Topic 2- Classical Conditioning Flashcards
What is Classical Conditioning?
The idea of learning by association.
Can you draw the diagram of Pavlov’s study?
Use the words Unconditioned Stimulus, Neutral Stimulus, Unconditioned Response, Conditioned Stimulus, Prompts, Conditioned Response
What are the 3 steps to summarise Conditioning Theory?
- The essence of conditioning theory is that there is already a
stimulus response that exists. In Pavlov’s research with dogs it is
that the dogs salivated when they saw/smelt food. - The learning
then happens when a new stimulus is associated with that
response i.e. the ringing of a bell with salivation. - By presenting the
new stimulus at the same time as the original stimulus, conditioning enables the response to be elicited by this new
stimulus on its own.
Who was Pavlov, what did he research and what did he notice?
Pavlov was a physiologist whose research work initially focuse on the digestive system of dogs.
To do this he had a dog harnessed to a bench with a tube coming out of it’s mouth and into a jar
When his assistant came into the laboratory with the food t=for the dog, Pavlov noticed that the dog salivated upon hearing the sound of the door
Dogs salivate automatically when they see food, but Pavlov’s dogs had clearly associated the imminent arrival of food with the door opening
Pavlov decided to instead look research this association
What did he do next and what did it result in?
When dogs hear a bell there is no reflex response apart from the pricking up of ears. So, Pavlov rang a bell whenever the dogs were given food. The sound of the bell then became associated with the food. This meant that, eventually, whenever he rang the bell, the dogs would salivate even if there was no food present
What is stimulus generalisation (Link to Pavlov and Little Albert study)
Pavlov found that if he varied the bell pitch and tone, the dogs would still salivate. This meant that if a stimulus has characteristics close to the conditioned stimulus, then the association would also be made to that new stimulus.
In the case of Watson & Rayner’s ‘Little Albert’ study (see page 164) the little boy was not only frightened by the original white rat but also other small furry animals and white fluffy objects. This is an example of how the stimulus can be generalised to other similar things.
What is stimulus discrimination (Link to Little Albert study)
At some point there has to be cut-off point where the association will not be made and the stimulus generalisation will not occur. This is called stimulus discrimination and happens when the characteristics of the conditioned stimulus and an object become too different to be generalised.
Using the Little Albert case study as an example, he would not associate a large brown dog with fear as, although it is an animal, it varies in terms of size, colour and type.
What is Time/ Temporal Contiguity (Link to Little Albert and Pavlov)
Pavlov found that the association only occurs if the unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus are presented at the same time, or around the same time, as each other. If the time lapse between presentations is too great then there will be no association made.
What is the Little Albert study, who were the researchers and when? How was it done?
This is illustrated by the rather unethical work of Watson & Rayner (1920) who classically conditioned a boy named ‘Little Albert’ to become phobic of rats (see page 164). Little Albert was his research name not his actual name. This was done by the presentation of an unconditioned stimulus of a loud noise at the same time as the rat. After following this procedure several times, Little Albert started to cry whenever he was shown a rat, even though he had previously not been scared of it.
