Classical Conditioning Flashcards
Define unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
A natural stimulus that causes the initial reflexive response
eg smell of food -> salvation
Define unconditioned response (UCR)
A natural reflexive automatic response to a stimulus
Define neutral stimulus (NS)
A stimulus that doesn’t cause any reflexive response
eg whistling doesn’t cause salivation
Define conditioned stimulus (CS)
A previous neutral stimulus that after becoming associated with the UCS, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response
Define conditioned response (CR)
A learnt automatic response to what was previously a neutral stimulus as it has been associated with the UCS
Define extinction
If the CS is not paired with the UCS occasionally after conditioning, then the CR will die out. The animal/person has learnt the CS no longer means the UCS will be present.
eg If food isn’t presented with a bell, the bell won’t cause salivation
Define spontaneous recovery
This occurs after extinction. The CR returns when there is no more pairing of the NS and UCS. It soon becomes extinct again.
eg salivating to the bell has become extinct. Food is no longer present with the bell. The dog hears the bell and starts salivating.
Define stimulus generalisation
A classical conditioning response is seen with other stimuli that are similar to the CS. The more similar to the original CS the stronger the response.
eg If a dog salivates to a bell sound, it will generalise the response and salivate when it hears similar bell sounds.
eg If a person is scared of one dog due to being attacked, they may be scared of all dogs.
Lisa likes pizza and salivates when she sees it. Lisa’s boyfriend always brings her pizza on a Friday night. Now Lisa salivates when she sees her boyfriend.
Explain this using the classical conditioning formula
UCS : Pizza –> UCR : Salivation
NS : Boyfriend + UCS : Pizza –> UCR : Salivation
CS : Boyfriend –> CR : Salivation
2 Strengths of Classical conditioning
Watson and Rayner - Paired a loud noise (hammer banging metal) with a white rat. After a few pairings, Albert (a baby under 1yr old) became scared of white rats.
Pavlov (1927) - found that dogs would salivate to the ticking of a metronome after it had been paired with the UCS of food.
2 weaknesses of Classical conditioning
It is a limited explanation of learning as it only deals with reflexive behaviour, and most of our behaviour isn’t reflexive. Making it reductionist.
A lot of studies on classical conditioning use animals. This is not generalisable as they don’t represent humans as we may have different brains and are more advanced.
