Learning Objectives
Chapter 5
1. Know abut Pavlov’s work and learn all of the components of classical
conditioning (UCS, UCR, CS, CR, Acquisition, Extinction, Generalization,
Discrimination, Spontaneous Recovery, Biological Predispositions, Expectancy,
Delayed Learning, and Food Aversions). Be able to identify each in an example
of learning.
2. What types of conditioning factors either strengthen or weaken the conditioning?
3. Understand Rescorla’s work explaining how organisms respond to reliable vs
unreliable signals. What does this difference seem to say about an organisms
cognitive/thinking abilities?
4. What evidence is there for theories stating that there seem to be biological
predispositions for some classical conditioning to occur? How about taste
aversions and phobias?
5. How are classical conditioning principles being applied in everyday life?
6. What is Operant Conditioning and how does it differ from Classical
Conditioning? How are they similar? What is reinforcement? What is the
Premack Principle?
7. What is punishment and what is its influence on behavior? Know some examples
of positive and negative punishment. What do we know about spanking and other
forms of corporal punishment in child rearing (Gershoff’s work). Are there
alternative strategies to punishment in changing behavior? What are they and be
able to describe them in common English!
8. Know and be able to recognize examples of each type of reinforcement (positive
and negative) and each of the different schedules of reinforcement (continuous,
variable, fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval). Which
schedule of reinforcement would elicit the quickest learning, and which would be
the most resistant to extinction?
9. What are shaping and chaining?
10. What do we know about reward delay?
11. What is the concept of learned helplessness?
12. What evidences are there that some biological predispositions to operant
conditioning exist (hint…instinctive drift…bad chickens!)
13. Know about Tolman’s cognitive mapping and what implications does it have on
operant conditioning principles.
14. Be familiar with Bandura’s observational learning, and social modeling and how
they might also be used in learning prosocial and antisocial behaviors.
15. What evidence is there for observational learning in animals?
16. Is media exposure to violence related to aggressive behavior? What do the
studies say?
17. Does listening to sexually explicit lyrics on your I-Pod cause you to engage in
sexual behaviors earlier than listening to non explicit lyrics?