Classical Conditioning
Who discovered classical conditioning by studying dogs’ salivation?
✅ Ivan Pavlov
💡 Russian physiologist who paired a neutral stimulus (lab coat) with food → learned response.
Who coined “operant conditioning”?
✅ B.F. Skinner
💡 Focused on voluntary behavior shaped by consequences.
Reinforcing every correct response is what schedule?
✅ Continuous Reinforcement
💡 Best for learning new behaviors quickly.
Who studied latent learning in rats?
✅ Edward Tolman
💡 Discovered hidden learning shown only when there’s a reward.
What was the significance of the “Bobo Doll” experiment?
✅ It demonstrated that children learn behaviors through observation and imitation.
💡 Showed the power of observational learning — people can learn without direct reinforcement.
What is it called when a learned response weakens after the UCS is removed?
✅ Extinction
💡 The CR fades when reinforcement (UCS) no longer follows the CS.
Thorndike’s “Law of Effect” says what?
✅ Behaviors followed by pleasant outcomes are repeated; unpleasant ones are not.
💡 Foundation for operant conditioning.
What schedule leads to the most resistant behavior to extinction?
✅ Variable Ratio (VR)
💡 Gambling 🎰 and fishing 🎣 use this — unpredictable rewards keep behavior strong.
What term describes a mental representation of physical space?
✅ Cognitive Map
💡 Rats made a “map” of the maze before being rewarded.
Observational learning requires what 4 elements (A.M.I.M.)?
✅ Attention, Memory, Imitation, Motivation
💡 You must notice, remember, copy, and want to repeat.
The reappearance of a learned response after extinction is called what?
✅ Spontaneous Recovery
💡 The CR can re-emerge even after being “forgotten.”
What’s the difference between positive and negative reinforcement?
✅ Positive adds something good; negative removes something good.
💡 Both increase behavior.
A worker gets paid every 2 weeks. What schedule is this, and why?
✅ Fixed Interval (FI)
💡 Reinforcement after a predictable time period. (fixed= predictable, Interval= time)
What is an “Aha!” moment in problem-solving called?
✅ Insight Learning
💡 Sudden understanding of a solution (Kohler’s chimps 🍌).
Learning that can occur without performing the behavior is called what?
✅ Learning/Performance Distinction
💡 You can know it before you show it.
What’s the difference between stimulus generalization and discrimination?
✅ Generalization: similar stimuli trigger CR; Discrimination: only the specific CS does.
💡 Ex: Baby scared of all furry animals (generalization) vs. only white rats (discrimination).
Losing access to your phone for misbehaving is what kind of punishment?
✅ Negative Punishment
💡 Removal of a pleasant stimulus decreases behavior. (remove somthing good -> decrase behavior)
Checking your phone randomly for notifications is an example of what schedule?
✅ Variable Interval (VI)
💡 Unpredictable timing keeps behavior steady.
Failing to act after repeated failures is called what?
✅ Learned Helplessness
💡 Seligman’s dogs stopped trying to escape shocks.
Training a cat to use a toilet uses what technique?
✅ Shaping
💡 Reinforcing small steps (successive approximations) toward a complex behavior 🐈⬛🚽.
Pairing a strong CS with a new NS to create a second CS is called what?
✅ Higher-Order Conditioning
💡 Example: A bell (CS) is paired with a light (NS) → light alone elicits response.
The tendency for an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors despite conditioning is called what?
✅ Instinctive Drift
💡 Learned behavior “drifts” back to innate tendencies (like raccoons washing food).
Reinforcing behavior after a set number of responses?
✅ Fixed Ratio (FR)
💡 “Buy 10 coffees ☕, get 1 free” — encourages high response rate.
(fixed= predictable reward -> 1 free coffee, Ratio= after a certain amount to times -> 10 coffees)
Cognitive learning differs from behaviorism because it emphasizes what?
✅ Internal mental processes (thinking, memory, reasoning)
💡 Not just stimulus and response — includes how we think.
What is the significance of taste aversion?
✅ It showed that organisms can develop a powerful aversion to a food after just one pairing with illness.
💡 Demonstrated biological preparedness — some associations (like taste and sickness) are learned more easily because they aid survival.