Study Guide for Exam 2

Look over the general points and exam tips from the first study guide.

Overall concepts covered on the exam: (These are to guide your studying. You should make sure you thoroughly understand all the material covered on and related to each of these topics, and be able to come up with examples that illustrate the concepts. So, know what the concepts are, any characteristics of the concepts, examples of the concept, and any experiments on the concept). You will be responsible for the material from lectures and from the chapters in section 2.

Chapter 5:

• Understand how these theories attempt to explain the underlying mechanisms of classical conditioning. Why it is people become classically conditioned?

  • S-R theory

  • S-S theory

    • understand the Holloway & Domjan experiment (methods, results, and conclusions) investigating S-S vs S-R theories

  • Stimulus-substitution theory

    • understand the characteristics of the theory and the experiment

  • Preparatory-response theory

    • Understand the characteristics and the experiment

  • compensatory response model

    • Understand the characteristics and the purpose

    • relevance to drug tolerance, drug overdose. and drug withdrawal (understand experiments and undersatnd the concepts in the overall graph).

  • rescorla-wagner model

    • Why it was developed

    • assumptions and characteristics of the model

    • you do not need to memorize the formula, but you will need to be able to talk about the components of the model (what is delta V referring to, V, K, lambda, etc.) What happens to conditioning if you change a component, etc.

    • importance of surprise in the model's explanation of conditioning

    • understand what the learning rate refers to (parameter 1) and how changing it effects the graph curve

    • understand what the asymptote refers to (parameter 2) and how changing it effects the graph curve

    • what happens to the association values as acquisition and extinction occur

    • how does rescorla-wagner model explain overshadowing and blocking. Be able to explain how the theory can account for these findings (be able to do this on a conceptual level--I won't ask you to work through the numbers in the formula).

    • Problems with rescorla-wagner

• Understanding phobias

  • characteristics of phobias and little albert

  • understand how the other factors contribute to phobias (observational learning, temperament, preparedness, history of control, incubation, ucs revaluation, & selective sensitisation) For each factor, understand the concepts and any experiments that were covered.

• Treating phobias

  • systematic desensitization -- procedure, characteristics, and experimental findings

  • flooding -- procedure, characteristics, and experimental findings

  • hybrid approaches --procedure, characteristics, and experimental findings

• Aversion therapy -- procedure, characteristics, and experimental findings

• medical applications -- allergic reactions, immune system functioning

Chapter 6: OPERANT CONDITIONING

• how operant conditioning arose

  • Thorndike -- understand his Law of Effect and how he developed it

  • Skinner -- learning by consequence (characteristics, etc.)

• What is operant conditioning & operant behavior

• what makes something a reinforcer vs a punisher

• understand the symbols (R, SR, etc.) and terminology

• what are discriminative stimuli

• 4 types of contingencies (positive reinforcement, etc.) -- understand what the characteristics of each are and what is the effect on behavior.

• Immediate vs delyed reinforcement -- what they are and how they change conditioning & experiments investigating it

• primary vs secondary reinforcers -- characteristics of each & experiments investigating each

• intrinsic and extrinsic reinforcement -- characterisitcs and types of each

• shaping a behavior -- understand the procedures of shaping

• chaining -- what is it in general (related to shaping)

Chapter 7: schedules of reinforcement

• Schedules of reinforcement

  • continuous - understand what it is and it's effect on behavior (when to use it, etc.)

  • intermittent - understand what it is and it's effect on behavior (when to use it, etc.)

    • ratio vs interval schedules (what they are and the effect on the pattern of responding)

    • fixed vs variable schedules (what they are and the effect on the pattern of responding)

    • Understand each specific type of schedule (FR, VR, FI, VI) -- how they work, patterns of responding, when effective, and characteristics (like ratio strain, persistance, etc.)

  • response rate schedules

    • differential reinforcement scheudles -- (for each type understand what the schedule is, what the response rate looks like, and when it would be good to use it).

  • non-contingent schedules -

    • fixed time and variable time

    • how is behavior changed? understand the experiments

    • relation to superstitious behavior, poor performance, and good uses behaviors

  • complex schedules

    • conjunctive schedules -- understand the principles of it & characteristics

    • adjusting scheudles -- understand the principles of it & characteristics

    • chained schedules (same as chaining above) -- understand the principles of it & characteristics. How is it done for goal gradients and backwards chaining

• theories of reinforcement

  • drive reduction theory - Hull and characteristics of the theory. Understand any experiments covered on this theory.

  • premack principle - what it is and how to apply it. understand the characteristics of it, etc.

  • response deprivation hypothesis - understand the principles of it & characteristics

  • behavioral bliss point approach - understand the principles of it & characteristics

(Note: There may be more or less material on the exam depending on what material we cover on Tuesday. I'll post another announcement regarding exactly what will be covered after Tuesday if it differs from this sheet).