Glossary of Key Terms
Anthropomorphism: the fallacy of assuming that the thoughts and/or characteristics of other species are
likely to be similar to those of humans.
Avoidance learning: a form of operant conditioning in which an appropriate avoidance response prevents
presentation of an unpleasant or aversive stimulus.
Backward conditioning: the unconditioned stimulus is presented just before the conditioned stimulus in
classical conditioning.
Blocking: the failure of a conditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response because another
conditioned stimulus already predicts the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus.
Chaining: a learned sequence of responses produced by operant conditioning.
Deliberate practice: practice in which the learner is provided with informative feedback and has the
opportunity to correct his/her errors.
Discrimination: the strength of the conditioned response to one conditioned stimulus is strengthened at the
same time as that to a second conditioned stimulus is weakened.
Discriminative stimulus: a stimulus that is present when a given response will be rewarded but absent
when the response will not be rewarded.
Emotional intelligence: the ability to understand one’s own emotions as well as those of others.
Encephalisation: the tendency through evolutionary development for a species to develop relatively larger
brains (especially the cerebral cortex region).
Equipotentiality: the notion that any response can be conditioned in any stimulus situation.
Experimental extinction: the elimination of a response when it is not followed by reward (operant
conditioning) or by the unconditioned stimulus (classical conditioning).
Fixed interval schedule: a situation in which the first response produced after a given interval of time is
rewarded or reinforced.
Fixed ratio schedule: a situation in which every nth response is rewarded.
Flynn effect: describes the rapid rise in average IQ in several Western countries in recent decades.
“g”: the general factor of intelligence.
Genotype: an individual’s potential in the form of genes.
Heritability: the proportion of the variance within a population in some characteristic (e.g. height) that is
due to genetic factors.
Inspection-time task: a task requiring individuals to decide which of two lines is longer following brief
presentation; used as an approximate measure of intelligence.
Intelligence quotient (IQ): a measure of general intellectual ability with a population mean of 100 and a
standard deviation of approximately 15.
Law of reinforcement: the probability of a given response being produced is increased if it is followed by
reward or a positive reinforcer.
Long-term working memory: used to store relevant information in long-term memory and to access it
through retrieval cues in working memory.
Machiavellian intelligence: the capacity intentionally to deceive another individual.
Monozygotic (MZ) twins: identical twins having the same genetic make-up.
Negative reinforcers: unpleasant or aversive stimuli that strengthen any responses that lead to the removal
of those stimuli. For example, if a rat can stop electric shocks being administered by pressing a lever, the
electric shocks are a negative reinforcer.
Operant conditioning: a form of learning in which behaviour is controlled by rewards or positive
reinforcers, or by unpleasant or aversive stimuli.
Phenotype: an individual’s observable characteristics, depending in part on his/her genotype.
Preparedness: a predisposition to develop fears to certain kinds of stimuli (e.g. snakes, spiders).
Primary reinforcers: rewarding stimuli that are needed to live (e.g. food, water).
Reading span: the maximum number of sentences that an individual can comprehend and also remember
the last words of all sentences; used to assess working memory capacity or intelligence.
Savants: individuals who have limited outstanding expertise despite being mentally retarded.
Secondary reinforcers: stimuli that are rewarding because they have been associated with primary
reinforcers.
Shaping: using reward or reinforcement to produce progressive changes in behaviour in a desired
direction.
Social learning: the theory that behaviour can be explained in terms of both direct and indirect (vicarious)
reinforcement; indirect reinforcement and identification lead to imitation; also used more generally to refer
to any learning that occurs within a social context.
Spontaneous recovery: the re-emergence of responses over time following experimental extinction.
Standard deviation: a measure of the spread of scores in a bell-shaped or normal distribution. It is the
square root of the variance, takes account of every score, and is a sensitive measure of dispersion or
variation.
Tradition: distinctive patterns of behaviour that are found in several members of a social unit over a long
period of time.
Variable interval schedule: on average the first response produced after a given interval of time is
rewarded, but with some variation around that time interval.
Variable ratio schedule: on average every nth response is rewarded, but there is some variation around
that figure.
Working memory: a system having the functions of cognitive processing and the temporary storage of
information.