Week 2 - Conditioning Flashcards
Relevant Background: At the time of study what were the dominant views remember: this isn’t behaviourism
Introspection (Wundt) –> behaviour is explained by “looking within” (helps us to understand our mind)
–> to engage in introspection: observe environment and describe experiences
ISSUE: can mental processes be reliably reported?
Psychodynamics (Freud) –> the unconscious mind - our ideas and feelings hidden away from conscious access (complexes, ego, id etc.)
Relevant Background: What is behaviourism? Who was this established by and what was the early evidence?
Behaviourism was named and established by WATSON - believed that behaviour is learned
Watson’s Early Evidence:
1. Pavlov: Animals learn by association, behaviours linked to specific stimuli
2. Watson and Morgan- emotional reactions in infancy are innate (fear, love, rage)
What is behaviourism:
–> Moves AWAY from the focus on underlying mental events
–> Behaviour can be understood in terms of stimulus and response (interested in the connection between the environment and behaviours)
- Environment (stimulus)
- Behaviour (response)
–> If repeated these responses may generalise
Relevant Background: What is classical conditioning ?
Note:
- Classical: learning by association and conditioning reflexes
- Operant: learning by punishment and reinforcement
Classical Conditioning:
BEFORE learning occurs - an unconditioned response is triggered by an unconditioned stimulus (independent of learning)
DURING learning - a neutral stimulus is introduced
AFTER learning - a conditioned response elicited by a conditioned stimulus (that was neutrally associated with the US during learning)
Experiment: Aims
Can we learn emotions?
Experiment: Participants
Little Albert - reared in a hospital environments
–> healthy, emotionally calm, rarely cried
In a baseline test Albert was reportedly unafraid of any of the stimuli he was shown, which consisted of “a white rat, a rabbit, a dog, a monkey, with [sic] masks with and without hair, cotton wool, burning newspapers
Experiment: Methods
Albert was subjected during two conditioning sessions spaced one week apart to a total of seven pairings of a white rat followed by the startling sound of a steel bar being struck with a hammer
After seven pairings of the rat and noise (in two sessions, one week apart), Albert reacted with crying and avoidance when the rat was presented without the loud noise
Experiment: Procedure
- Baseline testing of neural stimulus - played with animals/objects with no fear or crying
- Testing the UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS
–> after repetition of loudly striking a steel bar with a hammer behind his head, Albert cried (showed fear response) - INITIAL CONDITIONING TRIALS
–> white rat presented to Albert
–> Albert touches the rat and the steel bar is struck with hammer
–> At first, no cry - upon repetition: Albert begins to cry - MAIN CONDITIONING
–> Albert was presented with the rat
–> there were then 4 pairings of the rat with the noise - OBSERVATION OF CONDITIONED RESPONSE
–> when the rat was presented alone = Albert cries/shows fear response
Findings - immediately, 5 days later, 1 month later (
IMMEDIETLY
–> Albert created an association between the neutral stimulus (rat), the unconditioned stimulus (hammer) and the unconditioned response (crying)
–> The neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus
–> The unconditioned response became a conditioned response
5 DAYS LATER
–> Experimenters needed to first establish the conditioned response still existed
–> DISSIMILAR STIMULUS: when given blocks, there was no crying (CR had not generalised across all inanimate objects)
–> SIMILAR STIMULI
o presented with Rabbit alone - crying
o presented with Dog alone - crying
o presented with fur coat (seal) - withdrawal o hand and crying
o presented with cotton wool - withdraws hand but does NOT cry
–> generalisation to similar hairy-fur like stimuli (same occurred with albert touching his hair and when presented with a santa mask)
ONE MONTH LATER
–> lower intensity of negative reaction, BUT the conditioned response continued to generalise to similar objects
Findings - can persistent fears be removed?
Detachment= the removal of conditioned emotional response (this was NOT tested with Albert)
Watson and Rayner PROPOSED:
- habituation = decline in responsiveness to stimuli once they become familiar
- re-conditioning = adding positive stimuli when the conditioned stimuli appear again
- modelling= building up constructive activities around the object
^ all ways to see a reduction in fear response
Debate: Nature v Nurture
Nature: behaviour is explained by heredity factors
–> Belief that genetics –> behaviour (as suggested by Sir Francis Galton)
Nurture: Behaviour is the result of the environment (social influences etc.)
–> Watson’s environmentalism - our environment is the primary influence for our behaviour
Debate: Equipotentiality v Extinction
Equipotentiality –> any stimulus can become conditioned if associated with an UCS
–> Some people do argue that some stimuli are more feared than others as they have more of a potential for conditioning (eg. snakes spiders) - they are EVOLUTIONARILY PREPARED
Extinction –> if CS is presented without the UCS then the CR will diminish over time (mixed findings)
–> some find a renewal effect (CR is renewed when going back to the original context after extinction (reinstatement effect)
Controversy
Ethical Issues:
–> Albert is SCARED - how long does conditioning last for?
–> Child-ppt issues: consent, understanding a debrief etc (particularly as baby = non-verbal)
Scientific Issues:
–> Single case study
–> Experimenter bias (subjective assessment of fear)
–> No control or comparative experimental condition
Legacy and Impact
