Pavlov (1927) Flashcards
Aim
Find out if reflex behaviour can be produced in new situations through learning. Specifically to see if associating a reflex with a neutral stimulus ( sound) causes learning to take Place producing a conditioned reflex.
Stimulusus
Unconditioned stimulus (food) when added to neutral stimulus (metronome) creates an unconditioned response ( salivation)
Creates a conditioned stimulus (metronome) and conditioned response (salivation)
Results
Conditioned dog started to salivate 9 seconds after hearing sound by 45 seconds produce 11 drops of saliva
Generalisability
No population validity
Can’t generalise to humans
Different brains, less motivated by food
Reliability
Standardise procedure used
25 years of research
Different dogs and stimulus used
Inter rater and test retest reliability
Validity
Low ecological validity as dogs were kept in unusual conditions (lab)
Could have led to demand characteristics
Different behaviours if they were uncomfortable
Also was an odd stimulus
Ethic
Animals sealed in small rooms
Tied in harnesses
Subject to surgery (ok at time)(no ethical guidelines for psychologists)
Repeated on Russian
Application
Led to programmes for changing behaviours
Had some bad consequences
Aversion therapy for homosexual men
Strengths
Anecdotal evidence for classical conditioning in every day life (feeling sick w cleaning products)
Evidence from lab studies (highly controlled, establishes cause and effect relationship)
Explains how people develop phobias and lead to treatment using principles of classical conditioning (systematic desensitisation)
Weaknesses
Can’t explain how novel behaviours are acquired only explains when associations are made (phobias without having an experience with the thing)
A lot of research uses animals - humans have higher order cognitive process, may not be generalised to humans as they understand and may be less influenced
