classical conditioning Flashcards
what is classical conditioning? (aka Pavlovian conditioning)
a type of learning where a stimulus evokes a response once evoked by another stimulus.
ex 1: watching a scary movie with scary music in the background initiating something bad is about to happen.
ex 2: Every time the dog hears the sound of a bell, it starts salivating because it has learned to associate the bell with the arrival of food.
phobias
irrational fears of specific objects or situations
- likelihood of developing a phobia lies on anxiety levels, past experiences, and nature of event.
preparedness
species-specific predisposition for specific ways of conditioning.
- learning to fear certain things makes it more likely to avoid certain threats.
ex: having a fear of heights will prevent you from standing by the edge of a ledge and fall (and die)
Psychic reflexes
- were discovered by Pavlov using canine research.
- found that dogs were psychic since they were able to predict when food was coming.
- was called psychic reflex back in the day but is now known as conditioned reflex.
In-lab stimuli
a way to study classical conditioning.
Neutral Stimulus (NS)
does not elicit a response unless paired with an unconditioned stimulus
ex: the bell associated before food
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
A stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response.
ex: The food which naturally causes salivation in a dog.
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
An unlearned, natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus.
ex: naturally salivating when food is present
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
A previously neutral stimulus that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus, triggers a learned response.
ex: The bell sound after being paired with food.
Conditioned Response (CR)
A learned reaction to a conditioned stimulus.
ex: Salivating when hearing the bell sound
evaluative conditioning
changes in liking of a stimulus due to pairing with other stimulus.
Ex: if you look up to a celebrity that likes a certain political party, you might vote for that political party.
what is the study of McNulty et al., 2017
The study involved 144 couples, all under age 40 and married for less than five years. Participants were surveyed every three days over six weeks. The experimental group was exposed to positive stimuli with their partner, while the control group had neutral stimuli. The results showed that the experimental group experienced higher levels of marital satisfaction and impulsive positive feelings compared to the control group. This suggests that positive interactions or stimuli with partners can enhance relationship satisfaction and emotional responses.
acquisition
initial stage of learning something, influenced by the following:
- stimulus contiguity - refers to the pairing of the unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus for a response to happen. it is the timing between the US and the NS
- salience of stimulus - how noticeable or attention-grabbing the stimulus is. Ex: a loud sound
extinction
a gradual decrease and disappearance of a conditioned response (salivating when hearing the bell sound) because the conditioned stimulus (bell sound after being associated with food) is constantly without the unconditioned stimulus (the food)
spontaneous recovery
extinguished conditioned response reappears after a period of non-exposure to conditioned stimulus.
ex: the conditioned response (salivating) weakens due to the absence of the unconditioned stimulus (food), the response can reappear (spontaneously) when the conditioned stimulus (bell) is presented again, even after a period of time. The response is weaker than before because the association isn’t as strong, but the dog remembers the connection, which is characteristic of spontaneous recovery.
renewal effect
occurs when a conditioned response that was extinguished in one context reappears when the conditioned stimulus is presented in a different context or environment.
ex: in room 1, the dog learns that when they hear the bell, it is associated with food and they salivate. in room 2, they learn that when the bell rings, they are not rewarded with food like they were in room 1. overtime, the dog loses the response to salivate when hearing the sound of the bell. but If the dog is placed back into room 2, the dog relearns the response and continues to salivate AT THE SAME LEVEL.
why should you care about spontaneous recovery and renewal effect?
If a person undergoes treatment to reduce a phobia in a different environment than where they initially developed the phobia, the fear response may return if they are placed back in the original environment where the phobia was first learned. This is an example of the renewal effect
stimulus generalization: little Albert
a video about a baby who fears ALL animals after having a bad encounter with only one of them.
- Stimulus generalization occurs when a conditioned response is triggered by stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus.
stimulus discrimination
response to a specific stimulus does not generalize to similar stimuli.
- decreased similarity to a conditioned stimulus increases the chances of stimulus discrimination.
ex: a dog will only learn to salivate to a specific bell rather than all bells.
higher-order conditioning
when a conditioned stimulus acts as though it is an unconditioned stimulus.
- ex: if a dog learns to salivate to a bell (CS) because it’s paired with food, and then the bell is paired with a light, the light alone can eventually trigger salivation, even though it was never directly paired with food.
who are the key players
Pavlov
