Learning
College Board Outline
VI. Learning (7–9%)
This section of the course introduces students to differences between learned and unlearned behavior . The primary focus is exploration of different kinds of learning, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning . The biological bases of behavior illustrate predispositions for learning.
AP students in psychology should be able to do the following:
AP students in psychology should be able to do the following:
- Distinguish general differences between principles of classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning (e .g ., contingencies).
- Describe basic classical conditioning phenomena, such as acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, discrimination, and higher-order learning.
- Predict the effects of operant conditioning (e .g ., positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment).
- Predict how practice, schedules of reinforcement, and motivation will influence quality of learning.
- Interpret graphs that exhibit the results of learning experiments.
- Provide examples of how biological constraints create learning predispositions.
- Describe the essential characteristics of insight learning, latent learning, and social learning.
- Apply learning principles to explain emotional learning, taste aversion, superstitious behavior, and learned helplessness.
- Suggest how behavior modification, biofeedback, coping strategies, and self- control can be used to address behavioral problems.
- Identify key contributors in the psychology of learning (e.g., Albert Bandura, John Garcia, Ivan Pavlov, Robert Rescorla, B. F. Skinner, Edward Thorndike, Edward Tolman, John B. Watson).