classical conditioning

Question 1

learning

Answer 1

any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experiance or practice

Question 2

behaviourists

Answer 2

believed psychology should be the scientific study of observable behaviour and all learning occurs through interaction with the environment

• behaviour is the real subject of psychology, not mental processes.
• all learning occurs through interactions with the environment

Question 3

Ivan pavlov 1846- 1836

Answer 3

Russian physiologist who studies digestion caused an accidental discovery of the learning process called classical conditioning.

Pavlov noticed that dogs began to salivate as soon as they saw food.

Pavlov designed a series of experiments which he used various sound objects like a buzzer to condition the salivation response in dogs

the dogs learned to associate the sound of the buzzer with being fed

Question 4

what did Pavlov observe

Answer 4

Pavlov observed that dogs salivated not only at the sight of food but also at the sigh or sound of the lab tech who had been preparing the food.
the stimulus of food initially produced the response of salivation.

eventually the sight or sound of the lab tech became the stimulus

Question 5

how is this response explained

Answer 5

the salivation response is controlled by the autonomic division of the PNS

involuntary

the salivation had become associated with and conditioned to, a new stimulus - the lab tech

Question 6

classical conditioning

Answer 6

forming an association between two stimuli resulting in a learned response, we learn to anticipate events

Question 7

neutral stimulus

Answer 7

produces no effect until paired with an unconditioned stimulus

Question 8

unconditioned stimulus

Answer 8

one that naturally and automatically triggers an unconditioned response or reflex.

usually a biologically significant stimulus such as food or pain

don’t need to learn

Question 9

unconditioned response

Answer 9

occurs naturally, unlearned response to the unconditioned stimulus

Question 10

conditioned stimulus

Answer 10

is a previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with unconditioned stimulus eventually trigger conditioned response

• neutral stimulus produces no response

Question 11

conditioned response

Answer 11

learned reflexive response
learned response to the previously neutral stimulus

will only occur after an association has been made between an unconditioned stimulus and a conditioned stimulus

Question 12

key principles of classical conditioning

Answer 12

acquisition
extinction
spontaneous recovery
stimulus generalisation
stimulus discrimination

Question 13

acquisition

Answer 13

the initial stage of learning when a response is first established and gradually strengthened

-after the acquisition is made the subject will begin to emit behaviour in response to the previously neutral stimulus

• timing the cs needs to come half a second before the US for acquisition to occur

rate is very fast in the early stages
timing is critical UCS and CS need to be paired simultaneously or very close together for an association to form.

Question 14

extinction

Answer 14

the occurrences of a conditioned response decrease or disappears, this happens when a conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with an unconditioned stimulus.

said to occur when a CR no longer occurs following the presentation of the Cs.

Question 15

spontaneous recovery

Answer 15

refers to the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period

• conditioned response tends to be less intense with each period of recovery

does not always occur and often short-lived

Question 16

stimulus generalisation

Answer 16

the tendency for another stimulus to produce a response that is similar to the cr

the greater the similarity between stimuli the greater possibility of a generalisation of occurring

Question 17

stimulus discrimination

Answer 17

ability to differentiate to a stimulus that is similar to the CS and only responds to the CS

Question 18

little Albert

Answer 18

controversial experiment on infants called little Albert. Watson was interested in examining the effects of conditioning on the fear response in humans.

the child showed no fear initially of rats
after a rat was paired repeatedly with loud, scary sounds ( hammer on a metal bar the child would cry when the rat was present. this fear is generalised to other white, furry objects including Watson in a Santa Claus mask.

the ethics of the experiment are often criticized because the child’s fear was never deconditioned.

Question 19

how was little Albert conditioned to hate the rat

Answer 19

Albert was placed within reaching distance of the
rat.

Albert showed no initial fear and played with it.

they then struck a hammer on a steel bar behind Albert loud noise and alert began to cry.

alberts fear was generalised to other animals such as white rabbit, seal skin coat, dog.