LRG - Learning Module Overview

 

Learning

Do you have any fears that might not make sense to someone else? Does your heart race when you see a roach or a bumblebee? Does your mouth ever water when you smell a certain food? If so, then you've experienced classical conditioning, which means you learned these basic reactions. Has a punishment ever made you avoid a certain behavior? Do you ever watch other people to see how to act in a new situation? If so, then you've experienced learning. In this unit, you will learn how people are taught through life experiences to have certain reactions. 

Essential Questions

• What is learning?
• What is the behaviorist approach to learning?
• What is the difference between classical and operant conditioning?
• How does social learning theory explain changes in behavior?

Key Terms

1. Learning - a relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience
2. Associative learning - learning that certain events occur together; the events may be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or response and its consequences (as in operant conditioning)
3. Behaviorism - the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes
4. Classical conditioning - a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate two stimuli; also called respondent conditioning
5. Unconditioned stimulus - in classical conditioning, a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response
6. Unconditioned response - in classical conditioning, the unlearned, naturally occurring response to the unconditioned stimulus, such as salivation when food is in the mouth
7. Neutral Stimulus - a stimulus that causes no response (after learning, this becomes the conditioned response)
8. Conditioned stimulus - in classical conditioning, an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, begins to trigger a conditioned response
9. Conditioned response - in classical conditioning, the learned response to a previously neutral (but now conditioned response)
10. Acquisition - when learning has occurred; when the conditioned stimulus triggers a response in classical conditioning or when the subject will do the operant response in operant conditioning  
11. Extinction - the diminishing of a conditioned response; occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus; occurs in operant conditioning when the response is no longer reinforced
12. Spontaneous recovery - after extinction, the reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response
13. Generalization - when stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus also trigger a response
14. Discrimination - when the subject only responds to a specific stimuli but not to those that are similar
15. Operant conditioning - a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher
16. 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
17. Shaping - an operant conditioning procedure in which reinforcers guide behavior closer and closer toward the desired behavior
18. Reinforcer - in operant conditioning, any event that strengthens the behavior preceding it
19. Continuous reinforcement - reinforcing the desired response every time it occurs
20. 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
21. Positive Reinforcement - increasing behaviors by presenting pleasing stimuli, such as food; a positive reinforcement is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, strengthens the response
22. Negative reinforcement - increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing an unpleasant stimulus, such as a shock; negative reinforcement is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, strengthens the response
23. Punishment - in operant conditioning, any event that decreases the behavior preceding it
24. Positive punishment - decreasing behaviors by presenting unpleasant stimuli, such as physical pain; a positive punishment is any stimulus that, when presented after a response, decreases the response
25. Negative punishment - decreasing behaviors by stopping or reducing a pleasant stimulus; negative punishment is any stimulus that, when removed after a response, decreases the response
26. Prosocial behavior - any action intended to help others
27. Antisocial behavior - disruptive acts characterized by covert and overt hostility and intentional aggression toward others
28. Social learning theory - Bandura's theory that learning is a mental process that can occur purely through observation, even if the learner does not act out the behavior or be directly reinforced for the behavior
29. Observational learning - learning by watching others
30. Modeling - the process of observing and imitating specific behaviors

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