Name:
Date:
A.P. Psychology
Unit 6: Learning
“Classical Conditioning”

Acquisition:
o Classical Conditioning:
 Initial stage, when one links a neutral stimulus and an
unconditioned stimulus
 Neutral stimulus begins triggering conditioned response
o Operant Conditioning:
 The strengthening of a reinforced response
o Neutral stimulus should come (.5 seconds) before the unconditioned
stimulus

Higher-Order Conditioning:
o The conditioned stimulus in one experience is paired with a new
neutral stimulus, creating a second (often weaker) conditioned
stimulus
o E.g. An animal that learns that a tone predicts food might then learn
that a light predicts the tone and may begin responding to the light
alone

Generalization:
o The tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli
similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit similar responses
o John B. Watson, Rosalie Rayner: “Little Albert”

Discrimination:
o The learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and
stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus

Extinction:
o The diminishing of a conditioned response
o Classical Conditioning:
 An unconditioned stimulus (US) does not follow a conditioned
stimulus (CS)
o Operant Conditioning:
 A response is no longer reinforced

Spontaneous Recovery:
o The reappearance, after a pause, of an extinguished response