Classical Conditioning Flashcards
eye blink study
Identify the key elements involved in this activity:
Unconditioned stimulus=puff of air
Unconditioned response=blinking
Neutral stimulus=knocking
Conditioned stimulus=knocking
Conditioned response=blinking
State the three phases of Classical Conditioning
Before, during, after
Outline what happened in the Before Conditioning stage
The neutral stimulus of knocking caused no response. The unconditioned stimulus being the puff of air, caused the unconditioned response of blinking.
Outline what happened in the During Conditioning stage
Repeated association of the neutral stimulus, the knock, immediately followed by the presentation of the unconditioned stimulus, the puff of air, results in the unconditioned response of blinking.
Outline what happened in the After Conditioning stage
The neutral stimulus of knocking has become the conditioned stimulus and alone results in the conditioned response of blinking.
What is the aim of the study?
To classically condition participants to blink in response to the stimulus of knocking, by utilising the presence of a puff of air.
Identify and evaluate the sampling technique used in this study
Non-random: a limitation of this technique is that it may not accurately represent the population. However an advantage could be that it is time effective and convenient.
Explain two ethical guidelines and justify whether they were upheld in this study
Voluntary participation: ensures there is no pressure put on participants and they choose freely to participate. However, in order to have true voluntary participation there must be informed consent which was not used in this study therefore it was not upheld.
Withdrawal rights: the right for participants to discontinue their involvement at any time, this was upheld since participants could choose not to participate without penalty.
Explain two ethical concepts and justify whether they were upheld in this study
Beneficence: the commitment to maximising benefits and minimising risks involved, this was upheld as both the experimenter and participants benefited and no long term harm was caused.
Justice: The distribution of fair access to benefits from research was upheld as all participants had access to the results collected from the study.
Identify and explain how two extraneous variables may have impacted the results of this experiment.
- The distance of the puff of air - this distance was not specified, therefore may have impacted whether or not the participant was properly classically conditioned.
- noise level in the room - this could interfere with participants being presented the neutral stimulus of knocking, making it more difficult to classically condition.
