Psychology Classical Conditioning Quiz

Learning Concepts

• Learning involves lasting changes in behavior through experience.
• Acquisition marks the initiation of learning where a response is established and stimuli evoke conditioned responses.

Classical Conditioning

• Extinction occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) no longer elicits a conditioned response (CR) due to repeated presentation of the CS without the unconditioned stimulus (US).
• Spontaneous recovery refers to the re-emergence of a conditioned response after a delay, even after extinction has occurred.

Generalization and Discrimination

• Generalization is the tendency to respond similarly to different but akin stimuli, such as a dog salivating to various tones of pitch.
• Discrimination involves the ability to differentiate between different stimuli, responding only to specific stimuli while ignoring others.

Key Components of Classical Conditioning

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) automatically triggers an unconditioned response (UCR); e.g., the smell of food (UCS) causes hunger (UCR).
• A conditioned stimulus (CS) becomes associated with a UCS to produce a conditioned response (CR) over time.

Advanced Conditioning Techniques

• Aversive conditioning links unpleasant stimuli with undesirable behaviors to modify behavior, such as using nausea medication for alcohol treatment.
• Higher-order conditioning pairs a neutral stimulus with an established conditioned stimulus to elicit the same response.

Learned Behavior Phenomena

• Learned taste aversion occurs when a negative experience from consuming food leads to an aversion to that food, often from a single negative pairing.
• Operant conditioning involves learning through consequences, associating behaviors with rewards or punishments.

The Law of Effect

• Thorndike's Law of Effect illustrates that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are likely to be repeated, while those followed by unpleasant outcomes are less likely to recur.