Classical Conditioning & Interventions

Question 1

Classical Conditioning Procedure

Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning studies involved meat powder as what? because it automatically elicited salivation from the dogs which was considered what?

Answer 1

• an unconditioned stimulus (US)
• an unconditioned response

Question 2

Classical Conditioning Procedure

the magnitude of a conditioned response (CR) is always (more than/less than/the same as) the magnitude of the UR. The CR is affected by what

Answer 2

• less than
• the number of times the conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) are paired during conditioning trials

Question 3

Classical Conditioning Procedure

when using ____ conditioning, the presentation of the CS precedes and overlaps presentation of the US.

Answer 3

delay conditioning

Question 4

Classical Conditioning Procedure

which type of conditioning is the most effective?

Answer 4

delay conditioning

Question 5

Classical Conditioning Procedure

when using ____ conditioning, the CS is presented and terminated just before the US is presented

Answer 5

trace conditioning

Question 7

Classical Conditioning Procedure

when using ____ conditioning, the CS and US are presented and terminated at about the same time

Answer 7

simultaneous conditioning

Question 8

Classical Conditioning Procedure

when using ____ conditioning, the US is presented before the CS

Answer 8

backward

Question 9

Classical Conditioning Procedure

which type of conditioning is usually ineffective? why?

Answer 9

backward conditioning; suggests that it’s the contingency of stimuli (e.g., that the occurrence of th US depends on the occurrence of the CS) that accounts for classical conditioning

Question 10

Classical Conditioning Procedure

when does classical extinction occur

Answer 10

when, after the CS is repeatedly presented without the US, the CS no longer produces a CR

Question 11

Classical Conditioning Procedure

explain spontaneous recovery

Answer 11

after a CR has apparently been extinguished by repeatedly presenting the CS without the US, the CR returned in a reduced or less intense form when, after a period of time, the CS is again presented alone

Pavlov concluded that spontaneous recovery provides evidence that the apparent extinction of a CR is due to a physiological process that suppresses (rather than eliminates) the association between the CS and CR). He referred to this physiological process as internal inhibition

Question 12

Classical Conditioning Procedure

explain stimulus generalization and give an example

Answer 12

• occurs when stimuli similar to the original CS elicit the CR without ever being paired with the US
• the establishment of a startle response in Little Albert, a nine-month old infant (illustrates how phobias can be acquired with classical conditioning and provides an exmaple of stimulus generalization)

Question 13

Classical Conditioning Procedure

in the Little Albert study, what was the CS, US and CR

Answer 13

• CS: white rat
• US: unexpected loud noise
• CR: startle reaction

Question 14

Classical Conditioning Procedure

explain stimulus discriminiation and give an example

Answer 14

• the opposite of stimulus generalization
• the ability to discriminate between the CS and similar stimuli
• if a dog was conditioned to salivate in response to a 2000-Hz tone and subsequently also salivated in response to a 2100-Hz tone, discrimination training would involve repeatedly presenting the 2000-Hz tone with meat powder and the 2100-Hz tone without meat powder

Question 15

Classical Conditioning Procedure

what is conditioned inhibition and give an example

Answer 15

• a method for reducing or eliminating a conditioned response
• involves inhibiting a previously established conditioned response (CR) to a conditioned stimulus (CS)
• a ringing bell became a CS and produced a CR of salivation when presented alone; the process of conditioning inhibition involves repeatedly pairing presentation of the CS (aka CS+) and a new neutral stimulus (now referred to as CS-) without presenting the US

Question 16

Classical Conditioning Procedure

explain higher-order conditioning

Answer 16

• treating a CS (e.g., a ringing bell) as an unconditioned stimulus and pairing it with a neutral stimulus (e.g., a blinking light) so that the neutral stimulus also becomes a CS and elicits a CR (e.g., salivation) when presented alone

when higher-order conditioning involves a second CS, it’s also referred to as second-order conditioning; when it involves a third CS, it’s also referred to as third-order conditioning; etc.

Question 17

Classical Conditioning Procedure

explain compound conditioning

Answer 17

• when 2 or more stimuli are presented together and includes blocking and overshadowing

Question 18

Classical Conditioning Procedure

when does blocking occur

Answer 18

• when conditioning trials are first used to establish an association between 1 neutral stimulus (e.g., a ringing bell) and a US (e.g., meat powder) by repeatedly pairing presentation of the neutral stimulus with the US.
• when the neutral stimulus becomes a CS and elicits a CR when presented alone, it’s repeatedly presented simultaneously with a second neutral stimulus (e.g., a flashing light) just before presenting the US

the second neutral stimulus does not provide any new information about the occurrence of the US

classical conditioning of the first neutral stimulus blocks classical conditioning of the second neutral stimulus, and the second neutral stimulus never becomes a CS

Question 19

Classical Conditioning Procedure

when does overshadowing occur

Answer 19

• when 2 neutral stimuli are, from the start, repeatedly presented together before the US
• 2 stimuli will elicit a CR when presented together
• when presented alone, the more salient (stronger) stimulus produces a CR, but the less salient (weaker) stimulus does not

the failure of the less salient stimulus to become a CS is not due to its low salience but to being overshadowed by the more salient stimulus when the 2 stimuli are presented together during conditioning trials

Question 20

Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning

list the interventions that use extinction

Answer 20

• Exposure with Response Prevention
• Cue Exposure Therapy
• Implosive Therapy
• EMDR

Question 21

Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning

list the interventions that use counterconditioning

Answer 21

• systematic desensitization
• aversion therapy
  *

Question 22

Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning

Exposure with Response Prevention
1. assumptions
2. format conducted in
3. challenges

Answer 22

1. assumptions
   * anxiety-arousing stimuli that do not ordinarily elicit anxiety (e.g., elevators, crowds, white rats) become conditioned stimuli and begin to elicit anxiety because at some time in the past they were paired with an unconditioned stimulus that naturally elicited anxiety
   * the conditioned fear response never extinguishes because the person avoids the conditioned stimulus in order to aovid experiencing fear
2. in vivo (in real life settings), virtual reality, or imagination
3. can lead to the development of safety behaviors (some investigators argue that safety behaviors hinder the effectiveness)

Question 23

Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning

give an example of Exposure with Response Prevention

Answer 23

a person who has a fear of elevators may have acquired this fear because he was in an elevator when there was an earthquake that automatically elicited a fear response. Now the person always takes the stairs to avoid feeling fear.
* CS: the elevator
* US: the earthquake
* stimulus generalization: pairing the CS (the elevator) and the US (the earthquake) = fear of all elevators
* CR: avoiding elevators by always taking stairs

when using ERP, the client is exposed to the feared (conditioned) stimulus (e.g., the elevator) while preventing the client from making his/her usual avoidance response = conditioned response is extinguished

Question 24

Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning

define flooding and graded exposure according to ERP

e.g., fear of wasps - begin with a cartoon picture of wasp

Answer 24

flooding: sustained exposure to stimuli that elicit the most intense levels of anxiety during all exposure sessions

graded exposure: (aka gradual exposure) progressive exposire to anxiety-arousing stimuli, beginning with the least anxiety-arousing stimulus and gradually progressing to stimuli that produce increasingly greater levels of anxiety

graded exposure sessions should not end until client has experienced a substantial decrease in anxiety

Question 25

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** when treating agoraphobia, (flooding/graded exposure) can be effective

Answer 25

flooding

Question 26

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** **Cue Exposure Therapy** 1. what is it 2. what disoder(s) does it treat 3. how does it treat the disorder(s)

Answer 26

1. a type of exposure with response prevention 2. SUDs 3. exposing a client to cues (CS) associated with a substance while prohibniting them from using the substance * doing so weakens the strenght of the relationship between the cues & substance use (e.g., result of extinction or habituation) * **cues** include internal & external triggers for subtance use (e.g., cravings, interpersonal conflicts, the sight of the substance)

Question 27

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** **Implosive Therapy** 1. what is it 2. how does it work

Answer 27

1. a type of exposure that's always conducted in imagination & incorporates psychodynamic elements 2. the therapist encourages the client to exaggerate their image of the feared object or event in order to elicit a high level of anxiety & embellishes the scene being imagined by the client with psychodynamic conflicts that are believed to underlie the client's anxiety (e.g., conflicts related to sexuality, hostility, or rejection)

Question 28

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** EMDR is based on Shapiro's (2001) Adaptive Information Processing (API) model that proposes...

Answer 28

a) pathology results when traumatic experiences are not fully processed or are processed in a maladaptive way by the brain's information processing system b) EMDR facilitates information processing, resulting in an adaptive resolution of traumatic memories

Question 29

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** research on EMDR has confirmed it is an effective treatment for PTSD but it does not seem to be superior to what?

Answer 29

CBT & other evidence-based treatments

Question 30

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** Davidson & Parker (2001) conducted a meta-analysis of the research on EMDR concluded that what does ***not*** add to the effectiveness of EMDR and that its beneficial effects are due to what? Inconsistent results of the researc on EMDR has lead some investigators to take the position that...

Answer 30

* eye movement * repeated exposure in imagination to the feared event * the precise mechanisms of effectiveness in EMDR have yet to be determined

Question 31

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** Joseph Wolpe's **Systemic Desensitization** 1. developed for the treatment of what disorder(s) 2. list the 3 steps involved

Answer 31

1. phobic anxiety disorders 2. steps a) the client learns deep muscle relaxation or other procedure that produces a state of relaxation b) the client and therapist create an anxiety hierarchy, which is a list of stimuli that cause low to high levels of anxiety c) the client imagines the stimuli included in the hierarchy and uses the relaxation procedure while doing so

Question 32

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** according to Wolpe, **systematic desensitization** uses counterconditioning and involves replacing an undesirable anxiety response with an incompatible and more desirable relaxation response. Research using the dismantling strategy has found that effectiveness of this intervention is due to what? how?

Answer 32

* classical extinction * Wolpe believed: * CS: anxiety-arousing stimulus * US: relaxation * result of pairing presentation of the CS & US, the CS produces relaxation rather than anxiety * classical extinction perspective: * CS: anxiety-arousing stimulus * US: unsure - created at some point in the past * result of repeatedly presenting the CS without the US

Question 33

# **Interventions Based on Classical Conditioning** **Aversion Therapy** (aka aversive counterconditioning) 1. what disorder(s) its used to treat 2. how it is used 3. give an example

Answer 33

1. addictions & other self-reinforcing behaviors 2. stimuli associated with the problem behavior are paried with an unconditioned stimnulus that naturally produces an unpleasant response that's incompatible with the reinforcing response; as a result, stimuli associated with the problem behavior become conditioned stimuli & produce the unpleasant response rather than the self-reinforcing response 3. treating a client's fetish, presentation of the fetish object might be paired with electric shock to the cient's arm. In this situation, the fetish object is the CS, the electric shock is the UC, and the pain caused by the electric shock is the UR. Results in the fetish object producing a conditioned response (CR) of pain rather than sexual arousal ***if conducted in imagination rather than in vivo = covert sensitization & involves having the client imagine a relief scene (client imagines facing the stimulus associated with the problem behavior but refraining from engaging in the behavior and, as a result, experiencing a sense of relief or other positive sensation***