CCw10 p2

CCw10 p2

1. Applications of classical conditioning

   • Phobias – An excessive fear cued by the presence or anticipation of a specific object or situation – Phobias may result from the pairing of a neutral stimulus with an aversive consequence
     • repeated presentations of the feared object will result in a reduction of the fear response - EXTINCTION
     • avoidance behaviour prevents extinction to happen exposure in the clinical setting ( not extinction) systematic desensitizatio
       • Behavioural treatment for phobia is based on extinction • As the fear is so strong, this is usually done in gradual steps through systematic desensitisation
         • During acquisition an association is formed between the conditional stimulus and unconditional stimulus – The organism learns the contingency that the conditional stimulus predicts the unconditional stimulus
   • Advertising – Associations can be formed between products and other stimuli though advertising – The main aim is that these associations will lead to a change in behaviour (e.g., purchase product)
   • Politics – Policies may be one way to get people to vote for you. Is there another way? – Pairing a politician with a pleasant stimulus or event may increase liking for that politician – Some stimuli and events include
   • Business – Pairing of food and wine with a contract may increase liking towards that contract
     • Contexts can influence conditioning phenomena – Context associated with illicit drug use can produce the opposite effects to the drug1 • This can lead to conditioned tolerance • It may also contribute to overdose
       • need more drugs to over come the conditioned tolerance .they over dose because they use a high (normal) dose yet the threshold is lowered due to a change in context
         • • Siegel (1984) reported that of 10 heroin-overdose survivors, 7 reported taking the drug in an unfamiliar context or unusual administration procedure • Seigel et al. (1982) developed conditioned tolerance to heroin in rats. After that he gave the rats a fatal dose of heroin and found differences in mortality – 64% mortality if given in novel context (heroin always given in different context) – 32% mortality if given in context heroin had been given in before
   • For practical applications of classical conditioning remember that – You should be able to identify a conditional stimulus and an unconditional stimulus – Classical conditioning may be one of many factors implicated in the situation
   • Advanced classical conditioning phenomena
     • Some associations are more easily formed than are others
       • “Preparedness” suggests that some stimuli are more likely to be associated with fear due to our prior evolutionary history
         • adaptive for ancestor to associate negative outcomes quickly and have evolutionary baggage - much more likely to fear snakes than cars.
       • Some CS and UCS combinations are more easily learnt than others • e.g., conditioned taste aversion. This association is more easily formed and will lead to stronger and more persistent conditioned responding
         • Extinction is not the “unlearning” of the association between the conditional stimulus and unconditional stimulus – Spontaneous recovery shows that the original association remains intact after extinction – Renewal shows that extinction may be context specific • May provide another mechanism for relapse following extinction-based therapy
           • Classically conditioned associations may be formed in unique ways – Through observation • Some children show same fears as parents – Through instruction • Informing people of the association between two stimuli can produce a conditional response to the conditional stimulus