pavlov 2.0

Question 1

para 1 ao1

Answer 1

• pavlov aimed to see how the cerebral cortex works in making associations and looked for a mechanism linking reflexes to the cerebral cortex
• he aimed see if he could condition a dog to salivate to the sound of a ringing bell (conditioned stimulus)
• he used a sample of 35 dogs of all different breeds
• the dogs mouths were linked to a tube that drained saliva away into a measuring bottle and the dogs were observed by the experimenter through a one way mirror
• the dogs were presented with food from an adjacent room by remote control in a food bowl, but later experiments included meat powder being blown into the dogs mouths at precise moments.

Question 2

para 2 ao1

Answer 2

• The NS, which was the bell or metronome, was paired with the UCS of the food to condition the dog to salivate when hearing the metronome alone
• just before placing the food in the dogs mouth, pavlov sounded the metronome
• after 20 or more pairings the metronome became the CS so would produce the salivation response itself
• After the procedure, Pavlov repeated it using the higher conditioning process and conditioned the dogs to salivate to other stimuli such as light, a touch on the leg and the sight of a circle

Question 3

strengths

Answer 3

The study was high in validity as the extraneous variables were controlled. The dogs were placed in a room sealed by steel double doors where they weren’t able to see, smell or hear anything outside and they were strapped into a harness so they couldn’t move, therefore meaning that the amount of saliva that they produced was due to the ringing of the bell rather than due to what they heard or saw meaning pavlov could infer cause and effect.

The study had high internal validity as he tested for a variety of neutral stimuli including a metronome, bell and buzzer to find out whether they produced a behavioural response, which they didn’t. Therefore, this showed that pairing the NS with the UCS caused the salivation behaviour in dogs, showing clear cause and effect and increasing scientific credibility.

Question 4

weaknesses

Answer 4

The study is low in generalisability as it is animal research. Pavlov used dogs in his sample, but humans have higher order cognition due to the difference between human and animal environments and societies and we have a more developed PFC. Therefore, the results about cc of salivation in dogs are not representative of human learning.

The study lacks ecological validity and mundane realism, for example the dogs were strapped into harnesses and had a tube attached and they were in highly artificial and controlled laboratory which in not their usual and natural environment. Therefore, the results about classical conditioning the response of salivation in dogs may not be representative of real life.

Question 5

application

Answer 5

Pavlov found that salivation started after 9 seconds of hearing the metronome and after 45 seconds, 11 drops of saliva had been collected. Pavlov also found that dogs showed stimulus generalisation if the new stimulus was of a similar tone but could discriminate if the tone sounded too different. His experiment lead to further research such as Watson and Rayner who conditioned an infant to fear a white rat, which showed that if you can learn a phobia you can remove one too, therefore leading to the development of treatments like SD and flooding.