Chapter 5 Study Guide Learning that occurs through experience defined as a systematic relatively permanent change in behavior Behaviorism a theory of learning that focuses on observable behaviors This theory discounts the importance of mental activity like thinking wishing and hoping Associative and Observational Learning o Associative occurs when we make a connection or an association between two events The process of learning this associations is known as conditioning which can be either classical or operant o Observational learning that occurs through observing and imitating another s behavior Observational learning is extremely important to human beings and unlike associative learning it relies on mental processes Four processes of observational learning o Attention in order to reproduce an action you must first attend to what the model is saying or doing o Retention to reproduce a model s actions you must encode the information and keep it in memory so that you can retrieve it o Motor reproduction the process of imitating the model s actions o Reinforcement is the model s behavior followed by a consequence Classical vs Operant conditioning o Classical learning process in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an innately meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response Organisms learn the relationship between two stimuli Associated with unlearned involuntary responses o Operant a form of associative learning in which the consequences of a behavior change the probability of a behavior s occurrence An example is studying for a test because you know that if you do so you are more likely to receive a good grade Associated with learned voluntary responses Reflexes certain innate responses that some stimuli automatically produce An example is shivering in response to low temperature coughing in response to throat congestion etc o Unconditioned stimulus that produces a response without prior learning Ex food o Conditioned previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits a conditioned response after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus Stimuli Response o Unconditioned an unlearned reaction that is automatically elicited by the unconditional stimulus o Conditioned learned response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs after conditioning stimulus unconditioned stimulus pairing Contingency vs contiguity instrumental in classical conditioning o Contingency the conditioned stimulus most precede the unconditioned stimulus closely in time and serve as a reliable indicator that the unconditioned stimulus is on its way o Contiguity means that the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus are presented very close together in time Generalization o CC the tendency of a new stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response that is similar to the conditioned response o OC Preforming a reinforced behavior in a different situation o CC the process of learning to respond to certain stimuli and not o OC responding appropriately to stimuli that signal that a behavior will or will not be reinforces Discrimination others Extinction o CC the weakening of the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is absent o OC decreases in the frequency of a behavior when the behavior is no longer reinforced Spontaneous Recovery conditioned response can recur after a time delay without further conditioning process in classical conditioning by which a Acquisition the first part of classical conditioning It is the initial learning of the connection between the un conditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus when these two stimuli are paired Counter Conditioning relationship between a conditioned stimulus and its conditioned response a classical conditioning procedure for changing the Little Albert A study was conditioned in which a baby named Albert was used to demonstrate classical conditioning s role in the development of fears Albert was shown a white rat to see whether he was afraid of it He was not which made the rat a neutral stimulus While Albert played with the rat the researchers sounded a loud noise behind his head the noise being the unconditioned stimulus which caused him to cry the unconditioned response After seven pairings of the rat and the loud noise Albert began to fear the rat even when the noise was not present conditioned response His fear was further generalized to a rabbit do and a sealskin coat stimulus generalization Aversive conditioning pairings of a stimulus with a very unpleasant stimulus a form of treatment that consists of repeated Immunosuppression can lower a person s ability to fight disease a decrease in the production of anti bodies which Habituation presentations decreased responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated Thorndikes law of effect outcomes are strengthened and that behaviors followed by negative outcomes are weakened states that behaviors followed by positive B F Skinner developed the concept of operant conditioning known for adopting the behavioral approach behaviorism believed that mechanisms of learning are the same for all species Shaping rewarding successive approximations of a desired behavior Can be used to train animals to do certain things like training a rat to press a bar in order to receive food Positive vs Negative Reinforcement o Positive the presentation of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior o Negative the removal of a stimulus following a given behavior in order to increase the frequency of that behavior Punishment vs Reward o Punishment a consequence that decreases the likelihood that a behavior will occur o Reward the return for performance of a desired behavior Avoidance learning negative stimulus by making a particular response an organism s learning that it can altogether avoid a Learned helplessness through experience with unavoidable aversive stimuli an organism learns that it has no control over negative outcome Primary vs Secondary Reinforcer o Primary a reinforcer that is innately satisfying one that does not take any learning on the organism s part to make it pleasurable o Secondary a reinforcer that acquires its positive value through an organism s experience a secondary reinforcer is a learned or conditioned reinforcer Schedules of reinforcement behavior will be reinforced Applied behavior analysis change human behavior specific patterns that determine when a the use of operant
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