AP Psych Classical vs. Operant Conditioning Matching Game

20 terms from the Learning unit — both classical (Pavlovian) and operant (Skinnerian) conditioning — match each term to its definition. Tap a term or a definition to select it, in either order; tap again to deselect. No login required.

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Positive Punishment

Variable-Ratio Schedule

Acquisition

Spontaneous Recovery

Stimulus Discrimination

Unconditioned Response (UCR)

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

Fixed-Interval Schedule

Shaping

Fixed-Ratio Schedule

Higher-Order Conditioning

Stimulus Generalization

Conditioned Response (CR)

Negative Punishment

Extinction

Variable-Interval Schedule

Positive Reinforcement

Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)

Negative Reinforcement

Premack Principle

The learned ability to tell the conditioned stimulus apart from other, similar stimuli that don’t signal the UCS.

The initial stage of classical conditioning, when a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a UCS until it becomes a CS.

Reinforcement delivered after a set, unchanging number of correct responses (e.g., every 5th response).

Using a behavior someone already does often as the reinforcer for a behavior they do less often.

Removing a desirable stimulus after a behavior to make the behavior less likely to happen again.

Reinforcement delivered after an unpredictable number of responses — produces the highest, steadiest response rate (e.g., slot machines).

Removing an unpleasant stimulus after a behavior to make the behavior more likely to happen again.

An unlearned, automatic response to an unconditioned stimulus (e.g., salivating at food).

A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response, with no learning required (e.g., food).

Reinforcing successively closer approximations of a target behavior until the exact behavior appears.

Responding the same way to stimuli that merely resemble the original conditioned stimulus.

The learned response to a conditioned stimulus, once that stimulus has been paired with a UCS.

The reappearance of an extinguished conditioned response after a rest period, with no new conditioning.

Reinforcement delivered for the first correct response after an unpredictable amount of time has passed.

Reinforcement delivered for the first correct response after a set amount of time has passed.

Adding an unpleasant stimulus after a behavior to make the behavior less likely to happen again.

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a conditioned response when the CS is no longer paired with the UCS.

A previously neutral stimulus that, after repeated pairing with a UCS, comes to trigger a learned response on its own.

Adding a desirable stimulus after a behavior to make the behavior more likely to happen again.

Using an already-established CS to condition a new, neutral stimulus, without the original UCS present.

Study tip

The single most common AP Psych mix-up: reinforcement always increases a behavior and punishment always decreases one — "positive" and "negative" just mean adding or removing something, not good or bad. If you can’t immediately say which of those two axes a term sits on, that’s the gap to close before the exam, not the definition itself.

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