Classical Conditioning Flashcards
Who discovered classical conditioning?
Pavlov (1927), a Russian physiologist, discovered classical conditioning which is a type of learning that involves associating two stimulus.
What is a neutral stimulus?
An event that does not produce an innate response such as animals, shoes, sport etc (most things in our environment we are born with no innate reflexes to)
What is an unconditioned stimulus?
An event that produces an innate, unlearned reflex response such as jumping out on someone etc
What is an unconditioned response?
An innate, unlearned reflex behaviour that an organism produces when exposed to an unconditioned stimulus such as:
-balloon pop- jump
-cutting onions- crying
What is a conditioned stimulus?
A learned physical reflex behaviour that an organism produces when exposed to a conditioned stimulus. Previously the neutral stimulus.
What is a conditioned response?
A learned physical reflex behaviour that an organism produces when exposed to a conditioned stimulus. Previously the unconditioned stimulus.
Represent the process of classical conditioning
NS -> No response
UCS -> UCR
NS + UCS -> UCR
CS -> CR
Described Pavlov’s research
• Pavlov noticed that dogs would automatically salivate when presented with food (reflex response).
• He found that pairing food with the sound of a bell, dogs would learn to associate the food and bell.
• After a number of pairings the bell alone would produce salivation in the dog.
Described classical conditioning in Pavlov’s research.
Before learning, the bell was the neutral stimulus and this led to no response. The unconditioned stimulus was food which led to the unconditioned response of salivation. During learning the bell and food become paired and after a few repats the become associated. Eventually the bell alone acts as a conditioned stimulus and leads to the conditioned response of salivation.
Watson and Rayner Little Albert AIM
Aim: To find out if Classical Conditioning works on humans. Specifically, to find out if a fear response can be conditioned into a 9 month old baby boy. Also, to see if the fear response will be generalised to other animals and objects and how long the conditioning lasts
Watson and Rayner SAMPLE
One baby boy, Albert B, aged 9 months at the start of the study and 11 months when the conditioning began. Albert’s mother was a wet nurse at the hospital and Albert was chosen because he seemed healthy and quite fearless
Watson and Rayner method
1) Baseline assessment-showed no fear when presented with a rat, monkey, dog, cotton wool
2) Albert was presented with a white rat and as he reached for it a steel bar behind him was hit. Albert jumped/cried at the noise and fell forwards.
3) This was repeated several times over 7 weeks.
4) Albert response to the rat alone was tested
Watson and Rayner FINDINGS
• Eventually Albert could be presented with the rat-without the iron bar- and he would cry
• In addition, the Watson and Rayner found that Albert developed phobias of objects which shared characteristics with the rat; including the family dog, a fur coat, some cotton wool and a Father Christmas mask- Generalisation
• Over the next few weeks and months Little Albert was observed and 10 days after conditioning his fear of the rat was much less marked. This dying out of a learned response is called- Extinction
• Even after a full month it was still evident, and the association could be renewed by repeating the original procedure a few times
