preparedness
n. the biological predisposition to quickly learn associations between stimuli, responses, and reinforcers that can be explained by their fit with genetic traits that evolved to enhance the chances of a species’ survival. For example, it has been suggested that humans readily learn certain phobias (e.g., fear of snakes) because of a predisposition to fear anything that could pose a threat to their survival. Preparedness (or prepared learning) also has been proposed as an explanation for why both human and nonhuman animals readily learn to associate certain foods with gastric illness and are more likely to avoid such foods in the future. In experiments to establish conditioned taste aversion, for instance, rats readily learn to associate a distinctive taste with illness; it has been proposed that they have an inherent preparedness to make this association, whereas they do not easily learn to make an association between a tone or light
stimulus and illness because such contraprepared learning is incompatible with their evolutionary history. Along the continuum of preparedness—with highly prepared, easily formed associations on one end and contraprepared, poorly formed associations on the other—unprepared associations are intermediate occurrences; these are associations formed through unprepared learning that occurs despite the lack of a biological predisposition to form them. See also principle of belongingness. [introduced by U.S. psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman (1942– )]