measured
learning
permanent change in behavior that results from some type of experience
classical conditioning
certain inborn behaviors become elicited in new circumstances (ex. dogs learning to salivate to bell)
operant conditioning
strengthening or weakening of a behavior as a result of its consequences (ex. rats pulling levers)
observational learning
seeing someone else's behaviors and copying.
fixed action pattern
facilitates certain types of learning-inherited
nativists
abilities are inborn
empiricists
abilities are learned
law of similarity
similar = associated with
law of contrast
events opposite = associated (ex. black/white)
law of contiguity
close in proximity = associated (thunder and lightning)
law of frequency
frequent items together = associated
structuralism
possible to determine structure of the mind by identifying parts of it
introspection
describe concious thoughts, emotions, sensations
natural selection
individuals or species that can survive to pass traits off to offspring, so they are maximized for survival
behaviorism
environmental influences on observable behavior
stimulus-response (S-R) theory
theory in which a connection is a formed between a specific response/stimulus
neobehaviorism
utilizes intervening variables in the form of hypothesized physiological processes to help explain behavior
cognitive behaviorism
cognitive processes to explain behavior
cognitive map
mental representation of one's spatial surroundings
latent learning
learning occurs despite no observable indication of learning and only becomes apparent over time
social learning theory
emphasizes importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behavior
reciprocal determinism
the assumption that environmental events, observable behavior, and personal variables can influence each other.
skinner didn't believe internal events could
influence behavior
countercontrol
deliberate manipulation of environmental events to alter impact on our behavior
variable
characteristic of a person, place, or thing that can change over time
independent variable
aspect of an experiment that is made to differ across certain conditions (what is manipulated)
dependent variable
aspect of an experiment that is allowed to vary freely to see if it is affected by changes in the independent variable
changes in the dependent variable are __________ changes in the independent variable
dependent upon
functional relationship
changes between independent and dependent variable
stimulus
any event that can potentially influence behavior
response
particular instance of a behavior
overt behavior
can be identified by another person
covert behavior
percieved only by person performing behavior
apptetitive stimulus
event an organism will seek out (ex. food, water)
aversive stimulus
event an organism will avoid (ex. electric shock)
motivating operation
any procedure that affects the appetitiveness or aversiveness of an event (ex. deprivation or satiation)
deprivation
prolonged absence of an event
satiation
prolonged exposure
temporary contiguity
extent to which events occur close together
spatial contiguity
events are close together in space
contingency
predictive relationships between 2 events, such that the occurrence of one event predicts the probable occurrence of another
rate of response
frequency with which a response occurs in a certain period of time (ex. # of lever presses per hour)
intensity
force of behavior
duration
length of behavior
speed
length of behavior from start to finish
latency
length of time taken for behavior to start
interval recording
whether or not behavior occurs in intervals
time sample recording
behavior intervals spaced out
topography
physical form of behavior
descriptive research
behavior and circumstances that occurred
experimental research
one or more independent variables systematically varied to determine effect on a dependent variable
group design (most common)
manipulates independent variables across groups
control group design
randomly assigned to experimental (treatment) or control group. (exp. group is exposed to manipulation)
factorial design
2 or more independent variables
comparative design
different species represents one of the independent variables
baseline
normal frequency of behavior before intervention
reversal design
consists of repeated alternations between baseline and treatment phase (if the behavior systematically changes each time treatment is given and withdrawn; functional relationship)
changing criterion design
effect of treatment demonstrated by how closely behavior matches a criterion being changed
elicited behavior
behavior drawn out by a preceding stimulus
reflex
automatic response to a stimulus
startle response
defensive reaction to unexpected stimuli
orienting response
in which we automatically position ourselves to facilitate attending to a stimulus
flexion response
hand jerk response
reflex arc
neural structure underlying some reflexes that consist of (sensory/motor neurons and interneuron)
fixed action pattern
fixed sequence of responses elicited by a specific stimulus (ex. birds flying in v formation)
sign stimulus of release
specific stimulus that elicits a fixed action pattern
habituation
decrease in strength of an elicited behavior (low intensity stimulus) following repeated presentation of eliciting stimulus (ex. ticking of a clock)
sensitization
increase in strength of an elicited behavior following repeated presentations of eliciting stimulus (high intensity stimulus)
short term habituation
in which a response quickly decreases as a result of repeated stimulation and the ability to respond then quickly recovers in the absence of stimulation
long term habituation
in which a response slowly decreases as a result of repeated stimulation and the ability to respond then slowly recovers in the absence of stimulation
dishabituation
habituated responses can reappear following the presentation of an irrelevant stimulus
low-intensity stimulus
results in habituation
high-intensity stimulus
results in sensitization
intermediate stimulus
sensitization then habituation (ex. first few shots heard at a gun range-then adjust)
opponent-process theory
emotional event elicits 2 competing processes
a process (primary)
directly elicited by an event
b process (opponent)
elicited by a process to counteract a-process (ex. winning the lottery--b-process turns down elation (a process)
important characteristics of a-b processes
a process correlates closely with presence of emotional event.
b-process is slow to increase/decrease
w repeated presentations of the emotional event, the b-process increases in both strength and duration.
a processes and b processes tend to be hedonically opposite
in classical conditioning and the pavlovian example, which is the unconditioned response, the unconditioned stimulus, the neutral stimulus, and the conditioned response and the conditioned stimulus?
salivation (bc it occurs naturally) - unconditioned response
food- unconditioned stimulus
metronome (doesnt produce salivation by itself) neutral stimulus
salivating to metronome- conditioned response
metronome- conditioned stimulus
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
stimulus that naturally elicits response (produces the reaction)
Unconditioned response (UR)
response naturally elicited by US (automatic reaction)
conditioned stimulus (CS)
any stimulus that elicits response because it has been paired with a US (initially neutral)
conditioned response (CR)
elicited by the CS (same as UR but produced by CS)
appretitive conditioning
US is an event seeked out (ex. food, water)
aversive conditioning
US is avoided (ex. painful bite)
suppression ratio
# of conditioned stimulus responses over # of CS responses +# of pre CS responses (will vary between 0 and .5; lower number indicates less responding of behavior)
excitatory conditioning
NS is associated with the presentation of a US
inhibitory conditioning
NS is associated with removal of a US
delayed conditioning
onset of NS precedes onset of US
trace conditioning
onset and offset of the NS precedes the onset of the US. (NS occurs before the US)
simultaneous conditioning
NS and US happen at the same time
backward conditioning
US first; NS later
temporal conditioning
CS is the passage of time (ex. dog eating every 10 mins; salivating every 10 mins)
psuedoconditioning
elicited response that appears to be a CR is actually the result of sensitization
acquisition
developing and strengthening a conditioned response through repeated pairings of an NS with a US
asymptote
maximum amount of conditioning that can take place
more intense US's produce _________ and ___________ than a less intense US
stronger and more rapid conditioning
More intense NS's result in __________ and ______________ than a less intense NS
stronger and more rapid conditioning
extinction
conditioned response is weakened or eliminated when the CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of a US
a response that has been extinguished an be reaquired quit rapidly when the
CS (or NS) is once again paired with the US
spontaneous recovery
reappearance of a conditioned response to a CS following a period of extinction
disinhibition
sudden recovery of a conditioned response during an extinction procedure whenever stimulus is introduced
stimulus generalization
CR to occur in the presence of of a stimulus that is similar to the CS
semantic generalization
generalization of a conditioned response to verbal stimulus that are similar in meaning to the CS
stimulus discrimination
tendency for a response to be elicited more by one stimulus than another
experimental neurosis
experimentally produced disorder in which animals expose to unpredictable events develop neurotic like symptoms
higher order conditioning
a stimulus associated with a CS can also become a CS
sensory preconditioning
when 1 stimulus is conditioned as a CS, another stimulus with which it was previously paired can also become a CS
US revaluation
postconditioning presentation of the US at a different level of intensity; thereby altering the strength of the response to the CS (value of the US is being changed)
compound stimulus
consists of the simultaneous presentation of 2 or more stimuli
overshadowing
more salient member of a compound stimulus is more readily conditioned as a CS and interferes with conditioning of less salient member.
blocking
presence of an established CS interferes with conditioning of a new CS.
occasion setting
procedure by which a stimulus signals whether a CS is likely to be followed by a US and therefore controls whether the CS will elicit a CR
latent inhibition
a familiar stimulus is more difficult to condition as a CS than is an unfamiliar stimulus. unfamiliar stimulus is more readily conditioned as a CS than a familiar stimulus.
stimulus substitution theory
CS acts as sub for US
prepatory response theory
purpose of the CR is to prepare organism for presentation of the US (ex. heroin)
compensatory- response model
CS that has been repeatedly associated with the primary response (a process) to a US will eventually come to elicit a compensatory response (b process)
Rescoula-Wagner Theory
US can support only so much conditioning and this amount of conditioning must be distributed among the various CS's that are present
stronger stimuli (Us's and CS's) support more conditioning than do
weaker stimuli
letter v
associative value of CS
max
max associative value that can be supported by the US once conditioning is complete.
overgeneralization
in which a conditioned fear response to one event has become overgeneralized to other harmless events.
temperament
individual's level of emotional reactivity (genetically determined)
preparedness
innate disposition to learn certain types of behaviors or certain types of associations more easily than others.
incubation
strengthening of a conditioned fear response as a result of brief exposures to an aversive CS
selective sensitization
increase in one's reactivity to a potentially fearful stimulus following exposure to an unrelated stressful event
counterconditioning
CS elicits one type of response that is associated with an event that elicits an incompatible response
reciprocal inhibition
occurrence of one response can be inhibited by occurrence of incompatible response
systematic desensitization
behavioral treatment for phobias that makes pairing relaxation with succession of stimuli that elicits increasing levels of fear
flooding therapy
prolonged exposure to a feared stimulus; thereby providing maximal opp. for the conditioned fear response to be extinguished.
aversion therapy
treatment procedure that reduces attractiveness of a desired event by associating it w/ an aversive stimulus.
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