Chapter 5

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience or practice.

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist who came up with the concept of CLASSICAL CONDITIONING.

Classical Conditioning is based on reflex reactions to learned stimuli.

UCS is unconditioned stimulus.

It is something we naturally respond to.

Unconditioned Response (UCR) is our reflexive response to a stimulus.

CS is conditioned (learned) stimulus.

It is what we learn to respond to.

CR is conditioned response.

It is a learned reaction.

Stimulus generalization is a response to other stimuli similar to the CS.

Stimulus discrimination is learning to not respond to stimuli similar to the CS.

Extinction is the disappearance of a CR after the UCS is removed.

Spontaneous Recovery is the reappearance of a learned response after extinction.

Conditioned emotional response is one that has become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli.

Operant Conditioning is learning through voluntary behavior.

Learned through pleasant & unpleasant consequences.

BF Skinner is the father of operant conditioning.

REINFORCEMENT

anything that makes a response more likely to reoccur.

Positive Reinforcement is GIVING a pleasurable stimulus.

Negative Reinforcement is TAKING an unpleasant stimulus.

4 Schedules of Reinforcement:

• Fixed Ratio
• Variable Ratio
• Fixed Interval
• Variable Interval

Fixed Ratio is reinforcement after a set number of responses.

Variable Ratio is reinforcement after a varying number of responses.

Fixed Interval is a set amount of time before reinforcement.

Variable Interval is varying amounts of time before reinforcement.

Punishment is anything that makes a response LESS likely to occur again.

Two ways to punish:
-by application (positive punishment)
-by removal
(negative punishment)

Positive punishment is ADDING an UNDESIRABLE stimulus.

Negative punishment is TAKING a DESIRABLE stimulus.

Problems with punishment:

• teach to avoid
• encourage lying
• create fear & anxiety
• modeling of aggression

How to make punishment more effective:

• Immediate
• Consistent
• Pair with reinforcement

Shaping is the reinforcement of simple steps leading to a more complex behavior.

Successive approximations are baby steps leading to the goal behavior.

Instinctive drift is the tendency for an animal to revert to its natural behaviors.

Behavior modification is using operant conditioning to bring desired changes in behavior.

Examples of B.Mod:

• Token economy
• Applied behavior analysis
• Biofeedback
• Neurofeedback

Biofeedback is using the body to control involuntary responses.

Latent Learning is hidden learning; only revealed when used.

Insight is a sudden perception of a solution.

Learned Helplessness is the tendency to fail to act to escape from a situation because of a history of repeated failures in the past.

Observational Learning - learning by watching a model perform that behavior.