AP Psych Modules 26-28 Notes PDF

Modules 26-28 Notes Module 26: How We Learn and Classical Conditioning How do we learn? Classical conditioning: preparing for significant events such as food or pain Operant conditioning: learn to repeat acts that bring rewards and avoid acts that bring unwanted results Cognitiv...

Modules 26-28 Notes Module 26: How We Learn and Classical Conditioning How do we learn? Classical conditioning: preparing for significant events such as food or pain Operant conditioning: learn to repeat acts that bring rewards and avoid acts that bring unwanted results Cognitive Learning: learn things we have neither experienced nor observed Learning: the process of acquiring through experience new and relatively enduring information or behaviors ○ Association: connecting events that occur in sequence ○ Learned associations feed our habitual behaviors (form when we repeat behaviors in a given context, which leads to the experience of that context evoking our habitual response) Habituation: decreasing responsiveness with repeated exposure to a stimulus Associative Learning: learning that events occur together, The events might be two stimuli (as in classical conditioning) or a response and its consequence (as in operant conditioning). Classical conditioning: we learn to associate two stimuli and thus to anticipate events ○ Respondent behavior: behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus Operant conditioning: we learn to associate a response/our behavior with its consequences. ○ Operant behavior: behavior that operates on the environment, producing consequences. Cognitive Learning: acquisition of mental information that guides our behavior ○ Observational learning: lets us learn from others’ experiences Classical Conditioning: Classical Conditioning: a type of learning in which we link two or more stimuli; as a result, to illustrate with Pavlov’s classic experiment, the first stimulus (a tone) comes to elicit behavior (drooling) in anticipation of the second stimulus (food). Pavlov’s experiments influenced Watson to create behaviorism (psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes) Pavlov’s Experiments: Neutral Stimulus: a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning Unconditioned stimulus: a stimulus that is unconditionally and naturally triggers the unconditioned response Unconditioned response: an unlearned, naturally occurring response to an unconditioned stimulus Conditioned response: a learned response to a previously neutral stimulus. Conditioned stimulus: an originally neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, comes to trigger a conditioned response In his experiment, the drooling is an unconditioned response, and the food is an unconditioned stimulus. Drooling after the tone is a conditioned response, and the tone is the conditioned stimulus. Acquisition: In classical conditioning: The initial stage when one links a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus begins triggering the conditioned response ○ Classical conditioning is biologically adaptive because it helps humans prepare for good and bad events  Modules 26-28 Notes In operant conditioning: The strengthening of a reinforced response Higher-order conditioning: a neutral stimulus can become a conditioned stimulus when it is associated with a previously conditioned stimulus (e.g., light, tone, and food) Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery: Extinction: the diminishing of a conditioned response that occurs in classical conditioning when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus and occurs in operant conditioning when a response is no longer reinforced Spontaneous recovery: the reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response Generalization: Generalization: the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses ○ Occurs in operant conditioning when responses learned in one situation occur in other, similar situations Discrimination: Discrimination: the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus ○ Occurs in operant conditioning: the ability to distinguish responses that are reinforced versus those that are not reinforced Pavlov’s Legacy: Many other responses to many other stimuli can be classically conditioned in many other organisms Showed how learning can be studied objectively Applications of Classical Conditioning: Drug Cravings, Food Cravings, Immune Responses Little Albert Experiment Module 27: Operant Conditioning Defining Operant Conditioning: Operant Conditioning: a type of learning in which a behavior becomes more likely to recur if followed by a reinforcer or less likely to recur if followed by a punisher Skinner’s Experiments: Law of Effect: Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable consequences become more likely and that behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences become less likely Operant Box: designed by Skinner, a chamber containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate to obtain food or water reinforcer (attached devices record the animal’s rate of bar pressing or key pecking) ○ Animals act out the concept of reinforcement (any event that strengthens a preceding response) Shaping Behavior: ○ Shaping: gradually guiding actions toward a desired outcome/behavior by rewarding successive approximations ○ Discriminative Stimulus: in operant conditioning, a stimulus that elicits a response after association with reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement) (e.g., a pigeon only pecking the screen at a human face) Types of Reinforcers:  Modules 26-28 Notes Positive reinforcement: increasing behaviors by presenting positive reinforcement. Strengthens the response after it is presented. Negative reinforcement: increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing aversive stimuli. For example, a negative reinforcement, when removed, strengthens the response (e.g., taking pain medication) Primary and Conditioned Reinforcement: Primary reinforcement: unlearned (e.g., getting food when hungry) Conditioned reinforcement: get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers (e.g., desire for money because it provides food) Immediate and Delayed Reinforcers: If the reinforcement is provided after more than 30 seconds, the rate will not learn to respond to a stimulus ○ Humans DO respond to delayed stimulus Reinforcement Schedules: Reinforcement Schedule: a pattern that defines how often a desired response will be reinforced (getting told a good job after every good test grade) Continuous Reinforcement: learning occurs rapidly, but extinction occurs rapidly; reinforcement of the desired response every time it occurs Partial/Intermittent reinforcement schedules: responses are reinforced only a part of the time, which results in slower acquisition of the response, but greater resistance to extinction ○ Fixed-Ratio schedules: reinforce a response only after a specified number of responses ○ Variable-Ratio schedules: reinforce a response after an unpredictable number of responses ○ Fixed-interval schedules: reinforce a response only after a specified time interval has elapsed ○ Variable-interval schedules: reinforce a response at unpredictable intervals Response rates tend to be higher when reinforcement schedules are linked to a number of responses rather than a time interval, but the responses are more consistent when reinforcement is variable than when it is fixed Punishment: Punishment decreases the behavior that follows Positive Punishment: administers an aversive stimulus (e.g., giving a traffic ticket for speeding) Negative Punishment: withdrawing a rewarding stimulus (e.g., taking away a teen’s phone) Punished behavior is suppressed, not forgotten, and this temporary state may negatively reinforce parents’ punishing behavior Punishment teaches discrimination Punishment can teach fear Physical punishment may increase aggression by modeling violence as a way to cope with problems Skinner’s Legacy: Reinforcement is more human than punishment as a means for controlling behavior  Modules 26-28 Notes Module 28: Operant Conditioning’s Applications and Comparison to Classical Conditioning Applications of Operant Conditioning: