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AP Psychology: Topic 3.7 - Classical Conditioning Study Guide
Behavioral perspective - -a theory suggesting
that behavior is learned and is shaped by
observable, environmental factors
Classical conditioning - -a learning process
that occurs when a neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone)
becomes associated with a stimulus (e.g., food) that
naturally produces a behavior (e.g., salivation)
Association - -when a subject is conditioned to
connect a stimuli with another stimuli, and this results
in a specific behavior
Acquisition - -the 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 - -learning that two things
occur together (e.g., a dog learns that it will get a
treat when it obeys a command)
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - -a stimulus
that unconditionally—naturally and automatically—
triggers a response
Unconditioned response (UCR) - -an
unlearned, naturally occurring response to an
unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned stimulus (CS) - -a neutral stimulus
that, after association with an unconditioned
stimulus, triggers a conditioned response
Conditioned response (CR) - -the learned
response to a previously neutral (but now
conditioned) stimulus
Extinction - -the gradual weakening of a
conditioned response that results in the behavior
decreasing or disappearing
Spontaneous recovery - -when a learned
behavior recovers from extinction after a rest period
Stimulus discrimination - -when a subject
demonstrates the conditioned response only to the
conditioned stimulus and not to stimuli that are similar
to the CS
Stimulus generalization - -when a subject
demonstrates a conditioned response to stimuli that
are similar to the original conditioned stimulus
Higher-order conditioning - -when a conditioned
stimulus becomes associated with a new
unconditioned stimulus (e.g., an animal learns that a
tone predicts food could then be taught that a light
predicts the tone and begin responding to the light
alone)
Counterconditioning - -a behavior modification
technique in which a stimulus that creates a negative
response is paired with something known to create a
positive response
Taste aversion - -the avoidance of a certain
food following a period of illness after consuming the
food
One-trial conditioning - -if a condition is
powerful or extreme, something can be learned even
if the individual is only exposed to the condition once
(taste aversion is a common example of this)
Biological preparedness - -the natural tendency
of animals to learn certain associations (e.g., nausea,
fear) with only one or few pairings due to the survival
value of the learning
