Classical Conditioning

Question 1

General idea

Answer 1

How a stimulus is associate with a response to cause conditioning - it applies only to the conditioning of reflexes. It is illustrated by pavlovs work with dogs

Question 2

Stimulus response learning

Answer 2

A stimulus produces a response - either a reflex or automatic behaviour (cognitive processing, ie what happens between the stimulus and response, is not considered) classical conditioning is a stimulus-response theory.

Question 3

UCS

Answer 3

Unconditioned response. What gives the unconditioned, unlearned response naturally - it is the stimulus that gives a reflex response

Question 4

UCR

Answer 4

Unconditioned reflex. The reflex response that occurs naturally without any form of learning

Question 5

NS

Answer 5

Natural stimulus. What is going to be paired with the UCS and will eventually give the same response - it is an environmental stimulus that does not by itself (without association) produce a response

Question 6

CS

Answer 6

Conditioned stimulus. When the neutral stimulus is paired with the the UCS it becomes the CS

Question 7

CR

Answer 7

Conditioned response. After the association has been set up, g the behaviour is shown in response to a learned stimulus.

Question 8

Extinction

Answer 8

If the conditioning disappears ie when after a few trials of separating the 2 stimuli the learned response is extinguished. E.g in one of pavlovs experiments, the bell was no longer rung when the food was presented. After a while the dog did not salivate to the sound of the bell alone - the association was distinguished.

Question 9

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 9

After extinction the association can sometimes recur for no apparent reason

Question 10

Discrimination

Answer 10

Over a period of time learning only occurs in response to a specific stimulus. E.g a can of cat food opening at a certain time of day or only responds to a tin of food, but not a glass jar

Question 11

Stimulus generalisation

Answer 11

The stimulation that evokes the conditioned response, eg the bell giving salivation in a dog, is specific. However it had been found that that can be stimulus generalisation which means that a stimulus similar to the specific one can elicit the conditioned response. Eg little alberts fear of the rat was generalised on furry animals

Question 12

Fear as a conditioned response

Answer 12

It is widely accepted that we acquire a fear or phobic response in the same way as Pavlovs dogs conditioned to salivate

Question 13

Pavlov 1927 (6 mark)

Answer 13

Aims:
- explaining the role of conditioned reflexes in the eating behaviour of dogs
- exploring how salivation becomes associated with new stimuli apparently unrelated to food and the pro[erties of this association
Procedure:
- The procedure took place in a soundproof chamber in order to minimise extraneous variables such as noise.
- Pavlov established a basin lie by measuring salivation in response to the neutral stimulus, eg metronome or buzzer.
- then he would pair the NS with the UCS of food, usually around 20 times.
- Pavlov varied the presentation so that the NS was presented before (forward conditioning) or after (backwards)
Findings:
- in the metronome study, salivation started after 9 seconds and by 45 seconds 11 drops have been collected.
- the salivation reflex only became associated with a NS if the dog was alert and undistracted
- no salivation was recorded in the response to the NS in backwards pairing

Question 14

Pavlov strengths

Answer 14

Pavlovs study was reliable with standardised procedures and it was carefully documented. Eg Pavlov repeated the study many times over 25 years with different dogs and NS. He also had different researchers to record the dogs saliva. Therefore, this gives the research inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability.

The study has application to society. For psychologists, the application is in further research into classical conditioning in humans. For example, john Watson conditioned little Albert to show fear and this research was directly inspired by Pavlov. These ideas about behaviour have also led to programmes for changing behaviour. A good example is aversion therapy which has had some success at curing people with addictions. Therefore the findings of pavlovs research have led to the development of therapies used today showing applications to classical conditioning in humans.

Question 15

Pavlov weaknesses

Answer 15

Lack of generalisability as his subjected were dogs and not humans. Humans have different brains from dogs and much more complicated thoughts and motives. They’re not strongly motivated by finding food all the time, for example. Therefore it is hard to generalise the findings of this study to the acquisition of behaviour in humans.

Lack of ecological validity. The dogs were kept in very unusual conditions (tied up in a harness in a box, cut off from other dogs and humans, with a drip feed attached to their mouths) and they were presented with old stimuli. Therefore, it could be argued that there was nothing about their reactions and that conditioning may not have occurred in the same way in a more natural setting

Question 16

Strengths of classical conditioning

Answer 16

Supporting evidence from pavlovs study of dogs. He showed that a NS (sound of a metronome) could be associated through conditioning with the UCS of a food which produced the UCR of salivation. The metronome became a CS bringing about salivation (CR). Therefore, this supports the theory supports the theory that behaviour can be learnt through conditioning.

Classical conditioning has been used as a basis for therapies in clinical psychology, such aversion therapy. For example, it can be used to treat alcoholism by pairing emetic drugs with an alcoholic drink, then the alcoholic drink will make someone feel sick. As the alcoholic drink becomes the CS, which leads to sick feeling the CR, this is unpleasant and should stop the person from drinking alcohol. Therefore, classical conditioning has application to society and can be successful in reducing rates of, for example, alcoholism.

Watson and Rayner used classical conditioning, presenting Little Albert with a white rat and he initially showed no fear. Although, when the white rat was later presented with a loud bang, this startled Albert and made him cry, this led to him being classically conditioned to experience fear at the sight of the rat. Therefore, showing that classical conditioning can also explain human behaviours

Question 17

Classical conditioning weakness

Answer 17

Having supporting evidence from animal studies has its limitations as there are differences between humans and dogs. For example, humans have higher-order processing. Therefore, generalising pavlovs findings to human behaviour is not simple and is very limited as we cannot necessarily apply the findings that we learn through association to human behaviour where pairing is fa more complex