Chapter 1 | PSYC 2044 - Psychology of Learning, Quizzes of Psychology

Download Chapter 1 | PSYC 2044 - Psychology of Learning and more Quizzes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 What is behavior DEFINITION 1 Any activity of an organism that can be observed or somehow measured. Doesn't matter if the activity is seen or not seen internal or external. TERM 2 What is Learning? DEFINITION 2 A relatively permanent change in behavior that results from some type of experience. TERM 3 Classical Conditioning DEFINITION 3 Inborn behaviors come to be produced in new situations. Reflexive or involuntary (sneezing or salivating at food) TERM 4 What does classical conditioning explain DEFINITION 4 Emotional responsesLikes and dislikesHow we develop debilitating fears and powerful feelings of sexual attraction TERM 5 Example of classical conditioning DEFINITION 5 Dwight learning to reach for a mint in response to a tone that has been paired with Jim's offer of mintsTone: Offer Mint --> reach for mintTone --> reach for mint TERM 6 Operant Conditioning DEFINITION 6 Strengthening or weakening of a behavior as a result of its consequences. Consequence of the behavior serves to strengthen future occurrences of that behavior.These behaviors are "voluntary" or goal directed(Rat pressing lever and learning food pellet comes) TERM 7 Observational Learning DEFINITION 7 Involves observation of a model's behavior, which facilitates the development of similar behavior in an observerExample: Learn to ski by watching a ski instructor. Observing someone hit the Bobo Doll and learning to hit Bobo Doll yourself - Bandura TERM 8 Nativist (Nature) Behavioral tendencies are... Who believed this? DEFINITION 8 Assumes that a person's abilities and behavioral tendencies are largely inbornPlato believed that everything we know is inbornLearning is simply a process of inner reflection to uncover the knowledge that already exists within TERM 9 Empiricist (Nurture) Knowledge is... Who believed this? DEFINITION 9 Knowledge is not inborn but instead is acquired through EXPERIENCEEmpiricism assumes that a person's abilities and tendencies are mostly learned!Aristotle believed this TERM 10 Aristotles Four Laws of Association include... DEFINITION 10 1. Law of Similarity (cars and trucks)2. Law of Contrast (black and white)3. Law of Contiguity (thunder and lightening)*****important today4. Law of Frequency (flashcards)*****important today TERM 21 Behaviorism Who? DEFINITION 21 John B. WatsonStudy of environmental influences on observable behavior because we are unable to directly observe another person's thoughts and feelings. TERM 22 For psychology to be a purely "objective science" it must be based on the study of - DEFINITION 22 directly observable behavior and the environmental events that surround it TERM 23 Law of Parsimony DEFINITION 23 Simpler explanations for a phenomenon are generally preferable to more complex explanations TERM 24 Morgan's Canon argued that we should interpret an animal's behavior in terms of DEFINITION 24 Lower, more primitive processes (reflex or habit)Rather than higher, more mentalistic processes (decision or imagination)Watson thought the same should be true for interpretations of human behavior. TERM 25 Watson's Methodological Behaviorism DEFINITION 25 One studies the direct relationship between changes in environment and changes in observable behavior, not feelings or thoughts.Events that can only be subjectively perceived (inner thoughts and feelings)Assumed to exist on an unconscious level (mothers unconscious hatred of her unwanted children)EXTREME point of view made psychology sciencebaby throws spoon with spinach on it at mom - dont infer baby hates mom or spinach, just that spoon is now over there, TERM 26 Hull's Neobehaviorism DEFINITION 26 Hull claimed that Watson's rejection of unobservable events was scientifically unsoundPhysicists and chemists look at things that cant be directly observed but can be operationalized - so psychologists should infer the existence of internal events that might mediate between the environment and behavior. Theorists make use of intervening variables, in the form of hypothesized PHYSIOLOGICAL (hunger) processes. TERM 27 Tolman's Cognitive Behaviorism DEFINITION 27 Tolman disagreed with Hull and believed that it would be more useful to analyze behavior on a BROADER levelBehavior is more than just a chain of discrete responses attached to discrete stimuli - it is an OVERALL pattern of behavior directed toward particular outcomesIt utilizes intervening variables, in the form of hypothesized COGNITIVE processes (expectations and hypotheses). LATENT LEARNING - rat runs through maze hypothesizes he'll find food TERM 28 Latent Learning DEFINITION 28 Learning occurs despite the absence of any observable demonstration of learningOnly becomes apparent under a different set of conditions TERM 29 Bandura's Social Learning Theory DEFINITION 29 A cognitive behavioral approachEmphasizes the importance of OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING and COGNITIVE VARIABLES in explaining human behavior (Bobo doll experiment)RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM - teacher example TERM 30 Reciprocal Determinism DEFINITION 30 States that environmental events, observable behavior, and "person variables" (including thoughts and feelings) have reciprocal influence on each other -- are all inner related(If class looks bored, teacher tells an awkward joke or is sad - the environment affected her behavior) TERM 31 How does social learning theory treat psychological disorders DEFINITION 31 Cognitive-behavior therapy: Altering both environmental variables and cognitive processes TERM 32 Skinner's Radical Behaviorism DEFINITION 32 Emphasizes the influence of the environment on overt (publically observable) behavior.REJECTS the use of INTERNAL events to explain behaviorThoughts and feelings are behaviors that themselves need to be explainedStudying and any thoughts about achieving a high mark because you have achieved a high mark before.Rat running through maze because in the past they found food. TERM 33 DEFINITION 33 Emergency --> internal feeling of concern --> provide helpEmergency --> observable behavior (provide help) --> internal feeling of concernEmergency --> provide help --> feel concern TERM 34 Why not study internal events? (4) DEFINITION 34 - Assessments of internal thoughts and feelings are unreliable (teaching the feeling of pain)- Often difficult to determine the actual relationship of thoughts and feelings to behavior (providing help in emergency, it is hard to know which came first)-We do not have any means of directly changing these internal events (think calm thoughts)-Such explanations are sometimes only pseudo explanations (I feel like going to the movies) TERM 35 Skinner's Molar View DEFINITION 35 -Only reflexive behaviors are automatically elicited by the stimuli that precede them (salivating in response to food)- Behaviors that are controlled by their consequences are more flexible and less predictable (Rat running in maze because behavior in past found food at the end of maze)-We should explain the behavior by referring to past experience