Psych 6&7

Study Notes

A type of learning where a stimulus acquires the ability to elicit a response initially evoked by another stimulus.
Pioneered by Ivan Pavlov, who conditioned dogs to salivate at the sound of a tone.
Maintains control over involuntary and reflexive responses like emotional responses (fears) and physiological responses (immunosuppression).
Responses controlled through classical conditioning are considered elicited.
Begins with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) eliciting an unconditioned response (UCR).
A neutral stimulus is later paired with the UCS, transforming it into a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits a conditioned response (CR).

Acquisition: The process where a CS and UCS are paired, gradually leading to a CR. Dependent on stimulus contiguity: the temporal association between events.
Extinction: The disappearance of a CR when the CS is repeatedly presented alone.
Spontaneous Recovery: The reappearance of an extinguished response after a period of non-exposure to the CS.
Generalization: A CR is elicited by a new stimulus resembling the original CS, as seen in Watson and Rayner's Little Albert experiment.
Discrimination: A CR is NOT elicited by a new stimulus resembling the original CS.
Higher-order conditioning: A CS acts as a UCS.

A type of learning where responses are controlled by their consequences.
Rooted in E.L. Thorndike's work on instrumental learning and the law of effect.
Pioneered by B.F. Skinner, demonstrating the tendency of rats and pigeons to repeat actions followed by positive outcomes.
Primarily regulates voluntary, spontaneous responses like studying, working, joking, and asking someone out.
Responses controlled through operant conditioning are considered emitted.
Demonstrations involve Skinner boxes where reinforcement is controlled.
Response rate, monitored by a cumulative recorder, is the key dependent variable. Steeper slopes on graphs signify faster responding.

Acquisition: A response gradually increases due to contingent reinforcement.
Extinction: Responding slowly diminishes and stops after reinforcement is removed.
Resistance to extinction: An organism continues to respond despite the termination of reinforcement.
Generalization: Responding increases in the presence of a stimulus similar to the original discriminative stimulus.
Discrimination: Responding does NOT increase in the presence of a stimulus similar to the original discriminative stimulus.
Primary reinforcers: Inherently reinforcing, while secondary reinforcers are learned.

Reinforcement is applied only sometimes.
Ratio schedules: Reinforcer given after a fixed (FR) or variable (VR) number of non-reinforced responses.
Interval schedules: Reinforcer given for the first response after a fixed (FI) or variable (VI) time interval.
Ratio schedules (FR and VR) lead to higher response rates, while variable schedules (VR and VI) lead to greater resistance to extinction.

Positive reinforcement: A rewarding stimulus is presented after a response.
Negative reinforcement: An aversive stimulus is removed after a response. Plays a crucial role in escape and avoidance learning.
Punishment: An event following a response weakens the tendency to repeat it.
Punishment can have side effects like negative emotional responses and increased aggression.
When using punishment for disciplinary reasons, it should be swift, just severe enough to be effective, explained, and non-physical.

Instinctive drift: An animal's inherent response tendencies interfere with conditioning processes.
John Garcia discovered the difficulty of creating some associations, while readily acquired conditioned taste aversions occur despite long CS-UCS delays, suggesting a biological preparedness for certain associations.