Operant and classical conditioning Flashcards
What is the psychology of learning?
study of how behavioural principles are responsible for the learning and unlearning of behaviour.
What are the two main types of learning?
- Behaviour changes because of stimulus presentations ( Stimulus and response)
- Behaviour changes because of stimulus-response contingencies = S and R and consequence
What is habituation?
repeated presentation of an unconditioned stimulus leading to a reduction in unconditioned response
What are some studies demonstrating habituation
Snail tapping - will stop to withdraw head into shell
Epstein et al (1992) : after trail two salivation response to taste of lemon or lime juice decreased.
What are the pros and cons of habituation
Pros: we can start to zone out any unimportant sensory input
Cons: may miss important sensory input.
What processes is habituation involved in?
stress (increased tolerance to stressors)
Pain (increased tolerance)
eating (getting use to strong flavours)
drug use (drug tolerance)
fear (desensitisation)
What is classical conditioning?
Pavlov showed how learning can occur : Unconditioned stimulus causes a natural response, this is the unconditioned response, the conditioned stimulus produces a conditioned response which is the same response as the unconditioned response.
What are three key factors in the process of classical conditioning?
Discrimination, contingency awareness, extinction
What is the role of extinction in classical conditioning?
the conditioned response will reduced then cease if the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli are not occasionally presented together. Conditioned stimuli returns to neutral. not permanent. Spontaneous recovery.
what is the role of discrimination in classical conditioning
need to ability to discriminate between conditioned, other or absence of stimuli. E.g. discriminating between bell sound vs other sounds or appearance cs+ (red light for food) vs cs- ( green when no food) - Pavlovian discrimination training.
what is the role of contingent awareness in classical conditioning?
awareness of the pairing between two stimuli, Pps can verbalise the link. When masked (by distractor task), conditioning is not seen. Pairing creates expectancy.
how does classical conditioning relate to fear and anxiety?
a fear to the a previously neutral stimulus can be conditioned resulting in a conditioned response (fear) when paired with a previous fear (unconditioned stimulus).
What is the difference between fear and anxiety?
fear : emotional response to real or perceived imminent threat, adaptive
anxiety : anticipation of future threat, maladaptive.
what is the study that demonstrate how fear can be classically conditioned, and evaluate it.
watson and rayner (1920) : little albert. fear generalisation.
unethical, lacks experimental control, poor population validity.
Beck et al (2009) : douglas merritte, not healthy, neurological issues, claims of normality
Powell et al (2014) : albert barger, long healthy life, consistent with study.
in terms of classical conditioning, why can fear be generalised
Other stimuli that have similar features to the conditioned stimuli can elicit the same conditioned response.
Adaptative for survival
maladaptive if non-threatening stimuli.
What studies demonstrate generalisation of conditioned stimulis?
Dunsmoor et al (2009) : cs+ (ambiguous face) paired with us (electric shock) neutral face not reinforced cs-. Fear to type of expression not the appearance of the face. more predisposed to generalised to things for survival.
Lissek et al (2008) : panic disorder vs control , ring size and startle blink refelx, stronger generalisation in panic patients - 3 rings.
evaluate the theory of how fear and anxiety can be conditioned?
A lot of research evidence
Individual differences : internal evolution of even effects contingency awareness, explains why some develop fears and others do not.
Davey 1995 : enhanced predisposition to associate certain stimuli with trauma
Spontaneous remission : there may be a revaluation of the unconditioned stimulus and fear symptoms may rapidly disappear with no treatment.
Explain how taste aversion can be classically conditioned?
Bad experience with food (e.g. food poisoning) no longer like the food.
Garcia effect: nausea does not come to later, we biologically still make the conditioning for survival purposes.
How can classical conditioning also be applied?
Acquisition of clinical disorders and treatment
substance abuse
consumer activity
studying brain functioning
development and application of therapies.
How can classical conditioning be applied to addiction/ substance misuse.
classical less strongly implicated then operant
cues : relapse of addiction.
what is evaluative conditioning
forming or change of an attitude due to the pairing of neutral stimulus with a positive or negative stimulus.
what study demonstrate evaluative conditioning
Staats and Staats, 1958: exp 1 dutch and Swedish, exp 2, tom and bill, names paired 18 times with either postive or negative words (us), names with positive words viewed more positively.
How does systematic desensitisation help with phobias
relaxation techniques gradually paired with stressor. start of slowly exposing the stressor.
How does flooding help with phobias
exposing individual to maximum- intensity, relaxation techniques to calm down, neutralising the fight or flight response.
Why has there been a decline in use of systematic desensitisation and flooding?
bandura 1971 - modelling is another example of exposure therapy.
Marks (1975) common factor to all these therapies is exposure. rise of CBT.
How is Virtual reality exposure therapy used for treating phobias?
useful for uncontrollable or difficult to access or inaccessible.
Evaluate exposure therapy for treating phobias
A lot of evidence.
flooding can be distressing and difficult to administer
systematic desensitisation less distressing. VRT offers modern alternative.