Chapter 8. Learning
Chapter Resources
Dinesh Ramoo
Key Terms
Key Terms
- acquisition: period of initial learning in classical conditioning in which a human or an animal begins to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus so that the neutral stimulus will begin to elicit the conditioned response
- associative learning: form of learning that involves connecting certain stimuli or events that occur together in the environment (classical and operant conditioning)
- classical conditioning: learning in which the stimulus or experience occurs before the behaviour and then gets paired or associated with the behaviour
- cognitive map: mental picture of the layout of the environment
- conditioned response (CR): response caused by the conditioned stimulus
- conditioned stimulus (CS): stimulus that elicits a response due to its being paired with an unconditioned stimulus
- continuous reinforcement: rewarding a behaviour every time it occurs
- extinction: decrease in the conditioned response when the unconditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the conditioned stimulus
- fear conditioning: a type of classical conditioning that elicits a fear response
- fixed interval reinforcement schedule: behaviour is rewarded after a set amount of time
- fixed ratio reinforcement schedule: set number of responses must occur before a behaviour is rewarded
- higher-order conditioning (second-order conditioning): using a conditioned stimulus to condition a neutral stimulus
- insight: the sudden understanding of a solution to a problem
- instinct: unlearned knowledge, involving complex patterns of behaviour; instincts are thought to be more prevalent in lower animals than in humans
- latent learning: learning that occurs, but may not be evident until there is a reason to demonstrate it
- law of effect: behaviour that is followed by consequences satisfying to the organism will be repeated and behaviours that are followed by unpleasant consequences will be discouraged
- learning: change in behaviour or knowledge that is the result of experience
- model: person who performs a behaviour that serves as an example (in observational learning)
- negative punishment: taking away a pleasant stimulus to decrease or stop a behaviour
- negative reinforcement: taking away an undesirable stimulus to increase a behaviour
- neutral stimulus (NS): stimulus that does not initially elicit a response
- observational learning: type of learning that occurs by watching others
- operant conditioning: form of learning in which the stimulus/experience happens after the behaviour is demonstrated
- partial reinforcement: rewarding behaviour only some of the time
- positive punishment: adding an undesirable stimulus to stop or decrease a behaviour
- positive reinforcement: adding a desirable stimulus to increase a behaviour
- primary reinforcer: has innate reinforcing qualities (e.g., food, water, shelter, sex)
- punishment: implementation of a consequence in order to decrease a behaviour
- radical behaviourism: staunch form of behaviourism developed by B. F. Skinner that suggested that even complex higher mental functions like human language are nothing more than stimulus-outcome associations
- reflex: unlearned, automatic response by an organism to a stimulus in the environment
- reinforcement: implementation of a consequence in order to increase a behaviour
- secondary reinforcer: has no inherent value unto itself and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with something else (e.g., money, gold stars, poker chips)
- shaping: rewarding successive approximations toward a target behaviour
- spontaneous recovery: return of a previously extinguished conditioned response
- stimulus discrimination: ability to respond differently to similar stimuli
- stimulus generalisation: demonstrating the conditioned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus
- unconditioned response (UCR): natural (unlearned) behaviour to a given stimulus
- unconditioned stimulus (US): stimulus that elicits a reflexive response
- variable interval reinforcement schedule: behaviour is rewarded after unpredictable amounts of time have passed
- variable ratio reinforcement schedule: number of responses differ before a behaviour is rewarded
- vicarious punishment: process where the observer sees the model punished, making the observer less likely to imitate the model’s behaviour
- vicarious reinforcement: process where the observer sees the model rewarded, making the observer more likely to imitate the model’s behaviour
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Chapter Attribution
“Learning” by Dinesh Ramoo is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence. It was adapted from the “Learning” chapter in Introduction to Psychology & Neuroscience (2nd Edition) edited by Leanne Stevens, Jennifer Stamp, & Kevin LeBlanc, which is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 licence.
About the Author: Dinesh Ramoo
College of New Caledonia
I am a heterosexual, cisgendered male who is a first generation immigrant in Canada. I was born in Sri Lanka into a South Indian immigrant family and lived in the UK where I completed my higher education. My research has focused on communities that have traditionally been overlooked within the field of cognitive psychology. I have worked with Hindi stroke patients with aphasia in India as well as with minority communities in Canada, UK, Sri Lanka and Turkey. I have explored Indigenous knowledge for treating neurological disorders and have worked with Indigenous communities to increase awareness about dementia. This work has involved travelling to Indigenous communities in Northern BC and talking with Elders and community leaders. I was born into a Hindu family and am now an atheist.
