Pavlov 1972

Question 1

Aims

Answer 1

• investigate how neutral stimuli (such as the sound of a bell) can become associated with an unconditioned stimulus (such as food) to produce a conditioned response (such as salivation).

Question 2

Procedure - stage 1

Answer 2

• Stage 1 (Before Conditioning): - Pavlov measured the salivation response of dogs when presented with food (unconditioned stimulus, or UCS), which naturally caused salivation (unconditioned response, or UCR).

Question 3

Procedure - stage 2

Answer 3

• Stage 2 (During Conditioning): - Pavlov then presented a neutral stimulus (a bell) just before presenting the food, repeatedly pairing the bell with the food.

Question 4

Procedure - stage 3

Answer 4

• Stage 3 (After Conditioning):
• After several pairings, the bell alone (now a conditioned stimulus, or CS) caused the dogs to salivate (conditioned response, or CR), even when food was not presented.

Question 5

Results

Answer 5

• After conditioning, the dogs began to salivate in response to the bell alone, which had previously been a neutral stimulus.
• This demonstrated that the dogs had learned an association between the bell (CS) and food (UCS), which caused the salivation response (CR).

Question 6

Conclusions

Answer 6

• Pavlov concluded that classical conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus, eventually leading to a learned response.
• This process helps explain how associations between stimuli and responses are formed, laying the foundation for much of behaviourism.

Question 7

Generalisability

Answer 7

P- Limited gen
E- Animal study, humans structurally have diff brains, eg humans have larger cerebral cortex than other species and permits to complexer cog processing.
E- Important as Pavlov believed this could generalise to humans and this may not be true
- CP: Studies like Watson and Rayner got human to classically condition

Question 8

Reliability

Answer 8

P- High internal validity
E- Controls for extraneous feature, Pavlov’s studies took place within a soundproof chamber to reduce the possibility of external sounds distracting the dogs or providing additional stimuli.
E- controls make it more likely that salivation in response to the conditioned stimulus was due to conditioning rather than to extraneous variables.

Question 9

Application

Answer 9

P- High , helps is investigate eating behaviours
E- Obesity can be partially understood via condoned response, EG: Anita Jansen et al. (2003) suggest that overweight children have acquired very strong associations between cues that predict the arrival of food and the salivation response
E- Pavlov’s research demonstrates its significance in developing therapies such as systematic desensitisation

Question 10

Validity

Answer 10

P-The study has high internal validity, but low ecological validity.
E- Pavlov used highly controlled conditions and objective measures (salivation) to study the behavior of the dogs, ensuring that the observed effects were due to conditioning.
E: However, the use of artificial laboratory conditions means the findings might not be representative of real-world situations where learning is more complex and influenced by various environmental factors.
CP- But, without these isolated conditions the results wouldnt have been assessed as independently and objectively as possible