LEARNING: PRINCIPLES & APPLICATIONS CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Learning: A relatively permanent change in behavioral tendency that results from experience Definition: a learning procedure in which associations are made between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus This was discovered accidentally by PAVLOV
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Neutral Stimulus: a stimulus that does not initially elicit any part of an unconditioned response (for Pavlov a bell) Unconditioned Stimulus (US): an event that elicits a certain predictable response typically without previous training (for Pavlov the food) A dog doesn’t need to be taught to salivate when it smells meat Unconditioned Response (UR): an organism’s automatic (or natural) reaction to a stimulus Think REFLEX
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Conditioned Stimulus (CS): a once neutral event that elicits a given response after a period of training in which it has been paired with (occurred just before) an unconditioned stimulus Conditioned Response (CR): reaction to the conditioned stimulus
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Helps animals and adults adapt to environments Avoiding danger Acquisition of classical conditioning occurs gradually The more often a CS & US are paired, the conditioned response (CR) is strengthened
GENERALIZATION AND DISCRIMINATION Generalization: responding similarly to a range of stimuli Discrimination: the ability to respond differently to a stimuli
GENERALIZATION AND DISCRIMINATION
EXTINCTION & SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY Extinction: the gradual disappearance of a conditioned response when the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus Doesn’t mean its gone forever With a rest period the CR (saliva) can return when the CS (bell) when not followed by a US (food) This is called spontaneous recovery
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING HUMAN BEHAVIOR
John B. Watson Little Albert Now considered unethical because it taught a child to fear something he originally had no fear of
TASTE AVERSIONS
People usually write it off to “It must have been something I ate” even if they haven’t eaten for hours Psychologists can predict which part of your new meal will be the conditioned stimulus How can we apply this to help humans?
BEHAVIORISM Classical Conditioning is an example of behaviorism The attempt to understand behavior in terms of relationships between observable stimuli and observable responses