Download Classical Conditioning

Thinking About Psychology:
The Science of Mind and
Behavior
Charles T. Blair-Broeker
Randal M. Ernst
Chapter 07
Learning
Module 15
Classical
Conditioning
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Introduction
Learning
• A relatively permanent change in
behavior due to experience
Classical Conditioning
• A type of learning where a stimulus
gains the power to cause a response
because it predicts another stimulus that
already produces that response
• Form of learning by association
Stimulus-Response
• Stimulus - anything in the environment
that one can respond to
• Response – any behavior or action
Stimulus-Response Relationship
Stimulus-Response Relationship
Behaviorism
• The view that psychology should restrict
its efforts to studying observable
behaviors, not mental processes.
• Founded by John Watson
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Components of
Classical
Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)
• A stimulus that triggers a response
automatically and reflexively
Unconditioned Response (UCR)
• The automatic response to the
unconditioned stimulus
• The relationship between the UCS and
UCR must be reflexive and not learned
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
• A stimulus that through learning has
gained the power to cause a conditioned
response
• The CS must be a neutral stimulus
before conditioning occurs.
Conditioned Response
• The response to the conditioned
stimulus
• Usually the same behavior as the UCR
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Classical
Conditioning
Processes: Acquisition
Acquisition
• The process of developing a learned
response
• The subject learns a new response (CR)
to a previously neutral stimulus (CS)
Acquisition
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Classical
Conditioning
Processes: Extinction
and Spontaneous
Recovery
Extinction
• The diminishing of a learned response
• In classical conditioning, the continual
presentation of the CS without the UCS
Extinction
Spontaneous Recovery
• The reappearance, after a rest period, of
an extinguished conditioned response
Spontaneous Recovery
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov’s
Discovery
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
• A Russian physiologist who discovered
classical conditioning while doing
experiments on the digestive system of
dogs
Pavlov’s Method of Collecting
Saliva
Pavlov’s Research Apparatus
Ivan Pavlov
• Play “Classical Conditioning” (3:09)
Segment #10 from Psychology: The
Human Experience.
• Includes segments from John Watson’s
Little Albert Experiment
Pavlov’s Experiment
Pavlov’s Experiment
Pavlov’s Experiment
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Generalization and
Discrimination
Generalization
• Process in which an organism produces
the same response to two similar stimuli
• The more similar the substitute stimulus
is to the original used in conditioning,
the stronger the generalized response
Generalization
Discrimination
• A process in which an organism
produces different responses to two
similar stimuli
• The subject learns that one stimuli
predicts the UCS and the other does not.
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Classical
Conditioning in
Everyday Life:
Little Albert
Little Albert
• 11-month-old infant
• Watson and his assistant, Rosalie
Rayner, conditioned Albert to be
frightened of white rats
• Led to questions about experimental
ethics
Little Albert – Before Conditioning
Little Albert – During Conditioning
Little Albert – After Conditioning
Little Albert - Generalization
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Classical
Conditioning in
Everyday Life:
Taste Aversion
Taste Aversion
• Subjects become classically conditioned
to avoid specific tastes, because the
tastes are associated with nausea.
• John Garcia (1917- )
Module 15: Classical Conditioning
Cognition and
Biological
Predispositions
Robert Rescorla (1940-
)
• Developed a theory emphasizing the
importance of cognitive processes in
classical conditioning
• Pointed out that subjects had to
determine (think) whether the CS was a
reliable predictor of the UCS
Biological Perspective
• We are predisposed to learn things that
affect our survival.
• We are predisposed to avoid threats our
ancestors faced--food that made us sick,
storms, heights, snakes, etc.--but not
modern-day threats--cars, water
pollution, etc.
The End