Week 2 - Perspectives on behaviourism (classical conditioning)

Question 1

What are the 4 assumptions of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 1

· Thought processes are subjective and impossible to test scientifically whereas behaviour can be observed and measured scientifically.
· We are born a ‘blank slate’, meaning our behaviour is learnt through (and only through) experience (i.e., the environment).
· Biological factors play a very limited role in behaviour. According to behaviourists, biological factors are really just a response to environmental factors, so the environment is really the source of our behaviour.
· The study of non-human animals (comparative psychology) is a valid tool for understanding human behaviour.

Question 2

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 2

Classical conditioning is the process of learning by association. It occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together - and unconditioned (unlearned) stimulus (UCS) and a neutral stimulus (NS). The neutral stimulus eventually produces the same response that was first produced by the unlearned stimulus alone.

Question 3

What was Pavlov’s research into classical conditioning?

Answer 3

Pavlov revealed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food. Gradually, Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell (a neutral stimulus) with the food (an unconditioned stimulus), leading them to produce a conditioned response (salivation) every time they heard the bell. Thus, Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus, in this case a bell, can come to elicit a new learned response (a conditioned response) through association.

Question 4

What are the three types of stimulus?

Answer 4

• Unconditioned stimulus
• Conditioned stimulus
• Neutral stimulus

Question 5

What is a neutral stimulus?

Answer 5

Causes nothing. (bell)

Question 6

What is a unconditioned stimulus?

Answer 6

Natural cause of the response. (the food)

Question 7

What is a conditioned stimulus?

Answer 7

Unnatural cause of the response. (salivating at the sound of the bell)

Question 8

What did Nikolai Krasnogorsky do?

Answer 8

Nikolai conducted the same experiments on orphan children, including the same type of saliva collectors

Question 9

What was the little Albert experiment?

Answer 9

This is where he paired a stimulus with a loud noise to a child to see if it would develop a phobia. This also provided evidence for stimulus generalisation as little Albert developed phobias for all things that were fluffy

Question 10

What was Mowrer’s two factor theory?

Answer 10

The position here taken is that anxiety is a learned response, occurring to signals (conditioned stimuli) that are premonitory (have in the past been followed by) situations of injury or pain (unconditioned stimuli)

Question 11

What is an issue with the two factor theory?

Answer 11

Many phobic patients recount histories inconsistent with the theory. Alternative explanations could be due to genetics and evolutionary

Question 12

What is extinction?

Answer 12

Extinction refers to when a learned response ceases to occur. For example, if one of Pavlov’s dogs stopped salivating to the sound of a Bell, then the learned response would have become extinct. Equally, if one of skinners rats stopped pressing the lever, then the learned response would have become extinct.

Question 13

How can classical conditioning relate to allergic reactions?

Answer 13

Pair a neutral stimulus (sight of flowers) with an allergic reaction (unconditioned stimulus - pollen which produces the unconditioned response of allergic reactions)

As a result of this a person will begin releasing histamines at the sight of the flower and not just the sight of then pollen

Question 14

What study showed classical conditioning in immunosuppression?

Answer 14

Conditioned immune system suppression in rats

• Paired saccharin-flavoured water with injections pf cyclophosphamide
• Each time the rats drank the sweetened water (conditioned stimulus) their immune systems were weakened (conditioned response) - even without the immune suppressing drug
• Key finding for helping organ transplants by conditioning immunosuppressive response

Question 15

How does drug tolerance & drug overdose relate to classical conditioning

Answer 15

• A user may develop a conditioned response to a setting where they take drugs
• When entering that particular setting, their body begins to compensate for the influx of the drug to come
• When in a new setting this conditioned response does not occur
• Higher effective does of the drug than the user can tolerate
• Similarly, classical conditioning also helps explain why people addicted to cocaine get drug cravings from handling money