LM 10.0: Classical, Operant and Social Conditioning Flashcards
what is the definition of learning?
a relatively permanent change in mental processing, emotional functioning and/or behavior, as a result of some experience
what are the 4 ways of learning?
- associative learning
classical conditioning and operant conditioning
- social/observational learning
- Fraud’s theory: id, ego, superego
what is an unconditioned stimulus?
UCS = a stimulus that produces a response without prior learning
what is an unconditioned response?
UCR = an unlearned reaction that is automatically elicited by the unconditioned stimulus
what is a conditioned stimulus?
CS = a previously neutral stimulus that eventually elicits a conditioned response after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus
what is a conditioned response?
CR = the learned response to the conditioned stimulus that occurs after the conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus pairing
in Pavlov’s dogs example, what is the unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response and conditioned stimulus?
UCS = meat
UCR = salivation
CS = bell
why does classical conditioning work?
classical conditioning works because certain stimuli will provoke an automatic physiological reaction like a cold stimulus produces shivering response or the strong smell of garbage stimulus produce nauseated/queasy feeling response
positive responses also occur after certain stimuli
with white coat hypertension example, what is the unconditioned stimulus, unconditioned response and conditioned stimulus?
UCS = highly unpleasant experience in office
UCR = initial elevated blood pressure
CS = standard office visit
CR = post-elevated blood pressure
what is extinction?
when the conditioned response is weakened when the unconditioned stimulus is absent
how can you classically condition the immune system?
a young girl with Lupus who was struggling with side effects of medication had the “taste of Castor Oil and the smell of rose” paired with the medication and eventually the castor oil and rose smell had a similar effect on her immune system
the pairing with medication was repeated every other month to limit extinction = when the conditioned response is weakened when the unconditioned stimulus is absent.
what is stimulus generalization?
when stimuli similar to the conditioned stimuli begin to produce the conditioned response
ex. As a child I loved pancakes and I am told I devoured them whenever Mom made them. One morning I must have had a stomach virus because as I ate my pancakes I became real sick. It was a mess. I have not had a pancake since. Why? The unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the virus, caused the gastrointestinal upset and vomiting (UCR). The sight, smell and taste of pancakes were the conditioned stimulus (CS), occuring at the same time as the virus and the vomiting. This is an example of one trial learning - it only needed to be paired once for me to learn pancakes are not good. For many years I would become nauseated at the sight and smell of pancakes. This also became true for waffles, even though I had not had waffles that morning = stimulus generalization
what is a spontaneous recovery?
a process where a conditioned response (CR) reoccurs after a long period when no conditioning had been taking place for sometime aka a relapse in addiction term
ex. I smoked cigarettes as a teen but stopped in my twenties. I went decades not thinking about or desiring a cigarette. One day I was particularly stressed and happened to be near a group who were smoking. The conditioned stimulus of a group laughing, relaxing and smoking, along with the smell of the smoke was previously linked to smoking behavior. I suddenly had a craving for a cigarette. While the CSs had not produced a desire/craving to smoke for decades the situation triggered a spontaneous recovery
UCS = inhalaing nicotine
UCR = dopamine release/pleasure associated with inhaling nicotine
CS = sights/smells of cigarette and social interaction
CR= dopamine release/pleasure associated with sights and smells of cigarette
Every time you take a shower your partner/roommate flushes the toilet in the room. This causes you to jump due to a change in water temperature. Conditioning has taken place. You were at a party yesterday having a conversation in the hallway when someone flushed the toilet in the bathroom off the hallway. You jumped. According to classical conditioning principles your jumping in the hallway at the party would be the:
conditioned response
what is operant conditioning?
a form of associative learning in which the consequence of a behavior changes the probability of that behavior recurring
operant conditioning is based on the “Law of Effect” –> this law states that behaviors followed by positive outcomes are strengthened and those followed by negative outcomes are weakened
positive refers to adding something and negative refers to removing something
what is reinforcement?
when a reinforcing/rewarding stimulus or event following a particular behavior - increases the probability of that behavior occurring again
reinforcement always, always, always, always increases a behavior
positive reinforcement is when some reward is added and behavior increases
negative reinforcement is when something unpleasant is removed and behavior increases –> or doing a behavior removes a bad stimuli
