4.1.2 - Pavlov

Question 1

Aim:

Answer 1

• To see how the cerebral cortex works and to look at reflexes and work out pathways in the brain
• To see whether a bell could induce salvation by associating the noise with food

Question 2

Procedure:

Answer 2

• he created a soundproofed lab to see if the presentation of precise stimuli would invoke a response and conditions that insured no direct contact between the dogs and experimenter
• he knew that the food (UCS) would lead to salvation in the mouth of an animal (UCR)
• He then used a neutral stimulus – a bell that led to no conditioned response
• He then introduced the neutral stimulus (bell) with the unconditioned stimuli (food) by ringing the bell and then food appeared. At first there was no conditioned response
• After conditioning the dogs learn to associate food with the sound of a bell so when they heard the bell (CS) they learnt the response of salvation (CR)

Question 3

Results;

Answer 3

• In metronome study salvation started after nine seconds and by 45 seconds 11 drops had been collected
• Pavlov found that the dog had to be alert and no other stimuli present to distract or affect the acquired learning for conditioning to take place

Question 4

Strengths:

Answer 4

• Pavlov study was reliable has he had well-controlled procedures with the environment of the dogs controlled completely, except for the variables he tested. He found that any stimuli would produce conditioned responses so he had to control for all stimuli other than the stimulus being studied therefore his results were objective and scientifically credible and the study can be replicated to test for similar results
• Pavlov study has application to society. Results showed that an environmental stimuli that previously had no relation to a reflex action e.g. the sound of a bell, could trigger a salvation reflects through the process of classical conditioning. Therefore this conditioning technique could be used as the basis of therapies such as aversion therapy used to treat alcoholism

Question 5

Weaknesses:

Answer 5

• Pavlov study lacks generalizability. This study used dogs and There are differences between humans and dogs for example humans have higher order processing. Therefore you can’t generalize the findings to humans As the way our brains respond to conditioning and association will be different
• Pavlovs study lacks task and ecological validity. The dogs were in a chamber and no other stimuli were present so the environment was unnatural as the real life behavior was not being looked at. Therefore the dogs may have associated differently to the stimuli and response and that every day life environment so the data is not valid