classical conditioning

Question 1

what is an unconditioned stimulus

Answer 1

this is the biological/innate stimulus that causes a reflective response.It is a stimulus that makes us respond in a natural way that is not learnt

Question 2

what is an unconditioned response

Answer 2

This is a response to a specific stimulus that occurs naturallly.We do not have to learn the response we are born with e.g salivating with food

Question 3

what is a neutral stimulus

Answer 3

a stimulus which does not derive a natural reaction , the thing being conditioned intitially has no response to this stimulus

Question 4

conditioned stimulus

Answer 4

a stimulus that originally produced no reflective response.It has been associated with the unconditioned response.It has been learned through repetitive association/pairing

Question 5

what is a conditioned response

Answer 5

This response is a learnt response to a stimulus.It occurs when the conditioned stimulus is presented

Question 6

describe the classical conditioning formula

Answer 6

unconditioned stimulus=unconditioned response
unconditioned stimulus+neutral stimulus=unconditioned response
conditioned stimulus=conditioned response

Question 7

what is discrimination

Answer 7

stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus do not produce the conditioned response

Question 8

what is generalisation

Answer 8

stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus do produce the conditioned response

Question 9

extinction

Answer 9

loss of a conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus due to the unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus being unpaired

Question 10

spontaneous recovery

Answer 10

previously extinct behavior returns

Question 11

describe the 3 main components of classical conditioning/main process

Answer 11

classical conditioning assumes learning is by association
natural reflexes are paired with a neutral stimuli
repeated association of the unconditioned stimuli and neutral stimuli lead to the neutral stimuli becoming the conditioned stimuli which causes a conditioned response

Question 12

Lucy has a fear of dogs. Use classical conditioning to explain how Lucy might have developed her fear of dogs. You may
use a diagram as part of your answer. (5)

Answer 12

-pain is the unconditioned stimulus which causes the unconditioned response of fear for lucy
-dog would be the neutral stimulus and would have no affect on at first
-a dog may have bitten lucy causing pain
-the dog is now associated with pain
-dogs have become the conditioned stimulus and fear of dogs is now the conditioned response

Question 13

what was the aim of pavlovs dogs study

Answer 13

to find out if a reflexive behaviour can be produced in new situations through learning

reflex is a unconditiioned stimulus of unconditioned response

Question 14

what was pavlovs procedure

Answer 14

-sample of 35 dogs of a variety of breeds ,raised in kennels in a lab
-dogs were placed in a sealed rooom and strapped to a harness
-its mouth was linked to a tube that drained and measured saliva
-pavlov started playing a metronome before feeding and measured the saliva response in droplets

Question 15

what were the results of pavlovs study

Answer 15

-when dogs heard the metronome they began to salivate
-pavlov found that conditioned dogs started to salivate 9 seconds after the metronome played and by 45 seconds had produced 11 drops of saliva

Question 16

what was pavlovs conclusion

Answer 16

-it is possible to condition a response to a neutral stimuli when paired with a reflex

reflex is a unconditiioned stimulus of unconditioned response

Question 17

what were some strengths of pavlovs study

Answer 17

-highly standardised as the stimulus of the metronome was kept consistent between all dogs before feeding and saliva was measured the same.This means the study can easily be repated and tested for reliability
-lab study so had high control so other extraneous variables like sound that may have impacted dogs saliva was limited like being in a soundproof sealed room and only seeing the experimenter=more valid
-classical conditioning is an empirical theory as the behaviour can be directly measured e.g how much saliva the dog produced=this means the study is more credible

Question 18

what are some weaknesses of pavlov

Answer 18

-animal study using dogs,dogs have different biology to humans such as brain structures so the results may not be generalisable to humans
-artifical lab study so study lacks ecological validity dogs were in a sealed room and in a harness so this may have influenced their behaviour and the findings on classical conditioning may not apply to dogs real life behaviour
-lacks mundane realisim -metronome does not play irl everytime a dog is fed=lowers validity
-not ethical as taking saliva can be painful for the dogs ,uses many dogs,dogs not in natural enviorment=breaks animal ethical guidelines=study not credible

Question 19

what were the 3 aims of watson and rayner study of little albert

Answer 19

-to find out if a fear response could be conditioned into a baby boy
-to see if the fear response will be generalised to other animals
-to see how long the conditioning lasts/effect of time on conditioning

Question 20

what was the sample in little albert study

Answer 20

-one baby boy aged 9 months at the start of the study and 11 months old when conditioning began
-albert was chosen by oppertunity sampling as he was described as fearless and healthly-he never cried

Question 21

describe the procedure of the little albert study

Answer 21

-at 9 months albert was tested with a white rat,white rabbit and cotton wool and other stimuli to see if he had a fear reaction .He didnt showing these are neutral stimuli
-the researchers also banged an iron bar .Albert cried at the loud noise showing the noise was an ucs and fear/crying was the ucr
-at 11 months old albert was conditioned.He was shown the white rat 7 times.Each time the rat was paired with striking the iron bar .Albert started to whimper
-after repeted presentations of the rat and loud noise together ,the rat was presnted without the loud noise .Albert cried and tried to crawl away .He had become conditioned to fear the rat ,which had become a conditioned stimulus producing the conditioned response of fear

Question 22

describe the results of little albert

Answer 22

-10days later Watson and Rayner tested Alberts reaction to the rat and other white furry animals and objects like a rabbit,dog and cotton wool.Albert showed a fear response to the rat like crying and crawling away ,he showed a similar reaction to the rabbit and cotton wool and had a lesser reaction to the dog he just crawled away .This shows generalisation of response
-watson and rayner inteneded to us classical conditioning to remove the cr from albert but he moved away so the experiment ended

Question 23

what were the conclusions of the little albert study

Answer 23

-phobias of things can be learned when a neutral stimulus(rat)is paired with a unconditioned stimulus(loud noise)
-generalisation of this phobia can occur
-this fear could be persistent for a period

Question 24

what were the strengths of the little albert study

Answer 24

-the procedure is standardized so can be repeated using other children to see if results are reliable
-low chance of demand characteristics since albert was a baby meaning he wouldnt change his behaviour.This makes the study more valid because albert wouldnt be chnaging his behaviour to show the phobia on purpose showing phobias may truly be learned through assosiation
-explains the source of phobias and suggests we might be able to test them through similar methods using assosiation .This makes the study useful as it has provided development of phobia therapies like flooding.

Question 25

what were the weakness of little albert study

Answer 25

-uses one individual baby boy therefore his results may not be represntitive to the wider population as this is not a generalisable sample.This means how albert learned a phobia may not be representitive of how others learn phobias
-low in eco validity and mundane realisim becuase exposure to a rat and a loud noise is not how you would normally develop a phobia.So results not gen to real life phobias
-many ethical issues-no informed consent,protection from harm as albert showed lots of distress and was given a phobia that continued outside of the experiment OTHO his mam was given a right to withdraw albert+albert was a fake name so confidentiality was ensured

Question 26

what are the strengths of classical conditioning theory

Answer 26

-supported by Pavlov who found that dogs could assosiate a ns(metronome)with food and causes salivation .This demonstrates that animals can learn through process of assosaition between 2 stimuli.
-supported by little albert who showed neutral stimuli could be paired with fearful stimuli to cause fear of the neutral stimuli through assosiation
-empirical theory as it is measured directly through human behaviour =credible
-useful for explaining phobias which have occured through assosiation and treating them through things like flooding

Question 27

what are the weaknesses of classical conditioning theory

Answer 27

-ignores bio explainations of behaviour such as evolution,hormoes ect .E.g some phobias are believed to be evolutionary .Since this doesnt account for bio factors this theory is reductionist
-also reductionist to put down complex behaviour to a formula
-deterministic as it says you are meerly operating through a formula and you have no choice in your actions=ignores free will
-supporting research is animal study and case study which are both very ungeneraslisable