Module 9 Classical Conditioning

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING Learning –A relatively enduring or permanent change in behavior that results from previous experience with certain stimuli and response Behavior –Includes both unobservable mental events (thoughts, images) and observable responses (fainting, salivating, vomiting)

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING (CONT’D) Classical conditioning –A kind of learning in which a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to produce a response that was originally produced by different stimulus Ivan Pavlov –Conducted experiments with dogs –Pavlov rang a bell before putting food in a dog’s mouth –After numerous trials of pairing the food and bell, the dog salivated to the sound of the bell –This is a conditioned reflex

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING (CONT’D) Operant conditioning –Refers to a kind of learning in which the consequences that follow some behavior increase or decrease the likelihood of that behavior’s occurrence in the future E. L. Thorndike –Experimented with cats in the puzzle box Law of effect –Says that if some random actions are followed by pleasurable consequences or reward, such actions are strengthened and will likely occur in the future

THREE KINDS OF LEARNING (CONT’D)

Cognitive learning –A kind of learning that involves mental processes, such as attention and memory; may be learned through observation or imitation, and may not involve any people performing any observable behaviors Albert Bandura –Found that children who had watched a film of an adult modeling aggressive behavior played more aggressively than children who had not seen the film –Bandura’s study demonstrated that we can learn through observation or imitation

PROCEDURE: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Step 1: Choosing stimulus and response –Neutral stimulus some stimulus that causes a sensory response, such as being seen, heard, or smelled, but doesn’t produce the reflex being tested –Unconditioned stimulus USC; some stimulus that triggers or elicits a physiological reflex, such as salivation or eye blink –Unconditioned response UCR; unlearned, innate, involuntary physiological reflex elicited by the unconditioned stimulus

PROCEDURE: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (CONT’D) Step 2: Establishing classical conditioning –Neutral stimulus trial; pair neutral stimulus (bell) with the unconditioned stimulus (food) neutral stimulus presented first, then short time later, the unconditioned stimulus –Unconditioned stimulus seconds after the tone begins, present the UCS –Unconditioned response UCS (food) elicits the UCR (salivation)

PROCEDURE: CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (CONT’D) Step 3: Testing for conditioning –Conditioned stimulus CS; a formerly neutral stimulus that aquires the ability to elicit a response that was previously elicited by the unconditioned stimulus –Conditioned response CR; elicited by the conditioned stimulus and similar to, but not identical in size or amount to, the UCS CR; less salivation than the UCR

OTHER CONDITIONING CONCEPTS Generalization –Tendency for a stimulus that’s similar to the original conditioned stimulus to elicit a response similar to the conditioned response Discrimination –Occurs during classical conditioning when an organism learns to make a particular response to some stimuli but not to others

OTHER CONDITIONING CONCEPTS (CONT’D) Extinction –Refers to a procedure in which a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus, and, as a result, the conditioned stimulus tends to no longer elicit the conditioned response Spontaneous recovery –Tendency for the conditioned response to reappear after being extinguished, even though there have been no further conditioning trials

ADAPTIVE VALUES & USES Adaptive value –Refers to usefulness of certain abilities or traits that have evolved in animals and humans and tend to increase their chances of survival, such as finding food, acquiring mates, and avoiding pain and injury Taste-aversion learning –Refers to associating a particular sensory cue (smell, tastes, sound, or sight) with getting sick and thereafter avoiding that particular sensory cue in the future

ADAPTIVE VALUES & USES (CONT’D) Adaptive value –Explanation –Preparedness –Refers to the phenomenon that animals and humans are biologically prepared to associate some combinations of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli more easily than others –Animals are genetically prepared to use different senses to detect stimuli that are important to their survival and adaptation

ADAPTIVE VALUES & USES (CONT’D) Classical conditioning and emotion –Conditional emotional response feeling some positive or negative emotion, such as happiness, fear, or anxiety, when experiencing a stimulus that initially accompanied a pleasant or painful event sound of a rattlesnake or wail of a siren

THREE EXPLANATIONS Theories of classical conditioning –Stimulus substitution and contiguity theory stimulus substitution means that a neural bond or association forms in the brain between the neutral stimulus (bell) and unconditioned stimulus (food) –Contiguity theory classical conditioning occurs because two stimuli (neutral stimulus and unconditional stimulus) are paired close together in time (contiguous)

THREE EXPLANATIONS (CONT’D) Theories of classical conditioning –Cognitive perspective says that an organism learns a predictable relationship between two stimuli such that the occurrence of one stimulus (neutral stimulus) predicts the occurrence of another (unconditioned stimulus)

APPLICATION Systematic desensitization –Procedure based on classical conditioning –Person imagines or visualizes fearful or anxiety- evoking stimuli –Immediately uses deep relaxation to overcome the anxiety –Form of counterconditioning because it replaces, or counters, fear and anxiety with relaxation