Topic D

Topic D

1. Classical conditioning (PAVLOV)

   • Dogs started to salivate (a response) before their food arrived. He thought this was because they could hear footsteps. (a stimulus)
     • pavlov tried it on his own dog. and tested the amount of saliva through a tube.
       • he rang the bell - it didn't salivate
         • then he rang the bell and gave the dog some food (conditioning process)
           • after doing this many times it lead the dog to salivate
             • this is classical conditioning
               • learning happens in this way (neutral stimulus) NS and the (unconditioned stimulus) UCS

2. Watson and Raynor (1920) Little Albert

   • they conditioned little albert to have a phobia of rats
     • every time he was shown a rat they gave a loud noise behind him. The noise frightened him and associated fear with the rat
       • alberts fear generalised to other white fluffy things, such as cotton wool

3. jones (1924)

   • to investigate whether a phobia in a little boy could be decondiited and whether this would generalise to other objects
     • procedure: the observer watcher peter playing with his beads in his cot, the experimenter showed him a white rat. peter screamed and moved away
       • when the rat touched peters beads he protested but didn't when another chlld touches his beads
         • next day, peters reaction to different objects was observed which shown his fear of the rat had generalised to other objects
           • peter was shown a rabbit and was more afraid of this than the rat so a rabbit was used for deconditioning
             • THERAPY: classical conditioning and social learning theory to help cure peters phobia. peter would gradually get closer to the rabbit
               • they gave him food for pleasure
                 • by using the food was aiming to associate pleasure with the rabbit
                   • he had daily sessions with the rabbit and children (the other weren't scared of the rabbit)
                     • he saw other children being happy around the rabbit, and being praised (SLT)
                       • RESULTS: peters behaviour improved and worsened e.g when he got scratched by the rabbit
                         • other children acted as role models
                           • he lost his fear of cotton, coats and feathers
                             • accepted other animals such as, frogs, worms and a mouse
                               • conclusion - both classical conditioning and social learning helped to decondition peter.

4. Bennett-Levy and Marteau

   • aim - to see whether we are more afraid of, or avoid, animals that move quickly, move suddenly and look very different from people.
     • procedure - they used two questionnaires: QUESTIONANNIRE 1: both asked questions about the same 29 animals. they were told none of the animals were dangerous. Questions (quantitive data0:
       • QUESTTIONNAIRE 2: how the participants felt about each animal rated on a 3 point scale for each of the following: ugliness, sliminess, speediness and how sudden they move. 30 men and 34 women answered the questionnaires
         • results: the most feared animals were rats, cockroach, jellyfish, spider, slug etc. Some animals were rated as more ugly
           • The features of ugliness, sliminess, speediness and sudden movement all make animals move frightening.

5. How to treat phobias

   • flooding - confronting your fear - being near the thing that you are most scared of can help overcome it.
     • It causes anxiety then people calm down. Participants learn to associate their fear or phobia with this feeling of relaxation
       • systematic desensitisation - is similar to flooding but less stressful
         • participant is exposed to their fear, but does it in a more gradual way
           • e.g if someone is scared of a spider, they might first be exposed to a picture of a spider, then a video, then a toy spider, then a real spider (small) then a tarantula