Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning

1. Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov

   • His work provided a basis for later behaviourists like John Watson and B. F. Skinner.

2. Pavlov discovered that dog's salivate when they see food, or when food is placed in their mouth. He hypothesized that dog's could be conditioned to salivate when they hear a neutral stimulus.

3. Unconditioned Response

   • Salivation
   • Unlearned response

4. Unconditioned Stimulus

   • Bell
   • Automatically triggers the unlearned response

5. Conditioned Response

   • Salivation
   • Learned response to previously neutral stimulus

6. Conditioned Stimulus

   • Bell
   • Originally neutral stimulus now produces a learned (conditioned) respone

7. John Watson and Little Albert

   • Conditioned fear into an infant
   • Presented a rat immediately followed by a loud noise, startling the baby
     • The UCR= Nothing
     • UCS= The rat
     • UR= Fear
     • CS= The rat
   • After a few tries, Albert was afraid of the rat. He then generalized his fears to other furry objects
     • Stimulus Generalization

8. Mary Cover Jones

   • Deconditioned 3-year-old Peter of his fear of rabbits
     • She did this by gradually moving the rabbit closer and closer whist Peter was eating

9. Continuing Pavlov's experiment, there are other stages of classical conditiong

   • Acquisition
     • The initial stage where an association between a neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus takes place
   • Extinction
     • When the US (food) does not follow the CS (bell), CR (salivation) begins to decrease and eventually causes extinction
   • Spontaneous Recovery
     • After a rest period, an extinguished CR (salivation) spontaneously recovers, but if the CS (bell) persists alone, the CR becomes extinct again.
   • Stimulus Generalization
     • Tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS is called generalization. Pavlov conditioned the dog’s salivation (CR) by using miniature vibrators (CS) on the thigh. When he subsequently stimulated other parts of the dog’s body, salivation dropped
   • Stimulus Discrimination
     • Discrimination is the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that do not signal an unconditioned stimulus.
       • Like if one was conditioned to speak only after they heard the note Middle C. If they heard the C one octave above middle C, they would not talk.