AP Psychology: Learning Notes

Learn about learning with our free AP Psychology study notes. We’ll give an overview of what you’ve learned in your AP Psychology in the learning unit so you’re ready for test day. Psychologists differentiate among many different types of learning, so it’s important to review these key concepts as you study for the AP Psych exam. Keep reading to learn more.

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AP Psychology Learning: Key Takeaways 

Review some key learning concepts you should know for the AP Psychology exam.

1. Learning is commonly defined as a long-lasting change in behavior resulting from experience. Although learning is not the same as behavior, most psychologists accept that learning can best be measured through changes in behavior. Brief changes are not thought to be indicative of learning.
2. A Russian physiologist named Ivan Pavlov inadvertently discovered a kind of learning while studying digestion in dogs. Pavlov found that the dogs learned to pair the sounds in the environment where they were fed with the food that was given to them and began to salivate simply upon hearing the sounds. As a result, Pavlov deduced the basic principle of classical conditioning (also called associative learning).
3. People and animals can learn to associate neutral stimuli (e.g., sounds) with stimuli that produce reflexive, involuntary responses (e.g., food) and will learn to respond similarly to the new stimulus as they did to the old one (e.g., salivate).
4. Whereas classical conditioning is a type of learning based on association of stimuli, operant conditioning is a kind of learning based on the association of consequences with one’s behaviors. Edward Thorndike was one of the first people to research this kind of learning.
5. Radical behaviorists like Skinner assert that learning occurs without thought. However, cognitive theorists argue that even classical and operant conditioning have a cognitive component. In classical conditioning, such theorists argue that the subjects respond to the conditioned stimulus because they develop the expectation that it will be followed by the unconditioned stimulus. In operant conditioning, cognitive psychologists suggest that the subject is cognizant that its responses have certain consequences and can therefore act to maximize their reinforcement.

AP Psychology Learning: Key Terms 

Review the following key terms related to learning for the AP exam.

• Unconditioned stimulus: The original stimulus that elicits a response is known as the unconditioned stimulus (US or UCS). The US is defined as something that elicits a natural, reflexive response. In the classic Pavlovian paradigm, the US is food.
• Unconditioned response: In the classic Pavlovian paradigm, food elicits the natural, involuntary response of salivation. This response is called the unconditioned response (UR or UCR).
• Spontaneous recovery: Sometimes, after a conditioned response has been extinguished and no further training of the animals has taken place, the response briefly reappears upon presentation of the conditioned stimulus. This phenomenon is known as spontaneous recovery.
• Taste aversion: Taste aversions are a classic example of this phenomenon. If you ingest an unusual food or drink and then become nauseous, you may develop an aversion to the food or drink. Learned taste aversions are interesting because they can result in powerful avoidance responses based on a single pairing.
• Reinforcement: Reinforcement is defined by its consequences; anything that makes a behavior more likely to occur is a reinforcer. Two kinds of reinforcement exist.
• Positive reinforcement: Positive reinforcement refers to the addition of something pleasant.
• Negative reinforcement: Negative reinforcement refers to the removal of something unpleasant.

• Punishment: Affecting behavior by using unpleasant consequences is also possible. Such an approach is known as punishment. By definition, punishment is anything that makes a behavior less likely. The two types of punishment are known as positive punishment (usually referred to simply as punishment), which is the addition of something unpleasant, and omission training or negative punishment, which is the removal of something pleasant.
• Primary reinforcers: Primary reinforcers are, in and of themselves, rewarding. They include things like food, water, and rest, whose natural properties are reinforcing.
• Secondary reinforcers: Secondary reinforcers are things we have learned to value such as praise or the chance to play a video game.
• Generalized reinforcer: Money is a special kind of secondary reinforcer, called a generalized reinforcer, because it can be traded for virtually anything.
• Latent learning: Latent learning was studied extensively by Edward Tolman. Latent means hidden, and latent learning is learning that becomes obvious only once a reinforcement is given for demonstrating it. Behaviorists had previously asserted that learning is evidenced by gradual changes in behavior, but Tolman conducted a famous experiment illustrating that sometimes learning occurs but is not immediately evidenced.
• Abstract learning: Abstract learning involves understanding concepts such as tree or same rather than learning simply to press a bar or peck a disk to secure a reward.
• Insight learning: Wolfgang Köhler is well-known for his studies of insight learning in chimpanzees. Insight learning occurs when one suddenly realizes how to solve a problem

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