Psychology 1000 Study Guide - Final Guide: Foodborne Illness, Operant Conditioning, Habituation
15 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
CHAPTER 7 STUDY QUESTIONS
LEARNING & ADAPTATION: THE ROLE OF EXPERIENCE
1. Define learning. Why do we learn?
• Learning: process by experience produces an enduring change in an organisms
behaviour or capabilities.
• We learn in order to increase our intelligence so that we can become better in a
certain quality.
2. What function does learning serve?
Learning increases the intelligence of an organism which benefits it.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
1. What are the basic principles of Pavlov’s Classical conditioning?
• Association of a neural stimulus with one that consistently elicits a response
• Acquisition – period during with response is being learned
• CS and UCS are paired = learning trial
• More intense the UCS, the quicker the learning
o Unconditioned stimulus → unconditioned response
o Pair conditioned stimulus with unconditioned stimulus
o Conditioned stimulus → conditioned response
• Example:
o Dog sees meat (UCS) → Dog salivates (UCR)
o Pair meat with ring of bell (CS)
o Ring of bell (CS) → Dog salivate (CR)
2. Define the following terms/concepts:
• Habituation – decrease in response strength to a repeated stimulus.
• Unconditioned stimulus – unlearned stimulus (e.g. food, pain).
• Unconditioned response – unlearned response (e.g. salivation, fear).
• Conditioned stimulus – learned stimulus (e.g. fish after food poisoning).
• Conditioned response – learned response (e.g. salivation to an object paired with
food).
3. Explain the concepts of extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization, and
stimulus discrimination.
Extinction: the weakening of the conditioned response by presenting the CS without the
UCS.
Spontaneous recovery: after extinction, recovery with appear.
Stimulus generalization: neutral stimuli, similar to condition stimulus, elicit response.
o A similar CS causes the CR
Stimulus discrimination: the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and similar
stimuli.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
4. Use the concepts of classical conditioning to explain acquiring and overcoming a fear.
Acquiring: unconditioned stimulus/response = fear.
Overcoming: expose patient to the fear stimulus, small increments at a time.
5. What are some of the strengths and limitations of classical conditioning?
Strengths: learn from environment, supports nurture, based on scientific evidence,
complex behaviour broken down.
Limitations: no free will, underestimated uniqueness, lacks validity, hard to describe
behaviour in terms of nature or nurture.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
1. How was the theory of Operant conditioning developed? Which researchers
contributed to the development?
• Operant conditioning: learning by associating a behaviour with its consequences.
• Skinner, Thorndike’s experiment.
2. Explain Thorndike’s “Law of Effect”. Define operant conditioning.
• Law of effect: any behaviour that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to
be repeated.
• Operant conditioning: learning by associating a behaviour with its consequences.
o Learning occurs when you can recognize when one event predicts another.
3. What is the main difference between primary and secondary reinforcers? Explain the
difference between reinforcement and punishment? Give an example of each of the
following:
Primary reinforcers: a stimulus that an organism naturally finds, satisfy biological needs.
Secondary reinforcers: by association with primary reinforcers (e.g. money).
Reinforcer: reward for desired behaviour, strengthens behavioural response.
Punishment: penalty for undesired behaviour, weakens behavioural response.
• positive reinforcement – goal scored, money given.
• negative reinforcement – alarm will turn off if you get out of bed.
• positive punishment – a child gets a time out for acting up.
• negative punishment – if you drunk drive, you lose your license.
4. Describe how a new behavior is acquired through shaping and through chaining.
Shaping: reinforce successive approximations of the desired behaviour.
• Dog sits
• Dog sits then moves paw
• Dog sits and raised its paw to chest height
• Dog sits and places paw in your hand
Chaining: reinforce each behaviour in a sequence with the opportunity to produce the
next response in the chain.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
111
PSYCH 1000 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
111 documents
Document Summary
Learning & adaptation: the role of experience: define learning. Learning increases the intelligence of an organism which benefits it. Extinction: the weakening of the conditioned response by presenting the cs without the. Stimulus generalization: neutral stimuli, similar to condition stimulus, elicit response: a similar cs causes the cr. Stimulus discrimination: the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and similar stimuli: use the concepts of classical conditioning to explain acquiring and overcoming a fear. Strengths: learn from environment, supports nurture, based on scientific evidence, complex behaviour broken down. Limitations: no free will, underestimated uniqueness, lacks validity, hard to describe behaviour in terms of nature or nurture. Which researchers contributed to the development: operant conditioning: learning by associating a behaviour with its consequences, skinner, thorndike"s experiment, explain thorndike"s law of effect . Give an example of each of the following: Primary reinforcers: a stimulus that an organism naturally finds, satisfy biological needs. Secondary reinforcers: by association with primary reinforcers (e. g. money).
