Classical Conditioning

Question 1

The Behaviourist Approach to Personality Development

Answer 1

• The study of personality requires a systematic and rigorous examination of the distinctive patterns of an individual’s behaviour and their reinforcing consequences
• Skinner distinguished between two types of behaviour:
• Respondent Behaviour
• Operant Behaviour

Question 2

Respondent Behaviour

Answer 2

•Refers to a specific response to a known stimulus
–e.g. Shivering when it is cold
•Although these responses are spontaneous and automatic,at a higher level, respondent behaviour may also be learned
•Pavlov explored how respondent behaviour could be conditioned
Classical Conditioning
•Skinner applied this phenomenon to personality development

Question 3

Learning theory is rooted in the work of

Answer 3

Ivan Pavlov

Question 4

Ivan Pavlov

Answer 4

•Classical Conditioning Theory

–Based on physical reflexes that are already present in an organism which become associated with repeated neutral events

Question 5

Classical Conditioning

Answer 5

•Deals with what happens before the behaviour (i.e. the response) and usually includes physiological reflexes like sweating, blinking, or salivating

Question 6

Operant Conditioning

Answer 6

•Learning is based on the consequences of the behaviour
–Being praised for cleaning your room, will most likely do it again
•Behaviour has been reinforced

Question 7

Classical Conditioning in Pavlov’s dogs

Answer 7

Classical conditioning can therefore be defined as a type a stimulus(S) that acquires the capacity of learning to evoke a reflexive response(R)
–In Pavlov’s experiment, the food is a stimulus, which evokes the natural reflexive response of the dog salivating
•In this situation, because salivating when food is present is a natural reaction (or reflex), we say that both the stimulus and response are unconditioned

Question 8

neutral stimulus

Answer 8

This stimulus (that is not initially related to the unconditioned stimulus)

Question 9

Factors affecting conditioning

Answer 9

–Contiguity
–Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery
–Generalisation
–Discrimination

Question 10

Contiguity

Answer 10

• the closeness in time between the pairing of conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus
  •The closer in time two events occur, the more likely they are to become associated
  •Conversely, as more time passes between the events, the less likely it is that an association will be formed

Question 11

Extinction

Answer 11

–Pavlov discovered that there is a gradual weakening and eventual disappearance of the conditioned response tendency in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus

Question 12

Extinction and Spontaneous Recovery

Answer 12

•In essence, if the person or animal continues to have the conditioned stimulus presented but without the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned stimulus loses its power to evoke the conditioned response
–e.g. After a certain period of time, Pavlov’s dogs stopped salivating when only the bell (the conditioned stimulus) was rung without any food (unconditioned stimulus) being brought to them

Question 13

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 13

–At times, however, the conditioned response can reappear some time after the period of extinction
•It can occur after a period of non-exposure to the conditioned stimulus
–However, it is generally not as strong or carried out to the same degree as with the initial conditioning process

Question 14

Generalisation

Answer 14

•In his experiments, Pavlov found that sometimes, there is a tendency for a new unconditioned stimulus(similar to the original stimulus) to elicit a response that is similar to the conditioned response
–This is known as generalisation
•e.g. Little Albert
•This aspect of classical conditioning helps make human behaviour highly adaptable

Question 15

Little Albert

Answer 15

• Watson used repeated exposure to condition an infant aged 11 months called Little Albert to become fearful of a white rat
• He did this by showing Little Albert the rat, and then clashing two metal pipes together behind the infant’s head
• The natural reaction to a sudden, booming noise is to react with fright, and this would naturally make Albert cry with fear
• While Albert would happily play with the rat prior to Watson’s conditioning, the baby would now scream with fear at the mere sight of the rat
• This was not a surprising result as the experiment confirmed the findings of Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiments
• What was surprising to Watson was that Albert would become terrified and cry in the presence of a dog, a rabbit and even when Watson approached the child wearing a fake beard
• It was at this stage that Watson realised that the fear (conditioned response) that was evoked by the white, furry rat (conditioned stimulus) had now been generalised to other stimuli that were white and furry

Question 16

Discrimination

Answer 16

•In contrast to generalisation, stimulus discrimination occurs when one is conditioned to respond to one stimulus and not another
–This refers to being conditioned to have a specific response to specific stimuli only
•For example, children may initially respond by obeying the commands or requests of all adults (or people socially considered to be authority figures), but over time, they can learn to respond only to their parents

Question 17

Higher-Order Conditioning

Answer 17

•Higher-order conditioning occurs when a well-learned conditioned stimulus is used to generate a response to another neutral stimulus

Question 18

higher-order conditioning in Pavlov’s experiment

Answer 18

• In the Pavlovian experiment, the first order of conditioningoccurred when food (the unconditioned stimulus) produced the unconditioned responseof salivation
• Then the food (unconditioned stimulus) was paired with a ringing bell (neutral stimulus) to yield (with repeated pairings) salivation to the bell (in the absence of food) as the conditioned response
• Second-order conditioning would occur if the scientist were to pair a flashing light (a neutral stimulus) with the ringing bell (the conditioned stimulus), to generate the conditioned responseof salivation
• Eventually, in theory, the dog would respond to the flashing light as it did to the ringing bell (even in its absence) by salivating as though the dog was anticipating the delivery of food

Question 19

Some examples of classical conditioning

Answer 19

–Phobias
–Food aversions
–Advertising

Question 20

Phobias

Answer 20

•When one has an irrational fear of an object, event, or situation, which warrants no logical fear, then one may be said to have a phobia of this stimulus
–This is known as a conditioned emotional response
•A basic classical conditioning model that could generate a phobia is similar to the example of Watson and Little Albert
•Note that the unconditioned response with regard to phobias is always a fear response to the unconditioned stimulus, which is something that does not usually reflexively generate fear
•Neutral stimuli often associated with phobias include heights, insects, animals, etc.
•It can be the association of the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus once or a repeated number of times

Question 21

types of phobias and treatment

Answer 21

•Once–If particularly traumatic
•e.g. Seeing someone fall off a cliff
•Repeatedly –Generates a conditioned phobic response of fear to the conditioned stimulus
•The previously neutral stimulus that becomes the phobia–In this case, a fear of heights
•Research suggests that some phobias can be more easily conditionedthan others
–Based on the notion of preparedness
•This idea suggests that, as an evolutionary benefit for survival, we are biologically programmed to learn to fear objects or events that have inherent danger for us
–Even those that can indeed be life threatening under certain circumstances
•The fear is pathological, however, when one is faced with these stimuli in non-threatening situations and one’s phobic reaction may lead to life-impairing strategies in order to avoid having to deal with the stimulus
–e.g. Fearing drowning in a fast-flowing river and thus not taking a shower or a having bath in shallow water
•A psychotherapist may address this issue by encouraging the patient to undergo exposure therapy
–This is a form of cognitive-behavioural therapy in which a patient is prepared for exposure to the stimuli that elicit phobic responses, in order to weaken their strength
•Done through relaxation and cognitive techniques

Question 22

Food Aversions

Answer 22

•Foods that make us sick may lead to avoidanceof that food, perhaps for a lifetime
–This is because we can develop a conditioned response of feeling physically ill in response to the conditioned stimulus of the food that made us sick
•e.g. Getting food poisoning after eating sushi
–This may result in severe vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea ,and a fever as our bodies attempt to process the tainted food
»Results in saying, ‘Oh no, I will NEVER have sushi again. The last time I had it, I was sick for days. Now, I feel ill even at the thought of raw fish.’

Question 23

Advertising

Answer 23

• We are bombarded with messages from the media about what to wear, drive, and eat
• You will recall the section on Watson’s use of conditioning to elicit an emotional response to a stimulus, the Little Albert experiment
• Advertising depends very much on this principle
• Advertising relies on linking a naturally attractive unconditioned stimulus (like an attractive man or woman) to a neutral stimulus,like the product being sold, to make the product become the conditioned stimulus, which will elicit the conditioned response of a pleasant emotional state
• This results in the consumer feeling more positively toward the product–Just like they do with the unconditioned stimulus of the attractive person