Chapter 5 - Learning (Classical Conditioning)

Reflexes: Involuntary Response to stimuli Instincts: Inborn patterns of behavior elicited by environmental stimuli Learning: A permanent change in behavior or capacity of
behavior due to experience
Non-associative learning: Habituation: Tendency to respond to stimuli lessens as stimuli become more familiar (Dehabitualization: reappearance of original response
when a stimulus changes); Sensitization: increase in responsiveness to a stimulus; most often an unexpected & potentially threatening stimulus. These can’t explain many
behaviors & mental processes studied by psychology
Pavlov’s Discovery: Famous for studying the digestive system of dogs. Dog salivating with or without unchanged stimulus.
Associative learning: Classical Conditioning: The process in which a neutral stimulus that already triggers an automatic response. Operant Conditioning (See below)
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): The stimulus that naturally elicits a response without conditioning. (Food)
Unconditioned Response (UCR): The response to a stimulus that would come automatically. (Salivating to food)
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A unconditioned stimulus being paired with a neutral stimulus. (Food paired with bell)
Conditioned Response (CR): The response to a neutral stimulus after being paired with an unconditioned stimulus. (Salivating to sound of bell)
Contingency: amount of time stimulus is shown to the subject Contiguity: frequency
Extinction: The process of the CS no longer being paired with the US & gradually causing a decrease in the CR. Reconditioning: The process of relearning a CR after
extinction. Spontaneous Recovery: Temporary reappearance of a CR after extinction. The CR can be greater the longer the subject goes without hearing it.
Stimulus Generalization: conditioned response is triggered by a stimulus like the original conditioned stimulus (person bitten by one dog fears all dogs)
Stimulus Discrimination: people learn to differentiate among similar stimuli & respond appropriately to each one (parents can take care of their crying kid in a different
way than a different crying kid)
Taste Aversion: classical conditioning can occur even when there is a delay between the CS(taste) & the UCS(sickness); nausea from eating spoiled food may be delayed
for a long time, people tend to not eat that same food again. (pair drug with alcohol to make alcoholics sick & think it’s alcohol)
Signaling of Significant Events: one event usually brings another event associated with it. (blue skies = good weather). Timing: classical conditioning works best when the
conditioned stimulus comes before the unconditioned stimulus (forward conditioning). Predictability: classical conditioning proceeds most rapidly when the CS always
signals the UCS & only the UCS (if a dog growls it may bite). Intensity the CR becomes stronger if the UCS is strong (It’s easier to remember Al Qaeda because they
caused 9/11). Attention is when a CS is more easily learned if there are no other CS to distract a subject (Learning the English alphabet is easier when you don’t hear
Spanish letters). Biopreparedness when you adapt to certain CS & react differently to them (Rat is shocked & sees light & water: avoids light & is ok with water. Rat is
made nauseous & sees light & water: avoids water & is ok with light). High Order Conditioning when you make the CS become the UCS without the need of the UCS
(Doctor lab coats normally mean nothing to a child, but if a man in a glaring white lab coat where to give the boy a shot & he felt pain from it, he would remember the man
in the white lab coat who gave him pain. Now, whenever the child sees a white lab coat they may remember pain of the shot).
Applications of Classical Conditioning: Phobias: irrational fears of objects or situations that are less dangerous than they are. (flooding: over-exposure to the stimulus;
Counterconditioning: pair stimulus with something they like; Systematic Desensitization: baby steps) Drugs: When drugs are used, the response to them gradually
decreases over time, which is caused by Habituation.
Operant Conditioning - behavior is controlled by consequences (reinforcements & punishments) Operant: Response that has some effect on the world (response that
operates on the environment) Reinforcer: Increases the probability that the operant will repeat (see more below)
Thorndike’s Law of Effect: A response that produces satisfaction/discomfort becomes more/less likely to occur again
Skinner Box & Behaviorism: experiment by Thorndike that exercises instrumental conditioning, which is when a subject is placed in a new environment, it uses positive &
negative stimuli to figure it out. Cat in the puzzle box (at first it would do nothing, but eventually stepped on the pedal that opened the door, & after repeated trials learns the
lever is the way out)
Shaping: the process of reinforcing successive approximations (responses that come successively closer to the desired behavior). It is a way to teach someone/something
how to do something through reinforcement the subject doesn’t use automatic responses over & over.
Reinforcement: increases probability of a behavior being repeated Positive Reinforcement - add positive stimulus; Negative Reinforcement - Removing unpleasant
stimulus
Escape/Avoidance Conditioning - Learning responses that stop/avoid an unpleasant stimulus. (Ex: Slowing down when you see a police car.)
Schedules of Reinforcement: (1) Fixed-ratio - Reinforcement after fixed number of responses (2) Variable-ratio - Reinforcement after varying number of responses (3)
Fixed-interval - Reinforcement for the first response after a fixed time (4) Variable-interval - Reinforcement for the first response after a varying amount of time
FIXED INTERVAL = INCONSISTENT BEHAVIOR; VARIABLE INTERVAL = CONSISTENT BEHAVIOR
Punishment: reduces the probability of a behavior being repeated Positive Punishment - presenting unpleasant stimulus. Negative Punishment - removing pleasant
stimulus.
Learned helplessness - give up on efforts to control the environment
Observational Learning - Learning how to perform new behaviors by watching others, most likely to occur when observed behavior is rewarded
Process of Observational Learning: Attention (needed to observe), Retention (remember observations), Reproduction (reproduce behavior), Motivation (need to
produce behavior)
Bandura’s Experiment: adults fight the doll, then kids fight the doll- Vicarious conditioning: social observational learning
Cognitive Influences on Operant Conditioning: Tolman; rats find their way through the maze, group A rewarded at the end, group B never rewarded, group C days 1-10 no
food but day 11 food at the end of the maze) latent learning: learning that occurred but was not evident when it first took place cognitive maps: mental representation of
some physical arrangement Biological Influences: Instinctive drift; instincts disrupt training
Token economies: effective rewards that are valuable to the people that you wish to motivate
Chapter 6 - Memory
Memory: the system by which we retain information & bring it to mind (retaining information & skills we acquire through experience)
3 functions of memory: Encoding: the transformation of information from one form to another; Storage: the retention of information over time; Retrieval: recovery of
stored information.
Semantic memory: The general meaning of an experience Episodic Memory: memory of an episode or moment of your life
Encoding Failure: information did not go into memory correctly. Storage Failure: information has disappeared from memory Retrieval Failure: information is stored in
memory but cannot be located.
Procedural memory: Memory of how to do something that can’t be explained in words (riding a bike). Sensory memory: Hold large amount of information for a short
time. Sensory register: Memory systems that briefly hold incoming information Iconic memory: The sensory register for visual information
Levels of Processing Model of Memory: Maintenance Rehearsal: memory depends on the extent to which you encode and process information when you first encounter
it. Elaborative Rehearsal: when you associate a memory with an object as a cue.
Transfer Appropriate Processing: When you encode information a way, so the information only works one specific way (Like studying for a multiple-choice exam but
instead getting an essay) Neural Network Processing: When you get used to a new environment by created a network of memories of this environment
Multiple Memory Systems: The idea that memory & how it works is held by multiple parts of the brain. Also, that if one part of the brain is damaged, the entire process of
memory can be affected.
Information-Processing (Atkinson Shiffrin Model): information must go through three stages of mental processing. Sensory memory: information from the senses;
stored for a couple seconds. Short term memory: result of sensory memory being perceived; stored for about 18 seconds. Is usually acoustic (stored by hearing). Long
term memory: short term memory can become a long-term memory if rehearsed; stored forever
Serial Position Effect: When given a list of information to remember, you most often remember the beginning (primacy effect) & the ending (regency effect), everything in
between has a high chance of being lost.
Retrieval cues: help you recall a long-term memory Encoding Specificity Principle: the ability of a cue to aid retrieval depending on how well it taps into the info that was
already coded. Flashbulb memories: permanently etched in the brain (not accurate) Eyewitness Testimony: reconstruction may be flawed
Context Specific Learning: memory can be different based on how you remembered it by the environment you were in. State Dependent memory is when we encode a
memory during a certain state of mind
Long Term Memory: unlimited capacity to store info Explicit/Declarative Memory: Semantic & Episodic -> Autobiographical)- Remembering facts, events, &
meanings, through conscious effort. Implicit/Non-Declarative Memory: Procedural memory, classical conditioning & priming (automatic, you can solve a puzzle faster
the second time you’re exposed to it) - Memory for skill & motor patterns, unintentional recollection & influence of prior experience.
Organization of long term memory: Spreading Activation- In semantic network theories of memory, a principle that explains how information is retrieved (one idea
sparks another). Schemas- Mental representations of categories of objects, places, events & people.
Relearning method - Method for measuring forgetting
Proactive(positive) interference - old info. mixing/interfering with new info.
Retroactive(negative) interference - new info. mixing/interfering with old info.
Short-term memory- Stage of memory in which unrehearsed information normally lasts for only 20 seconds, proved by the Brown-Paterson distractor technique.
Range: 7 +/- 2 = average of terms that a person can hold in short-term memory
Working memory – adaption of short-term memory
Immediate Memory Span- Maximum number of items a person can recall (Retrieving information stored in memory without help from cues) perfectly after one presentation
of items.
Chunking - grouping individual stimuli together to become a larger set of purposeful information (expand short term memory).
Theories of Forgetting: Decay Theory- forgetting is the gradual disappearance of info from memory. Proactive inhibition (interference)- NEW info interferes with the
ability to recall OLD info Retroactive (interference)- OLD info interferes with the ability to recall NEW info Retrieval theory: encoding failure Motivated forgetting:
depression or anxiety provoking material
Anterograde Amnesia- Loss of memory of events that occur after brain injury. Retrograde Amnesia- Loss of memory of events that occurred before brain injury
Mnemonic Strategies- Methods for organizing information to remember it.
Distributed Practice- Learning new information in many study sessions that are spaced across time. Massed Practice- Trying to learn complex new information in a single
long study period.
Chapter 7 – Language
Language: a system for communicating thought; a set of arbitrary signals that vary geographically; connect with others
Phoneme: smallest unit of sound that affects the meaning of the word. Example, tea is different than sea
Morpheme: smallest unit of language that has meaning. Examples, dog, run, prefixes & suffixes
Syntax: rules that govern the formation of of phrases & sentences. Grammar rules Semantics: rules governing the meaning of words & sentences.
Noam Chomsky- need to look at the underlying language/ meaning because many sentences can have more than one meaning; Surface structure: the order in which the
words are arranged; Deep structure: abstract representation of the underlying meaning of a given sentence.
Surface structure - The order in which words are arranged Deep structure - An abstract representation of the underlying meaning of a sentence.
Broca’s aphasia - figured out production of speech when observing dead stroke victims. Broca’s Area: production of speech Wernicke’s Area: comprehension of speech
Learning language: Behaviorist approach: everything happens through reinforcement Nativist approach: inborn sense of language
Stages of language development:
First year: First year vital for learning language; Infant vocalizations: early sounds, babbling - the repetition of syllables
Second year: One-word stage in second year of life. After 18 months, children leave out words that are not important; Wrong conjugations for irregular verbs
Age 3: Children use the right forms of verbs; Questions using 5 w’s; Age 5: Acquired most of the grammatical rules of native language; Children learn through imitation;
Bilingual children often more advanced in cognitive flexibility, concept formation, & creativity. Greater learning & memory capacity; Animals can learn to communicate
through ASL (Koko)
Chapter 8 - Intelligence
Intelligence= abstract thinking & problem-solving abilities & capacity to acquire knowledge & adapt to change
Alfred Binet & Theodore Simon’s Mental age - how well you perform in your age group in relation to other age groups; Chronological age - how old you are
Stanford-Binet - IQ (Intelligence) Test: average score is 100, four total versions. (mental/chronological) x100
Wechsler Intelligence Series - 3 different tests= verbal & nonverbal tasks, less dependent on formal schooling, & subsets scored separately.
Norms- frequency at which scores occur.
Stat reliability- consistency Validity- does the test measure what it’s supposed to.
Nature vs nurture- both affect intelligence, but nature/genes affect it more.
Conceptualizations: Single factor: (Charles Spearman) one basic factor in intelligence, called g factor. Performance based on g & ability specific to a skill, Triarchic
intelligence: (Robert Sternberg) Triarchi theory proposes three types of intelligence (analytical- success at school, creative- compose music, and practical- life experiences)
Multiple Intelligence: (Raymond Cattell) Fluid intelligence- fades. crystallized intelligence- stays stable (Howard Gardner) specific intelligences (linguistic, logical; -
mathematical, spatial, musical, body-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalistic, and emotional) Emotional Intelligence: (Dan Goleman) Collection of Abilities:
(L.L. Thurstein)
info-processing model- Approach to study of intelligence that focuses on mental operations (attention & memory) that underlie intelligent behavior. Intelligent brains
process information faster.
Extremes: Intellectual developmental disability- less than 70 iq. Down syndrome iq= 40-55 Psychosocial intellectual disability- mild cognitive disability w not obvious
cause. Gifted & Genius: better health, stability, more opportunities, not necessarily famous
Environmental Influences: The Flynn Effect: people getting smarter from generation to generation because the young have better health. Socioeconomic status (money
helps)
Stanford Binet 5th ED. subtests: 5 abilities; fluid reasoning (complete verbal analogies), knowledge (defining words, detecting absurdities), quantitative reasoning (solve
math), visual-spatial processing (assembling a puzzle), working memory (repeating sentence)
Biological Influences: intelligence is more genetic than environmental; Men - intelligence based on gray matter. Women - intelligence based on white matter.
twin and adoption studies