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GCSE PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT 2
LEARNING
REVISION
GCSE PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT 2
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
LEARNING
• LEARNING= Is a relatively permanent change
in behaviour due to experience
• Some behaviours are learnt, but others occur
naturally
• For learning to take place, there has to be a
change in behaviour
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• Pavlov (1927) proposed an explanation of how
animals and humans learn
• He noticed that dogs would salivate when being
brought their food (when they heard the food
buckets)
• Salivation is something that is a reflex response
(automatically occurs when food is in the mouth)
• Pavlov realised that the dogs had learnt to salivate
to the sound of the food buckets
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• Pavlov set up a series of trials to test this
• Each time the dog was fed, a bell was rung for a
few seconds
• The amount of saliva produced by the dog was
measured
• The bell was then rung and no food was given
• The same amount of saliva was produced, even
without food
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• Pavlov named parts of his procedures as follows:
– Unconditioned is the term used to show that something is
unlearned
– Conditioned means that something has been learned
• Classical Conditioning demonstrates learning by
association
• During the conditioning trials, two stimuli are
associated together
• The procedure is called the “CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING SCHEDULE”
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING SCHEDULE
• Below is the Classical Conditioning Schedule:
BEFORE
CONDITIONNING
TRIALS BEGIN – A
REFLEX
DURING
CONDITIONNING
TRIALS
AFTER
CONDITIONNING
FOOD
(UCS)
SALIVATION
(UCR)
Bell + Food
(CS) (UCS)
Salivation
(UCR)
Bell
(CS)
Salivation
(CR)
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• Pavlov then tried to see how long learning would last
• He found that if he continued to ring the bell without
giving the dog any food, the dog would no longer salivate
• He called this EXTINCTION
• Then, after a short period during which no bell had been
rung, Pavlov would suddenly ring the bell and the dog
would immediately salivate again
• He called this response SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• Pavlov found that if he changed the tone of the
bell, the dog would still salivate
• He called this GENERALISATION, as the dog was
widening its learned response (the CONDITIONED
RESPONSE or CR) to a similar CONDITIONED
STIMULUS (CS), a new bell sound
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• Pavlov found that he could stop generalisation
• He rang a number of bells of different tones, but only
presented food when a particular bell was rung
• The dog stopped salivating at all the other bells and
only salivated when the bell that had been reinforced
with food was rung
• He said this was DISCRIMINATION, as the dog had
learnt to narrow its response to a particular stimulus
KEY TERMS
• CLASSICAL CONDITIONING is a procedure during
which an animal or person learns to associate a
reflex response with a new stimulus
• CLASSICAL CONDITIONING SCHEDULE is the steps in
the procedure to condition a new response
• UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UNS) is the stimulus
that produces a reflex response, such as the food for
Pavlov’s dogs
• UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UCR) is the reflex
response to an unconditioned stimulus, such as
Pavlov’s dog’s salivation
KEY TERMS
• CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS) is a new stimulus presented with
the UCS, such as the bell in Pavlov’s experiment
• CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR) is the response that is learnt; it
now occurs when the CS is presented, such as Pavlov’s dog’s
salivation
• EXTINCTION is when a conditioned response dies out
• SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY is when a CR that has disappeared
suddenly appears again
• GENERALISATION is when the CR is produced when a similar
stimulus to the original CS is presented
• DISCRIMINATION (with reference to conditioning) is when the CR
is only produced when a specific stimulus is presented
WATSON AND RAYNER (1920)
• AIM: To see if the emotional response of fear
could be conditioned in a human being
• METHOD: Albert was 11 months old. He
seemed to like white laboratory rats and had
no fear of any white furry objects. In the
conditioning trials the rat was shown to Albert
and, as he reached for it, a metal bar was hit
very hard with hammer and there was a loud
noise. Albert also screamed when he was
shown a Santa Clause mask and a fur coat
WATSON AND RAYNER (1920)
• RESULTS: After seven times, when the rat was
presented again, Albert screamed and tried to
get away. He did this even though the bar was
not hit by the hammer and there was no loud
noise. Albert also screamed when he was
shown a Santa Clause mask and a fur coat
• CONCLUSIONS: Watson and Rayner showed
that fear responses can be learnt and even
very young children can learn in the way
suggested by classical conditioning
EVALUATION OF WATSON AND
RAYNER’S STUDY
 It is not very ethical for the researchers to treat
young children in the way they did (could cause
distress)
 This study only involved one child and so the
researchers may need more evidence that fear can
be learnt in this way
 However, the study seems to fit with what you might
already know about phobias you may have
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• In everyday life, advertising agencies recognise
that if they can get us to build up a favourable
association between the advert and the
product, then we might buy that product
more often
• That is why companies use famous people to
promote products in adverts
GCSE PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT 2
OPERANT CONDITIONING
OPERANT CONDITIONING
• OPERANT CONDITIONING = This is learning
due to the consequence of behaviour,
through positive reinforcement or negative
reinforcement
OPERANT CONDITIONING
• Thorndike (1911) investigated Operant
Conditioning through studies of problem-solving
abilities of animals
• He designed a puzzle box that a cat would have to
escape from by pulling a loop of string attached to
a latch that would open the door
OPERANT CONDITIONING
• Thorndike showed that a cat placed in a puzzle box would
learn to pull the string to escape
• At first, this would happen by accident as the cat would
be moving around the box
• This continued to happen
• After about 20 trials Thorndike noticed that the cat
would escape quickly
• He suggested that the cat had learnt to escape the box by
trial and error learning
• It was the pleasant consequence (escape) that
encouraged the cat to pull the string rather than produce
any other behaviours
OPERANT CONDITIONING
• Thorndike proposed a hypothesis:
– “If a certain response has pleasant consequences, it is
more likely than other responses to occur in the same
circumstances”
• This became known as the LAW OF EFFECT
• LAW OF EFFECT = Behaviours that are followed by
rewards are usually repeated; those that are
punished are not usually repeated
SKINNER (1939)
• Skinner (1939) introduced the idea of
REINFORCEMENT to the Law of Effect
• He said that all behaviour is learnt from the
consequences of that behaviour (Operant
Conditioning)
• The consequence of the particular behaviour
produced by the animal or human will either
increase or decrease the likelihood of the
behaviour being repeated
SKINNER (1939)
• Skinner used a box (Skinner Box) where he placed a
hungry rat
• The rat would produce a number of actions like
sniffing, exploring and grooming
• The rat would accidentally press a lever and a pellet
of food would drop into the food tray
• Every time the lever was pressed the behaviour of
“lever pressing” was positively reinforced by a food
pellet
SKINNER - REINFORCEMENT
• When the rat received a food pellet for pressing the
lever, this was POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
• Sometimes there would be an electric shock through
the floor of the skinner box and when the rat pressed
the lever the shock would switch off
• This is an example of NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
• Both have the same effect = to INCREASE the
likelihood of a particular behaviour being repeated
REINFORCEMENT
• Punishment is different to reinforcement as it does
not encourage the desired behaviour (it only stops
one unwanted behaviour)
• Reinforcement can be used to teach complex
behaviours in animals and humans
• This is called BEHAVIOUR SHAPING
• In this procedure the task is broken down into small
steps
• E.g. Pigeon ping-pong
OPERANT CONDITIONING
PIGEON PING-PONG
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGazyH6fQQ4
• A pigeon was reinforced (by being given food) when they
moved to the ball, then if they touched the ball, then if
they hit the ball towards the other pigeon, and finally
when they moved the ball passed the other pigeon
• Behaviour is therefore being shaped over the
conditioning trials so that one whole sequence is
produced for one reward in the end
KEY TERMS
• PUNISHMENT = this is a stimulus that weakens
behaviour because it is unpleasant and we try to avoid it
• REINFORCEMENT = this is a consequence f behaviour
that encourages or strengthens a behaviour. This might
be seen as a reward
• POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT = this is a reward or pleasant
consequence that increases the likelihood that a
behaviour or action will be repeated
• NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT = this is when an
unpleasant experience is removed after a behaviour or
action has been made. This increases the likelihood of
that behaviour or action being repeated
• BEHAVIOUR SHAPING = this is changing behaviour in
small steps
GCSE PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT 2
APPLICATION OF CONDITIONING
PROCEDURES
CONDITIONING PROCEDURES AND PHOBIAS
• In order to understand how we might treat phobias,
it is important to recognise that a phobia is a fear
response that has gone wrong
• The normal reflex is:
– DANGER = FEAR
– UCS
= UCR
• When someone has a phobia, their fear response is
to something that could cause danger or has little or
no danger, like:
– KNEES = FEAR
– CS
= CR
CONDITIONING PROCEDURES AND PHOBIAS
• For the person with a phobia, their fear response is no
longer the automatic response to the danger or threat
• Instead it is to something that has little or no danger
• For example, in arachnophobia (fear of spiders):
– SPIDER = FEAR
– CS
= CR
• In order for the connection between the spider and fear
to be made, the spider must have been present during a
scary moment
CONDITIONING PROCEDURES AND PHOBIAS
• One way to explain this is if a child’s parent or older
sibling (someone close to them) suddenly screams and
runs away from a spider, then the following happens:
– Screaming scares child = spider + screaming scares child =
spiders scare child
• Below is an example of how a child may get scared of
balloons:
1. LOUD NOISE =
FEAR
USC
=
UCR
2. BALLOON + LOUD NOISE
= FEAR
CS
3. BALLOON
CS
+ UCS
=
UCR
FEAR
CR
PHOBIAS
• PHOBIA = This is a persistent and irrational fear of
an object, activity or situation. The typical
symptoms are intense feelings of fear and anxiety
to avoid the object, activity or situation
• FLOODING = This is a treatment for phobias that
involves the immediate exposure of the person to
the feared object, activity or event until there is
no fear response
TREATMENT OF PHOBIAS
FLOODING
• This is where the person is exposed repeatedly and
rapidly to the thing they fear (they are flooded with
thoughts and actual experiences)
• Someone with arachnophobia would therefore
imagine a spider, maybe visualise it running across
the room (thoughts)
• Then they would have a spider in their hand (actual
experience)
TREATMENT OF PHOBIAS
•
•
•
•
•
FLOODING
The person has to unlearn the connection between
the stimulus and the fear response (i.e. to break the
CS-CR bond)
Most people avoid or run away from a phobia
Flooding prevents escape
Flooding reduces anxiety levels the more times
people are exposed to their fears
Flooding removes the phobia when a person realises
they are not in danger
TREATMENT OF PHOBIAS
ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF FLOODING
• The person loses their right to withdraw (as they
have to stay if flooding is to work)
• This can be very stressful (so the psychologist will
stop the treatment if the person becomes too
distressed)
• It is difficult to protect and avoid harming
someone who is being flooded
KEY TERMS
• SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION (SD) = this is a
treatment for phobias in which the person is taught to
relax and then is gradually exposed to the feared
object, activity or event
• HIERARCHY OF FEARS = this is a series of feared
events ranked from least frightening to most
frightening
SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION (SD)
• This is based on the idea that people cannot be anxious
and relaxed at the same time
• Through SD, the fear response is replaced by feeling
relaxed instead
• The treatment works in the following ways:
1. The person with the phobia is taught to relax (listening to
music, relaxing their muscles)
2. The person and therapist construct a hierarchy of fears that
contain the feared thing from least frightening to most
frightening
3. The person then relaxes and gradually works through the
hierarchy of fears, relaxing at each stage (they only move up
the hierarchy if they have been relaxed in the previous stage)
SYSTEMATIC DESENSITISATION (SD)
TASK
• Write down a hierarchy of fears for a phobia that you or
someone else has. For example (for arachnophobia):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The word “spider”
A picture of a spider (not real)
A picture of a real spider
Imagine a spider across other side of the room
Imagine a spider crawling across the room
A spider in a jar in the room
A spider in a jar in front of the person
A spider on the table in front of them
Holding a spider on the hand (most frightening event)
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
• Treating a fear of balloons involves the following:
– The person is taught to relax, breathing deeply and calmly
– The person constructs the hierarchy of fears in 5 stages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The word “balloon”
The squeaky sound of balloons being touched
A picture of a balloon
A real balloon
Holding a balloon
• The person is exposed to stage 1 and must be completely
relaxed while the word “balloon” is repeated
• The therapist will then move gradually through the
hierarchy of fears until stage 5 is achieved
ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS
• SD is used when the therapist believes that flooding
would be too stressful
• Children are often treated with this method
• The therapist works with the person to decide how
quickly they move through the hierarchy
• The person takes an active role in the therapy and can
withdraw from any stage if they feel uncomfortable
• There is no deception as the person knows exactly what
is happening (so this could be considered as an ethical
treatment for phobias)
ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS
• SD takes longer than flooding to remove a phobia
• It can cost more as there are often more sessions
of therapy
• SD is an effective treatment
• Most people and their therapist prefer this
method of treatment
• It is much less anxiety-arousing and much less
stressful for the person undergoing treatment
GCSE PSYCHOLOGY
UNIT 2
OTHER APPLICATION OF CONDITIONING
PROCEDURES
KEY TERMS
• AVERSION THERAPY = this is a treatment for
addictions, such as drug or alcohol dependency,
which makes the addict have an extremely
negative reaction to the addictive substance
AVERSION THERAPY
• Classical conditioning has been useful in the treatment of
behaviour problems
• Some therapist believe that behaviour problems result
from faulty learning and so “bad” behaviour can be
unlearnt
• Aversion therapy has been used to cure drug and alcohol
dependency
• The aim of the therapy is to get the patient to develop an
extremely negative reaction to the drug or alcohol using
the vomiting reflex
• The procedure can be seen on the next slide
AVERSION THERAPY
• Aversion Therapy procedure can be seen below:
• Emetic
(UCS)
• Alcohol + Emetic
(CS)
(UCS)
• Alcohol
(CS)
Vomiting
(UCR)
Vomiting
(UCR)
Vomiting
(CR)
AVERSION THERAPY
• This works as the emetic is designed so that it
only produces the vomiting reflex when the
patient drinks the alcohol
• A simple everyday emetic could be very salty
water (if you drink lots of it you will not be able to
stop vomiting)
• Other emetics could be drugs that initiate
vomiting or electric shocks
• The person’s desire for alcohol decreases and the
addiction can be overcome
AVERSION THERAPY
• Although this therapy is successful on its own,
therapists believe that it is more effective to be
used along with other support
– Helping the person to stay away from situations where
they used to spend time drinking
• Aversion therapy can be a very unpleasant
experience for the person and there are many
ethical issues raised by this kind of treatment
EVALUATION
• Aversion therapy can be extremely unpleasant for the
person being treated
• Therefore, the ethical issues of using this therapy have to
be balanced against the possible benefits to the person
• Aversion therapy is not always successful over time
• Although people can find their addiction is reduced for a
period, unless they have some additional support, they
are likely to go back to their addictive behaviour after
treatment stops (particularly in younger addicts)
KEY TERMS
• PRIMARY REINFORCER = this is a reward, such
as food or water, that the animal or person
needs in order to survive
• SECONDARY REINFORCER = this is a reward,
such as money or a token, that the animal or
person can exchange for a primary reinforces
TOKEN ECONOMY PROGRAMMES
• Food can encourage a rat to press a lever
(this is a primary reinforcer as food is
needed for survival)
• If a reinforcer can be exchanged for
something then it is called a secondary
reinforcer (e.g. money can be exchanged for
food, clothes, housing, etc.)
TOKEN ECONOMY PROGRAMMES
• Token Economy Programmes have been set up in some
hospitals (usually psychiatric wards) to reward socially
acceptable behaviour in people who may have stopped
looking after themselves properly
• Tokens are given for making the bed, brushing their
teeth, etc
• Every time the person produces an appropriate
behaviour, hospital staff immediately give the person a
token
• Tokens can then be used to “pay for” activities like
watching TV (some activities cost more tokens)
EVALUATION
• Token economies have produced improvements in the behaviour
and self-care of patients who have been in hospital for a long time
• Some critics say they make the patients focus on the reward rather
than on wanting to improve their own behaviour
• Even when the behaviour in hospitals improves, the change might
not last in the outside world
• If the reward is not immediate, then the association between the
reward and action is lost (so the behaviour is not being reinforced)
• There might be ethical issues involved if patients are not able to
watch a favourite TV programme because they do not have enough
tokens
EVALUATION
• Many people suggest that relying on tokens means that
good behaviour is learnt only because we receive a
reward. This does not mean that we will become social
or kind
• We need to learn to reward ourselves by feeling good
when we do good things
• We should not need other people to reward us all the
time
• Praise can be an excellent reinforcer though