1. Unit 2: Classical Conditioning

2.  Behaviour is acquired by learning experiences  Theorist examine how we acquire behaviour and study the mechanisms that underlie learning ◦ Focus on observable behaviour as mental processes and unconscious forces are unscientific (unmeasurable)

3.  Started by rejection the Freudians and Cognitive scientists and moving towards measurable/repeatable studies  Laboratory experiments ◦ Humans and animals ◦ Observing responses to stimuli (conditioning)

4.  Considers the role of the environment of greater importance than genetics or cognition ◦ Not restricted by biology (genes) ◦ Only constrained by the environment we grow up in ◦ Nurture is what causes behaviour  Three mechanisms of learning ◦ classical conditioning ◦ operant conditioning ◦ social learning

5.  Learning through association ◦ Stimulus-response links  Associate a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to get the same natural response ◦ Pavlov (1849-1936)  Experiments to find if ringing a bell (conditioned stimulus) would trigger salivation (Conditioned response) if originally linked to food

6.  Neutral Stimulus (NS): ◦ any environmental stimulus that does not produce a behaviour  Unconditioned Stimuli (UCS): ◦ Stimulus that produces a natural, unlearnt behavioural response  Unconditioned Response (UCR ◦ A response that occurs naturally- blinking

7.  Conditioned Stimuli (CS) ◦ A stimulus that has been associated with a UCS so that it produces the same response  Conditioned Response (CR) ◦ A learnt behaviour that is shown to response to a learnt stimulus  Being scared of dogs is a response to being bitten

8.  Higher Order Conditioning ◦ Linking a second stimuli to the first one learnt  Adding a buzzer to the bell  Helps explain behaviour that is triggered by rather abstract and unrelated stimuli  Stimulus Generalization ◦ Circle and ovals produce the same response if the reward is produced  Important in the real world- stay clear of all snakes

9.  Extinction ◦ If the food was not produced at the sound of the bell the dogs slowly stopped salivating- learnt response disappeared- becomes dormant  Spontaneous recovery ◦ If the dog was removed, and then brought back it sometimes would salivate at the ringing of the bell

10.  It is widely accepted that we acquire fear of phobia’s in response to stimuli ◦ We associate a neutral stimuli with a response of fear  Stuck in an elevator once, anxiety- lifetime fear of elevators  One-trial learning- behaviour is acquired after only one pairing of CS and UCS  Taste aversion- avoiding foods that make us ill

11.  Little Albert was interested in a rat but not scared of it  A loud noise with a steel bar was made Albert which startled him and made him cry  This was repeated whenever the rat came near him  Little Albert started to fear the rat on its own