Classical Conditioning Flashcards
What is extinction?
Loss of a conditioned response to conditioned stimulus e.g. you are no longer afraid of flying
What is classical conditioning?
Repeated association of UCS and NS lead to NS becoming CS which causes CR
Natural reflexes are paired with neutral stimuli
Assumes learning is by association
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
Innate stimulus that causes a reflexive response
What is an unconditioned response?
Response we are born with
What is a neutral stimulus?
Does not derive a natural reaction
What is a conditioned stimulus?
Originally produced no reflexive response but has been learnt through repetitive pairing
What is a conditioned response?
Learnt response to a stimulus and occurs when conditioned stimulus is presented
What is spontaneous recovery?
Previously extinct behaviour returns
What is generalisation?
Stimuli similar to conditioned stimulus causes conditioned response to activate e.g. someone who had a bad experience with spiders is now also scared of beetles
What is discrimination?
Stimuli similar to conditioned stimulus does not cause conditioned response to activate e.g. ringing a different bell to Pavlov’s dogs and they give no response
How does Pavlov support classical conditioning?
Found dogs associated neutral stimuli (bell) with food, causing salivation showing animals can learn through the process of association between two stimuli so it is a credible theory
What is the issue with using animal research for classical conditioning?
Research may not apply directly to humans as there are differences so may not explain how humans learn, so it is an incomplete theory
How does Watson and Rayner support classical conditioning?
Little Albert associated neutral stimuli (white rat) with fearful stimuli (loud metal banging) causing fear of white rat showing people can learn through the process of association between two stimulus so it is a credible theory
