Download Watson experiment on classical conditioning

Theories of learning
Behavioral learning
theories
Classical
conditioning
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Operant
conditioning
Watson experiment on classical conditioning
 He used his eleven months old child, baby Albert.
 He wanted to instil fear (conditioning of an emotional
reaction) in baby Albert.
 He wanted to make him fear white rat (earlier showed
no indication of fear).
 He liked it. But each time the rat was present, a
loud noise was simultaneously introduced.
 It ended with strong fear in Baby Albert (when
screaming when he saw it).
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THE PROCESS OF CONDITIONING
 WHITE RAT
 LOUD NOISE
 WHITE RAT + LOUD NOISE
 WHITE RAT
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NO FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
FEAR
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
 The concept of Classical conditioning emerged after
Pavlov’s observation of salivating dog.
 It is a type of learning whereby two stimuli are associated
or paired in order to produce a new response.
 One stimulus is known as neutral stimulus and another
one is unconditioned stimulus.
 When neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus
are associated for a certain period of time, the neutral
stimulus gets the power to elicit the same response evoked
by unconditioned stimulus.
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Stimulus: Anything that can elicit a certain response.
 Neutral stimulus: A stimulus which does not
automatically/naturally elicit a desired response but
if associated with unconditioned stimulus can elicit a
response desired.
 Unconditioned stimulus: A stimulus that
automatically elicits a certain response without being
conditioned.
 Conditioned stimulus: A stimulus that has got the
power to elicit a desired response after the process of
conditioning.
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After conditioning, previously neutral stimulus changes
to be conditioned stimulus.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Pavlov’s experiment
 Pavlov is a Russian physiologist. He was very much
interested in studying salivation of dogs.
 He decided to study the rate of salivation if a hungry
dog is presented food close to its nose.
 In one of his experiment, he put a dog in a special
chamber where it could not hear any sound from
outside.
 In the chamber some devices were connected for the
experiment.
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Pavlov’s experiment
 What he did. He presented meat powder to the dog
and the dog salivated. Then he rang the bell a few
seconds before presenting meat powder. The dog
salivated.
 After several pairings of meat powder and bell,
he started to ring the bell without presenting
meat powder. The dog salivated by the mere sound of
a bell. This was an indication that conditioning has
taken place.
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Pavlov’s experiment
 The process can be shown in this model:
Bell
no desired response
(NS)
Meat powder
salivation
(UCS)
(UCR)
Bell + meat powder
salivation
NS +
UCS
(UCR)
Bell
Salivation
CS
CR
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Laws of learning
 Law of exercise
 Law of extinction
 Law of generalization
 Law of discrimination
 Law of spontaneous recovery
 *Law of contiguity
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Laws of learning
 Law of exercise: Learning (conditioning) occurs
through several repeated pairings of neutral stimulus
and unconditioned stimulus.
 Law of extinction: If the pairing of the stimuli is
stopped the conditioned response will also stop.
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 Spontaneous recovery: the behavior that has been
extinguished due to breaking of the association
between the unconditioned stimulus and conditioned
stimulus tends to reappear after sometime of rest
even if the originally neutral stimulus is not paired
with UCS.
 The dog was conditioned to salivate by the sound of a
bell.
 When the link between sound and meat powder was
broken the behavior of salivation faded and stopped.
But , after some period when the dog heard the sound
of a bell, it salivated even without the sound being
associated with meat.
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 Law of generalization: when an organism is
conditioned to respond to one stimulus, can respond in
the same way to other stimuli that have not been
conditioned. The dog could respond to other sounds,
footsteps of the presenter or the sound of plates.
 Law of discrimination: An organism can also
respond to only the stimulus that has conditioned and
not to other stimuli.
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 Guthrie’s law of contiguity: The strength of the
association depends on how close/ proximal in time
and/or place the events (stimuli) occur. In reference
to Pavlov’s experiment, sound of a bell and
presentation of meat powder were very close in time
to each other.
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Conclusion
 Classical Conditioning is a temporary learning. It can
change any time if there is no practice or break the
association.
 It is low level learning, fits more to animals and small
children who have limited ability to think and process
information. It does not train learner to think.
 It is difficult to measure the extent of practice that will
lead to learning and the strength of the conditioning
that make the organism to continue responding in the
same way.
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 Much care is needed to ensure that the organism
generalizes and discriminates what is required.
 It is appropriate for learning of emotions.
 It relies on physiological processes and in some cases
these processes are instinctual. They can not be
controlled by the learner or trainee.
 The learner learns passively not actively and is driven by
uncontrollable inner/physiological forces.
 To make learning strong, there must be intensity of
association.
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Note on application
 Use the model of conditioning (the steps)
 Use the laws/principles
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