Psychology FRQ Review Flashcards

Learning Concepts

• Learning is the process of acquiring new and enduring information or behaviors.
• Habituation involves decreased responsiveness to repeated stimuli, demonstrated by infants losing interest in familiar visual stimuli.
• Associative learning refers to linking certain events together, such as in classical and operant conditioning.

Key Terms in Conditioning

• Stimulus is any event or situation that triggers a response.
• Cognitive learning entails acquiring mental information through observation or language.
• Classical conditioning allows individuals to learn associations between stimuli.

Types of Stimuli

• Neutral stimuli elicit no response before conditioning begins.
• Unconditioned response (UR) is an unlearned reaction to a natural stimulus.
• Unconditioned stimulus (US) is a stimulus that automatically triggers a response.

Conditioning Processes

• Acquisition is the initial stage in classical conditioning where a neutral stimulus begins to trigger a conditioned response.
• Higher-order conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus is paired with a new neutral stimulus.
• Extinction is the reduction or disappearance of a conditioned response when the US no longer follows the CS.

Behavioral Reactions

• Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a pause.
• Generalization is the tendency to respond similarly to stimuli that resemble the conditioned stimulus.
• Discrimination involves the ability to distinguish between the conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that do not signal a US.

Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning strengthens or weakens behavior based on reinforcement or punishment.
• The law of effect states behaviors followed by favorable consequences are more likely to recur.
• An operant chamber is a controlled environment used to study animal behavior with a mechanism for reinforcement.

Reinforcement

• Reinforcement strengthens behavior; can be positive (adding a stimulus) or negative (removing a stimulus).
• Shaping is a process where reinforcers guide behavior toward the desired action.
• Discriminative stimuli signal availability of reinforcement, influencing response occurrences.

Types of Reinforcers

• Positive reinforcement increases behaviors via positive stimuli.
• Negative reinforcement enhances behaviors by eliminating negative factors.
• Primary reinforcers are innate stimuli that satisfy basic needs, strengthening responses upon presentation.