Learning flashcards

Learning in AP Psychology refers to a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that results from experience. Students must understand classical conditioning, including Pavlov's key concepts such as unconditioned and conditioned stimuli and responses, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination. Operant conditioning, developed by Skinner, covers reinforcement and punishment, schedules of reinforcement, and shaping. Students should also understand observational learning through Bandura's work, including the role of modeling and vicarious reinforcement. Cognitive factors in learning, such as latent learning and insight, show that not all learning is directly observable. Biological predispositions, including preparedness and instinctive drift, remind students that evolution places limits on what organisms can learn. Understanding how these principles interact and apply to real-world behavior is essential for success on the exam.

1. Card 1

   What is classical conditioning?

   Classical conditioning is learning in which a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus, eventually triggering a conditioned response on its own.

2. Card 2

   What is the difference between a UCS and a CS in classical conditioning?

   The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) naturally triggers a response, while the conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that triggers a response only after association with the UCS.

3. Card 3

   What is extinction in classical conditioning?

   Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus, causing the conditioned response to gradually weaken and disappear.

4. Card 4

   What is spontaneous recovery?

   Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period, showing the original association was not fully erased.

5. Card 5

   What distinguishes positive reinforcement from negative reinforcement?

   Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus to increase behavior; negative reinforcement removes an unpleasant stimulus to increase behavior. Both strengthen responses.

6. Card 6

   What is a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement?

   A fixed-ratio schedule delivers reinforcement after a set number of responses, producing high, steady response rates with a brief pause after each reinforcement.

7. Card 7

   Which reinforcement schedule produces the most resistance to extinction?

   The variable-ratio schedule produces the greatest resistance to extinction because reinforcement is unpredictable, keeping response rates high and consistent.

8. Card 8

   What is shaping in operant conditioning?

   Shaping is the process of reinforcing successive approximations of a desired behavior, gradually guiding an organism toward a target response it would not naturally perform.

9. Card 9

   What did Bandura's Bobo doll experiment demonstrate?

   It demonstrated observational learning, showing that children imitate aggressive behavior modeled by adults even without direct reinforcement for doing so.

10. Card 10

    What is latent learning?

    Latent learning is learning that occurs without obvious reinforcement and is not immediately expressed in behavior, as shown in Tolman's maze experiments with rats.

11. Card 11

    What is instinctive drift?

    Instinctive drift is the tendency of animals to revert to instinctive behaviors during conditioning, showing that biology can limit or interfere with learned behaviors.

12. Card 12

    What is preparedness in the context of learning?

    Preparedness refers to the biological predisposition of organisms to more easily learn associations that have survival value, such as taste aversions after eating harmful food.

• Many students confuse negative reinforcement with punishment; negative reinforcement always increases behavior by removing something unpleasant, while punishment decreases behavior.
• Students often mix up the unconditioned response and the conditioned response, not realizing they can look identical but differ in what stimulus triggers them.
• A common error is assuming that observational learning requires the observer to be reinforced directly, when in fact vicarious reinforcement, seeing someone else rewarded, is sufficient.

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