Respondent conditioning Flashcards
Reflex
Responses that are elicited by environmental conditions.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
The event which elicits the reflex
Unconditioned response (UR)
The resulting behaviour
Unconditioned because…
the reflex does not depend on prior experience or learning, within the organism’s lifetime
The law of threshold
Very weak intensities of a stimulus will not elicit a response, but as intensity increases there is a point at which the response is elicited.
The law of intensity
As the intensity of the US increases, so does the magnitude of the UR.
The law of latency
As the intensity of the US increases, the latency of the appearance of the elicited UR decreases.
Over a period of time, repeated exposure to the stimuli decreases the reflex, and it will eventually fail to occur.
Habituation
Pavlov
- closely connected to Watson
- Classical/ respondent conditioning
Classical conditioning
Transfer of control of behaviour from one stimulus to another via S-S pairing
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
When a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus, the new stimulus comes to produce the response when presented on its own.
Conditioned Response (CR)
The response elicited by the CS
Pavlov example (salivation)
- Bell, no salivation
- Pair bell and dog food, salivation
- Bell, salivation
Asymptote
Maximum magnitude of the CS. Further CS-US pairings have no additional effects
Respondent extinction
The US must occur occasionally or the CR will cease.. Presenting just the CS is not sufficient.
