learning - classical conditioning

Question 1

learning

Answer 1

-any relatively permanent change in behaviour thoughts, attitudes, beliefs that results from experience or practice. can occur consciously or unconsciously

Question 2

classical conditioning

Answer 2

-form of learning that occurs through the repeated association of 2 or more different stimuli
-learning is only said to have occurred when a particular stimulus consistently produces a response that it did not previously produce
-in classical conditioning, a response that is automatically produced by one stimulus becomes associated, or linked, with another stimulus that would not normally produce this response
-there are five key elements that describe the process of classical conditioning

Question 3

neutral stimulus

Answer 3

-a stimulus that initially does not evoke a response until it is paired with the unconditioned stimulus

Question 4

unconditioned stimulus

Answer 4

-any stimulus that consistently produces a particular, naturally occurring, automatic response

Question 5

unconditioned response

Answer 5

-the response that occurs automatically when the UCS is presented
-a UCR is a reflexive, involuntary response

Question 6

conditioned stimulus

Answer 6

-conditioned stimulus (CS) is the stimulus that is neutral at the start of the conditioning process and does not normally produce the UCR
-yet, through repeated association with the UCS, the CS triggers a very similar response to that caused by the UCS

Question 7

conditioned response

Answer 7

-CR is the learned response that is produced by the CS
-CR occurs after the CS has been associated with the UCS
-behaviour involved in a CR is very similar to that of the UCR, but it is triggered by the CS alone

Question 8

pavlov - aim

Answer 8

-investigate the function of the brain in animals in their adaption to the external environment

Question 9

pavlov - method

Answer 9

-participants – at least 35 dogs (of various breeds and ages), researcher
-materials – metronome, container of meat, observing screen, tube for saliva collection, device to count saliva drops, dog harness
-design – independent variable was type of stimulus pairing, dependent variable was amount of saliva
-dogs individually situated in secluded environments and secured in harness
-food bowl was positioned in front of the dogs and a device was employed to gauge the frequency of salivary gland secretion
-data from measurements systematically recorded onto a rotating drum allowing Pavlov to meticulously monitor the rates of salivation throughout the course of experiments
-food was unconditioned stimulus and salivation was unconditioned response
-pavlov used a metronome as his neutral stimulus and he began conditioning procedure, by clicking the metronome just before he gave food to the dogs.
-after several repeat trials of this procedure, he presented the metronome on its own and he measured theconditioned response (salivaproduced)

Question 10

pavlov - key findings

Answer 10

-provided empirical evidence that behaviours were learned through classical conditioning – the conditioned response (salivation) to a neutral stimulus (metronome)
-further experiments discovered other processes involved in classical conditioning - Generalisation, Discrimination, Extinction, Spontaneous Recovery

Question 11

pavlov - contributions

Answer 11

-provides an explanation for how phobias can be acquired.
-techniques based on classical conditioning, such as systematic desensitisation, have been developed to treat a variety of psychological disorders, including phobias
-marketing and advertising utilise classical conditioning principles to build positive associations for brands

Question 12

pavlov - limitations

Answer 12

-use of animals in research; results from dogs cannot be generalised to the human population plus aspects of Pavlov’s method would not be considered ethical according today’s standards
-ignores the role of cognitive and biological factors which have also been shown to play a role in learning
-limited to explaining how reflex responses become associated with new stimuli and doesn’t fully explain more complex learning processes

Question 13

key processes in classical conditioning - acquisition

Answer 13

-overall process during which the organism learns to associate 2 events
-rate of learning is often very fast in the early stages of the acquisition phase
-timing is critical – US & CS need to be paired simultaneously or very close together for an association to form

Question 14

key processes in classical conditioning - extinction

Answer 14

-extinction is the gradual decrease in the strength or rate of a CR that occurs when the UCS is no longer presented
-extinction is said to have occurred when a CR no longer occurs following presentation of the CS

Question 15

key processes in classical conditioning - spontaneous recovery

Answer 15

-spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a CR when the CS is presented, following a rest period after the CR appears to be extinct
-doesn’t not always occur and when it does it is often short-lived
-CR tends to be weaker than it was originally

Question 16

key processes in classical conditioning - stimulus generalisation

Answer 16

-tendency for another stimulus to produce a response that is similar to the CR
-greater the similarity between stimuli, the greater the possibility that a generalisation will occur

Question 17

key processes in classical conditioning - stimulus discrimination

Answer 17

-occurs when a person or animal responds to the CS only, but not to any other stimulus that is similar to the CS

Question 18

little albert (watson & rayner) - aim

Answer 18

-to investigate whether classical conditioning works on humans, specifically the acquisition of a fear a response and whether the response can be generalised

Question 19

little albert (watson & rayner) - method

Answer 19

-participants – 9 month old boy Albert Barger (Little Albert).
-materials – white rat, rabbit, dog, monkey, burning newspaper
-procedure: baseline session - test Albert’s response to neutral stimuli. he was shown rabbit, rat, monkey, fire. he was unafraid of all
-two months after the baseline session Albert was subjected during two conditioning sessions spaced one week apart to a total of seven pairings of a white rat followed by the sound of a steel bar being struck with a hammer which made him cry
-albert was then presented with the rat without the hammer sound at the end of the second session
Followed by three transfer sessions.
-1st transfer session – Albert shown rat to assess maintained fear as well as other furry objects (fur coat, cotton wool, Santa mask) to test generalisation
-2nd transfer session – included two additional conditioning trials with the rat to ‘freshen up the reaction’ as well as conditioning trials in which a dog and a rabbit were also paired with loud noise.
-extinction had begun to occur however association could be renewed by repeating original procedure a few times. found that fear was generalised to other stimuli like rat
-3rd transfer session – occurred after a month to test maintained fear. Albert and his mother withdrew from experiment which prevented Watson and Rayner from carrying out their original intention of deconditioning the fear they had conditioned

Question 20

little albert (watson & rayner) - key findings

Answer 20

-showed that a fear response could be conditioned - ‘Albert began to crawl away so rapidly that he was caught with difficulty before reaching the edge of the table’
-found the conditioned fear response could be generalised

Question 21

little albert (watson & rayner) - contributions

Answer 21

-provides empirical evidence that classical conditioning can be applied to humans
-methodology utilised standardised procedures and were taped, so the experiment can still be viewed and analysed today

Question 22

little albert (watson & rayner) - limitations

Answer 22

-ethical considerations: violated protection from harm and potential issues around voluntary participation as albert’s mother worked for the researchers
-data was subjective and may be vulnerable to experimenter effects
-albert’s reactions were inconsistent – if the researchers didn’t control for albert sucking his thumb, the fear response didn’t appear
-results may not be generalisable due to only one participant, a lack of control group and the methodological issues mentioned above

Question 23

systematic desensitisation

Answer 23

-developed by Wolpe – designed to treat phobias
-based on Classical Conditioning
-pairs phobia producing stimulus with relaxation techniques, contains three stages
-1: patient is taught relaxation techniques (e.g. meditation, breathing exercises)
-2: patient creates a fear hierarchy, a list of stimuli (relating to the phobia) from one that causes the least anxiety to the one that causes the most
-3: patients then begin to go through the hierarchy, while practicing relaxation techniques. patients stay at stages in the hierarchy until they feel no anxiety
-typically 4-6 sessions, but more severe phobias can take more than 10
-exposure to stimuli can be in vitro (imagined) OR in vivo (actual exposure), as in vivo is more effective

Question 24

systematic desensitisation - strengths

Answer 24

-is supported by empirical evidence

Question 25

systematic desensitisation - limitations

Answer 25

-in vitro exposure is may not be effective, and in vivo exposure is not always practical -treats the symptoms of the phobia and not the underlying cause, and doesn’t appear to be effective for social phobias