Classical Conditioning

Question 1

What is a Stimulus?

Answer 1

Something in our environment that affects us.

Question 2

What is a Response?

Answer 2

A reaction to a stimulus.

Question 3

What are Unconditioned Responses (UCR)?

Answer 3

Natural reaction to certian stimuli, i.e laughing when tickled.

Question 4

What are Unconditioned Stimuli (UCS)

Answer 4

Stimilu which trigger unconditioned responses.

Question 5

What are Neutral Stimulus (NS)?

Answer 5

Stimulus that don’t affect us.

Question 6

What is Conditioning?

Answer 6

Pairing a NS with a UCS over time so they become associated.

Question 7

What are Conditioned Stimulus (CS)?

Answer 7

After conditioning, the NS produces the same reaction from us that the UCS produces.

Question 8

What is the Conditioned Response (CR)?

Answer 8

Response to a CS.

Question 9

What is Extinction?

Answer 9

When conditioned stimuli lose their association with the original neutral stimulus and revert abck to be neutral stimulus (takes a long time).

Question 10

What is Spontaneous Recovery?

Answer 10

Once an association is formed, it is never truly forgotten. Even after extinction, a CR can reappear.

Question 11

What is Stimulus Generalisation?

Answer 11

Stimuli that are similiar to the CS will produce the CR.

Question 12

How can extinction be prevented?

Answer 12

By pairing the CS with the old UCS again on future occasions, in order to strengthen the association.

Question 13

Where has classical conditioning been applied?

Answer 13

• ​Aversion therapy
• Phobias and Systemic Desensitisation

Question 14

What is Antabuse?

Answer 14

A drug that reacts with alcohol in the blood stream and makes the person feel violent nausea.

Question 15

How has classical conditioning been applied to Aversion Therapy?

Answer 15

Alcoholics given Antabuse causing them to feel nauseous. Although alcohol is a UCS that produces a pleasant UCR, when paired with Antabuse it becomes a CS instead and leads to a CR (feeling sick at the sight of alcohol).

Question 16

What is a Phobia?

Answer 16

Irrational fear that might be learned when a NS, i.e. a spider, is paired with a UCS that is naturally frightening, i.e. a thunderstorm. The spider becomes a CS and produces the same CR as the thunderstorm - fright. Stimulus generalisation means CR is extended to all spiders, or maybe all “creepy crawlies.”

Question 17

What is Systematic desensitisation?

Answer 17

A gradual exposure of a phobia sufferer to their phobia.

Question 18

What are the 4 steps of systematic desensitisation?

Answer 18

1. Functional analysis - careful questioning to discover the nature of the anxiety and possible triggers.
2. Construction of an anxiety hierarchy - client and therapist derive hierarchy of anxiety-provoking situationss from least to most fearful.
3. Relaxation training.
4. Gradual exposure.

Question 19

What’s the difference between “In vivo” and “In vitro”?

Answer 19

In vivo = ‘real life’ experience.

In vitro = ‘through imagination’.

Question 20

How can classical conditioning be applied to Systematic Desensitisation?

Answer 20

• Phobia-sufferer draws up a anxiety hierarchy, and is slowly introduced to their phobia, i.e. a drawing at a distace, then a drawing in hand, then a photo, then a film clip, then the real thing.
  
  • At each stage, the sufferer learns to associate the spider with a harmless, relaxed experience - counterconditioning as relaxation cancels out anxiety the phobia produces.
    
    • Eventually, sufferer can pick up and handle a spider and learn that this is harmless and relaxing - spider becomes NS again.

Question 21

What evidence is there for the theory?

Answer 21

Pavlov:

• Classically conditioned dogs by repeatedly pairing a NS, e.g. a whistle, with a UCS, e.g. dog food, turning the NS into a CS producing a CR (salivation) all by itself.

However,

• Low generalisability as the dogs have less complex brains than humans and have different motivations, therefore results cannot be applied to humans.
  
  • This weakens the applicability of the evidence to the thoery, making it less credible.