Introductory psychologyLesson 1 of 2 in the course Learning

Innate Behavior and Associative Learning

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Many organisms are born able to perform behaviors that help them survive, while other behaviors develop through experience. This lesson distinguishes innate behavior from learning and explains how experience can produce lasting changes.

An innate behavior is an unlearned behavior an organism is born with. Birds building nests, salmon swimming upstream to spawn, and infants sucking for nourishment are examples of behaviors that do not need to be taught.

All flashcards

Associative learning
Learning in which an organism connects stimuli, events, actions, or outcomes.
Classical conditioning
Learning to associate stimuli that repeatedly occur together.
Operant conditioning
Learning to associate a behavior with its consequence.
Reinforcement
A consequence that encourages a behavior to occur more often.
Observational learning
Learning by watching others and then imitating what they do.

Quiz questions

  1. In operant conditioning, what does an organism learn to associate?Answer: A behavior with the consequence that follows it.
  2. What effect does punishment have on a behavior in operant conditioning?Answer: It discourages the behavior from occurring.
  3. How does observational learning occur?Answer: A learner watches others and imitates their actions.
  4. What does behaviorism study as an approach to learning?Answer: Behavior and its relations to the environment.
  5. Why can observational learning reduce reliance on direct trial and error?Answer: Learners can benefit from other people's successes and mistakes.

Based on Psychology 2e by Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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