Chapter 2 Student Resources

Flashcards

Key Terms

Introspection

a careful examination and description of one’s own conscious mental thoughts and states.

Cognitive psychology

it is concerned with internal mental processes (e.g., attention; perception; learning; thinking) and how these processes influence our behaviour.

Cognitive neuroscience

an approach designed to understand human cognition by combining information from behaviour and brain activity.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

a technique providing detailed and accurate information concerning activation in brain areas while a cognitive task is being performed.

Cognitive neuropsychology

research on brain-damaged patients designed to increase our understanding of cognition in healthy individuals.

Ecological validity

the extent to which research findings generalise to everyday settings.

Classical conditioning

a basic form of learning in which simple responses (e.g., salivation) are associated with a new or conditioned stimulus (e.g., tone).

Unconditioned reflex

a well-established association between an unconditioned stimulus and an unconditioned response.

Unconditioned stimulus

a stimulus that produces a well-established unconditioned response in an unconditioned reflex.

Unconditioned response

a well-established reaction (e.g., salivation) to a given unconditioned stimulus (e.g., food) in an unconditioned reflex.

Conditioned reflex

a new association between a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus produced as a result of classical conditioning.

Conditioned stimulus

a neutral stimulus paired with an unconditioned stimulus to produce classical conditioning.

Conditioned response

a new response produced as a result of classical conditioning.

Extinction

(in classical conditioning)the elimination of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus.

Spontaneous recovery

the re-emergence of conditioned responses over time following extinction.

Blocking effect

the absence of a conditioned response to a conditioned stimulus if another conditioned stimulus already predicts onset of the unconditioned stimulus.

Phobias

excessive fears of certain objects or places leading to avoidance of those objects or places.

Exposure therapy

a form of treatment in which phobic patients are exposed to stimuli or situations they fear greatly.

Operant conditioning

a form of learning in which an individual’s responses are controlled by their consequences (reward or punishment).

Law of reinforcement

the probability of a response being produced is increased if it is followed by a reward but decreased if followed by punishment.

Primary reinforcers

rewarding stimuli that essential for survival (e.g., food; water).

Secondary reinforcers

stimuli that are rewarding because they have repeatedly been associated with primary reinforcers; examples include money and praise.

Shaping

a form of operant conditioning in which behaviour is changed slowly in the desired direction by requiring responses to resemble increasingly the desired response for reward to be given.

Extinction

(in operant conditioning)the elimination of a response when it is not followed by reinforcement.

Equipotentiality

 the notion that any response can be conditioned in any stimulus situation.
Contingency management:   rewards or reinforcers (e.g., money; tokens) are provided for positive behavioural changes.

Means-ends relationship

the knowledge that a given action in a given situation will produce a certain outcome.

Positive punishment

a form of operant conditioning in which the probability of a response is reduced by following it with an unpleasant or aversive stimulus.

Negative punishment

a form of operant conditioning in which the probability of a response is reduced by following it with the removal of a positive reinforcer.

Time-out technique

a form of negative punishment in which undesirable behaviour (e.g., aggression) is reduced by removing the individual from the situation in which they have been aggressive.

Avoidance learning

a form of operant conditioning in which an appropriate avoidance response prevents presentation of an unpleasant or aversive stimulus.

Negative reinforcers

unpleasant or aversive stimuli that strengthen responses preventing those stimuli from being presented.

Observational learning

learning based on watching the behaviour of others and copying behaviour that is rewarded.