Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning A type of learning where a stimulus gains the power to cause a response because it predicts another stimulus that already produces that response Form of learning by association

Stimulus - anything in the environment that one can respond to Stimulus-Response Stimulus - anything in the environment that one can respond to Response - any behavior or action

Ivan Pavlov’s Discovery

Pavlov’s Research Apparatus

Pavlov’s Experiment

Pavlov’s Experiment

Pavlov’s Experiment

Components of Classical Conditioning Before Learning After Learning Unconditioned Stimulus (US) Conditioned Stimulus (CS) Unconditioned Response (UR) Conditioned Response (CR) Components of Classical Conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus (US/UCS) A stimulus that triggers a response automatically and reflexively (naturally) Should cause something US in our anchor?

Unconditioned Response (UR/UCR) The automatic response to the unconditioned stimulus The relationship between the US and UR must be reflexive and not learned UR in our anchor?

Conditioned Stimulus (CS) A stimulus that through learning has gained the power to cause a conditioned response Must be a neutral stimulus before conditioning occurs Irrelevant before conditioning (Neutral)

Conditioned Response (CR) The response to the conditioned stimulus Usually the same behavior as the UR

H0w Does Learning Occur?

The process of developing a learned response Acquisition The process of developing a learned response Occurs when a neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus Each pairing is called a trial Neutral stimulus (“That Was Easy”) is paired with (air gun) over and over Neutral stimulus is now a CS

1. Air gun (US)  Flinch (UR) 2. That was Easy (neutral stimulus) + Air Gun (US)  Flinch 3. That was Easy (CS)  Flinch (CR)

How can we test if acquisition has occurred? Present the CS (That Was Easy) without presenting the US (Air Gun) If something happens (flinch) then learning has occurred! If not, then the neutral stimulus is not a conditioned response yet

PRACTICE! Read the provided scenarios and identify the components of classical conditioning How do I know where to start? Ask yourself: What is the automatic/reflexive response? UR What caused that? US What now causes the response? CS Complete the first two scenarios on your own May work with your neighbor for the remainder of the scenarios

Classical Conditioning Processes Extinction, spontaneous recovery, discrimination, generalization

The diminishing of a learned response Extinction The diminishing of a learned response In classical conditioning, the continual presentation of the CS without the US Anchor example Presenting “That was Easy” without the air gun

Spontaneous Recovery The reappearance, after a rest period, of an extinguished conditioned response May be diminished

Generalization Process in which an organism produces the same response to two similar stimuli The more similar the substitute stimulus is to the original used in conditioning, the stronger the generalized response Little Albert example? Responding to other fluffy things Pavlov’s example Responding to a different tuning fork

Subject learns that one stimuli predicts the US and the other does not Discrimination A process in which an organism produces different responses to two similar stimuli Subject learns that one stimuli predicts the US and the other does not Pavlov Example Dog being able to tell the difference between two tuning forks

Classical Conditioning in Everyday Life

John Watson Behaviorist Mental processes don’t matter! Wanted to disprove Freud’s growing field of psychoanalysis

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and the race of his ancestors” (From Behaviorism, by John Watson, 1924)

Little Albert 8-11-month-old infant Watson and his assistant, Rosalie Rayner, conditioned Albert to be frightened of white rats

Little Albert – Before Conditioning

Little Albert – During Conditioning

Little Albert – After Conditioning

Little Albert - Generalization

Brought up questions of ethics So What? Brought up questions of ethics Also….any time you associate an emotional response with a particular stimulus, classical conditioning probably has occurred Advertisements!

Desensitization Therapy Some phobias are learned through classical conditioning Mary Cover Jones: fears can be unlearned through CC Used cc to pair a frightening thing (rabbit) w/ pleasant experience (candy) Joseph Wolpe: Desensitization Therapy Learning to relax in fearful/anxiety producing situations

Taste Aversion Subjects become classically conditioned to avoid specific tastes, because the tastes are associated with nausea John Garcia (1917- )

Garcia While doing research on radiation, discovered that rats avoided drinking from the water bottles in the radiation chambers Began pairing a nausea-producing drug with different foods to create a taste aversion to certain foods Taste aversion is our brain telling us we’re being poisoned (regardless of whether or not the food made us sick!)

Cognition and Biological Predispositions

Biological Perspective We are predisposed to learn things that affect our survival Preparedness (Martin Seligman) We are predisposed to avoid threats our ancestors faced--food that made us sick, storms, heights, snakes, etc.--but not modern-day threats--cars, water pollution, etc.

Biological Predispositions It was once believed that conditioning occurred the same in all animals and that you could associate any neutral stimulus with a response. Nope! Animals have biological predispositions to associating certain stimuli over others Ex: You eat a new food and later get sick. You will be conditioned to associate the taste of the FOOD with getting sick NOT the music playing in the restaurant, the plate it was served on, or the perfume your neighbor was wearing Birds hunt by sight and will more quickly become conditioned to the SIGHT of tainted food

Cognition and Robert Rescorla (1940- ) Early behaviorists believed that learned behaviors of various animals could be reduced to mindless mechanisms Rescorla developed a theory emphasizing the importance of cognitive processes in classical conditioning Pointed out that subjects had to determine (think) whether the CS was a reliable predictor of the UCS

Example Therapists give alcoholics drink containing a nausea-producing drug to condition them to avoid alcohol Because clients KNOW that the drug is what is actually causing the nausea, it doesn’t work so well.

Examples of Classical Conditioning Conditioned Fears Driving a car (neutral event). Experience a panic attack while driving  associate driving with causing panic response Conditioning of emotional responses Cancer patients associating the chemo room with nausea Treating drug/alcohol addiction by pairing a nausea-producing drug with the drug of addiction Child who is afraid of rabbits because one bit him when he was young, expose the child to rabbits in safe environments repeatedly until the behavior is extinguished Extinguish feelings of anxiety associated with trauma (PTSD)