Learning - Classical Conditioning

Question 1

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 1

A simple form of learning occurring through repeated association of two different stimuli to produce a naturally occurring response.

Question 2

Explain Pavlov’s study

Answer 2

• Presented dogs with food and measured their salivary response
• rang a bell right before giving them food
• at first dogs would only salivate when food was present
• after a while, dogs began to salivate when they heard the bell
• they learnt to associate the sound of the bell with food

Question 3

Neutral stimulus

Answer 3

A stimulus that before learning will not evoke a response

Question 4

Unconditioned stimulus

Answer 4

A stimulus that naturally produces a response

Question 5

Unconditioned response

Answer 5

An unlearned, in built response.

Question 6

Conditioned stimulus

Answer 6

A stimulus that because of learning will evoke a response

Question 7

Conditioned response

Answer 7

A learned response produced by the Cs

Question 8

What is an unconditioned stimuli and what are some examples

Answer 8

Def: stimuli that organisms react to with out training
Examples: food or pain

Question 9

What is an unconditioned response, give examples

Answer 9

An unlearned response that occurs naturally in reaction to the unconditioned stimulus
Examples: gasping in pain, jumping when there is a loud noise, touching something hot

Question 10

What is a Conditioned stimuli give an example

Answer 10

Stimuli that only gets a reaction when the individual or animal learns about them.they have been associated with a primary/ conditional stimulus.
For example, bell when getting food (pavlov) or fire alarm = fire (danger)

Question 11

Acquisition

Answer 11

The overall process where the organism learns to associate the two events. The NS and UCS are presented together

Question 12

Performance stage

Answer 12

Once the learning has occurred, the NS becomes the CS and no longer requires the UCS to be present for the Cr to occur

Question 13

How does timing play a role in classical conditioning and what is this called.

Answer 13

Pavlov found that the closer the pairing between the belland the food, the better conditioned response. This is called contiguity - learning depends on the events being close together in time

Question 14

Contingency

Answer 14

One event needs to depend or be a result of the other. Food result from ringing the bell

Question 15

Extinction

Answer 15

The gradual decrease in the strength or rate of a Cr that occurs when the UCS is no longer present

Question 15

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 15

The reappearance of a Cr when the CS is present, after the Cr appears to be extinguished

Question 16

Stimulus generalisation

Answer 16

The tendency for another stimulus (similar to the cs) to produce a response that is similar to the Cr

Question 17

Explain how stimulus generalisation is present in Pavlov’s classical conditioning study

Answer 17

Pavlov conditioned his dogs to salivate when they heard a bell. The also found that they salivated when they heard a buzzer or metronome.

Question 17

Stimulus discrimination

Answer 17

When the organism responds to the conditional stimulus only but not to other stimuli that are similar

Question 18

What are taste aversionsand how do they form

Answer 18

Taste aversions develop through classical conditioning. Unlike other types of classical conditioning, an aversion can be developed in one trial. it is a learned avoidance of a particular taste - occurs when nausea occurs after food is eaten

Question 19

What is preparedness

Answer 19

The biological predisposition to form associations between stimulus that threaten our survival or expose us to ham. Prepared ness aids our survival by avoiding these stimuli.

Question 20

Explain biological preparedness

Answer 20

Certain associations are learned more readily than others. Phobias of shakes and spiders are more common than phobias of cars. Responses cannot be conditioned with equal cause

Question 21

What are the four major specific phobia categories, give examples

Answer 21

1. Natural environment -hydrophobia, storms
2. Animals - phobias of dogs, horses, lizards spiders
3. Mutilation/medical -fear of dentist needles, blood
   4 situations - claustrophobia, being in a plane.

Question 22

Explain a study that used classical conditioning to install a phobia in an infant.

Answer 22

• The little Albert study installed a phobia of a white rat in the 9 month old infant
• conducted by John Watson and s Rosalie Rayner
• At the beginning of the study Albert was not afraid of the white rat.
• while playing with the rat, the experimenters scared the boy and made him cry by making a loud noise behind him.
• there fore, he would avoid the rat and would cry whenever it was brought close to him.
• A bond had been established between the sight of the rat and the arrousal of Alberts autonomic nervous system.

Question 23

Explain the process of systematicdesensifisation in relation to classical conditioning

Answer 23

1. Teach a relaxation technique 2. Create a fear hieracly (from least to most ) 3. Pair approximations of the CS with the relaxation technique until the CS does not produce the conditioned response 4. Client is gradually desensitised to the fear . Employs a procedure known as counter conditioning

Question 24

What is virtual reality therapy

Answer 24

VR therapy enables the patient to experience a realistic yet carefully controlled exposure to an anxiety-provoking scenario.it used to be more expensive but lately their price has decreased, making VR therapy a feasible option

Question 25

What are some advantages of VR treatment?

Answer 25

• safety is guaranteed • can be good for personalising the therapy • real life exposure can be impractical ( flying a plane, going to a war zone) • some people struggle to visualise scenarios so VR con be helpful as they don't need to imagine anything. Offers an alternative to other traditional imagination therapies.

Question 26

What he some disadvantages of VR treatment?

Answer 26

• lack of training for specialists • can cause cyber sickness (dizzy und nauseous) • attempting treatment of home without supervision and therapist support • cost has decreased but its still expensive.

Question 27

What is learned helplessness

Answer 27

A phenomenon observed in humans and animals when they have been conditioned to expect pain, suffering or discomfort without a way to escape it. Eventrany, after conditioning, the animal will stop trying to avoid the pain 9t all- even if there is an opportunity to escape it.

Question 28

What did Martin seligman find in relation to learned helplessness

Answer 28

Seligman found that dogs who had received unavoidable electric shocks previously, stayed put and endured the shock even when escape was possible. Dogs who hadn't experienced an unavoidable shock took action

Question 29

What is learned helplessness in relation to depression.

Answer 29

Learned helpless ness theory is the view that clinical depression may result from a real or perceived absence of control over a situation