Chapter 9 - Classical And Operant Conditioning Flashcards
What three stimuli does classical conditioning involve
Conditioned stimulus
Unconditioned stimulus
Unconditioned response
What is classical conditioning
Association of a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus and its unconditioned response
Which psychologist first found out about this and what was he trying to test
Ivan Pavlov - he was originally investigating the digestion of dogs
But dogs would then salivate in the presence of the technician who fed them- even when he had no found
In Pavlovs dogs experiment what was the CS, US , UR
CS - bell
uS- food
UR - salivation
When the procedure stopped , the CR also stopped. What was this called
Extinction
Who was influenced by Pavlov, and did reasearch into human conditioning
Watson - believed it possible to study observable human behaviour and adaption to environment
What aspect of human fears was Watson interested in
The conditioning of human fears, he observed fear of thunder and lightning in his own children
What happened to little Albert
Albert was introduced to animals and toys, including fluffy bunnies even monkey. He was happy to play with theses things
Then when he seen the objects it was paired with a loud bang noise, which would make Albert cry.
Then when he seen the animals he would cry because they had been paired with the sound of a bell.
What were the concerned of the experiment - LA
Possible side effects- but decided fear reactions could occur naturally
What were the possible questions about alberta experiments
- Could they condition fear to an animal by visually presenting this at the same time as striking the bar
- would any conditioned response transfer to other stimuli
- How long would the response last
- What methods for removal of the response did not extinguish immediately
What were watsons conclusion
Successfully conditioned fear response
Emotional transfer can take place
Conditioned fear response persists over period- retested 3 months later- fear reactions weren’t as strong
Removal of conditioned responses were not tested
What were some ethical ethical issues of Watson’s study
Research in 1920s didn’t conform to same ethical considerations
There was no concerns for possibility damaged cause and Albert was subject of psychological harm
Albert was not made aware of this- no informed consent
Name some experimental issues with watsons study
Subjective methods- lack of methodological consistency- inconsistency of publications
Lack of clarity on which Albert came to fear
Conclusions were generalised based on Alberts behaviour, 1 child
What were some faults with the records and the videos of Alberts experiment
Lack of scientific records
Interpretations of Watson’s videos differ
What was the disagreement about Alberts identity
Could be William barged - healthy boy
Or douglas merrite - not healthy
Hydrocephalus
Cognitive deficits
And Watson generalised these findings to healthy population - ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
What is the placebo effect
Experiencing a benefit after administration of an inactive substance or sham treatment
When is the placebo effect commonly used
In clinical randomised controlled trials
What procedure is used in RCTs
Double blind procedure
Neither participants or researchers know what drug they are getting / giving out
The placebo effect does what
Placebo elcits response characteristic of an active drug
Eg. Pain relief with a placebo
Factors which effect the placebo effect
Nature of linens
Verbal instructions- postive or negative cues, contextual cues
What is the expectancy effect
Type of response person expects to see
How strongly testament will work
What do verbal cues elicit
Cues expectancies
Placebo effect may be due to other cognitive mechanisms
What happened if there is conditioning-ranted placebo response
Tend to see a stronger effect
Describe Kirsch et al study
Fake accupunture study
Participants told treatment would affect one side of the arm but not the other
False info - accupunture not this specific
Expectancy of treatment- any difference in pain on sides of arm is due to placebo effect
Describe the procedure - kirsch et al
Tested for pain receptors to do with heat
Allocated to real or fake accupunture groups
Conditioning
Recieved surriptipus reduction in pain stimulation on treated arm
No conditioning - no reduction in Tempe temperature
After they rated how much pain they were In
What we’re the results kirsch et al
Participants who had been conditioned reported much greater pain, so the placebo effect was stronger than the control group
