Discrimination – differences in stimuli are noticed, so that not all similar things cause the

response – tendency for an organism to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and similar
stimulus
Taste Aversion – strongest association we make is with food that makes us sick – evolutionary
function – e.g we eat a sausage and become sick, associate disgust, so we don’t want to eat
sausage for a long time
Operant Conditioning: learning that occurs based on the result of a specific action – doing
something to get something good or avoid something bad – based on outcomes of their
behavior
The law of effect: behavior followed by a desirable experience will be more likely to occur in the
future – behavior followed by undesirable experience will less likely to occur
Reward: a pleasant stimulus that increases the frequency of the behavior it follows
Operant Conditioning
- Positive reinforcement: something good is presented – strengthens and encourages the
response (increases frequency) as something positive has occurred
- Negative reinforcement: something bad is removed – strengthens and encourages
response as something bad is removed
- Positive punishment: something bad is presented – weakens and discourages response
- Negative punishment: something good is removed – weakens and discourages response