pavlov's study Flashcards
state the 2 investigate aims of pavlov’s study
- investigate whether you could condition a dog to salivate at the noise of a bell
- investigate whether changing the noise of a bell to a metronome has the same effect
describe the procedure of the study
- the dogs were kept in an isolated room strapped to a harness
- NS = bell UCS = food presented at the same time
- UCR = salivation collected via a tube in the dogs mouth
describe the results
11 drops of saliva were collected in 45 seconds when the bell was presented after association
CR = salivation
what is meant by ‘high order conditioning’?
when a new neutral stimulus is paired with a conditioned stimulus to produce the same conditioned response
what is a weakness of the study (PEE)?
- generalisability
a weakness of the study is that it lacks generalisability. for example, it is done on dogs which have different cerebral cortexes to humans. therefore, the findings cannot be representative of humans.
what is a strength of the study (PEEIA)?
- reliability
a strength of the study is that it has high reliability. for example, standardised procedures were used where the dogs were isolated and the bell was always sounded before the food was presented. therefore, this makes it easy to replicate and check for consistency. in addition, pavlov repeated the experiment using a metronome in place of a bell and found no difference making it reliable.
what is a strength of the study (PEEIA)?
- reliability
a strength of the study is that it has high reliability. for example, standardised procedures were used where the dogs were isolated and the bell was always sounded before the food was presented. therefore, this makes it easy to replicate and check for consistency. in addition, pavlov repeated the experiment using a metronome in place of a bell and found no difference making it reliable.
what is a strength of the study (PEE)?
- application
a strength of the study is the practical applications. for example, it is useful in treating phobias through systematic desensitisation where the feared stimulus is paired with something good. therefore, this suggests that the principles of classical conditioning can help people overcome phobias, leading to a better quality of life.
what is a weakness of the study (PEECA)?
- validity
a weakness of the study is that it lacks validity. it was a lab study and the dog was in an unusual condition, being isolated and strapped to a harness. therefore, the mundane realism and task validity is low as this may not be accurate for how a dog may respond in real life. however, it is argued that the study has high validity. for example, the lab environment meant that there was strict control over extraneous variables such as the presence of other dogs or noise. therefore, it is easy to establish a cause and effect relationship because the results are more likely to be due to the manipulated IV.
what is a weakness of the study (PEE)?
- ethics
a weakness of the study is that there are ethical issues. for example, the dog was isolated and they are social animals. therefore, this breaks the animal ethics guideline of isolation and crowding which is a weakness.
