PSY 103 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: B. F. Skinner, Conditioned Taste Aversion, Classical Conditioning
10 Jan 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
PSY NOTES 2
Chapter 6: Learning
• Learning – a process based on experience that results in a relatively
consistent change in behavior or behavior potential
➢ Consists of a response influenced by the lessons of memory
➢ Learning can only take place through experience
• Learning – performance distinction – difference between what has been
learned and what is expressed (performed)
Forms of Learning
• Habituation – a decrease in behavioral response when a stimulus is
presented repeatedly
➢ Ex: first time seeing a pleasant scene you have a fairly strong
response – if you view same image repeatedly, your emotional
response will become weaker
➢ Helps keep focus on novel events
➢ A change in behavior (your emotional response) that is based on
experience (seeing the image repeatedly)
• Sensitization – an increase in behavioral response when a stimulus is
presented repeatedly
➢ Ex: when you experience the same painful stimulus several times in
short succession - the final stimulus would be more painful than the
initial stimulus
➢ When stimuli are more intense or irritating
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Behavior Analysis – focuses on the environmental determinants of learning
and behavior
➢ Originated by B.F. Skinner
Classical Conditioning
• Classical conditioning – a type of learning in which a behavior (conditional
response) comes to be elicited by a stimulus (conditioned stimulus) that has
acquired its power through an association with a biologically significant
stimulus (unconditional stimulus)
➢ One stimulus or event predicts the occurrence of another stimulus or
event
➢ GOAL: to make a neutral (conditioned) stimulus elicit a response by
pairing it with an unconditioned stimulus
➢ Ivan Pavlov – classical conditioning in dogs
✓ Before conditioning –
o Unconditional stimulus [food] → naturally elicits the
unconditional response
o Conditioned (neutral) stimulus [tone]→ no eliciting
effect
✓ During conditioning –
o Conditioned stimulus is paired with unconditional
stimulus → conditioned stimulus elicits unconditioned
response
✓ After conditioning –
o Conditioned stimulus → conditioned response
ANOTHER SUMMARY OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING:
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
➢ Unconditioned stimulus – before any training; leads to
unconditional response
✓ UCS → UCR (Food → salivation)
✓ Unconditioned response – response elicited by an
unconditional stimulus without prior training or learning
➢ Conditioned stimulus – with training; a previously neutral stimulus
that comes to elicit a conditioned response
✓ Conditioned stimulus – is paired with unconditioned stimulus;
leads to unconditioned stimulus
✓ CS + UCS (Tone + Food)
✓ After many pairings of CS + UCS, CS leads to conditioned
response (CS → CR) [ Tone → Salivation)
➢ Conditioned response – response elicited by some previously neutral
stimulus that occurs as a result of pairing the neutral stimulus with
an unconditioned stimulus
Terms related to Classical conditioning
• Temporal Contiguity – the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned
stimulus should be close in time (tone should signal food is about to come)
• Stimulus Generalization – similar stimuli that have never been paired with
UCS automatically elicits the conditioned response
➢ The more similar the new stimulus is to the original CS, the stronger
the response will be
➢ Ex: even when a predator makes a slightly different sound, its prey
can still recognize and respond to it quickly
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Chapter 6: learning: learning a process based on experience that results in a relatively consistent change in behavior or behavior potential. Consists of a response influenced by the lessons of memory. Learning can only take place through experience: learning performance distinction difference between what has been learned and what is expressed (performed) Forms of learning: habituation a decrease in behavioral response when a stimulus is presented repeatedly. Ex: first time seeing a pleasant scene you have a fairly strong response if you view same image repeatedly, your emotional response will become weaker. A change in behavior (your emotional response) that is based on experience (seeing the image repeatedly: sensitization an increase in behavioral response when a stimulus is presented repeatedly. Ex: when you experience the same painful stimulus several times in short succession - the final stimulus would be more painful than the initial stimulus.
