Week 5: Contemporary Views of Classical Conditioning Flashcards
What did Pavlov believe was the critical element in classical conditioning?
The repeated pairing of the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus, with only a brief interval between the two.
What did researchers discover in the early 1960s regarding classical conditioning?
They began to discover exceptions to some of the general principles identified by Pavlov.
What did psychologist Robert Rescorla demonstrate about classical conditioning?
The important factor is whether the conditioned stimulus provides information that enables the organism to reliably predict the occurrence of the unconditioned stimulus.
What was the setup of Rescorla’s tests on rats?
One group had the tone and shock paired 20 times, while another group received shocks that were not paired with the tone.
What was the outcome of Rescorla’s tests on rats?
Only the first group, where the tone was a reliable predictor of the shock, developed the conditioned response to the tone.
What role does genetics play in classical conditioning?
Genetics influences the degree to which individuals acquire or resist classically conditioned responses.
What is an important finding regarding conditioned fears in humans?
Humans acquire conditioned fears of some objects more easily than others, especially those that can have real negative effects.
What did Martin Seligman suggest about common fears?
They are related to the survival of the human species through evolution.
What is taste aversion?
The dislike or avoidance of a particular food that has been associated with nausea or discomfort.
Example: A classic study by Garcia and Koelling on rats demonstrated this concept.
What did Garcia and Koelling’s study involve?
They exposed rats to a bright light, clicking noise, and flavored water, measuring consumption after exposure to nausea-inducing stimuli.
What did Garcia and Koelling find regarding associations in their study?
Rats associated nausea with flavored water but not with light or noise, while another group associated electric shock with light and noise.
What did Garcia and Koelling’s findings contradict?
The principle that the conditioned stimulus must be presented shortly before the unconditioned stimulus.
What types of responses can be learned through classical conditioning?
Many emotional responses, fears, and phobias result from classical conditioning.
How can classical conditioning relate to drug use?
Environmental cues associated with drugs can lead to continued drug use and affect drug tolerance.
What is drug tolerance?
A condition where the user becomes progressively less affected by the drug, requiring larger doses to achieve the same effect.
How do environmental cues affect drug users?
They can signal to the user that the drug is on the way, initiating compensatory physiological effects.
How do advertisers use classical conditioning?
They associate neutral products with positive stimuli to elicit favorable responses from consumers.
How are environmental cues linked to sexual arousal?
Environmental cues can trigger sexual arousal in humans.
