classical conditioning Flashcards
who was the person who found out research about classical conditioning? and what year?
Pavlov- dog experiment and in 1927
what did he find out?
that dogs could learn to associate food with the sound of a bell alone.
what did his experiment consist of?
he presented the bell (the conditioned stimulus) just before the food (the unconditional stimulus) was given to the dogs. This caused a unconditional response of salivation.
salivation to the sound of the bell is a conditioned response
what is the believe of classical conditioning and who said it?
Ivan Pavlov believed that behaviour can be learned though association.
what is classical conditioning theory?
it involves learning a new behaviour via the process of association. in simple terms, when two stimulus are linked together to produce a newly learned response
what are the three stages of classical conditioning?
- before conditioning- unconditioned stimulus > unconditioned response ( stimulus in the environment has produced a behaviour/response)
stage 2: during conditioning- a stimulus which produces no response is associated with the unconditioned stimulus at which point becomes the conditioned stimulus. This usually has to be repeated for the association to strengthen over time
stage 3: after conditioning: conditioned stimulus is now associated with the unconditioned stimulus to create a new conditioned response.
what is systematic desensitisation?
who designed it?
a type of behavioural therapy used to help effectively overcome phobias and other anxiety disorder by associating the fear with feelings of relaxation
wolpe (1958)
what are the initial stages of systematic desensitisation?
> client is taught a deep muscle relaxation technique and breathing exercises
person makes a hierarchy in relation to their feared object e.g. what causes the most fear and what would cause the least fear.
patient works their way up the fear hierarchy, starting with the least unpleasant stimuli and practising their relaxation technique as they go
how many sessions does it usually take to remove a phobia?
what about for a severe phobia?
what is called when it has gone?
4-6 sessions
up to 12 for a severe phobia
they are said to be ‘desensitised’
what ways can people be exposed by?
in vitro- client imagines phobic stimulus
in vivo- actually exposed to the phobic stimulus
what example is there for this working? (application)
wolpe successfully treated an 18 year old male who had a hand washing compulsion.
wolpe used the initial stages
>the mans anxiety gradually dissipated.
>he used in vitro methods and in vivo methods near the end.
>He presented the man with a bottle of urine and in gradual steps lead to wolpe dripping it on to the back of the boys hand without compulsive behaviour
> 4 years later complete remission of the compulsive behaviours
strengths of systematic desensitisation
> fairly ethical procedure because it involves a gradual exposure to phobic objects which makes it less stressful than flooding
has a clear rationale which enables it to be explained to people easily which gives confidence that the experiment will work.
proven therapy that has worked such as capafons et al 1998
weaknesses of systematic desensitisation
> other factors apart from classical conditioning is used such as operant conditioning principles and cognitive processing. This questions the reasoning behind it
not good for any mental health issues apart form mental health disorders and phobias.
the individual need to be able to learn to relax and has to be involved in whole process, not everyone can do this.
