Classical conditioning in 21st century Flashcards
What is classical conditioning?
The pairing (association) of a conditioned stimulus (CS) with an unconditioned stimulus (US) to produce a conditioned response (CR).
What happens during classical conditioning?
Before: US (e.g., thunder) elicits UR (e.g., fear).
During: CS (e.g., lightning) paired with US.
After: CS alone elicits CR (fear).
What did Ivan Pavlov discover about classical conditioning?
Dogs salivated (UR) in response to food (US).
When paired with a bell (CS), salivation became a CR to the bell alone.
Extinction occurred when the CS was no longer paired with the US.
What did J.B. Watson’s Little Albert experiment demonstrate?
Fear can be conditioned in humans.
Albert developed a fear of a white rat (CS) after pairing it with a loud noise (US).
The fear generalized to similar stimuli (e.g., rabbits, dogs).
What were the ethical and methodological issues in the Little Albert experiment?
Intentional harm and emotional distress.
Lack of scientific rigor and consistency.
Generalization from one participant.
Disagreement over Albert’s identity (Douglas Merritte or William Barger).
How is classical conditioning used in advertising?
Positive emotions (US) from an enjoyable ad are paired with a product (CS) to elicit a positive consumer response (CR).
What was the role of Colin Kaepernick in Nike’s advertising?
Kaepernick (US) inspired feelings of hope and change (UR). Pairing with Nike (CS) aimed to evoke those feelings (CR) and increase sales.
What is the placebo effect?
A beneficial response to an inactive treatment (sham) due to expectations of efficacy.
What is the nocebo effect?
Negative outcomes arise from expecting harm, often triggered by verbal suggestions or conditioning.
What did Kirsch et al. (2014) discover about placebo conditioning?
Conditioning increased the placebo effect:
Participants receiving reduced pain stimulation reported less pain.
Strength of learning influenced long-term placebo effects.
How does social learning influence the placebo effect?
Observing others’ reduced pain in response to a sham treatment can condition similar expectations in participants.
What brain mechanisms underlie placebo-induced pain relief?
Activation of the frontal cortex (anticipation of relief).
Dopamine and opioid signaling.
Reduced activation in pain-processing regions (e.g., thalamus, somatosensory cortex).
How does the nocebo effect differ neurologically?
Increased activation in anxiety-related regions (e.g., hippocampus).
Hyperactivity in the HPA axis and elevated cortisol levels.
What is operant conditioning?
Learning occurs as a consequence of reinforcement or punishment, which strengthens or weakens behavior.
How did Skinner study operant conditioning?
Positive reinforcement: Rats learned to press a lever to receive food.
Negative reinforcement: Rats learned to press a lever to stop an electric current.
What are the main types of reinforcement schedules?
Continuous: Reinforced every time; fast learning and extinction.
Fixed ratio: Reinforced after a set number of responses; medium extinction.
Fixed interval: Reinforced after a set time; medium learning and extinction.
Variable ratio: Reinforced unpredictably; slow extinction.
Variable interval: Reinforced after unpredictable time; slow extinction.
How do these schedules apply to human behavior?
Gambling (variable ratio).
Checking social media (variable interval).
Rewards for tasks (fixed ratio).
Deadlines (fixed interval).
How can reinforcement influence fatigue in clinical settings?
Caregiver behaviors (e.g., offering help) can unintentionally reinforce fatigue complaints, increasing their frequency.
What did Lenaert et al. (2018) find about fatigue conditioning?
Feedback linked to fatigue ratings influenced participants’ self-reported fatigue, showing social reinforcement’s role.
